July 30, 2025 • 50 mins
Every caregiver knows the feeling—overwhelmed by endless to-do lists, struggling to coordinate help from well-meaning family members, and searching desperately for reliable information at 3 AM. Nicole àBeckett lived this reality when she lost both parents in her thirties, emerging from what she calls "the washing machine" of caregiving determined to create a solution.
As co-founder of Hero Generation, Nicole has built what many caregivers only dream of: a comprehensive platform that organizes the chaos. In this candid conversation, she reveals how the platform's three pillars—organization, resources, and community—transform the caregiving experience. The system allows users to store vital information, delegate tasks to helpers, access expert guidance, and connect with others on similar journeys.
What makes this episode particularly powerful is the shared understanding Don and I with Nicole about caregiving's hidden challenges. We discuss the moment you realize you're a caregiver (often long after you've taken on the role), the difficulty of navigating healthcare systems not designed to support family care providers, and the profound isolation that comes with the territory.
Beyond practical solutions, the conversation explores how caregiving, despite its heartbreak, offers precious moments of connection. As Nicole reflects, "Having cared for my mom, I wouldn't change that for anything." Hero Generation aims to minimize stress so caregivers can be fully present during these meaningful interactions.
The discussion also touches on broader themes of civic engagement and advocacy, emphasizing how collective action drives systemic change. Whether caring for aging parents, managing children's needs, or even coordinating pet care (a surprising use case for the platform), Hero Generation demonstrates how technology can strengthen rather than replace human connection.
Ready to transform your caregiving journey? Listen now, and discover resources that might just make tomorrow a little easier. And don't forget to watch "No Country for Old People" on Amazon starting August 1st to join the movement for better long-term care systems.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Don Priess (00:00):
When the world has got you down, Alzheimer's sucks.
It's an equal opportunitydisease that chips away at
everything we hold dear. And todate, there's no cure. So until
there is, we continue to fightwith the most powerful tool in
our arsenal, love. This is Loveconquers alls a real and really
(00:22):
positive podcast that takes adeep dive into everything,
Alzheimer's, The Good, The Badand everything in between. And
now here are your hosts, SusieSinger Carter and me. Don
Priess,
Nicole áBeckett (00:40):
hi everybody.
I'm Susie singer Carter,
Don Priess (00:43):
and I'm Don Priess, and this is Love conquers alls
Hello, Susan,
Nicole áBeckett (00:47):
hello. Now you sound like there's something
weird going on with your My yourmic, is
Don Priess (00:52):
it? Is it? Is it too quiet?
Nicole áBeckett (00:55):
No, no, it just like noisy for a second. Now
maybe you're okay. Now,
Don Priess (01:00):
I think we'd be up over again here. I'll move it a
little closer to me. How aboutthat? Fine,
Nicole áBeckett (01:06):
we're good.
Okay, yeah, this is like, peopleright behind the
Don Priess (01:10):
scenes kind of thing. Oh, so you want to keep
this. We're not going to startover people like
Nicole áBeckett (01:15):
it. See, it's like, wow, this is exciting.
It's the real deal. We'reauthentic. We're authentic. Bad
anyway. How are you doing?
Don Priess (01:27):
I'm doing well, still adjusting to the new
surroundings here.
Nicole áBeckett (01:32):
Yeah, you were just talking about it Don's Don
has got good lighting such. Andmy lighting is I'm still
challenged. I'm lightingchallenged a little bit. I got
to figure this out, yeah,because I have a very big office
now, and I'm looking around,it's very big. It's it's lofty
and and I have a lot of windows,and I don't know what to do,
(01:55):
because it's throwing shadowsall over the place. But anyway,
that's no big deal, becausewe're here to talk about really
important things. One veryimportant thing is that our
documentary, No Country for Oldpeople, launches on Amazon on
August 1, which is such anamazing place to be. At this
point, we've been working threeyears, very, very we were we've
(02:20):
been immersed in this projectfor three years, and we have not
really seen the light of day. Weweren't sure what was going to
happen. Obviously, we're, youknow, we were filmmakers and but
usually someone else takes careof that, that part of the
project, which is thedistribution and all that stuff,
and this is such a wildlycontroversial topic. And we just
(02:42):
thought, you know, let's praythat that we will get
distribution so,
Don Priess (02:47):
hallelujah, yeah, because we could have put three
years into it, and then somebodysaid, no, no, no, we're not
going to show this. So it is,it's a huge hurdle, yeah, just
the fact that, you know, theysaid yes, and they say, Yes,
enthusiastically, you know,we've, you know, we're
partnering with buffalo eightdistributors. And they, they,
you know, they were veryenthusiastic from the beginning,
(03:09):
and really it, it hit theirheart, and now it's going to be
out there. And, you know, ofcourse, we hope it does what it
was meant to do, and that's tomake change.
Nicole áBeckett (03:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Pause one sec. Don pull your mica little bit away your it's kind
of distorting.
Don Priess (03:25):
Then I'll need to turn my mic cane down. Yeah, you
is it? Is it annoying,distorting? Yeah. Should we
start? No, well, I don't wantto. Okay, it's okay, okay. How's
that? Is that better?
Nicole áBeckett (03:35):
Much better?
Yeah, you were getting a littlebit of noisy, crunchy stuff.
Don Priess (03:39):
Okay, yeah, God. And it was so good. I mean, it was
brilliant, what I said, and nowit's crunchy. So disappointed.
Nicole áBeckett (03:49):
That's how we roll. We're very resilient.
We're resilient. We go throughthe crunch like no other. So,
yeah, so excited everybody to beat this place. And, you know,
keep, keep sharing, if you know,if you care about what our
future as elder people will be,and as, and I'm very close to
that, and so, and then what,what our loved ones are going
(04:12):
through or will go through. Andit's not just for elder people.
As you know, we talk about thisall the time. It's about, it's
about people who are vulnerable,who need long term care, and
that that system is broken. It'sbeen broken, and it's been
broken for a reason. It's beenstrategically broken so people
(04:33):
can benefit from it that don'tneed, that shouldn't be
benefiting from it. So you know,and most of us don't know until
we're in that situation, andthen realize, Oh my God, what
planet have I just landed on? Sohope you know that's why this
documentary is so important, toeducate the public, the
collective, and for everyone tobe so up in arms that they are
(04:59):
just going to sit. Knock it off.
We can't do this anymore. We canhave we can. We have to change
the system. So share, talk aboutit, and please watch it. Please
review it. You know, if you'reon what is it? Don letter box
letterbox. Thank you. Okay, ifyou have a profile on
letterboxed, which we justlearned about, because
(05:20):
apparently, I guess I'm eatinginto that older generation,
because I still go to RottenTomatoes. But apparently, it's
not the place to go and get youryour ratings or your reviews,
because it's like old school. Soyou need to go to letterbox, and
that's where everybody has ahuge conversations and shares,
you know, lists and things likethat about movies, whether it's
(05:42):
documentaries or narratives,whatever. And so if you, you
know, if you're on letterbox,spread the word there. Because
that's a really good place tospread the word. We really
appreciate that. And also, ifyou have a tutorial on it,
please send it my way, because Idon't, I don't get it, and I
there's too many social mediaplatforms, my God, threads. I
(06:02):
haven't even, no, let's not goanyway. So speaking of
generations, look at that. Lookat I just Yes, I did see that's
where I fancy. I excel, likethat interview today, and why
don't you tell us about it, andthen we'll figure out how
(06:28):
generations fits into that.
