June 24, 2023 • 49 mins
What happens when a social media phenom & influencer and aspiring doctor join forces on a podcast? A hilarious and insightful conversation, of course! In this special edition of the kayalortho Podcast, we welcome the ever-talented Justin Awad, known for his entertaining TikTok and Instagram videos addressing the concerning state of education among American youth. Join us as we explore Justin's journey to becoming a doctor, including his studies at Seton Hall University, and his passion for helping others.
Dive deeper into the world of medical school applications as we discuss with Justin the importance of grades, extracurriculars, and standardized tests like the MCAT. Hear about the process of selecting a medical specialty that aligns with your lifestyle goals, and the invaluable role of mentorship in guiding aspiring doctors on their career path. Plus, don't miss Justin's amusing story of running into someone he had interviewed months before!
Lastly, we unravel the secrets behind Justin's rise to social media fame, from his early dancing videos to his now-famous interviews. Listen in as we talk about handling criticism, the art of choosing interview subjects, and Justin's perspective on Generation Z's access to unlimited knowledge. If you're in the mood for a lighthearted, yet educational discussion that will leave you both inspired and entertained, this is the episode you don't want to miss!
Dive deeper into the world of medical school applications as we discuss with Justin the importance of grades, extracurriculars, and standardized tests like the MCAT. Hear about the process of selecting a medical specialty that aligns with your lifestyle goals, and the invaluable role of mentorship in guiding aspiring doctors on their career path. Plus, don't miss Justin's amusing story of running into someone he had interviewed months before!
Lastly, we unravel the secrets behind Justin's rise to social media fame, from his early dancing videos to his now-famous interviews. Listen in as we talk about handling criticism, the art of choosing interview subjects, and Justin's perspective on Generation Z's access to unlimited knowledge. If you're in the mood for a lighthearted, yet educational discussion that will leave you both inspired and entertained, this is the episode you don't want to miss!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (00:00):
Hello and welcome to another edition of
the Kale Ortho podcast.
Today is June 20th 2023.
And it's a very special editionof the Kale Ortho podcast.
We're so fortunate to haveJustin Awad with us today.
Justin is a very dear friend ofthe Kale family.
Justin grew up with my oldestson, robbie Kale, robert Kale,
(00:24):
and they have been tremendousfriends for all these years.
Justin and his family are alsovery close to the Kale family as
well.
We grew up together and still,to this day, remain very, very
close.
We're so fortunate to haveJustin with us today.
Welcome to the Kale Orthopodcast, justin, thank you so
(00:45):
much.
Justin Awad (00:45):
The honor is mine And this is a beautiful studio,
by the way.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (00:48):
I appreciate that, Coming from you
, that means a lot.
Thank you, Justin.
Justin is loved by everyonethat he comes across.
Our family loves him dearly,but the public love him as well.
He has an incrediblepersonality.
He's charming.
He's got everything going forhim.
He's just such a magnificentyoung man And I'm so happy to
(01:11):
have Justin with us today.
There is a reason that Justinis on this podcast, and we'll
get to that shortly.
Justin is also loved by theworld.
Now, As you may or may not know,Justin is an incredibly popular
social media influencer.
Now.
Justin has almost 500,000followers on Instagram.
(01:32):
He has almost 1.5 millionfollowers on TikTok.
It's just unbelievable.
I'm just so proud of you,Justin Now to see you grow up as
a kid and to reach this levelof success and influence in this
world.
It's just so magnificent And inall this time, you've remained
so, so humble and it's just so,so nice to see.
(01:55):
It just makes us, as a parentmyself, it just makes us so
happy to see that You're stillthe same Justin Awad that we
knew growing up years ago, Andit is for that reason that we've
invited Justin to participatein this Kale Ortho podcast today
, and we'll get to the reasonsvery shortly, Justin, regarding
(02:15):
your social media campaigns,your whole brand has been built
primarily on bringing to ourattention and highlighting a
national pandemic in thiscountry, And what I'm referring
to primarily is what appears tobe at least more and more
uneducated youth.
Your TikTok and Instagram postsare hilarious.
Justin Awad (02:37):
Can you name a country that starts with the
letter U?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (02:40):
What's this ?
Justin Awad (02:44):
Any country You got this.
I watched so many videos onthis.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (02:50):
Yeah, there are a lot of videos up there.
Justin Awad (02:52):
A country that starts with the letter U?
Give me a guess?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (02:55):
A Europe, a Europe, yes.
What's the?
Justin Awad (02:57):
shape with four sides called I don't know.
I haven't had, i haven't donesomething with shape since like
fifth grade.
Yeah, if you had a guess, idon't know, like I don't, i
don't, i don't, i know what,like what shape it is, but I
know what shapes have four sides, but I don't know the name for
(03:17):
it.
Yes, can you name threecountries besides the USA
Alabama, that's one, new MexicoTwo, connecticut Three.
It's too easy for you.
What is one quarter plus twodimes?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (03:37):
One quarter plus two, how much money is?
Justin Awad (03:38):
that That's 65 cents.
Is it 65 cents?
Yes, what's three times threetimes three?
Nine?
Yes, how many continents arethere?
I don't know.
Yes, yes, do I know?
Yes, can you name threecountries besides the USA?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (03:59):
Oh my.
Justin Awad (04:00):
God, now I got this , i got this.
Countries right Texas.
Yeah, that's one.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (04:07):
North Carolina.
Two.
What else?
One more baby, you got thisCalifornia.
Justin Awad (04:16):
You really can't watch them without cracking up.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (04:19):
I think about them and we crack up, but
in reality, they're also very,very sad.
It's sort of a bittersweet typeof engagement in that they
reveal and highlight a nationalpandemic of failure of the
education system in the UnitedStates.
It seems that some of theinterviewees of your podcast
(04:42):
seem to be less educated orinformed about common things
that the average person shouldknow about, About presidents and
countries and capitals andgeography and different things
that you constantly interviewthese interviewees about.
And I just want to say that Ithink about, interviewees about,
(05:04):
and I just think about them,and you just yes them to death
And I don't know if that's goodor bad.
It's not educating them.
It seems to be enabling theproblem even further.
You're not correcting theseindividuals, you're not
educating them further, you'rejust further enabling them.
But that's okay.
(05:24):
That's what makes it so funny,i guess.
You highlight this problem, youbring it to our attention, you
laugh about it.
Unfortunately, it leads us tobelieve that this generation of
individuals are entitled anduneducated.
It seems like their work ethicis not going to be what we need
(05:44):
it to be.
It's not what built thiscountry, for sure, and it's
concerning, and so I felt thatthis is a fantastic opportunity
to invite you on this podcast sowe can maybe talk about you and
see if you truly practice whatyou preach Or you want to those
individuals because you comefrom that generation.
(06:07):
And if you are, well so be it.
But if you're not, you know,perhaps we have an incredible
opportunity here to be used onour platform and your platform
to maybe encourage otherindividuals in your generation
about maybe a different paththat they can take to succeed in
(06:29):
life.
So, on that note, justin, whydon't you just take a couple of
minutes and just tell us aboutyourself?
tell us about yourself, yourfamily.
Justin Awad (06:36):
Well, first of all, i want to say thank you for
what the kind of words that yousaid at the beginning.
It means a lot coming from youas somebody that I look up to
and aspire to be like one day,especially as a surgeon, as a
doctor.
That means a lot coming fromyou.
So thank you for that.
But, yeah, i'm so excited to behere.
About myself my name is Justin.
If you don't know that by now,you should come DM me so I can
(06:59):
interview you.
But yeah, i'm 21 years old.
I grew up here in New Jersey andI started making videos almost
three years ago, exactly almostduring the summer, three years
ago, during the pandemic.
I started because I, ever sincegrowing up in high school, i'm
sure, if you ask Ravi I loveentertaining and I love making
my friends laugh and having agood time, because I feel like
(07:22):
that's what life's about.
What if you can't?
So what if you accomplish somuch if you're not enjoying it
and having a good time?
So I started making videos,especially during the pandemic.
everyone was locked at home,malls were closed, everything
was closed, and I saw how muchof an effect and a toll it
really had on everybody that Iloved, including my friends,
(07:43):
family, cousins, even my littlesister in the house with me.
It really was taking a toll onher and she's like a ray of
sunshine too.
So I was like, what can I do to, one, be safe from the virus
and everything, because it wasvery uncertain times.
And two, how can I bring just alittle ray of sunshine, just a
little joy to all these people?
And then this thing calledTikTok blew up out of nowhere
(08:05):
and oh, it's part of thecoronavirus scam and it's part
of this, and they're spying onus and whatever.
I was just like I don't knowwhat.
it seems pretty cool.
So I started making videos.
The first couple of videos Imade don't scroll down.
I was dancing.
I'm so embarrassed of itnowadays Looking back.
I was just, i was a good dancer, but I'm not bringing it back,
(08:25):
i don't say that much, but yeah.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (08:28):
Are they still?
Justin Awad (08:28):
online.
I think they are.
You're not to school a littlebit.
I don't advise.
Yeah, so the idea of theinterviews came up when I was
playing a video game with one ofmy friends and I forgot what it
was because it was also thetime of the Trump's re-election
and stuff 2020.
(08:49):
And so I said, oh, who is?
do you even know who Obama'svice president was?
And the kid didn't know.
And I was like what do you mean?
you don't know.
And then he was like nobodyknows that.
No one knows who that is.
I was like what do you mean?
So we were going, we had like alittle back and forth, this is
common knowledge.
And then he was like, no, thisis not common knowledge.
And then that's when I was like, oh yeah, so let's go find out.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (09:11):
Something clicked, yeah, and my
personality type.
Justin Awad (09:15):
I'm not very afraid to go up to people and talk to
them.
I think that it's it bringssomething so unique, hearing all
these different people'sbackgrounds and their whole
lives.
And that's what I get to doevery person I interview, Like
it's not just I ask questionsand leave.
We talk a little bit like oh,where are you from, How old are
you?
Stuff like that.
We have been a littleinteraction and I love that so
much.
But yeah, that's how it allstarted And here we are.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (09:38):
Awesome.
So what are you doing withyourself these days besides
doing this?
Obviously are you in school.
Justin Awad (09:44):
I am in school.
Yeah, I'm in junior year atSeton Hall University.
I'm a biology major.
In my data chemistry minor.
I just need to take like threemore classes to do that.
But there are three heftyclasses, but we'll see.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (09:57):
Yeah, So Seton Hall biology major.
So that means you probably havean interest in going into some
field of in the sciences, right?
Justin Awad (10:06):
100%.
That's the dream and goal eversince I can remember So what is
that goal and aspiration ofyours?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (10:13):
I want to be a doctor.
Justin Awad (10:14):
Fantastic.
I want to help people and savelives and make them smile.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (10:19):
Awesome, awesome.
Do you know what kind of?
Justin Awad (10:21):
doctor you want to be?
No, but I can tell you what Idon't want to be.
What's that?
People ask that a lot.
I don't do eyes Can't be anophthalmologist No, i cry
looking at my own eyes in themirror.
I can't look at that.
I don't mess with feet either.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (10:32):
Okay, neither do I.
People need to clean theirtoenails And number three.
Justin Awad (10:38):
I don't do pediatrics because I feel so bad
for the kids.
But other than that, yeah, i'mopen.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (10:45):
Yeah, i actually knew that you wanted to
be a doctor and that's sort ofwhy you're on this podcast.
I'll never forget when Robbietold me that you wanted to be a
doctor and you got accepted toSeton Hall and Biology and
you're going to be a doctor andmade me so happy for you because
I'm so passionate about thisfield of medicine, although I
(11:06):
would have loved to see one ofmy first three children go into
medicine and possibly get intoorthopedics.