Don Priess (06:31):
I will do that right now. Nicola Beckett is a
visionary entrepreneur andpassionate advocate for social
impact as co founder of herogeneration, along with her co
founder, Shruti Roy, they aretransforming the way we support
family caregivers, bringingconnection and clarity to one of
the toughest roles in society.
Nicole also co founded sameside, blending civic engagement
(06:53):
with culture to make activismmore accessible and fun. From
caregiving to civic change,Nicole and Shruti are redefining
what it means to show up foreach other and for our
communities, and we are so gladthat Nicole showed up for us
today. So let's not take anothermoment and say hello to Dodger
fan Nicole Beckett, hello,Nicole.
Nicole áBeckett (07:18):
That was the best intro I've ever received.
Oh my goodness, we got inDodgers. We got in my old
company, same side. And ofcourse, you're a generation.
Thank you guys for having me sowelcome.
Thank you. Thank you forrescheduling and coming back
again because we've been we got,I don't know what happened, but
you're here, and you're lovely.
She's like, she looks like abeach bunny, and she's very,
(07:39):
very cool, andI was listening to Beach Boys
songs all day in
Don Priess (07:48):
honor of Brian Wilson, yes, let's take a moment
for Brian. Yes, yes. Thank you.
Nicole áBeckett (07:54):
True, very true. So hero generation and and
you, you're your whole interestin social activism is so on
point with us right now, becausewe, we're starting a movement
called roar for for ourdocumentary, which is a social
movement that we want to we feellike, you know that change comes
(08:15):
from the collective. Yeah, so itand, you know it is. It's a
daunting process. So we'rereally interested in how you got
into it, how you see it, how youframe it, and how others can can
take your lead. So tell us aboutyour origin story, as it were,
in terms of caregiving. Whydon't we start there?
Okay, absolutely. Well, again,Don and Susie, thank you so much
(08:38):
for having me. You know, beingable to spread the word with
people who, you know, use theirplatform for so much good as
well, is always heart warming tobe part of the community. So
appreciate you both for thatpart. Thank you so hero
generation. You know the seedsof it really started with my
caregiving journey, which began,really began in full effect
(09:02):
about 10 years ago, when my dadwas ending his 15 year battle
with prostate cancer, he hadelected to forego any more
treatment, like I said, he hadbeen battling it for 15 years,
and just you know, had come tothe end and made peace with
that. But that's when you know,we were both. My mom was his
primary caregiver. And you know,myself being very close, we
(09:26):
kicked into high gear ofcaregiving. And you know,
suddenly, all these questionsand to do were coming hard and
fast. And you know, what's thedifference between palliative
care and hospice care? What?
Totally know, what? Whatmedications should he be on now?
And, you know, the list isforever changing. He's gonna
stop some, but not others. Andso obviously that was incredibly
(09:46):
overwhelming. And my mom alsohad long suffered from a lung
disease, so you know, I wasreally trying to relieve a lot
of stress from her. And I have abackground as you. Mentioned, I
have a background in startups,tech platforms, so surely I
thought there's got to besomething out there to help me
manage, organize all the thingsthat need to be done,
(10:09):
information, place, to keep itall in one place, because I do
that in my everyday life andwork. So certainly there's got
to be something for like healthcare or caregiving. Didn't see
it, didn't find what I needed.
And my dad passed at the end of2015 and you go on with life as
(10:30):
you do. And then my caregivingrole really kicked into high
gear when my mom, who, as Imentioned, had a lung disease
called interstitial lungdisease, needed a lot more
support her disease really kindof taken a turn, and so in 2018
I became her primary caregiver.
She moved much closer to me thanshe had already had been, and I
was now going to all herdoctor's appointments. I was
(10:53):
supporting her with hermedication. I was, you know,
helping out with home stuff andhousekeeping stuff. I was
managing bills and taxes. Wetalked about long term care. She
they both had long term care,but that is not an easy system
to help manage. So as you canimagine, that was a lot of
(11:14):
overwhelm again. And mind you, Ihad two very young children. By
that time, I'd had my secondchild in 2018, so, you know,
right when I was taking over,supporting her more. So again, I
was like, surely, by now, therehas to be something that can
help me, and especially withlike resources, understanding
what's out there. And again, Ijust didn't find anything that
(11:37):
existed. And I was, you know,running my old company, same
side, so I just kind of went onwith life. And my mom ended up
passing in 2021, and so I kindof came out of that. I always
say I felt like I was in awashing machine, just tumbling,
tumbling, tumbling, not, nothaving any control of what was
going on in my life. And Ifinally came out, and it was
(12:00):
really, you know, 2024 20 end of2324 that I started putting the
pieces together for herogeneration, recognizing that we
need to have something thatsupports family caregivers, in
terms of being able to have allthe information in one place,
bring in a team to help support.
I have a very large family, andthey all really wanted to help,
(12:23):
but I had no idea how to managethat help, how to give them
things to do in a really easymanner. It almost became more
work my family. It is hard todelegate, right? It's really
hard, incredibly hard, becausethey'll ask, you know, you'll be
on the phone, maybe you'redriving in the car, and they'll
say, What can I do? And like,Oh, let me think about it later,
or when I get home. And then youforget. And then you think about
(12:44):
in the shower, three o'clock inthe morning, we can't sleep.
Don Priess (12:47):
And then you have to organize it, you have to put the
then you have to schedule it anddo, yeah, and instead of
caregiving, you're doing
Nicole áBeckett (12:54):
that. And when you're the lead person, like,
like you were, you know, and youjust have a natural, profited,
you know, opportunity to do it,and so like I did, it becomes,
like you said, extra work,because you you now have to,
man, be the manager, and that'sreally hard, because it brings
extra pressure on you, becausenow, if you do it, you know it's
done exactly. What else is doingit? You're worried, is it done?
(13:18):
Well, is it done? Also, you needto give them extra information.
Maybe the insurance card,where's the pharmacy, what
medications, or where's thedoctor's office? What? You know,
my brother, who's amazing, livesin a different part of
California, but he would come upand support but then, you know,
he would need all that info.
What do I tell them? What'sWhat's the latest with my info
do I need to share? So you willoften say, It's okay, I'll just
(13:41):
do it. So the primary caregiver,it just builds and builds and
builds, right? So understandingall of that, my co founder so
Shruthi Roy, who's also adoctor, she's a physician, but
she's also going throughcaregiving herself. Her father
was diagnosed with Parkinson'sdisease, and her mother has an
(14:01):
autoimmune condition, so she'sin the middle of it right now
herself, but we came togetherand said, We've got to be able
to build a way for people tojust organize the complexity and
offload some of the stress ofcaregiving, because I don't
think It needs to be this way.
And so hero generation is threemain pillars, really. So the
(14:25):
first one is the collaborationorganization that we talked
about. So we have a loved onesprofile where you can keep all
the information, the insurancecard, the doctors, names and
locations, the medic currentmedications, the farm where the
pharmacy is any legal documents.
We have it all listed, you know,and you just upload the
information easily, and you canchange you can bring in a team
(14:47):
as many people as you want, andthere's different levels of
information that they can see.