That didn't happen.
I still have three to go, butto each his or her own Now.
As you know, our oldest becamea mental health counselor, so
she's in medicine.
My wife's a nurse.
My second daughter, makayla, isa nurse and she's actually
(11:31):
going to become a nursepractitioner very soon.
She's in the doctoral programfor nurse practitioners.
So they are all in medicine,but no one actually opted to
become a doctor yet.
So when I heard you did,knowing how close you are with
Robbie, i was so proud of youand so excited that you stuck
with it and you're stillpersevering.
(11:51):
So that makes me very excitedtoo, because I'm a local doctor.
Right, i have a practice.
You look like an orthopedicsurgeon and I'd love to see you
one day, maybe come into thepractice, but we'll see.
We'll play it by ear, but thatis fantastic.
So, yes, that's why Justin's onthis podcast.
Justin leads by example.
(12:13):
He does get out there, he doesentertain, he does bring
attention to this real issue,and he's actually leading by
example in that he's doing itthe old fashioned way.
He will succeed.
There's no question in our mindthat he will succeed as a
physician and become a greatphysician one day, and I just
(12:36):
felt it might be a greatopportunity to have Justin on
the KL Ortho podcast and sort oflay it all out there about what
that path is like and what youreally would need to do if you
had any interest in pursuing acareer in the field of medicine.
And that could be physician, itcould be chiropractor, it could
(12:57):
be a physical therapist, itcould be a physician assistant,
it could be any of that, itcould be a nurse, and so if any
of that is enticing to you, iencourage you to just continue
listening to the podcast,watching the podcast, as we're
going to go through it step bystep to help your goals become
(13:19):
reality.
So, justin, that being said, youwant to be a doctor.
So you're in your third year ofcollege right now studying
biology.
How do you become a doctor?
What happens after next year?
is your senior year in collegeright?
You will hopefully graduatenext year.
(13:39):
I'm sure you will.
How important are your gradesto becoming a physician?
Justin Awad (13:45):
Yeah.
So of course they're veryimportant, but the medical
schools know that there'sextreme variability from school
to school, professor toprofessor.
In my school there's only liketwo professors for, say, a
certain chemistry class, and oneprofessor's average is like an
80 for their exams and theothers is like a 50.
So where's the discrepancy?
How much does this kid actuallyreally know?
(14:06):
So, and the medical schools,they know that stuff.
So your grades are very, veryimportant, but they're not
everything.
Your GPA is not everything.
The big three I'm sure you know, is your GPA, your MCAT score
and your personal statement.
Slash your interviews.
They want to know that you're areal person, that you can talk
to other people, you can relayinformation to your patients,
you're sociable, you're not arobot, because doctors they
(14:27):
can't be robots To.
They need to make sure that youdo well in your MCAT, which is
a standardized test.
So these basic scienceprinciples and these basic
science ideas that you need toknow to do, which are the
foundation for everythingmedicine you need to know those
things.
So you get tested on that.
And then your GPA.
So I would say it's one of thebig three that you need your GPA
(14:51):
.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (14:52):
How important are other activities,
extracurricular activities,volunteer work, community
service, things like that.
Justin Awad (14:59):
Yeah, those are also extremely important to show
your interest, that you're alsolike a human.
Like I said, you're not a robot.
You're not a robot.
I have to learn teamwork,playing on an intramural team.
Or you want to show that yougenuinely care about other
people by volunteering at likeyour, your church or your local,
like a food, food pantry oranything like that.
That's definitely a veryimportant aspect and medical
(15:21):
schools love to do that.
But I would recommend don't belike artificial with it.
Do what you genuinely love.
Like for me personally, like Ilove playing basketball, so I
volunteer at like a basketballcamp.
That's what I like to do, soI'm going to go do that.
And who says a basketball campis better than a soccer camp or
is better than whatever otherthing?
somebody wants to volunteer.
I think today didn't today'sday and age, at least like in my
(15:43):
circle, i'm seeing a lot oflike repetitive things where
people think it's a checklistYou have to check off to.
Oh, i need to be an EMT, i needto do my research 500 hours, i
need to do this, i need to dothat, and I don't believe that
that's what medical schools arelooking for.
I think they want to see, doyou have the ability and are you
a real person who would make agood doctor?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (16:00):
So yeah, how about shadowing?
Is it important to shadowanyone in the field of medicine?
Justin Awad (16:06):
Yeah, i would say shadowing is a big 50, 50, not
in the sense that it's important, but it's in the sense of you
need to show the medical schoolsthat you put in the time and
that you know what you'resigning up for, so you don't
like drop out and you don'twaste half a million dollars and
like years and years of yourlife And also for yourself to
see do I genuinely like this?
Is this actually what I want tospend the rest of my life doing
(16:26):
?
And, like I said, spend thatmoney and spend those years
actually doing that.
So I think it's just asimportant for you as an
individual deciding to go downthis path as it is for the
medical schools looking at youas an applicant What actually
inspired you to go into medicine?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (16:41):
I?
Justin Awad (16:41):
remember I think it might have been when my family
lived back in Florida or when wejust came here my mom, we were
in Target like walking around orwhatever, and I bought.
She bought me like astethoscope or like a little
stethoscope, a plastic one.
I don't think it worked, but Iwas in love with that thing I
always try to feel my littlesister's heartbeat, and I never
(17:02):
found it because it was plastic.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (17:04):
I always tried, though I'm getting close.
Justin Awad (17:07):
I remember that it sparked my interest.
But then when I really justlike decided that this is what I
wanted to do, was in between mysophomore year of high school
and my junior year of highschool, because that's when my
mom was like all right, likelike get off your butt, it's
time to start doing somethingwith your life.
She made me do like a stockmarket camp, like on Wall Street
(17:27):
in the city.
My dad owns a jewelry businessin also in the city, so I spent
like a couple of weeks doing thestock market camp and Wall
Street computers.
I had to go into work every daywith my dad sitting in the
traffic on the bridge on the wayback.
And then third thing I did wasI did a medical camp at Holy
Name Hospital in Tina.
Originally I was enticed that Idon't have to wake up two hours
(17:49):
earlier to drive into the cityand do all that, so that
originally like right off thebat it already had an advantage
on the other two.
But that's when I truly fell inlove.
I remember, like my first day Iwas a little like nervous
because I was like all right,like do I like blood, like am I
going to pass out here All thesestories or whatever.
But I remember saturing an ERdoctor and I was like this is
(18:09):
like I need to do this, like Ilove this.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (18:12):
Awesome, awesome.
Yeah, the ER is so exciting.
People like to see what's goingon in our world in the
operating room.
It's exciting stuff.
Okay, justin.
So now that we understand whatinspired you to go into medicine
, do you know exactly what fieldof medicine you want to go into
?
Justin Awad (18:26):
I don't know exactly what field of medicine,
but I can tell you what I do notwant to do.
What's that?
Three things.
One I do not mess with eyes.
I cannot be an ophthalmologist.
I look in the mirror and Istart crying looking at myself,
not because I'm hideous, butjust because I don't like eyes.
Two podiatrists I don't messwith feet either.
People do not clean theirtoenails.
It's nasty.
(18:47):
And then, number threepediatrics.
I can't do kids either.
They make me so sad whenthey're sick and stuff like that
.
So those are the three that Ican do, but the three that I'm
considering right noworthopedics, number one.
number two plastic surgery.
I think that's very interestingfield.
I know it's very lucrative aswell.
I'm very interesting, verylucrative.
And then I'm also consideringsort of a family medicine, pain
(19:10):
management also kind of area.
So I know they're a littlediverse, but those are my top
three.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (19:16):
So that's great to hear.
Listen, as you know, I'm alittle biased, but I'm
passionate about the field oforthopedic surgery.
I think it's the best of bothworlds.
Number one you mentioned youwant to do family practice.
It's sort of like internalmedicine.
I've always considered anorthopedic surgeon to be sort of
the primary care physician forthe musculoskeletal system.
(19:37):
Patients see us for everythingmusculoskeletal Neck pain, back
pain, shoulder pain, hip pain,knee pain, whatever.
They just see us first, whichis great.
So we get to do primary careorthopedic medicine, but we also
get to be a surgeon too.
So if those patients ultimatelyneed surgery, we also perform
the surgery on those body partsas well.
(19:57):
So it's sort of the best ofboth worlds.
We get to practice a lot ofnonoperative care, but then when
they do need surgery, we get totake care of that as well.
And I've always consideredorthopedics one of the most
rewarding specialties because weget that instant gratification.
We fix patients, they getbetter immediately.
It's very, very rewardingbecause of that instant
(20:19):
gratification.
So I'd encourage you to atleast consider it, Isn't it?
Justin Awad (20:23):
a very challenging field or a very competitive
field.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (20:25):
Certainly as far as surgeries are
concerned.
Orthopedics is way up there asfar as level of competitiveness.
So, with respect to preparingyourself for medical school,
what types of preparation haveyou considered so far?
Justin Awad (20:40):
Of course, number one my priority these past
couple years was just keeping mygrades up.
That's the number one thing.
You're not really going to getconsidered if your grades are
through the like, notcompetitive whatsoever, through
the ground, like terrible.
So that was my number onepriority.
Another very important aspectof my application going forward
is going to be myextracurriculars.
Like, what have I been doingwhen I'm not sitting in my room
(21:01):
studying?
Am I playing video games or amI volunteering?
Am I shadowing?
Am I starting my own businessor am I making social media
videos, for example, if someonewants to do that?
So that's also something thatI've been trying to focus on to
make sure that I'm awell-rounded applicant.
The med schools look at people.
They look at applicants notonly as numbers but as people as
(21:22):
well, which I think is amazingbecause I know back then it was
a little bit different justnumbers-wise.
But number one was grades.
Number two is just making surethat I'm doing what I love and
I'm being true to myself and I'mnot doing something because I
think that that's what the medschools would want.
I'm doing that because I lovethem.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (21:38):
Right.
And what about the MCAT, thestandardized test?
Are you preparing for that?
Justin Awad (21:43):
That's what I'm doing right now.
Yeah, it's hefty and it's along, eight-hour brutal exam.
But I've taken a whole bunch ofpractice ones and I'm studying
now and hopefully I'll be takingthat very soon and scoring well
hopefully.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (21:55):
Best of luck with that, thank you.
So the protocol essentially isto graduate from college.
Medical schools require atleast a bachelor's degree and
then it doesn't have to be inany specific field.
A lot of people like you chosepre-medicine or biology, but it
can really be in any field.
You have to do exceptionallywell during those college years,
(22:18):
typically have a high gradepoint average.
In addition to that, you'vereferenced the fact that you
have to participate inextracurricular activities
shadowing, volunteer work,community service etc.
Show a devout interest in thefield of medicine to the medical
school committee.
In addition to that, very oftenhave to have a very high MCAT
(22:42):
score.
It's sort of like the SAT orthe ACT getting into college.
So you're working on that andI'm proud of you and I wish you
all the best in that regard.
Once you get into medical school, medical school's a four-year
program.
There are different types ofmedical schools, right.
There's those allopathicschools like, where you graduate
and get an MD, and then thereare the osteopathic schools,
(23:04):
which also allow you to become adoctor, but you end up getting
a DO, a doctor of osteopathy, asopposed to an MD, which is a
medical degree.
In any event, both of thosegraduates become doctors.
After those four years ofmedical school you have to
decide what you want to go into.
So the first two years of thosemedical schools are typically
(23:28):
non-clinical years, where you'rejust doing didactics, learning
about biology, pathology,physiology, anatomy, etc.
The last two years of medicalschool is when you decide what
type of doctor you want tobecome.
You start doing your rotations.
Some of those rotations aremandatory and others are
elective.
You slowly decide, as youinteract with attending
(23:54):
physicians, what field ofmedicine you want to go into.
As you're rotating throughhospitals and different
operating rooms, you'redeveloping an interest in a
certain specialty.
So it's at that time when youdecide to choose electives that
are more tailored to yourdesires and what type of
physician you want to be.
That being said, when youfinally decide what type of
(24:17):
doctor you want to be, you haveto then apply to a residency
program.
So residency programs are verycompetitive depending on the
specialty.
So it is equally important to doexceptionally well in medical
school, as it is in college, toget into medical school.
So now you're in medical schooland if you want to be a surgeon
, for instance, there are somesurgical specialties that are
(24:38):
way more competitive than others, like orthopedic surgery,
ophthalmology, neurosurgery,plastic surgery, and then
there's non-surgical specialtiesthat are also very competitive,
like dermatology, because someof those doctors really choose
to go into those fields forlifestyle reasons.
So I just want to express theseare the steps that you have to
(25:00):
consider, and there are stepsthat you have to take in order
to achieve your goals and becomethe type of physician you want
to become.
It's not like you just go tomedical school and graduate and
decide to be the type of doctoryou want to be.
It's very important, whileyou're in medical school, to
always do your best, and thisway, you have all the options
(25:22):
open before you and you're notforced to choose a specialty
that is less competitive whenyour interests might be
elsewhere.
So at this point, i think we'lljust shift gears and focus on
what most of you are probablymost interested in, and that is
Justin Awad's incredible successas a social media influencer.
(25:43):
So, as I said before, justin hasapproximately 500,000 followers
on Instagram and approximately1.5 million followers on TikTok.
I mean, those numbers arestaggering.
I just applaud you for that,justin.
You haven't really been doingthis that long, but clearly
you're doing something right.
(26:03):
What was it that reallyinfluenced you to go into this
field.
Justin Awad (26:07):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I get that question a lot andit's hard to trace back to the
exact point.
But ever since I can remember,i love making my friends laugh
and I love bringing joy whereverI go.
Even though some peoplewouldn't really agree, that's
what I do, but that's what Ialways love to do.
And if we go back a couple ofyears, it was COVID and
everything was locked down And Ireally saw the toll, just
(26:31):
mentally and emotionally, thatit took on the people that I
genuinely love, like my friendsand my family and even my little
sister.
That's like in my own house andshe's like amazing and just a
ray of sunshine.
But it was hard just sitting inyour room or sitting in your
house for hours and hours andhours and days and days and
weeks and weeks.
So the thing that came to myhead was okay, what is something
in my power that I can do todayto change that, or to at least
(26:55):
take a step in the rightdirection to change that?
And so this awesome thing cameto my attention called TikTok,
and I was addicted for the firstweek to scrolling and scrolling
and scrolling.
So I was like, oh, these videosare funny and they're
entertaining.
Like I'm going to try to make avideo and I don't encourage
anyone to scroll, but if youscroll down fast enough, my
(27:17):
early days, i was a dancer backin the beginning, but not great.
So I started doing that, justmaking my friends laugh, making
my little sister smile a littlebit.
And then one day I was playinga video game with my friend like
a late at night and he didn'tknow, like the simplest thing,
like it was Barack Obama's vicepresident or something, and at
(27:38):
the time that was the previouspresident, right before Trump at
the time.
So he was like, oh, like Idon't know.
And I was like what do you mean?
you don't know.
And I was the vice president ofthe United States And he was
like nobody knows that.
And I was like, yes, people doknow that.
So we had a little back andforth And then we were like, all
right, like you know what, likewe'll test it.
So then I started asking people, like in our circle, and then I
started asking other people.
Like I said, it was like mallsare opening and people didn't
(28:00):
know, they didn't know that.
And then it was like all right,what about?
like this question?
Like like what's heavier athousand pounds of bricks or a
thousand pounds of feathers?
Oh, it's like common sense.
No, no, it's not common sense.
So a lot of people It kind ofjust progressed like out of that
, just laughing at each other,not knowing things, and like
debating what's common knowledgeand what's not common knowledge
and stuff like that.
(28:21):
And I was making the videos,like I said, for the people
closest to me and posting themonline so they can see it, and
other people started clearlyenjoying it And it was just a
snowball from there.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (28:31):
It must take a lot of your time.
First of all, you have todevelop these questions in your
own mind.
You have to take the time toget into the city and put a team
together of videographer, Iguess and then record the video,
select the people you're goingto be interviewing, edit the
videos.
I mean, it's just anoverwhelming formidable task.
Do you ever feel stressed withyour ability to keep up with
(28:55):
that volume?
Justin Awad (28:56):
Because obviously, as a social media influencer,
people are waiting for your nextvideo, each and every day,
probably, to come out right,yeah, yeah, it's way easier
during like breaks, like summerand winter break, because I
don't have school, like as apre-med biology major.
you just slam with work andthere's always something you
could be studying or could bedoing.
So it's hard to really balanceit then.
That's when, like, thediscipline and the time
(29:18):
management really come in.
But during summer it's a lotmore relaxed because it's
something I enjoy.
It's not like a task that Ihave to do.
but it is a little bit stressfulsometimes when I know that
there's videos I need to finish,i know that I need to get them
out and I have to do them, andthere are people waiting, like
you said, they're waiting forthe videos.
And I do get messages and thoselittle messages are encouraging
(29:39):
like oh, like when, like wherehave you been for the past
couple of days, or where haveyou been here or there, and it's
like it's a little bit cool tobe like all right, this random
person I've never met is likethinking about me and like kind
of like checking up, like oh,like what's up, like when can we
expect the next one, orwhatever.
So that's a little motivationto get them done.
But it's definitely stressful,but it's a good stress.
It's a stress that I'm verygrateful to have.
(30:00):
Yeah.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (30:01):
What's the average length of your video,
would you say?
Justin Awad (30:04):
I like to keep the videos just because of times
like our attention time.
So nowadays it's so short, so Idon't like to pose a video over
like 45 seconds.
I like to keep them under 45seconds, probably between 35 and
45.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (30:17):
And what is an average?
35 to 45.
Justin Awad (30:19):
The second video take you to produce A while,
yeah, it's hard to put aspecific number on one video,
but the way I film is I'll goand like go ask somebody to
interview them and I'll havelike one of my friends phones in
my hand with all the questionsand they'll record on my phone
and I'll just go through andjust ask them the questions.
And then the questions that Ithink are they have funny
(30:42):
answers and I cut them up.
But sometimes, like it's very,very variable, because none of
the videos are staged and noneof them are besides the
sponsored ones.
None of them are staged.
They're all real.
So sometimes people answer aquestion in two minutes.
Oh, i'm thinking.
I'm thinking, i don't know, idon't want to guess.
So it's like it's very, you cutout a lot of the videos, every
person.
You don't get to use everysingle question.
(31:02):
So I need to go through all ofthose which take time, cut them
all up and then decide whatvideos to put together what's
going to be the first video,what's going to be the second,
what's going to be the third,and put it all together.
So if I had to guess, i wouldprobably say between, like maybe
one to three hours per video,maybe even more, but I don't.
I'm not sure.
It's a rough estimate.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (31:23):
Are you doing all that editing on your
phone or are you using a?
Justin Awad (31:26):
computer for that.
In the beginning I did 100%everything on my phone in the
TikTok app, in the app itself,and then did a little research,
did a little setting, i moved toiMovie.
Yeah, yeah, it was a big jumpfor me.
It was bold.
But yeah, now I it's hard todelegate work and delegate power
(31:46):
, especially something that likemeans a lot to you and you
worked hard for it.
I kind of want like my ownflavor to it.
But my editor, he actuallylives in Romania, which is crazy
.
Yeah, he reached out to me viaemail and he was like Oh, send
me some work.
And he sent me his work, and hedoes a great job in my opinion.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (32:01):
I love what he does.
Oh nice Yeah.
Justin Awad (32:04):
So he's been gradually getting the grasp more
and more of like what I'mlooking for and like what I like
in my video.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (32:09):
So he's been taking off a lot of
pressure, a lot of stress for me, which is huge.
Nice, So you're uploading theclips to him.
Justin Awad (32:14):
He's doing most of the yeah As of right, actually,
literally up until this week, Iwas the one putting all the
clips together, like syncing theaudio, cutting them all up and
putting them together, And hewould just edit the words and
like music and whatever.
But up until this week I justsent him raw clips and he chose
the ones to put together and didall that.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (32:32):
So thank you, dan, if you're listening
you might have to send hisinformation my way.
So when you interview thesepeople, do you have to get their
permission to post anythingabout them afterwards?
Justin Awad (32:44):
Yeah, that's a.
It's a little touchy subject Sothere are specific rules that I
did not research beforehand.
I sadly learned from experience.
But, for instance, if I'mfilming in a mall, it's
technically private property.
So everything I film in thatmall kind of belongs to the mall
and is under their jurisdiction.
So if they're like, okay, wedon't want you making our
(33:06):
customers look bad or we don'twant this video up because it
whatever in the backgroundthere's construction, whatever,
I have to take the video downright away because it's their
private property.
And I filmed on their privateproperty.
And sometimes even likesecurity is like, oh, you can't
film here.
You can do this here or thathere And of course I am
respectful and leave.
But yeah, that's that's formalls.
It's a little challenging there.
But the bigger thing is under18 years old, because they
(33:30):
require parental permission, asignature sign page that allows
me to post their minor online.
So it's a little difficultinterviewing minors like people
under 18.
But other than that, in likeTimes Square or Central Park or
even any other park, that'stechnically public property,
it's fair game.
So, same thing as a futurist istaking a video of, like the
(33:52):
Empire State Building andsomeone's faces in it.
They can, why can't they post itonline?
And there's also, like theimplied consent aspect of it,
which if I ask somebody, do youwant to be in a video?
they verbally say yes And onvideo you see them looking at
the camera and you see them.
They see me holding a mic andthey move back for your implying
consent.
So even if they asked me totake it down, i technically have
(34:13):
the right to keep it up, butobviously I don't want to make
anyone feel upset or whatever.
So if they ask me to take itdown, i take it up?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (34:18):
How do you handle the negative backlash
that you may receive sometimes?
Justin Awad (34:21):
Yeah, in the beginning it was challenging.
to be honest, it really liketook a toll.
I was taking everything verypersonally, which, as time goes
on, i kind of realized that Ican't do that because they don't
know me as a whole person.
So there's no reason for themto judge me as a person and call
me certain names and certainwhatever.
So, like, as time progressed Idefinitely got better with that.
(34:43):
It doesn't nearly affect me asmuch nowadays as it did in the
beginning.
In the beginning it was reallybad.
I took almost an entire weekoff.
I think it was 10 days off, orI just didn't post because of
like two or three bad comments.
And that's on top of thehundreds of good comments.
Only like the two or three badones stick with you, which is
weird but it's true.
But I remember, like my dadtold me, name me one person who
(35:09):
is famous and is successful inlife, and people aren't hating
on them and people aren't sayingnegative things about them,
whether it's a politician or ifit's an athlete or if it's even
a historical figure.
like, everybody has differentperspectives and you can't
please everybody.
If you're pleasing everybody,then you're not true to yourself
.