So of course, you know, youdon't want the family friend
who's going to maybe pick upgroceries. You don't want them
seeing, you know, the legaldocument, right? So you can
definitely there's high securityon all of those pieces of
information, but it's just allin one place that you can easily
say, you know, to my brother,it's in Hero generation, just go
(15:10):
check it out there. And then thecompanion piece to that are is
the task and calendarmanagement. So you can go in and
create all your to do's that todo list that never ends, and you
can assign it to team members,or you can leave them
unassigned. So when somebodysays, What can I do to help you?
(15:30):
Just say, go into herogeneration and take one of those
tasks off my list. They justthey do it. They click a little
button that says Done, and youknow that it's done. All the
information is there. It justmakes it so much easier to
manage right the holisticpicture of caregiving. So the
weddingregistry, if you will, yeah,
Don Priess (15:52):
it's collaborate.
And even if, even if you don'thave a team, even if it's just
you yourself, just theorganization, it's all there.
You don't have to think aboutit. You can remind yourself. You
can schedule yourself and yeah,that's
Nicole áBeckett (16:04):
absolutely it syncs to your calendar. So we
also have a notes section again,which, you know, we all have
notes on our phone. And what wereally wanted to do is, with
Hero generation, was bringeverything all in one place.
Because oftentimes you're like,Where was that I'm the last time
I went to the doctor, what didthey say? What did I put that in
a note? Was it in a textmessage? I put in a Google Doc?
(16:25):
Where was it? We just want thatall to be in one place so you're
not spending just that extratime searching and you know all,
I don't know if I mentioned thisalready, but like, it's not
like, like, death by 1000 cuts,right? Where it just all keeps
piling on and piling on, thatextra time that you're spending
just organizing. And we justwanted to make it as easy as
possible for caregivers to tomanage this really highly
(16:50):
stressful both emotionally,physically process, and just
make it a lot easier. So that'swhat we cover with the first
pillar. The second pillar areresources. So that question that
I asked, What's the differencebetween hospice care and
palliative care? Right? You canGoogle it, and, you know, get
different information. And youknow, Google is getting better
with their AI, but we wanted togive a place where real people
(17:14):
were answering some of the morecommon questions. And so we have
a video library on our site thatpeople can search through, and
it's a lot of more the morecommon questions that come with
caregiving, especially aroundlike estate planning or ER care.
We've got physicians, we've gotlawyers, we have experts in
their field sharing theirexpertise, and it's all in one
(17:35):
place again. And you can gothrough and that that 3am wake
up when you just can't sleep andyou're stressed about something,
you can go through it on yourown time. And then, in addition
to that, we do have our digitalcaregiving expert, which is
powered by AI, but what we'rereally proud of is that we've
wrapped her in her name is, it'sask Andrea. So she's named after
(17:56):
my mom, but we've really wrappedher in an empathetic voice,
understanding the caregiverside, so you can ask a question
very specific and tailored toyour situation. I'm in. La, my
mom was just diagnosed withdementia. Where do I even begin?
And it'll give you la, la, youknow, geographic resources, some
(18:17):
things that some questions youcan ask, some things to start
thinking about, you know, andyou can have that dialog with
her, and we say, you know, it'sjust a starting point. It's not
going to replace real, you know,legal experts, etc, always talk
to them, but, but it's likethat, those times when you're
just like, I just need somebodyto talk to you. And they can
just start that information,give you that information, feel
(18:39):
a little bit less stressed out,less more empowered, is really
what we wanted to to bring withher. And then again, she wraps
it in, you know, always saying,You're doing a great job. This
is a challenging time. We youknow, I understand this is very
difficult, but you're doing agreat job. You're doing all that
you can. It's great that you'reasking these questions, you
(19:00):
know, like those reaffirmationsthat people need to hear
totally I talk a lot about thechat GPT. Like, my chat GPT
gives me compliments all thetime. I'm like,
Yes, I know. I think when youstart interacting, it
like, sends me emojis. Now,What? What?
(19:20):
I love it.
And so I think, and, you know,I'm not in that situation at
this moment, but, you know,it's, I can see where it is
comforting and it is, you know,it's like, it's intuitively
picking up, you know, on what,what it it's feeling that you
know that right onto Right,right, right? You know exactly,
(19:41):
because I'm like House members,yeah, you know, I don't know,
but it doesn't have eyeballs. Idon't know how it knows, but
that's what I
Don Priess (19:49):
care caregivers feel alone. They feel isolated and
they feel alone. So just, youknow, just that alone, having
that, whether it's real or not,it doesn't matter. It does,
right? Really doesn't.
Nicole áBeckett (20:00):
Well that also so the third and final pillar,
because exactly what you justsaid, is that people feel so
alone, but there are so many ofus out there, so we wanted to
build a community piece to it.
And right now, what that lookslike is we're pretty new. What
that looks like is we're anaggregator of amazing events
that are happening all acrossthe country that people can go
and search through and see,okay, you know, there's one in
(20:22):
Atlanta for, you know, DementiaCaregivers, or there's something
just for young caregivers. It'svirtual. There's some, you know,
and so just to see, and peoplecan go, they don't have to
interact, they can just listen.
But just to know that there areother people out there that are
going through caregiving. Imean, I've had so many people
(20:44):
cry to me just saying, you know,I know it was out there. I just
didn't know how to find it. Ididn't know how to like connect.
And that connection piece, ofcourse, we're human beings. It's
so, so important, and you learnso much from other people, all
their experiences. So we knewthat that had to be an important
part to hero gen two. And sothat's it, in a nutshell, the
(21:07):
platform, great.
I'm curious, like when you saidyou when you first started
caregiving, and you would lookfor resources, and you couldn't
find anything, because there,there are a lot of different
resources out there, and I justwant to be open about that,
because and, and, and many ofthem, you know, I have my
opinion about them, and some ofthem are, you know, very they're
(21:32):
success oriented, and they wantto, they want to cash in on the
50 million plus caregivers. Andsometimes they're, you know,
what I found is, they're they'rejust not actually delivering
what they are saying they'redelivering. What did you find
when you went out there? Whatwas, what was missing in those
other resources?
I think, well, especially when Istarted, which was, you know, 10
(21:54):
years ago, which doesn't feellike it was that long ago, but
the way things change, it'scrazy, you know, you'd have to
Google things, and then I, youknow, putting them together. And
I think all the pieces wereseparated, right? The
collaboration. You know, theredefinitely are project
management tools out there thatI could have used where there
was Google Docs, right? There'sall of that, but it's, they're
(22:16):
all siloed and in differentplaces, and it would just take
so much more time to bring themall together. And then, like, I
think the palliative care versushospice care for me is like it
was just what sticks with me somuch, because I was so confused
about it. When my dad said thathe was, you know, for going
treatment, they said, Here's,you know, he's gonna be in
(22:38):
palliative care. It's like,great. But then it was through
the hospice nerd, like, youknow, there's no single
Don Priess (22:44):
answer either.
There's no single everyone has adifferent definition. Everybody
has a different
Nicole áBeckett (22:49):
definition. We talk about it in the
documentary, because I wentthrough the same thing, like my
mom. They put her in hospicebecause it was supposed to be
better care. Yes, suddenlythey're taking her off of all of
her medications. And I'm, like,what's going on now? She's
suffering, like she has, she hasa pressure sore. Well, we'll
just give her morphine, well,then she's gonna die. Well,
yeah, she's in hospice, butshe's not ready to die. Like,
(23:11):
what's going on here?