So there's a certain aspect ofit.
and now I'm just at the placewhere I want to do what I love
(35:31):
to do, and if you don't like myvideos and you don't have to
watch them or you don't have tolike them, you can just keep
scrolling.
you don't have to follow me.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (35:37):
Yeah, sounds very true to character
like your mom and dad, suchencouraging people.
It doesn't surprise me thatthey were there for you in those
times.
But look, it bothers youbecause you care.
You know you care what peoplethink about you, and obviously I
do too.
It's important to us because wecare, justin.
(35:57):
By the way, how do you end upselecting the people that you're
going to interview?
Justin Awad (36:01):
Yeah, i say it's like an instilled instinct in me
.
I'm just gifted like that.
No, but in the beginning ittook much longer to get the
videos done because there's awhole learning curve.
Where it's like anybody I wouldsee, i'd just ask them, whether
it's like grandparents orparents or kids or Like
literally anybody I saw, i wouldask them.
(36:22):
But as time goes on you realizethat if somebody's holding their
shopping bags at a mall and onthe phone, you don't really want
to ask them.
They're clearly like in themiddle of something, don't want
to do something.
They're either going to say noor like it won't be entertaining
.
So as time goes on, i feel likeI'm getting a feel for things
more as time goes on.
Where it's like number one,they look like they would say
yes and be open to talking to meand be comfortable in front of
(36:45):
a camera.
And two, they look like theywould get funny answers.
But obviously I have no idea.
You can't really judge a bookby its cover at all, no matter
how experienced you are.
I've definitely gotten better,but there was a learning curve
in the beginning.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (36:58):
So, justin, i have to ask you the question
that's on everybody's mind Whatpercent of the people that you
interview get the questionsright the first time?
Justin Awad (37:07):
Oh man, this is the number one question I'm asked
for sure, but it definitelyvaries.
It's hard to give a certainnumber, but as time goes on I
feel like I'm getting better andbetter at asking people.
But I don't think people willbe too happy with the answer,
but almost everybody that Iinterview I use in the videos.
It's very rare when somebodygets all the questions right.
Some people get more questionswrong than others.
(37:30):
So each person is between arange, but I would say it's like
eight out of 10 basically everytime.
So I'd say around 80%.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (37:41):
You know, Justin, one important thing that
I wanted to just get out.
There was a conversation youand I had where we were talking
about this podcast and how it'seasy for people in my generation
to judge people in yourgeneration and say, wow, we're
doomed, The future of thiscountry is doomed.
(38:02):
But you responded in a mannerthat was very enlightening to me
.
It really made me consider thatconcept in a much different
perspective And I reallyrespected you for it.
I respected your answer And Ithink it's important to
communicate that to our viewingaudience because it may actually
(38:23):
change the way our generationviews your generation.
You know the baby boomergeneration compared to the
generation Z and the millennials.
So what is your perspective onthat concept?
Justin Awad (38:39):
Yeah, so it's usually what you said.
It's usually like always oh,this generation, they don't know
anything and they're dumb andthey don't want to read books
and they don't want to work hardand all this stuff.
And yeah, those aspects may betrue for a lot of people, but I
think the focus and the questionthat they're not asking is
where is the value of knowledgenow?
(39:01):
Where is the value of actualskills that people use?
when you're looking for someoneto hire, are you asking them
who fought against who in theCivil War?
Are you seeing how fast theycan type and how quickly they
can set up a website, or howquickly they can send an email
or make a new Instagram account?
I think my generation,generation Z, is.
We grew up with these computersin our hands, where we have
(39:22):
access to the unlimitedinformation and we know how to
use that in a way where not alot of people in other
generations know how to use.
So it's kind of okay.
Yeah, your grandma can knowevery single one of my questions
, but if she can't send thefacts, then like, where's the
value of knowledge?
So I think that there's theextreme poles where you know
(39:45):
nothing about each and you're introuble in both, but there's a
very happy medium where you cancontinue to learn both things.
You can always learn more facts, more knowledge, more common
sense, and you can also learnhow to set up this mic and set
up the camera and set upeverything in the technological
field.
So I wouldn't be too hard on thegeneration.
(40:06):
I think that there's a littlediscrepancy, because the older
generations know all the answersto these specific questions,
whereas if I were to ask olderpeople in those generations
questions that these kids wouldhave gone right, like oh, like,
what's an algorithm or what'ssomething like along those lines
, technologically, they wouldn'tknow how to do it.
(40:26):
So it's, i think there's,there's a happy medium You gotta
, you gotta know both.
So I wouldn't be too hard onthe generation.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (40:32):
Yeah, that really was very enlightening to
me, and that's.
That was a beautifulperspective, one that I had not
heard before or appreciated, andthat's really where we want to
be.
We want to be in that happymedium, you know.
You know, for us it's a littlefrustrating when we talk to our
kids and ask them the capital ofthis state or who is the first
(40:56):
president of the United States,the third president of the
United States, the 16thpresident of the United States,
all of whom they should know.
But it's equally as frustratingfor you guys when we're playing
around with our iPhones or ourcomputers and we can't do things
.
That, for you, is like aknee-jerk reaction.
(41:18):
I can't tell you how many timesI rely on my children to allow
me to use some advancedtechnologies these days, and I
learned from them.
So that was a beautifulperspective and thank you for
sharing that with us, and I hopethat that resonates with you as
well, because it did with me,and I will look at these kids in
a different light now, that'sfor sure.
So thank you for that, justin.
You know, justin, with allthese interviews that you've
(41:41):
done, there must be some thatmake you just still crack up
uncontrollably.
What are some of those favoritefunny interviews that you've
had.
Justin Awad (41:51):
No, there are definitely a couple that I can
watch over and over and overagain.
I still just die laughingbecause I remember the whole
situation once.
I didn't play in this inadvance, but me and my
videographer, we went to thecity and it happened to be the
day of NYU's graduation.
What's three times three timesthree, nine?
Yes.
So all of these kids arewalking around in their purple
(42:13):
cap and gowns at NYU andwhatever these things are called
, like their special things, andso I was like, oh, like, i'll
go and interview these collegekids.
They just graduated there inhappy moods or whatever.
It was so fun.
They knew nothing.
None of them knew anything.
I asked the most basicquestions and they were
struggling, and the commentsthat I was reading was hilarious
(42:33):
, though, like NYU was so dull,nyu doesn't know anything.
It was so funny.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (42:37):
So that's a lot of backlash from NYU after
this one.
Justin Awad (42:42):
I don't know what departments they were, what
majors, but it was just a funnyday.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (42:47):
Two that come to mind with me is I just
remember the one interview whereyou asked somebody can you name
a country that starts with you?
Justin Awad (42:57):
Can you name a country that starts with the
letter U?
Any country you got this.
I watched so many videos onthis one, yeah there are a lot
of videos out there.
Country that starts with theletter U.
Give me a guess, bureau.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (43:18):
Bureau.
Yes, meanwhile we're in theUnited States, and then another
one was just named, threecountries in North America, and
I heard Canada, which was good,but then I heard China and then
I heard Europe.
There you go.
Justin Awad (43:35):
Yes, very good, three countries.
And you probably said yes, yes,i probably did.
Yeah, and they're going to bewatching this and be like wait,
am I wrong?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (43:45):
Yeah, I don't know if that's good or bad
, that you just sort of enablethem and feed into them by just
yesing them to death.
They probably are high-fivingtheir friends after that, saying
that how smart they are andthey've got everything right.
But it's just.
I don't know.
It's part of the humor, I guess.
Justin Awad (44:07):
There's a funny story, really quick.
Once I interviewed a guy andusually I never like re-see the
person that I interviewedbecause it's either at the mall
or in Times Square and thechances of being the same person
at the same time in the sameplace again like twice is crazy.
But there was this one person.
I've interviewed them likemonths before I saw them again
in Times Square.
He's like six, five, whatever,and he's like coming at me.
(44:29):
So I was like, oh well, here wego.
But he was like, oh, like youinterviewed me and like I
thought I got the questionsright or whatever.
And he was like my teachershowed us in class, like they
showed the videos and all myfriends were like bullying me
Not bullying, but like all myfriends were laughing at me or
whatever And he kind of threw meunder the bus.
He was like, oh, he told me tosay the wrong answers.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (44:46):
He told me And I was like you told them
that I told you to say it.
Justin Awad (44:50):
It was just so funny, But maybe he like gave me
a handshake and then he waslike all right, I want to go
again.
So I gave him like new set ofquestions and got them all wrong
again.
So hopefully he told them thistime.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (45:01):
You must be recognized now everywhere you
go without many followers, right?
Justin Awad (45:05):
Yeah, yeah.
You're starting to feel like acelebrity.
I don't feel like it, but it'sdefinitely weird.
Sometimes you have Yeah, i feellike.
The most time I feel it is likewhen I'm at school and I'm just
sitting and like I see kidslooking at me.
I'm just like like I'm not cool, i'm normal.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (45:24):
Like you, can come say hi to me.
You don't have to look at me.
Has anyone ever asked you for asignature or anything?
Justin Awad (45:28):
Yeah, Well, there was one kid that asked me for a
signature and I said no.
I said I'm not going to ruinyour hat.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (45:32):
It's not worth it But.
Justin Awad (45:34):
I said like let's take a picture or whatever.
That's so cute.
Yeah, That's so cute.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (45:39):
Well, enjoy it while it lasts, and
hopefully it lasts for a longtime, justin.
But look, regardless of howsuccessful you become in the
future, from this or evenmedicine, you know we, really we
all know at the Kale family andso many in this community, the
real Justin Awad.
We know that it'll never go toyour head.
We know that you have such ahumble spirit and we know the
(46:01):
family that you come from.
And it really leads to my lastquestion.
Okay, that's probably the mostimportant question, because I
know the real Justin Awad.
I see that big, beautiful crossaround your chest.
I know you're a Christian and Iknow that you feel that you
live and have purpose.
You want to be a purpose inyour life.
You want to be a vessel, youwant to be an instrument.
(46:21):
So let's assume that thisplatform that you're on and your
success just continues toescalate in a vertical
trajectory.
How do you feel that,ultimately, you want to use this
platform in your life?
Justin Awad (46:37):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I don't think anyone's asked mebefore, but I think where I am
right now, it's kind of like Ifound a little niche that I'm
good at and I'm growing myplatform off of that And I feel
like over time and I've seenover time people are becoming
more and more interested in meas a person instead of me as an
interviewer or me as anentertainment.
(46:58):
And so as I grow like as ahuman being, as I grow in my
faith, as I grow followers andsocial media, i hope that people
become more and more interestedin me and my life And I'm going
to do everything in my power toreflect and to live just like
Jesus did and hopefully one day,when I get really big, i'll be
different from everyone else whois really big and going out and
(47:19):
partying and drinking and doingall that stuff that I don't
believe and I don't think isright.
Yeah, and all these othersocial media influences who are
so big and they think thatthey're like I don't know cool
by showing, like all these girlsand drugs and drinking on
social media And I feel likethey're being terrible examples,
because I know I have likelittle cousins who are watching
(47:40):
these people and like I don'tlike that at all.
So I want to live a life justlike Jesus did and do my best to
reflect who he is and hischaracter and his love for
everybody.
So as I grow my platform, ihope that people can really see
like who I am as a person and mylife will reflect what I preach
and I want other people to doas I do, not as I say, and so
(48:00):
that's a big goal And hopefully,like as a doctor, i can also
offer like extremely valuableinformation to help people's
everyday life, whether it'stheir physical health at the gym
or mental health or any medicalcondition they're suffering
with, because health is at theforefront of everything.
If you're not healthy, thenit's very hard to enjoy certain
aspects of life.
So, yeah, that's the goal.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (48:22):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Well, ladies and gentlemen,this is the real Justin Awad.
So you heard it right from thehorse's mouth.
I'm very, very proud to haveyou on this Kaila Ortho podcast.
I know your parents areextremely proud of you, not just
because of your level ofsuccess right now, but because
of the kind of man you are andyou're just so mature for your
(48:42):
age and I'm just so proud of you.
You have a great head on yourshoulders, justin, and look, i
just hope one day that youcontinue in your career path in
the field of medicine andhopefully that path will take
you down the road, potentially,of orthopedic surgery.
And you know, i'd be honored tohave you as part of our
(49:03):
organization one day and I'llcertainly be there to help you
every step of the way as amentor, to help guide and direct
you.
So, thank you so much for yourtime today.
I really appreciate the longday that you've had And of
course thank you.
So happy to have you, justin.
It was an honor.
All right, thank you, thank you.
Hello and welcome to another edition of
the Kale Ortho podcast.
Today is June 20th 2023.
And it's a very special editionof the Kale Ortho podcast.
We're so fortunate to haveJustin Awad with us today.
Justin is a very dear friend ofthe Kale family.
Justin grew up with my oldestson, robbie Kale, robert Kale,
(00:24):
and they have been tremendousfriends for all these years.
Justin and his family are alsovery close to the Kale family as
well.
We grew up together and still,to this day, remain very, very
close.
We're so fortunate to haveJustin with us today.
Welcome to the Kale Orthopodcast, justin, thank you so
(00:45):
much.
Justin Awad (00:45):
The honor is mine And this is a beautiful studio,
by the way.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (00:48):
I appreciate that, Coming from you
, that means a lot.
Thank you, Justin.
Justin is loved by everyonethat he comes across.
Our family loves him dearly,but the public love him as well.
He has an incrediblepersonality.
He's charming.
He's got everything going forhim.
He's just such a magnificentyoung man And I'm so happy to
(01:11):
have Justin with us today.
There is a reason that Justinis on this podcast, and we'll
get to that shortly.
Justin is also loved by theworld.
Now, As you may or may not know,Justin is an incredibly popular
social media influencer.
Now.
Justin has almost 500,000followers on Instagram.
(01:32):
He has almost 1.5 millionfollowers on TikTok.
It's just unbelievable.
I'm just so proud of you,Justin Now to see you grow up as
a kid and to reach this levelof success and influence in this
world.
It's just so magnificent And inall this time, you've remained
so, so humble and it's just so,so nice to see.
(01:55):
It just makes us, as a parentmyself, it just makes us so
happy to see that You're stillthe same Justin Awad that we
knew growing up years ago, Andit is for that reason that we've
invited Justin to participatein this Kale Ortho podcast today
, and we'll get to the reasonsvery shortly, Justin, regarding
(02:15):
your social media campaigns,your whole brand has been built
primarily on bringing to ourattention and highlighting a
national pandemic in thiscountry, And what I'm referring
to primarily is what appears tobe at least more and more
uneducated youth.
Your TikTok and Instagram postsare hilarious.
Justin Awad (02:37):
Can you name a country that starts with the
letter U?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (02:40):
What's this ?
Justin Awad (02:44):
Any country You got this.
I watched so many videos onthis.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (02:50):
Yeah, there are a lot of videos up there.
Justin Awad (02:52):
A country that starts with the letter U?
Give me a guess?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (02:55):
A Europe, a Europe, yes.
What's the?
Justin Awad (02:57):
shape with four sides called I don't know.
I haven't had, i haven't donesomething with shape since like
fifth grade.
Yeah, if you had a guess, idon't know, like I don't, i
don't, i don't, i know what,like what shape it is, but I
know what shapes have four sides, but I don't know the name for
(03:17):
it.
Yes, can you name threecountries besides the USA
Alabama, that's one, new MexicoTwo, connecticut Three.
It's too easy for you.
What is one quarter plus twodimes?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (03:37):
One quarter plus two, how much money is?
Justin Awad (03:38):
that That's 65 cents.
Is it 65 cents?
Yes, what's three times threetimes three?
Nine?
Yes, how many continents arethere?
I don't know.
Yes, yes, do I know?
Yes, can you name threecountries besides the USA?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (03:59):
Oh my.
Justin Awad (04:00):
God, now I got this , i got this.
Countries right Texas.
Yeah, that's one.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (04:07):
North Carolina.
Two.
What else?
One more baby, you got thisCalifornia.
Justin Awad (04:16):
You really can't watch them without cracking up.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (04:19):
I think about them and we crack up, but
in reality, they're also very,very sad.
It's sort of a bittersweet typeof engagement in that they
reveal and highlight a nationalpandemic of failure of the
education system in the UnitedStates.
It seems that some of theinterviewees of your podcast
(04:42):
seem to be less educated orinformed about common things
that the average person shouldknow about, About presidents and
countries and capitals andgeography and different things
that you constantly interviewthese interviewees about.
And I just want to say that Ithink about, interviewees about,
(05:04):
and I just think about them,and you just yes them to death
And I don't know if that's goodor bad.
It's not educating them.
It seems to be enabling theproblem even further.
You're not correcting theseindividuals, you're not
educating them further, you'rejust further enabling them.
But that's okay.
(05:24):
That's what makes it so funny,i guess.
You highlight this problem, youbring it to our attention, you
laugh about it.
Unfortunately, it leads us tobelieve that this generation of
individuals are entitled anduneducated.
It seems like their work ethicis not going to be what we need
(05:44):
it to be.
It's not what built thiscountry, for sure, and it's
concerning, and so I felt thatthis is a fantastic opportunity
to invite you on this podcast sowe can maybe talk about you and
see if you truly practice whatyou preach Or you want to those
individuals because you comefrom that generation.
(06:07):
And if you are, well so be it.
But if you're not, you know,perhaps we have an incredible
opportunity here to be used onour platform and your platform
to maybe encourage otherindividuals in your generation
about maybe a different paththat they can take to succeed in
(06:29):
life.
So, on that note, justin, whydon't you just take a couple of
minutes and just tell us aboutyourself?
tell us about yourself, yourfamily.
Justin Awad (06:36):
Well, first of all, i want to say thank you for
what the kind of words that yousaid at the beginning.
It means a lot coming from youas somebody that I look up to
and aspire to be like one day,especially as a surgeon, as a
doctor.
That means a lot coming fromyou.
So thank you for that.
But, yeah, i'm so excited to behere.
About myself my name is Justin.
If you don't know that by now,you should come DM me so I can
(06:59):
interview you.
But yeah, i'm 21 years old.
I grew up here in New Jersey andI started making videos almost
three years ago, exactly almostduring the summer, three years
ago, during the pandemic.
I started because I, ever sincegrowing up in high school, i'm
sure, if you ask Ravi I loveentertaining and I love making
my friends laugh and having agood time, because I feel like
(07:22):
that's what life's about.
What if you can't?
So what if you accomplish somuch if you're not enjoying it
and having a good time?
So I started making videos,especially during the pandemic.
everyone was locked at home,malls were closed, everything
was closed, and I saw how muchof an effect and a toll it
really had on everybody that Iloved, including my friends,
(07:43):
family, cousins, even my littlesister in the house with me.
It really was taking a toll onher and she's like a ray of
sunshine too.
So I was like, what can I do to, one, be safe from the virus
and everything, because it wasvery uncertain times.
And two, how can I bring just alittle ray of sunshine, just a
little joy to all these people?
And then this thing calledTikTok blew up out of nowhere
(08:05):
and oh, it's part of thecoronavirus scam and it's part
of this, and they're spying onus and whatever.
I was just like I don't knowwhat.
it seems pretty cool.
So I started making videos.
The first couple of videos Imade don't scroll down.
I was dancing.
I'm so embarrassed of itnowadays Looking back.
I was just, i was a good dancer, but I'm not bringing it back,
(08:25):
i don't say that much, but yeah.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (08:28):
Are they still?
Justin Awad (08:28):
online.
I think they are.
You're not to school a littlebit.
I don't advise.
Yeah, so the idea of theinterviews came up when I was
playing a video game with one ofmy friends and I forgot what it
was because it was also thetime of the Trump's re-election
and stuff 2020.
(08:49):
And so I said, oh, who is?
do you even know who Obama'svice president was?
And the kid didn't know.
And I was like what do you mean?
you don't know.
And then he was like nobodyknows that.
No one knows who that is.
I was like what do you mean?
So we were going, we had like alittle back and forth, this is
common knowledge.
And then he was like, no, thisis not common knowledge.
And then that's when I was like, oh yeah, so let's go find out.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (09:11):
Something clicked, yeah, and my
personality type.
Justin Awad (09:15):
I'm not very afraid to go up to people and talk to
them.
I think that it's it bringssomething so unique, hearing all
these different people'sbackgrounds and their whole
lives.
And that's what I get to doevery person I interview, Like
it's not just I ask questionsand leave.
We talk a little bit like oh,where are you from, How old are
you?
Stuff like that.
We have been a littleinteraction and I love that so
much.
But yeah, that's how it allstarted And here we are.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (09:38):
Awesome.
So what are you doing withyourself these days besides
doing this?
Obviously are you in school.
Justin Awad (09:44):
I am in school.
Yeah, I'm in junior year atSeton Hall University.
I'm a biology major.
In my data chemistry minor.
I just need to take like threemore classes to do that.
But there are three heftyclasses, but we'll see.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (09:57):
Yeah, So Seton Hall biology major.
So that means you probably havean interest in going into some
field of in the sciences, right?
Justin Awad (10:06):
100%.
That's the dream and goal eversince I can remember So what is
that goal and aspiration ofyours?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (10:13):
I want to be a doctor.
Justin Awad (10:14):
Fantastic.
I want to help people and savelives and make them smile.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (10:19):
Awesome, awesome.
Do you know what kind of?
Justin Awad (10:21):
doctor you want to be?
No, but I can tell you what Idon't want to be.
What's that?
People ask that a lot.
I don't do eyes Can't be anophthalmologist No, i cry
looking at my own eyes in themirror.
I can't look at that.
I don't mess with feet either.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (10:32):
Okay, neither do I.
People need to clean theirtoenails And number three.
Justin Awad (10:38):
I don't do pediatrics because I feel so bad
for the kids.
But other than that, yeah, i'mopen.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (10:45):
Yeah, i actually knew that you wanted to
be a doctor and that's sort ofwhy you're on this podcast.
I'll never forget when Robbietold me that you wanted to be a
doctor and you got accepted toSeton Hall and Biology and
you're going to be a doctor andmade me so happy for you because
I'm so passionate about thisfield of medicine, although I
(11:06):
would have loved to see one ofmy first three children go into
medicine and possibly get intoorthopedics.
That didn't happen.
I still have three to go, butto each his or her own Now.
As you know, our oldest becamea mental health counselor, so
she's in medicine.
My wife's a nurse.
My second daughter, makayla, isa nurse and she's actually
(11:31):
going to become a nursepractitioner very soon.
She's in the doctoral programfor nurse practitioners.
So they are all in medicine,but no one actually opted to
become a doctor yet.
So when I heard you did,knowing how close you are with
Robbie, i was so proud of youand so excited that you stuck
with it and you're stillpersevering.
(11:51):
So that makes me very excitedtoo, because I'm a local doctor.
Right, i have a practice.
You look like an orthopedicsurgeon and I'd love to see you
one day, maybe come into thepractice, but we'll see.
We'll play it by ear, but thatis fantastic.
So, yes, that's why Justin's onthis podcast.
Justin leads by example.