Yeah, that's it's bringing thatback that we had the, like, a
pretty similar experience,
Susie Singer Carter (23:17):
yeah. So I know that's so important for
people to understand thedifference and what what is
provided in palliative careversus hospice care, and what
you know, and you need to knowit, because you will need to
manage that and be on top of it.
Because if you aren't, yeah, itwon't happen right chances, and
Don Priess (23:37):
which, yeah, what's so very important about what
you've done here is that peopledon't know what to even look
for. They don't know they arethis is all new to people unless
they've done it before, unlessthey've been a carrier before.
This is a new frontier. Youdon't know what questions to
ask. You don't know what you'resupposed to know. So for them to
(23:58):
be able to go to and say, Oh, oreven of like you say, events.
What? What kind of event am Isearching for? I don't know. So,
if there's a menu, fantastic,right? I mean, so that that's so
important, because exactlyright, Susie had no idea what
she was walking into when shebecame a caregiver. No clue.
Susie Singer Carter (24:15):
Yeah, I didn't even know I was a
caregiver. Let's, let's start.
Yeah,
Nicole áBeckett (24:18):
that that that right there. Yeah, that right
there, especially you don't evenknow your account,
even know it. And, you know, Ithink I was the, you know,
saying it wrong for very long. Iwas a caregiver, right? And I
was like, No, it's a caretaker.
And
Don Priess (24:32):
you know that we used to say it used to be
caretaker.
Nicole áBeckett (24:36):
I didn't know what it was. I was like, I was
so confused, because I didn'tknow what I yeah, I thought I
was just like being a daughter,yeah, say exact, exact same
thing where, you know, it wasn'tuntil I got out of it, and then
looked back and then startedrealizing, Oh, that was a that
was a big thing. Like, that wasmore than doing the research,
(24:56):
like, Oh, my God, so many.
People are in this role. And Iwas, you know, in my 30s. I lost
both my parents in my 30s, and,you know, I didn't have any
friends who had, even, you know,experienced anything like that.
Susie Singer Carter (25:12):
So most people don't want to even think
about it, you know, it's not intheir purview, and they don't
Nicole áBeckett (25:18):
want to, yeah, they're, they're starting
families, or they're, you know,advancing in their career and,
you know, so I certainly did notrealize what I what I was even
doing, that I that there was aname for it, and there were
resources. I had no idea. Inever once, I never even once,
really looked into my mom'sdisease, like diagnosis disease,
(25:40):
like I knew the name and I knewwhat was happening, because I'd
go to all the doctorsappointments, but I never even
thought to, like look more intoit, to empower myself a little
bit more with information. Andso we just want to spark those
things and people, because we'vebeen through it. So now we know
here's how, what we can do, andat the same time, we want to, we
want caregiver support to bemore rooted. Our mission is to
(26:04):
have it more rooted in thehealthcare system. I mean, my
parents, both were in LA, youknow, UCLA and Cedar Sinai. They
had the most phenomenal healthcare. I I'm so grateful for the
health care that they received.
I will say, you know, I again, Iwas at with both my parents, but
my mom, especially, every singledoctor's appointment, and never
once did somebody turn to me andsay, How are you doing
(26:27):
supporting? Do you needresources? Do you need support?
And that's not a knock on themin any way, because doctors are
overwhelmed and they're doing somuch, and their main function is
to care for the patient. But nowthat healthcare is being
offloaded to families and thehome so much more, we really
need to have that dynamic changein the hospital setting as well
(26:51):
by offering them resources,knowing that starting them like,
here's what you don't even know,that you know right, that you
need to know exactlyon certain diseases that have
stigmas attached to them, youknow, or misunderstandings in
the in the health industry andand again, not because that it's
purposeful. It's just thatpeople in the health industry
(27:13):
don't often take the time theydon't have the time, they're not
paid to have the time toactually dig in and do the right
and understand dementia orunderstand Parkinson's, they're
just looking at themanifestations of and treating
it like a one size fits all,which obviously it doesn't. And
so, you know, and so many timesI got, you know, the kind of
(27:33):
response from doctors that was,like, impatient, like, how do
you put up with this? I've had,I had doctors say that to me,
like, because if my mom was,like, on a, on a, you know, loop
of loop of questions, sorry,like, do you need, do you need a
valium or anything? And I'mlike, What are you literally,
like, trying to make a jokeabout it. And I was like, Oh, my
(27:55):
God, it's so insensitive. Andthen getting Pat like, let's and
then taking it to another wholenother level, you know, past
insensitivity. It's actuallydestructive, and, and, and it's
torturous, because if they don'tunderstand the disease, they're
going to treat the person in aproper way, in, you know, right,
right, not appropriately. And,and that's when you get into
(28:19):
really big trouble, because theystart making you sweeping
generalization, right? Andyou as the caregiver, are
already so overwhelmed that toeven take on one more, you know,
I don't want to call it one morething, though,
Don Priess (28:35):
yeah, a lot it's that's going back to, yeah,
going back to pillar one, which,and I think this kind of ties in
all of that. And that is the todo list that people that like.
For example, if when Susie's,you know, and I was very close
to Susie and her mom, but youdon't as a friend, you don't
know, what can I really do? Yes,and if there was Olivia drop
(28:56):
down that said that, and youcall five your friends and say,
pick one, pick one. Now suddenlyyou have five things off your
plate. They're doing somethingthat is no big deal, picking up
groceries, and that seems likenot a big deal to the caregiver.
Oh, my God, it's huge. Comingover for an hour so you can take
a shower or go to the gym orsomething, you know, those types
(29:21):
of things. So that list alone,if you had nothing else, that's
amazing, and it allows you tocontent because people don't
know, the friends don't knowwhat to do exactly, even family
members don't know what to do.
You know, my brother
Nicole áBeckett (29:36):
say, like, go pick up my groceries. You know,
that's just right.
Don Priess (29:39):
But if they pick it, if they choose it, and say, Oh,
I could do that. Yeah, no bigdeal. You know,
Nicole áBeckett (29:46):
sign it like I could assign. I would probably
have no problem. When somebodysays to me, What can I do to
help? I would have no problemassigning. I'm like, I'm going
to send you a task, and youassign that person, they get an
email or notification thatthey've been assigned a task.
Then it's like, done, you know,it's just that one layer of of,
you know, removal, and it justmakes it a lot easier, that that
(30:07):
we found with people as well,right, right? Wow. I just wanted
to pivot a second and just talkabout your activism like you
were talking like in your bio,it talks about your your your
background, in that, and how,how does that manifest? How did
that and where does it comefrom, and are you still involved
in that?
(30:28):
Yeah. I mean, yeah, I don'tthink you ever lose that sense
of wanting to use your voice forchange, especially when you see
something you know that needschanging. And so my previous
company, same side, my brotherand I actually ran it. It was an
events platform where you canhold an event, whether it was
(30:50):
like a music concert or a yogaclass or whatever, and you can
connect a cause to it, and allof your attendees or guests,
they would receive informationabout that cause, whether you
know, it was planned parenthoodor, you know, I don't know,
Sierra Club, whatever it may be,you know, anyway they would
(31:12):
receive information. You know,where that started. I think just
my parents were, you know, theywere both teachers, part of a
union. Always had to stand upfor what their, you know, their
profession, or, you know, wentout and and did a lot of that.