(12:13):
He does get out there, he doesentertain, he does bring
attention to this real issue,and he's actually leading by
example in that he's doing itthe old fashioned way.
He will succeed.
There's no question in our mindthat he will succeed as a
physician and become a greatphysician one day, and I just
(12:36):
felt it might be a greatopportunity to have Justin on
the KL Ortho podcast and sort oflay it all out there about what
that path is like and what youreally would need to do if you
had any interest in pursuing acareer in the field of medicine.
And that could be physician, itcould be chiropractor, it could
(12:57):
be a physical therapist, itcould be a physician assistant,
it could be any of that, itcould be a nurse, and so if any
of that is enticing to you, iencourage you to just continue
listening to the podcast,watching the podcast, as we're
going to go through it step bystep to help your goals become
(13:19):
reality.
So, justin, that being said, youwant to be a doctor.
So you're in your third year ofcollege right now studying
biology.
How do you become a doctor?
What happens after next year?
is your senior year in collegeright?
You will hopefully graduatenext year.
(13:39):
I'm sure you will.
How important are your gradesto becoming a physician?
Justin Awad (13:45):
Yeah.
So of course they're veryimportant, but the medical
schools know that there'sextreme variability from school
to school, professor toprofessor.
In my school there's only liketwo professors for, say, a
certain chemistry class, and oneprofessor's average is like an
80 for their exams and theothers is like a 50.
So where's the discrepancy?
How much does this kid actuallyreally know?
(14:06):
So, and the medical schools,they know that stuff.
So your grades are very, veryimportant, but they're not
everything.
Your GPA is not everything.
The big three I'm sure you know, is your GPA, your MCAT score
and your personal statement.
Slash your interviews.
They want to know that you're areal person, that you can talk
to other people, you can relayinformation to your patients,
you're sociable, you're not arobot, because doctors they
(14:27):
can't be robots To.
They need to make sure that youdo well in your MCAT, which is
a standardized test.
So these basic scienceprinciples and these basic
science ideas that you need toknow to do, which are the
foundation for everythingmedicine you need to know those
things.
So you get tested on that.
And then your GPA.
So I would say it's one of thebig three that you need your GPA
(14:51):
.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (14:52):
How important are other activities,
extracurricular activities,volunteer work, community
service, things like that.
Justin Awad (14:59):
Yeah, those are also extremely important to show
your interest, that you're alsolike a human.
Like I said, you're not a robot.
You're not a robot.
I have to learn teamwork,playing on an intramural team.
Or you want to show that yougenuinely care about other
people by volunteering at likeyour, your church or your local,
like a food, food pantry oranything like that.
That's definitely a veryimportant aspect and medical
(15:21):
schools love to do that.
But I would recommend don't belike artificial with it.
Do what you genuinely love.
Like for me personally, like Ilove playing basketball, so I
volunteer at like a basketballcamp.
That's what I like to do, soI'm going to go do that.
And who says a basketball campis better than a soccer camp or
is better than whatever otherthing?
somebody wants to volunteer.
I think today didn't today'sday and age, at least like in my
(15:43):
circle, i'm seeing a lot oflike repetitive things where
people think it's a checklistYou have to check off to.
Oh, i need to be an EMT, i needto do my research 500 hours, i
need to do this, i need to dothat, and I don't believe that
that's what medical schools arelooking for.
I think they want to see, doyou have the ability and are you
a real person who would make agood doctor?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (16:00):
So yeah, how about shadowing?
Is it important to shadowanyone in the field of medicine?
Justin Awad (16:06):
Yeah, i would say shadowing is a big 50, 50, not
in the sense that it's important, but it's in the sense of you
need to show the medical schoolsthat you put in the time and
that you know what you'resigning up for, so you don't
like drop out and you don'twaste half a million dollars and
like years and years of yourlife And also for yourself to
see do I genuinely like this?
Is this actually what I want tospend the rest of my life doing
(16:26):
?
And, like I said, spend thatmoney and spend those years
actually doing that.
So I think it's just asimportant for you as an
individual deciding to go downthis path as it is for the
medical schools looking at youas an applicant What actually
inspired you to go into medicine?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (16:41):
I?
Justin Awad (16:41):
remember I think it might have been when my family
lived back in Florida or when wejust came here my mom, we were
in Target like walking around orwhatever, and I bought.
She bought me like astethoscope or like a little
stethoscope, a plastic one.
I don't think it worked, but Iwas in love with that thing I
always try to feel my littlesister's heartbeat, and I never
(17:02):
found it because it was plastic.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (17:04):
I always tried, though I'm getting close.
Justin Awad (17:07):
I remember that it sparked my interest.
But then when I really justlike decided that this is what I
wanted to do, was in between mysophomore year of high school
and my junior year of highschool, because that's when my
mom was like all right, likelike get off your butt, it's
time to start doing somethingwith your life.
She made me do like a stockmarket camp, like on Wall Street
(17:27):
in the city.
My dad owns a jewelry businessin also in the city, so I spent
like a couple of weeks doing thestock market camp and Wall
Street computers.
I had to go into work every daywith my dad sitting in the
traffic on the bridge on the wayback.
And then third thing I did wasI did a medical camp at Holy
Name Hospital in Tina.
Originally I was enticed that Idon't have to wake up two hours
(17:49):
earlier to drive into the cityand do all that, so that
originally like right off thebat it already had an advantage
on the other two.
But that's when I truly fell inlove.
I remember, like my first day Iwas a little like nervous
because I was like all right,like do I like blood, like am I
going to pass out here All thesestories or whatever.
But I remember saturing an ERdoctor and I was like this is
(18:09):
like I need to do this, like Ilove this.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (18:12):
Awesome, awesome.
Yeah, the ER is so exciting.
People like to see what's goingon in our world in the
operating room.
It's exciting stuff.
Okay, justin.
So now that we understand whatinspired you to go into medicine
, do you know exactly what fieldof medicine you want to go into
?
Justin Awad (18:26):
I don't know exactly what field of medicine,
but I can tell you what I do notwant to do.
What's that?
Three things.
One I do not mess with eyes.
I cannot be an ophthalmologist.
I look in the mirror and Istart crying looking at myself,
not because I'm hideous, butjust because I don't like eyes.
Two podiatrists I don't messwith feet either.
People do not clean theirtoenails.
It's nasty.
(18:47):
And then, number threepediatrics.
I can't do kids either.
They make me so sad whenthey're sick and stuff like that
.
So those are the three that Ican do, but the three that I'm
considering right noworthopedics, number one.
number two plastic surgery.
I think that's very interestingfield.
I know it's very lucrative aswell.
I'm very interesting, verylucrative.
And then I'm also consideringsort of a family medicine, pain
(19:10):
management also kind of area.
So I know they're a littlediverse, but those are my top
three.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (19:16):
So that's great to hear.
Listen, as you know, I'm alittle biased, but I'm
passionate about the field oforthopedic surgery.
I think it's the best of bothworlds.
Number one you mentioned youwant to do family practice.
It's sort of like internalmedicine.
I've always considered anorthopedic surgeon to be sort of
the primary care physician forthe musculoskeletal system.
(19:37):
Patients see us for everythingmusculoskeletal Neck pain, back
pain, shoulder pain, hip pain,knee pain, whatever.
They just see us first, whichis great.
So we get to do primary careorthopedic medicine, but we also
get to be a surgeon too.
So if those patients ultimatelyneed surgery, we also perform
the surgery on those body partsas well.
(19:57):
So it's sort of the best ofboth worlds.
We get to practice a lot ofnonoperative care, but then when
they do need surgery, we get totake care of that as well.
And I've always consideredorthopedics one of the most
rewarding specialties because weget that instant gratification.
We fix patients, they getbetter immediately.
It's very, very rewardingbecause of that instant
(20:19):
gratification.
So I'd encourage you to atleast consider it, Isn't it?
Justin Awad (20:23):
a very challenging field or a very competitive
field.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (20:25):
Certainly as far as surgeries are
concerned.
Orthopedics is way up there asfar as level of competitiveness.
So, with respect to preparingyourself for medical school,
what types of preparation haveyou considered so far?
Justin Awad (20:40):
Of course, number one my priority these past
couple years was just keeping mygrades up.
That's the number one thing.
You're not really going to getconsidered if your grades are
through the like, notcompetitive whatsoever, through
the ground, like terrible.
So that was my number onepriority.
Another very important aspectof my application going forward
is going to be myextracurriculars.
Like, what have I been doingwhen I'm not sitting in my room
(21:01):
studying?
Am I playing video games or amI volunteering?
Am I shadowing?
Am I starting my own businessor am I making social media
videos, for example, if someonewants to do that?
So that's also something thatI've been trying to focus on to
make sure that I'm awell-rounded applicant.
The med schools look at people.
They look at applicants notonly as numbers but as people as
(21:22):
well, which I think is amazingbecause I know back then it was
a little bit different justnumbers-wise.
But number one was grades.
Number two is just making surethat I'm doing what I love and
I'm being true to myself and I'mnot doing something because I
think that that's what the medschools would want.
I'm doing that because I lovethem.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (21:38):
Right.
And what about the MCAT, thestandardized test?
Are you preparing for that?
Justin Awad (21:43):
That's what I'm doing right now.
Yeah, it's hefty and it's along, eight-hour brutal exam.
But I've taken a whole bunch ofpractice ones and I'm studying
now and hopefully I'll be takingthat very soon and scoring well
hopefully.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (21:55):
Best of luck with that, thank you.
So the protocol essentially isto graduate from college.
Medical schools require atleast a bachelor's degree and
then it doesn't have to be inany specific field.
A lot of people like you chosepre-medicine or biology, but it
can really be in any field.
You have to do exceptionallywell during those college years,
(22:18):
typically have a high gradepoint average.
In addition to that, you'vereferenced the fact that you
have to participate inextracurricular activities
shadowing, volunteer work,community service etc.
Show a devout interest in thefield of medicine to the medical
school committee.
In addition to that, very oftenhave to have a very high MCAT
(22:42):
score.
It's sort of like the SAT orthe ACT getting into college.
So you're working on that andI'm proud of you and I wish you
all the best in that regard.
Once you get into medical school, medical school's a four-year
program.
There are different types ofmedical schools, right.
There's those allopathicschools like, where you graduate
and get an MD, and then thereare the osteopathic schools,
(23:04):
which also allow you to become adoctor, but you end up getting
a DO, a doctor of osteopathy, asopposed to an MD, which is a
medical degree.
In any event, both of thosegraduates become doctors.
After those four years ofmedical school you have to
decide what you want to go into.
So the first two years of thosemedical schools are typically
(23:28):
non-clinical years, where you'rejust doing didactics, learning
about biology, pathology,physiology, anatomy, etc.
The last two years of medicalschool is when you decide what
type of doctor you want tobecome.
You start doing your rotations.
Some of those rotations aremandatory and others are
elective.
You slowly decide, as youinteract with attending
(23:54):
physicians, what field ofmedicine you want to go into.
As you're rotating throughhospitals and different
operating rooms, you'redeveloping an interest in a
certain specialty.
So it's at that time when youdecide to choose electives that
are more tailored to yourdesires and what type of
physician you want to be.
That being said, when youfinally decide what type of
(24:17):
doctor you want to be, you haveto then apply to a residency
program.
So residency programs are verycompetitive depending on the
specialty.
So it is equally important to doexceptionally well in medical
school, as it is in college, toget into medical school.
So now you're in medical schooland if you want to be a surgeon
, for instance, there are somesurgical specialties that are
(24:38):
way more competitive than others, like orthopedic surgery,
ophthalmology, neurosurgery,plastic surgery, and then
there's non-surgical specialtiesthat are also very competitive,
like dermatology, because someof those doctors really choose
to go into those fields forlifestyle reasons.
So I just want to express theseare the steps that you have to
(25:00):
consider, and there are stepsthat you have to take in order
to achieve your goals and becomethe type of physician you want
to become.
It's not like you just go tomedical school and graduate and
decide to be the type of doctoryou want to be.
It's very important, whileyou're in medical school, to
always do your best, and thisway, you have all the options
(25:22):
open before you and you're notforced to choose a specialty
that is less competitive whenyour interests might be
elsewhere.
So at this point, i think we'lljust shift gears and focus on
what most of you are probablymost interested in, and that is
Justin Awad's incredible successas a social media influencer.
(25:43):
So, as I said before, justin hasapproximately 500,000 followers
on Instagram and approximately1.5 million followers on TikTok.
I mean, those numbers arestaggering.
I just applaud you for that,justin.
You haven't really been doingthis that long, but clearly
you're doing something right.
(26:03):
What was it that reallyinfluenced you to go into this
field.
Justin Awad (26:07):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I get that question a lot andit's hard to trace back to the
exact point.
But ever since I can remember,i love making my friends laugh
and I love bringing joy whereverI go.
Even though some peoplewouldn't really agree, that's
what I do, but that's what Ialways love to do.
And if we go back a couple ofyears, it was COVID and
everything was locked down And Ireally saw the toll, just
(26:31):
mentally and emotionally, thatit took on the people that I
genuinely love, like my friendsand my family and even my little
sister.
That's like in my own house andshe's like amazing and just a
ray of sunshine.
But it was hard just sitting inyour room or sitting in your
house for hours and hours andhours and days and days and
weeks and weeks.
So the thing that came to myhead was okay, what is something
in my power that I can do todayto change that, or to at least
(26:55):
take a step in the rightdirection to change that?
And so this awesome thing cameto my attention called TikTok,
and I was addicted for the firstweek to scrolling and scrolling
and scrolling.
So I was like, oh, these videosare funny and they're
entertaining.
Like I'm going to try to make avideo and I don't encourage
anyone to scroll, but if youscroll down fast enough, my
(27:17):
early days, i was a dancer backin the beginning, but not great.
So I started doing that, justmaking my friends laugh, making
my little sister smile a littlebit.
And then one day I was playinga video game with my friend like
a late at night and he didn'tknow, like the simplest thing,
like it was Barack Obama's vicepresident or something, and at
(27:38):
the time that was the previouspresident, right before Trump at
the time.
So he was like, oh, like Idon't know.
And I was like what do you mean?
you don't know.
And I was the vice president ofthe United States And he was
like nobody knows that.
And I was like, yes, people doknow that.
So we had a little back andforth And then we were like, all
right, like you know what, likewe'll test it.
So then I started asking people, like in our circle, and then I
started asking other people.
Like I said, it was like mallsare opening and people didn't
(28:00):
know, they didn't know that.
And then it was like all right,what about?
like this question?
Like like what's heavier athousand pounds of bricks or a
thousand pounds of feathers?
Oh, it's like common sense.
No, no, it's not common sense.
So a lot of people It kind ofjust progressed like out of that
, just laughing at each other,not knowing things, and like
debating what's common knowledgeand what's not common knowledge
and stuff like that.
(28:21):
And I was making the videos,like I said, for the people
closest to me and posting themonline so they can see it, and
other people started clearlyenjoying it And it was just a
snowball from there.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (28:31):
It must take a lot of your time.
First of all, you have todevelop these questions in your
own mind.
You have to take the time toget into the city and put a team
together of videographer, Iguess and then record the video,
select the people you're goingto be interviewing, edit the
videos.
I mean, it's just anoverwhelming formidable task.
Do you ever feel stressed withyour ability to keep up with
(28:55):
that volume?
Justin Awad (28:56):
Because obviously, as a social media influencer,
people are waiting for your nextvideo, each and every day,
probably, to come out right,yeah, yeah, it's way easier
during like breaks, like summerand winter break, because I
don't have school, like as apre-med biology major.
you just slam with work andthere's always something you
could be studying or could bedoing.
So it's hard to really balanceit then.
That's when, like, thediscipline and the time
(29:18):
management really come in.
But during summer it's a lotmore relaxed because it's
something I enjoy.
It's not like a task that Ihave to do.
but it is a little bit stressfulsometimes when I know that
there's videos I need to finish,i know that I need to get them
out and I have to do them, andthere are people waiting, like
you said, they're waiting forthe videos.
And I do get messages and thoselittle messages are encouraging
(29:39):
like oh, like when, like wherehave you been for the past
couple of days, or where haveyou been here or there, and it's
like it's a little bit cool tobe like all right, this random
person I've never met is likethinking about me and like kind
of like checking up, like oh,like what's up, like when can we
expect the next one, orwhatever.
So that's a little motivationto get them done.
But it's definitely stressful,but it's a good stress.
It's a stress that I'm verygrateful to have.
(30:00):
Yeah.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (30:01):
What's the average length of your video,
would you say?
Justin Awad (30:04):
I like to keep the videos just because of times
like our attention time.
So nowadays it's so short, so Idon't like to pose a video over
like 45 seconds.
I like to keep them under 45seconds, probably between 35 and
45.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (30:17):
And what is an average?
35 to 45.
Justin Awad (30:19):
The second video take you to produce A while,
yeah, it's hard to put aspecific number on one video,
but the way I film is I'll goand like go ask somebody to
interview them and I'll havelike one of my friends phones in
my hand with all the questionsand they'll record on my phone
and I'll just go through andjust ask them the questions.
And then the questions that Ithink are they have funny
(30:42):
answers and I cut them up.
But sometimes, like it's very,very variable, because none of
the videos are staged and noneof them are besides the
sponsored ones.
None of them are staged.
They're all real.
So sometimes people answer aquestion in two minutes.
Oh, i'm thinking.
I'm thinking, i don't know, idon't want to guess.
So it's like it's very, you cutout a lot of the videos, every
person.
You don't get to use everysingle question.
(31:02):
So I need to go through all ofthose which take time, cut them
all up and then decide whatvideos to put together what's
going to be the first video,what's going to be the second,
what's going to be the third,and put it all together.
So if I had to guess, i wouldprobably say between, like maybe
one to three hours per video,maybe even more, but I don't.
I'm not sure.
It's a rough estimate.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (31:23):
Are you doing all that editing on your
phone or are you using a?
Justin Awad (31:26):
computer for that.
In the beginning I did 100%everything on my phone in the
TikTok app, in the app itself,and then did a little research,
did a little setting, i moved toiMovie.
Yeah, yeah, it was a big jumpfor me.
It was bold.
But yeah, now I it's hard todelegate work and delegate power
(31:46):
, especially something that likemeans a lot to you and you
worked hard for it.
I kind of want like my ownflavor to it.
But my editor, he actuallylives in Romania, which is crazy
.
Yeah, he reached out to me viaemail and he was like Oh, send
me some work.
And he sent me his work, and hedoes a great job in my opinion.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (32:01):
I love what he does.
Oh nice Yeah.
Justin Awad (32:04):
So he's been gradually getting the grasp more
and more of like what I'mlooking for and like what I like
in my video.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (32:09):
So he's been taking off a lot of
pressure, a lot of stress for me, which is huge.
Nice, So you're uploading theclips to him.
Justin Awad (32:14):
He's doing most of the yeah As of right, actually,
literally up until this week, Iwas the one putting all the
clips together, like syncing theaudio, cutting them all up and
putting them together, And hewould just edit the words and
like music and whatever.
But up until this week I justsent him raw clips and he chose
the ones to put together and didall that.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (32:32):
So thank you, dan, if you're listening
you might have to send hisinformation my way.
So when you interview thesepeople, do you have to get their
permission to post anythingabout them afterwards?
Justin Awad (32:44):
Yeah, that's a.
It's a little touchy subject Sothere are specific rules that I
did not research beforehand.
I sadly learned from experience.
But, for instance, if I'mfilming in a mall, it's
technically private property.
So everything I film in thatmall kind of belongs to the mall
and is under their jurisdiction.
So if they're like, okay, wedon't want you making our
(33:06):
customers look bad or we don'twant this video up because it
whatever in the backgroundthere's construction, whatever,
I have to take the video downright away because it's their
private property.
And I filmed on their privateproperty.
And sometimes even likesecurity is like, oh, you can't
film here.
You can do this here or thathere And of course I am
respectful and leave.
But yeah, that's that's formalls.
It's a little challenging there.
But the bigger thing is under18 years old, because they
(33:30):
require parental permission, asignature sign page that allows
me to post their minor online.
So it's a little difficultinterviewing minors like people
under 18.
But other than that, in likeTimes Square or Central Park or
even any other park, that'stechnically public property,
it's fair game.
So, same thing as a futurist istaking a video of, like the
(33:52):
Empire State Building andsomeone's faces in it.
They can, why can't they post itonline?
And there's also, like theimplied consent aspect of it,
which if I ask somebody, do youwant to be in a video?
they verbally say yes And onvideo you see them looking at
the camera and you see them.
They see me holding a mic andthey move back for your implying
consent.
So even if they asked me totake it down, i technically have
(34:13):
the right to keep it up, butobviously I don't want to make
anyone feel upset or whatever.
So if they ask me to take itdown, i take it up?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (34:18):
How do you handle the negative backlash
that you may receive sometimes?
Justin Awad (34:21):
Yeah, in the beginning it was challenging.
to be honest, it really liketook a toll.
I was taking everything verypersonally, which, as time goes
on, i kind of realized that Ican't do that because they don't
know me as a whole person.
So there's no reason for themto judge me as a person and call
me certain names and certainwhatever.
So, like, as time progressed Idefinitely got better with that.
(34:43):
It doesn't nearly affect me asmuch nowadays as it did in the
beginning.
In the beginning it was reallybad.
I took almost an entire weekoff.
I think it was 10 days off, orI just didn't post because of
like two or three bad comments.
And that's on top of thehundreds of good comments.
Only like the two or three badones stick with you, which is
weird but it's true.
But I remember, like my dadtold me, name me one person who
(35:09):
is famous and is successful inlife, and people aren't hating
on them and people aren't sayingnegative things about them,
whether it's a politician or ifit's an athlete or if it's even
a historical figure.
like, everybody has differentperspectives and you can't
please everybody.
If you're pleasing everybody,then you're not true to yourself
.
So there's a certain aspect ofit.
and now I'm just at the placewhere I want to do what I love
(35:31):
to do, and if you don't like myvideos and you don't have to
watch them or you don't have tolike them, you can just keep
scrolling.
you don't have to follow me.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (35:37):
Yeah, sounds very true to character
like your mom and dad, suchencouraging people.
It doesn't surprise me thatthey were there for you in those
times.
But look, it bothers youbecause you care.
You know you care what peoplethink about you, and obviously I
do too.
It's important to us because wecare, justin.
(35:57):
By the way, how do you end upselecting the people that you're
going to interview?
Justin Awad (36:01):
Yeah, i say it's like an instilled instinct in me
.
I'm just gifted like that.
No, but in the beginning ittook much longer to get the
videos done because there's awhole learning curve.
Where it's like anybody I wouldsee, i'd just ask them, whether
it's like grandparents orparents or kids or Like
literally anybody I saw, i wouldask them.
(36:22):
But as time goes on you realizethat if somebody's holding their
shopping bags at a mall and onthe phone, you don't really want
to ask them.