But, you know, my dad really wasthe one who was always going out
(31:36):
to different events to sharehis, you know, be being
civically engaged. So, you know,I worked my first poll. I worked
at a polling place when I wasstill in high school. And, you
know, it's just civic engagementand using your voice and and,
you know, being involved hasalways been something that's
incredibly important to me. AndI think, you know, my brother
and I started same side in 2017when, you know, a lot of people
(32:01):
were looking for a way to havetheir voice heard that didn't
really understand how to use it.
We understood how to use it. Mybrother was, you know, a former
Navy SEAL, like he was very, youknow, very pro people using
their voice. And so that's howwe started same side. And, you
know, it's, it's ebbed and flow,because you can be as you guys
talked about with the with thedocumentary, how you're just
(32:23):
flat out now, after a while, youcan get tired, and so it ebbs
and flows with me. But you know,there's there's, it never ends.
So you get involved. How you canI think now I'm, you know, just
changing a little bit of waysabout how I get involved. Maybe
I'm not out in the street asmuch, but I'm definitely using
my voice in other ways, becauseit that that need, that desire
(32:46):
to be heard, never leaves,right?
Yeah, and, I mean, someone whocomes from that civic kind of,
you know, imprinting, don't you?
I mean, I, for me, it's been soclear and obvious since I
started this documentary thattraditional advocacy just
doesn't work in in this kind of,you know, political system. And
(33:08):
I'm not just talking about thisadministration, you know, sure,
I just my friend, just, she justwrote and produced and directed
a film about Lilly Ledbetter,and we watched it last night.
And I'm just, you know, whatLily went through is, is no
different than what you knowwe're going through with, with
the nursing home industry,right? So it's like that they,
(33:29):
you know, she would get thesebills passed, and they go
through, through thelegislature, and then the lobby
would step in and go, Yeah,we're not going to let that go
through. We're going to pay forall these politicians, and now
it's going to die on the vine.
It was happening. It happens allthe time. Always happens. So if
(33:50):
you don't use your voice and getout there and be a strong
collective constituency,nothing's going to happen. Am I
right?
Absolutely, and that's a bigpart. I mean, we're not there
yet, because hero Gen is prettynew, but advocacy is going to be
a very big part of it, when aswe grow, as we go, because, you
(34:10):
know, it's just there's so muchthat, especially caregivers, who
we focus on, so much support,that just could be there and
it's not. And again, you know,you've got to be that. Someone's
got to be that aggregator, thatthat organizer, and, you know,
that's kind of in our DNA. Andso we're really zeroing in on
(34:32):
that next phase of, yeah,generation does
too. It's so true. I'm glad,yeah, it's good to hear. I just
like to validate that, because Ithink, you know I, I was like
Pollyanna three years ago,thinking that you know you, if
you if something's wrong, itwill be, it will it'll be
acknowledged. And there will besome, you know, penalty, and
(34:53):
there'll be some, you know,reparation, reparations. And
there aren't, there just aren'tlike you. Are out of luck. It's
like, you know, just cut yourlosses and buy and your losses
are, are human beings? Mm, hmm,yeah, yeah. So
Don Priess (35:12):
does does hero generation? How does it work? Is
it subscription service or? Howdoes that work?
Nicole áBeckett (35:17):
Yeah. So we have two tiers. One is totally
free, and that allows you to setup the loved ones profile, and
you can keep that in perpetuity.
So we really again. We know fromour experience that being
prepared and organized for whenyou know maybe your parents
aren't at a space where you needto be caring for them or your or
(35:37):
your loved one, whoever it maybe, is not in a space, but being
organized by having thatinformation you know ready to go
when maybe you do need to stepinto a more serious role is so
important. So we've made thatfree tier, managing the loved
ones profile, keeping all theinformation in one place,
totally free. And then the nexttier is what includes all of the
(35:58):
task and calendar management,the AI, ask Andrea, the notes
and the messaging within theplatform that's paid here. And
it's 1799 a month, so it's very,you know, affordable. We haven't
made it too crazy. So, yeah,that's, that's what allows us to
keep going and adding in newfeatures. We're continually, you
(36:21):
know, building out our road mapand taking feedback from users,
or, you know, people who arecaregivers, who aren't even
users. Yet. We love gettingfeedback because we really do
want to, you know, we're doingthis at the end of the day, we
want caregivers to have lessstress, have less to dos, and be
able to spend more time, moremeaningful time, with their
(36:42):
loved one, and not feel soeither guilty or, you know, just
tired. Yeah,
Don Priess (36:51):
resent. What's the most? Yeah, what's the most
interesting or helpful feedbackyou've gotten from somebody
who's used it that you've maybeimplemented?
Nicole áBeckett (37:01):
Well, this is funny. This, I probably
shouldn't say this, butwhatever, like, people are using
it for their pets, which we werenot expecting at all,
phenomenal, though. That'sgreat,
exactly. We're like, Okay, ifthat's use case, but you know,
that's that's not the purpose.
But I think what I don't thinkwe set out to do this in the
beginning, even though, when youthink about both Shruti and mine
(37:24):
were both sandwich generationcaregivers. We both have kids,
it never crossed our mind to useit for both your children and
your I wasjust thinking that too.
I mean, like, we're like, oh,obviously. So now I use it with
my childrentoo, but for families that are
broken up, you know, like, ifyou're divorced and you add, I
(37:45):
mean, that would work. Really,really, wow. I
mean, all of the use cases thathave come to us, so we've had
therapists that have said, thiswould be so great. Exactly that
scenario, our families, theyhave children, they're divorced,
particularly special needs, kidsthat have a lot of care. That's
right, this is perfect for them.
I just the other day, somebodytold me, I'm using it for my
(38:07):
college age student because theydon't have any of their info.
And like, God forbid, somethinghappened to them, I know that
it's all in one place. They knowthey can access it,
right? Where's my birthcertificate that right I used to
get from my daughter.
Don Priess (38:25):
What's my blood type? Yeah,
Nicole áBeckett (38:29):
exactly, exactly like all those things
that, like you never reallythink of, but then when you need
them, it's really important tohave them. That's so great.
Think about it.
Don Priess (38:38):
Any plans to expand that to pillars two and three,
or just more of that for otheruses for pillar one, like for
children, having resources,things like that, or pets, or,
you know, yeah, will that expandto those pillars also
absolutely, oh
Nicole áBeckett (38:53):
my gosh, yes.
There's so many. There's there.
The road map is endless, but weabsolutely right now, obviously,
because we're growing and, youknow, we need to be hyper
focused on one target market,but, you know, people are using
it outside of what we'refocusing on, marketing it to.