They're clearly like in themiddle of something, don't want
to do something.
They're either going to say noor like it won't be entertaining
.
So as time goes on, i feel likeI'm getting a feel for things
more as time goes on.
Where it's like number one,they look like they would say
yes and be open to talking to meand be comfortable in front of
(36:45):
a camera.
And two, they look like theywould get funny answers.
But obviously I have no idea.
You can't really judge a bookby its cover at all, no matter
how experienced you are.
I've definitely gotten better,but there was a learning curve
in the beginning.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (36:58):
So, justin, i have to ask you the question
that's on everybody's mind Whatpercent of the people that you
interview get the questionsright the first time?
Justin Awad (37:07):
Oh man, this is the number one question I'm asked
for sure, but it definitelyvaries.
It's hard to give a certainnumber, but as time goes on I
feel like I'm getting better andbetter at asking people.
But I don't think people willbe too happy with the answer,
but almost everybody that Iinterview I use in the videos.
It's very rare when somebodygets all the questions right.
Some people get more questionswrong than others.
(37:30):
So each person is between arange, but I would say it's like
eight out of 10 basically everytime.
So I'd say around 80%.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (37:41):
You know, Justin, one important thing that
I wanted to just get out.
There was a conversation youand I had where we were talking
about this podcast and how it'seasy for people in my generation
to judge people in yourgeneration and say, wow, we're
doomed, The future of thiscountry is doomed.
(38:02):
But you responded in a mannerthat was very enlightening to me
.
It really made me consider thatconcept in a much different
perspective And I reallyrespected you for it.
I respected your answer And Ithink it's important to
communicate that to our viewingaudience because it may actually
(38:23):
change the way our generationviews your generation.
You know the baby boomergeneration compared to the
generation Z and the millennials.
So what is your perspective onthat concept?
Justin Awad (38:39):
Yeah, so it's usually what you said.
It's usually like always oh,this generation, they don't know
anything and they're dumb andthey don't want to read books
and they don't want to work hardand all this stuff.
And yeah, those aspects may betrue for a lot of people, but I
think the focus and the questionthat they're not asking is
where is the value of knowledgenow?
(39:01):
Where is the value of actualskills that people use?
when you're looking for someoneto hire, are you asking them
who fought against who in theCivil War?
Are you seeing how fast theycan type and how quickly they
can set up a website, or howquickly they can send an email
or make a new Instagram account?
I think my generation,generation Z, is.
We grew up with these computersin our hands, where we have
(39:22):
access to the unlimitedinformation and we know how to
use that in a way where not alot of people in other
generations know how to use.
So it's kind of okay.
Yeah, your grandma can knowevery single one of my questions
, but if she can't send thefacts, then like, where's the
value of knowledge?
So I think that there's theextreme poles where you know
(39:45):
nothing about each and you're introuble in both, but there's a
very happy medium where you cancontinue to learn both things.
You can always learn more facts, more knowledge, more common
sense, and you can also learnhow to set up this mic and set
up the camera and set upeverything in the technological
field.
So I wouldn't be too hard on thegeneration.
(40:06):
I think that there's a littlediscrepancy, because the older
generations know all the answersto these specific questions,
whereas if I were to ask olderpeople in those generations
questions that these kids wouldhave gone right, like oh, like,
what's an algorithm or what'ssomething like along those lines
, technologically, they wouldn'tknow how to do it.
(40:26):
So it's, i think there's,there's a happy medium You gotta
, you gotta know both.
So I wouldn't be too hard onthe generation.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (40:32):
Yeah, that really was very enlightening to
me, and that's.
That was a beautifulperspective, one that I had not
heard before or appreciated, andthat's really where we want to
be.
We want to be in that happymedium, you know.
You know, for us it's a littlefrustrating when we talk to our
kids and ask them the capital ofthis state or who is the first
(40:56):
president of the United States,the third president of the
United States, the 16thpresident of the United States,
all of whom they should know.
But it's equally as frustratingfor you guys when we're playing
around with our iPhones or ourcomputers and we can't do things
.
That, for you, is like aknee-jerk reaction.
(41:18):
I can't tell you how many timesI rely on my children to allow
me to use some advancedtechnologies these days, and I
learned from them.
So that was a beautifulperspective and thank you for
sharing that with us, and I hopethat that resonates with you as
well, because it did with me,and I will look at these kids in
a different light now, that'sfor sure.
So thank you for that, justin.
You know, justin, with allthese interviews that you've
(41:41):
done, there must be some thatmake you just still crack up
uncontrollably.
What are some of those favoritefunny interviews that you've
had.
Justin Awad (41:51):
No, there are definitely a couple that I can
watch over and over and overagain.
I still just die laughingbecause I remember the whole
situation once.
I didn't play in this inadvance, but me and my
videographer, we went to thecity and it happened to be the
day of NYU's graduation.
What's three times three timesthree, nine?
Yes.
So all of these kids arewalking around in their purple
(42:13):
cap and gowns at NYU andwhatever these things are called
, like their special things, andso I was like, oh, like, i'll
go and interview these collegekids.
They just graduated there inhappy moods or whatever.
It was so fun.
They knew nothing.
None of them knew anything.
I asked the most basicquestions and they were
struggling, and the commentsthat I was reading was hilarious
(42:33):
, though, like NYU was so dull,nyu doesn't know anything.
It was so funny.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (42:37):
So that's a lot of backlash from NYU after
this one.
Justin Awad (42:42):
I don't know what departments they were, what
majors, but it was just a funnyday.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (42:47):
Two that come to mind with me is I just
remember the one interview whereyou asked somebody can you name
a country that starts with you?
Justin Awad (42:57):
Can you name a country that starts with the
letter U?
Any country you got this.
I watched so many videos onthis one, yeah there are a lot
of videos out there.
Country that starts with theletter U.
Give me a guess, bureau.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (43:18):
Bureau.
Yes, meanwhile we're in theUnited States, and then another
one was just named, threecountries in North America, and
I heard Canada, which was good,but then I heard China and then
I heard Europe.
There you go.
Justin Awad (43:35):
Yes, very good, three countries.
And you probably said yes, yes,i probably did.
Yeah, and they're going to bewatching this and be like wait,
am I wrong?
Robert A. Kayal, MD (43:45):
Yeah, I don't know if that's good or bad
, that you just sort of enablethem and feed into them by just
yesing them to death.
They probably are high-fivingtheir friends after that, saying
that how smart they are andthey've got everything right.
But it's just.
I don't know.
It's part of the humor, I guess.
Justin Awad (44:07):
There's a funny story, really quick.
Once I interviewed a guy andusually I never like re-see the
person that I interviewedbecause it's either at the mall
or in Times Square and thechances of being the same person
at the same time in the sameplace again like twice is crazy.
But there was this one person.
I've interviewed them likemonths before I saw them again
in Times Square.
He's like six, five, whatever,and he's like coming at me.
(44:29):
So I was like, oh well, here wego.
But he was like, oh, like youinterviewed me and like I
thought I got the questionsright or whatever.
And he was like my teachershowed us in class, like they
showed the videos and all myfriends were like bullying me
Not bullying, but like all myfriends were laughing at me or
whatever And he kind of threw meunder the bus.
He was like, oh, he told me tosay the wrong answers.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (44:46):
He told me And I was like you told them
that I told you to say it.
Justin Awad (44:50):
It was just so funny, But maybe he like gave me
a handshake and then he waslike all right, I want to go
again.
So I gave him like new set ofquestions and got them all wrong
again.
So hopefully he told them thistime.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (45:01):
You must be recognized now everywhere you
go without many followers, right?
Justin Awad (45:05):
Yeah, yeah.
You're starting to feel like acelebrity.
I don't feel like it, but it'sdefinitely weird.
Sometimes you have Yeah, i feellike.
The most time I feel it is likewhen I'm at school and I'm just
sitting and like I see kidslooking at me.
I'm just like like I'm not cool, i'm normal.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (45:24):
Like you, can come say hi to me.
You don't have to look at me.
Has anyone ever asked you for asignature or anything?
Justin Awad (45:28):
Yeah, Well, there was one kid that asked me for a
signature and I said no.
I said I'm not going to ruinyour hat.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (45:32):
It's not worth it But.
Justin Awad (45:34):
I said like let's take a picture or whatever.
That's so cute.
Yeah, That's so cute.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (45:39):
Well, enjoy it while it lasts, and
hopefully it lasts for a longtime, justin.
But look, regardless of howsuccessful you become in the
future, from this or evenmedicine, you know we, really we
all know at the Kale family andso many in this community, the
real Justin Awad.
We know that it'll never go toyour head.
We know that you have such ahumble spirit and we know the
(46:01):
family that you come from.
And it really leads to my lastquestion.
Okay, that's probably the mostimportant question, because I
know the real Justin Awad.
I see that big, beautiful crossaround your chest.
I know you're a Christian and Iknow that you feel that you
live and have purpose.
You want to be a purpose inyour life.
You want to be a vessel, youwant to be an instrument.
(46:21):
So let's assume that thisplatform that you're on and your
success just continues toescalate in a vertical
trajectory.
How do you feel that,ultimately, you want to use this
platform in your life?
Justin Awad (46:37):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I don't think anyone's asked mebefore, but I think where I am
right now, it's kind of like Ifound a little niche that I'm
good at and I'm growing myplatform off of that And I feel
like over time and I've seenover time people are becoming
more and more interested in meas a person instead of me as an
interviewer or me as anentertainment.
(46:58):
And so as I grow like as ahuman being, as I grow in my
faith, as I grow followers andsocial media, i hope that people
become more and more interestedin me and my life And I'm going
to do everything in my power toreflect and to live just like
Jesus did and hopefully one day,when I get really big, i'll be
different from everyone else whois really big and going out and
(47:19):
partying and drinking and doingall that stuff that I don't
believe and I don't think isright.
Yeah, and all these othersocial media influences who are
so big and they think thatthey're like I don't know cool
by showing, like all these girlsand drugs and drinking on
social media And I feel likethey're being terrible examples,
because I know I have likelittle cousins who are watching
(47:40):
these people and like I don'tlike that at all.
So I want to live a life justlike Jesus did and do my best to
reflect who he is and hischaracter and his love for
everybody.
So as I grow my platform, ihope that people can really see
like who I am as a person and mylife will reflect what I preach
and I want other people to doas I do, not as I say, and so
(48:00):
that's a big goal And hopefully,like as a doctor, i can also
offer like extremely valuableinformation to help people's
everyday life, whether it'stheir physical health at the gym
or mental health or any medicalcondition they're suffering
with, because health is at theforefront of everything.
If you're not healthy, thenit's very hard to enjoy certain
aspects of life.
So, yeah, that's the goal.
Robert A. Kayal, MD (48:22):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Well, ladies and gentlemen,this is the real Justin Awad.
So you heard it right from thehorse's mouth.
I'm very, very proud to haveyou on this Kaila Ortho podcast.
I know your parents areextremely proud of you, not just
because of your level ofsuccess right now, but because
of the kind of man you are andyou're just so mature for your
(48:42):
age and I'm just so proud of you.
You have a great head on yourshoulders, justin, and look, i
just hope one day that youcontinue in your career path in
the field of medicine andhopefully that path will take
you down the road, potentially,of orthopedic surgery.
And you know, i'd be honored tohave you as part of our
(49:03):
organization one day and I'llcertainly be there to help you
every step of the way as amentor, to help guide and direct
you.
So, thank you so much for yourtime today.
I really appreciate the longday that you've had And of
course thank you.
So happy to have you, justin.
It was an honor.
All right, thank you, thank you.
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