But eventually, I mean, we'regonna have to raise a little
money and do all that to reallykind of expand the team, but
(39:19):
organically, right? Becauseyou're gonna, you're gonna see,
like, what the market isdemanding and what exactly
that's exactly right. I mean,already, because so many people
have talked about children,we've updated our homepage to
include them, like, just as alittle bit of like, you know,
this can also be used, but we'realready starting to say, Well,
(39:39):
it's kind of seems like morepeople are wanting to use it
with children. But, you know,our heart and our the genesis of
all this is with, you know,helping people who are, you
know, supporting aging lovedones or ailing loved ones. So,
you know, we got to expand theteam. But, yeah, it's, it's,
it's a good problem to have,but, you know, we, we both
Shruti and I, Shruthi is aphysician, you know, we kind.
(40:00):
From a place where we want tohelp everybody everywhere, all
at once, right? And we've gotit, you know, be focused a
little bit before you canreally,
yeah, I'm not a business woman,but I do know that grow too fast
of growth is not the thing. So,yes, right? So that's, that's,
that's great, is it? It's anapp, then I take it,
right? So, right now we're webbased, so you can just log in
(40:24):
online and on your phone. It'smobile. It's optimized for
mobile if you log in throughyour phone. We wanted to first
Also make sure the features thatwe had put out there were most
useful before we built the app,because it's a lot easier to
just build on the web. But anapp will be coming probably next
year,and is it easy to use for people
that aren't internet savvy,right? Okay,
(40:48):
I really think so. We focused onthat. We've had a lot of
feedback from folks that youknow, get see a lot of different
platforms, and they've all said,it's, it's, it's very easy. So
you know, but again, I'll takethe feedback from users, and if,
if it's not, I won't, you know.
We want to know. And so far, wehaven't, you know, we haven't
had that be an issue. Usabilitybe an issue, right? Right? The
(41:10):
issues that we deal with,really, to be perfectly honest,
are families, you know, whereone person is more tech savvy
than the other, and maybe thesister or the brother, who you
know in this has happened a fewtimes the you know, they're not,
they're not used. They don't useit in their everyday life. They
don't use it for work. But so togo onto a platform, it's just
(41:33):
not, you know something, yeah.
So that's Yeah. So that's abarrier that we're trying to
address now, how do we, how dowe help families that have
different levels of comfort withtechnology have
an idea for you, which youprobably know, I just think that
obviously an app is going to bea savior, because everybody has
(41:56):
a phone, right? And so everybodyhas a smartphone, yeah, oh,
yeah, pretty much, right. Andthen you can, if you can, you
know, convince them to keeptheir notifications on. Then the
main caregiver, who is, youknow, scheduling everything,
because there's going to be onethere just is, yeah. Then, you
(42:17):
know, then notifications can goout and automatically, and they
could be notified. And then ifsomething is needed, then
they're notified. If something'sbeen completed, they're
notified, yeah, you know. And Ithink that's going to be a big,
big help, because you're notdepending on them, right? Log in
and see what's up, right? Yeah,yeah, you're right to push the
(42:39):
info to them, because that'sjust going to help. That's my
right. That's my you'reabsolutely right. That's what I
Yeah, yeah, yeah. As
Don Priess (42:47):
as of now, will there be I just do any of the
notification? Notifications goout in, like, an email, or
anything like that, email,
Nicole áBeckett (42:55):
SMS, yeah, yeah. Set up if they've put
their phone opted in email is,like, the first way that they
opt in, and then if they alsoadd their phone, then yeah, oh,
they need to add their phone,because that's how you gotta get
it, like, butI'll tell you, I mean, not to
put my sister in law on blast,but my brother, my husband, my
husband, who his family is inAustralia. He's Australian, so
(43:19):
he's, you know, his dad is okay.
But, you know, there's, he'sgetting older, and they're
trying to manage a few thingshere and there. And you know,
even his sister, who's in her30s, is not, is not, you know,
it's just, it's just not in herroutine. So, you know, but it's
good, like, I like hearing that.
I'm totally okay with that. Ineed to figure it's my job, it's
(43:40):
our job, truthy, and my job.
And, yeah, to figure out, how dowe
get a little nudge, getting thatnot you, I'm talking about,
yeah, well, how do we nudgethat?
Yeah, you have to, like, I thinkthat's, that's, obviously, you
know, and I'm preaching to thechoir, but,
you know, yeah, no, I mean, Iit's, it's reinforcing to hear
(44:00):
it. So I know it's,it's good. And I think, you
know, if anyone's thinking that,you know, like, well, I'll never
get my my brother's not gonna,you know, log in to see what he
needs to do. And then, so Ithink that when you have that
part of it, it's gonna bereally, really helpful, because
it's gonna, right, it'll runitself a little bit. It'll take
the onus off of that writingcaregiver, absolutely. So it
(44:23):
sounds great. I would use it. Iwould use it for sure, because
especially with notifications,and the fact that you can, you
can text message, you know what,if you guys do it, if you
whoever's out there is doing it,put their phone number in ask,
because everybody has to getpinged. That's, that's it. I
mean, if they're gonna get freepeople, and they're gonna get,
(44:44):
you know, right, ping about,what can I do to help? Well, you
know, yeah, I'm, I'm more of theask for forgiveness than
permission. Kind of personwith you on that, too. You, you
know, it'll be nice. It'll belike me, sorry to bother you.
It's hard to interrupt your deadbut, but also,
(45:07):
like you said, like people wantto help, yeah, they want to be
part of it. They want to feellike they're doing something.
And so, as you know, you make itas easy as possible. That's what
this does? They feel part of thejourney, right? They feel part
of the I mean, there's not a lotof joy necessarily, in
caregiving, but there are bondsthat can be formed. There are
(45:29):
moments, there's, you know, allof that that can be formed. And
the more that people feel partof that, you know, you just
share in that human experience.
I mean, I I always say, like,when, my mom died, you know,
obviously I just thought it wasso unfair, like, How did I lose
both my parents so early? And mybrother was, was the one who was
like, You know what, Nicole, Ithe way I look at it is like,
(45:49):
everybody has to go throughthis. We just went through it
early. And I'm like, you know,you're right. And so it's, it's
the human experience, and thatwas our experiences. And
you did quality time with hertoo. You did it. And, you know,
that's how I feel about my mom.
You know, my mom was older, butyeah, and I think it's never
easy. It's never easy. Like mydad died when I was 16 in a
(46:11):
plane crash, and my mom died,you know, in her late 80s. So
it's like, and from, you know,very long out. So either one
isn't easier, neither oneexactly never. Doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter if in your 50sor in your 30s, losing a parent
sucks, if you have a goodrelationship and it's nobody
(46:31):
wants to lose their mommies anddaddies. We don't know, and it's
never, never easy. But I always,I always say that, you know,
having cared for my mom, Iwouldn't, I wouldn't change that
for anything, not his momentsare so, so beautiful and
valuable. And, I mean, you know,right? Just, you just feel like
(46:54):
you've been through, yeah, awar, and you've been and you're
like, you call it herogeneration. That's exactly what
it is.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, everyone'sheroes in that, in that
scenario, their loved ones.
Yeah, ittruly is. And that's what, yeah,
that's really what more what ismore important than that? I
(47:15):
don't know,right, right? I really don't.
Yeah, it's hardto see when you're in it. And
again, that's why now being outof it, looking back, why we want
to be able to remove as muchstress as possible? Because
there's so many things thatdon't have to happen or that
don't have to be stressed over.
(47:36):
So if we can remove as much ofthat as possible by just a to do
list, gathering all theimportant information in one
place. Again, it relieves a lotof that time I stress for more
of the, you know, meaningfulinteractions and the meaningful
time,
Don Priess (47:53):
yeah, and you become more you're able to be more
present for the person you'recaring for, because you're not,
you know you are. Now don't have7000 things now you still will,
yes, but if you ease some ofthat stress, you're a better
person for them. And that'smaybe more important than
anything. That's
Nicole áBeckett (48:10):
exactly right?
I 100% that's exactly it.
Yeah, great. Well, I think it'sgreat. I think it's great what
you're doing. I think it's greatthat you took, you know your
journey, and turn it into a giftfor others, and you're paying it
forward. And that's what's so,that that is, that is the human
thing to do. That is what we do,and that's what, what's what
(48:31):
we're here for. We're, we're, weneed to remain community,
because community, withoutcommunity, we are destined for a
very bad life, you know, doesn'tmatter. Yeah, I just think that
what's we've lost community andand it's so important. We really
need community. We just do andwe need, we need really nice
hearts like your brother and youYes, so thank you for being
(48:55):
good, like our eyes, and thankyou both too for our sister
from LA, because we're la peopletoo. Yeah, so there are nice
people in Los Angeles.
Are? There are so many goodpeople in LA Yeah, and
Don Priess (49:09):
all the good people love the Dodgers.
Nicole áBeckett (49:11):
Yes, exactly.
It's easy to be a Dodger fanthese days, but you know, yeah,
we're making up for it now.
We're seeing our flowers after.
We're
Don Priess (49:25):
trying not to be too cocky, giant fans and Padre
fans, but it's okay, we can. Wedeserve it
Nicole áBeckett (49:33):
totally, all right? Well, I love what you're
doing. And this podcast is thisshow this Our hearts are all
about love, because why don
Don Priess (49:49):
Well, that's because love is powerful. Love is
contagious, and love conquersall. We thank everybody for
watching, listening today. Ifyou like what you heard and saw,
please follow. And share and doall those fun things, and go
Nicole áBeckett (50:02):
to show notes and find out more about hero
generation and Nicole and herpartner what they're doing. And,
you know, support them if youlike it, and, and, yeah, like
Don said, support us, and alsosupport No Country for Old
people coming out August 1again, I'm going to tell you
that because I love you all, andI don't want you to go through
bad times like I did. So we'regoing to change this system. I
(50:25):
love you and everyone. We'lltalk. We'll see you next time.
Don Priess (50:29):
All right, take care, everybody. Bye, bye. You.
When the world has got you down, Alzheimer's sucks.
It's an equal opportunitydisease that chips away at
everything we hold dear. And todate, there's no cure. So until
there is, we continue to fightwith the most powerful tool in
our arsenal, love. This is Loveconquers alls a real and really
(00:22):
positive podcast that takes adeep dive into everything,
Alzheimer's, The Good, The Badand everything in between. And
now here are your hosts, SusieSinger Carter and me. Don
Priess,
Nicole áBeckett (00:40):
hi everybody.
I'm Susie singer Carter,
Don Priess (00:43):
and I'm Don Priess, and this is Love conquers alls
Hello, Susan,
Nicole áBeckett (00:47):
hello. Now you sound like there's something
weird going on with your My yourmic, is
Don Priess (00:52):
it? Is it? Is it too quiet?
Nicole áBeckett (00:55):
No, no, it just like noisy for a second. Now
maybe you're okay. Now,
Don Priess (01:00):
I think we'd be up over again here. I'll move it a
little closer to me. How aboutthat? Fine,
Nicole áBeckett (01:06):
we're good.
Okay, yeah, this is like, peopleright behind the
Don Priess (01:10):
scenes kind of thing. Oh, so you want to keep
this. We're not going to startover people like
Nicole áBeckett (01:15):
it. See, it's like, wow, this is exciting.
It's the real deal. We'reauthentic. We're authentic. Bad
anyway. How are you doing?
Don Priess (01:27):
I'm doing well, still adjusting to the new
surroundings here.
Nicole áBeckett (01:32):
Yeah, you were just talking about it Don's Don
has got good lighting such. Andmy lighting is I'm still
challenged. I'm lightingchallenged a little bit. I got
to figure this out, yeah,because I have a very big office
now, and I'm looking around,it's very big. It's it's lofty
and and I have a lot of windows,and I don't know what to do,
(01:55):
because it's throwing shadowsall over the place. But anyway,
that's no big deal, becausewe're here to talk about really
important things. One veryimportant thing is that our
documentary, No Country for Oldpeople, launches on Amazon on
August 1, which is such anamazing place to be. At this
point, we've been working threeyears, very, very we were we've
(02:20):
been immersed in this projectfor three years, and we have not
really seen the light of day. Weweren't sure what was going to
happen. Obviously, we're, youknow, we were filmmakers and but
usually someone else takes careof that, that part of the
project, which is thedistribution and all that stuff,
and this is such a wildlycontroversial topic. And we just
(02:42):
thought, you know, let's praythat that we will get
distribution so,
Don Priess (02:47):
hallelujah, yeah, because we could have put three
years into it, and then somebodysaid, no, no, no, we're not
going to show this. So it is,it's a huge hurdle, yeah, just
the fact that, you know, theysaid yes, and they say, Yes,
enthusiastically, you know,we've, you know, we're
partnering with buffalo eightdistributors. And they, they,
you know, they were veryenthusiastic from the beginning,
(03:09):
and really it, it hit theirheart, and now it's going to be
out there. And, you know, ofcourse, we hope it does what it
was meant to do, and that's tomake change.
Nicole áBeckett (03:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Pause one sec. Don pull your mica little bit away your it's kind
of distorting.
Don Priess (03:25):
Then I'll need to turn my mic cane down. Yeah, you
is it? Is it annoying,distorting? Yeah. Should we
start? No, well, I don't wantto. Okay, it's okay, okay. How's
that? Is that better?
Nicole áBeckett (03:35):
Much better?
Yeah, you were getting a littlebit of noisy, crunchy stuff.
Don Priess (03:39):
Okay, yeah, God. And it was so good. I mean, it was
brilliant, what I said, and nowit's crunchy. So disappointed.
Nicole áBeckett (03:49):
That's how we roll. We're very resilient.
We're resilient. We go throughthe crunch like no other. So,
yeah, so excited everybody to beat this place. And, you know,
keep, keep sharing, if you know,if you care about what our
future as elder people will be,and as, and I'm very close to
that, and so, and then what,what our loved ones are going
(04:12):
through or will go through. Andit's not just for elder people.
As you know, we talk about thisall the time. It's about, it's
about people who are vulnerable,who need long term care, and
that that system is broken. It'sbeen broken, and it's been
broken for a reason. It's beenstrategically broken so people
(04:33):
can benefit from it that don'tneed, that shouldn't be
benefiting from it. So you know,and most of us don't know until
we're in that situation, andthen realize, Oh my God, what
planet have I just landed on? Sohope you know that's why this
documentary is so important, toeducate the public, the
collective, and for everyone tobe so up in arms that they are
(04:59):
just going to sit. Knock it off.
We can't do this anymore. We canhave we can. We have to change
the system. So share, talk aboutit, and please watch it. Please
review it. You know, if you'reon what is it? Don letter box
letterbox. Thank you. Okay, ifyou have a profile on
letterboxed, which we justlearned about, because
(05:20):
apparently, I guess I'm eatinginto that older generation,
because I still go to RottenTomatoes. But apparently, it's
not the place to go and get youryour ratings or your reviews,
because it's like old school. Soyou need to go to letterbox, and
that's where everybody has ahuge conversations and shares,
you know, lists and things likethat about movies, whether it's
(05:42):
documentaries or narratives,whatever. And so if you, you
know, if you're on letterbox,spread the word there. Because
that's a really good place tospread the word. We really
appreciate that. And also, ifyou have a tutorial on it,
please send it my way, because Idon't, I don't get it, and I
there's too many social mediaplatforms, my God, threads. I
(06:02):
haven't even, no, let's not goanyway. So speaking of
generations, look at that. Lookat I just Yes, I did see that's
where I fancy. I excel, likethat interview today, and why
don't you tell us about it, andthen we'll figure out how
(06:28):
generations fits into that.
Don Priess (06:31):
I will do that right now. Nicola Beckett is a
visionary entrepreneur andpassionate advocate for social
impact as co founder of herogeneration, along with her co
founder, Shruti Roy, they aretransforming the way we support
family caregivers, bringingconnection and clarity to one of
the toughest roles in society.
Nicole also co founded sameside, blending civic engagement
(06:53):
with culture to make activismmore accessible and fun. From
caregiving to civic change,Nicole and Shruti are redefining
what it means to show up foreach other and for our
communities, and we are so gladthat Nicole showed up for us
today. So let's not take anothermoment and say hello to Dodger
fan Nicole Beckett, hello,Nicole.
Nicole áBeckett (07:18):
That was the best intro I've ever received.
Oh my goodness, we got inDodgers. We got in my old
company, same side. And ofcourse, you're a generation.
Thank you guys for having me sowelcome.
Thank you. Thank you forrescheduling and coming back
again because we've been we got,I don't know what happened, but
you're here, and you're lovely.
She's like, she looks like abeach bunny, and she's very,
(07:39):
very cool, andI was listening to Beach Boys
songs all day in
Don Priess (07:48):
honor of Brian Wilson, yes, let's take a moment
for Brian. Yes, yes. Thank you.
Nicole áBeckett (07:54):
True, very true. So hero generation and and
you, you're your whole interestin social activism is so on
point with us right now, becausewe, we're starting a movement
called roar for for ourdocumentary, which is a social
movement that we want to we feellike, you know that change comes
(08:15):
from the collective. Yeah, so itand, you know it is. It's a
daunting process. So we'rereally interested in how you got
into it, how you see it, how youframe it, and how others can can
take your lead. So tell us aboutyour origin story, as it were,
in terms of caregiving. Whydon't we start there?
Okay, absolutely. Well, again,Don and Susie, thank you so much
(08:38):
for having me. You know, beingable to spread the word with
people who, you know, use theirplatform for so much good as
well, is always heart warming tobe part of the community. So
appreciate you both for thatpart. Thank you so hero
generation. You know the seedsof it really started with my
caregiving journey, which began,really began in full effect
(09:02):
about 10 years ago, when my dadwas ending his 15 year battle
with prostate cancer, he hadelected to forego any more
treatment, like I said, he hadbeen battling it for 15 years,
and just you know, had come tothe end and made peace with
that. But that's when you know,we were both. My mom was his
primary caregiver. And you know,myself being very close, we
(09:26):
kicked into high gear ofcaregiving. And you know,
suddenly, all these questionsand to do were coming hard and
fast. And you know, what's thedifference between palliative
care and hospice care? What?
Totally know, what? Whatmedications should he be on now?
And, you know, the list isforever changing. He's gonna
stop some, but not others. Andso obviously that was incredibly
(09:46):
overwhelming. And my mom alsohad long suffered from a lung
disease, so you know, I wasreally trying to relieve a lot
of stress from her. And I have abackground as you. Mentioned, I
have a background in startups,tech platforms, so surely I
thought there's got to besomething out there to help me
manage, organize all the thingsthat need to be done,
(10:09):
information, place, to keep itall in one place, because I do
that in my everyday life andwork. So certainly there's got
to be something for like healthcare or caregiving. Didn't see
it, didn't find what I needed.
And my dad passed at the end of2015 and you go on with life as
(10:30):
you do. And then my caregivingrole really kicked into high
gear when my mom, who, as Imentioned, had a lung disease
called interstitial lungdisease, needed a lot more
support her disease really kindof taken a turn, and so in 2018
I became her primary caregiver.
She moved much closer to me thanshe had already had been, and I
was now going to all herdoctor's appointments. I was
(10:53):
supporting her with hermedication. I was, you know,
helping out with home stuff andhousekeeping stuff. I was
managing bills and taxes. Wetalked about long term care. She
they both had long term care,but that is not an easy system
to help manage. So as you canimagine, that was a lot of
(11:14):
overwhelm again. And mind you, Ihad two very young children. By
that time, I'd had my secondchild in 2018, so, you know,
right when I was taking over,supporting her more. So again, I
was like, surely, by now, therehas to be something that can
help me, and especially withlike resources, understanding
what's out there. And again, Ijust didn't find anything that
(11:37):
existed. And I was, you know,running my old company, same
side, so I just kind of went onwith life. And my mom ended up
passing in 2021, and so I kindof came out of that. I always
say I felt like I was in awashing machine, just tumbling,
tumbling, tumbling, not, nothaving any control of what was
going on in my life. And Ifinally came out, and it was
(12:00):
really, you know, 2024 20 end of2324 that I started putting the
pieces together for herogeneration, recognizing that we
need to have something thatsupports family caregivers, in
terms of being able to have allthe information in one place,
bring in a team to help support.
I have a very large family, andthey all really wanted to help,
(12:23):
but I had no idea how to managethat help, how to give them
things to do in a really easymanner. It almost became more
work my family. It is hard todelegate, right? It's really
hard, incredibly hard, becausethey'll ask, you know, you'll be
on the phone, maybe you'redriving in the car, and they'll
say, What can I do? And like,Oh, let me think about it later,
or when I get home. And then youforget. And then you think about
(12:44):
in the shower, three o'clock inthe morning, we can't sleep.
Don Priess (12:47):
And then you have to organize it, you have to put the
then you have to schedule it anddo, yeah, and instead of
caregiving, you're doing
Nicole áBeckett (12:54):
that. And when you're the lead person, like,
like you were, you know, and youjust have a natural, profited,
you know, opportunity to do it,and so like I did, it becomes,
like you said, extra work,because you you now have to,
man, be the manager, and that'sreally hard, because it brings
extra pressure on you, becausenow, if you do it, you know it's
done exactly. What else is doingit? You're worried, is it done?
(13:18):
Well, is it done? Also, you needto give them extra information.
Maybe the insurance card,where's the pharmacy, what
medications, or where's thedoctor's office? What? You know,
my brother, who's amazing, livesin a different part of
California, but he would come upand support but then, you know,
he would need all that info.
What do I tell them? What'sWhat's the latest with my info
do I need to share? So you willoften say, It's okay, I'll just
(13:41):
do it. So the primary caregiver,it just builds and builds and
builds, right? So understandingall of that, my co founder so
Shruthi Roy, who's also adoctor, she's a physician, but
she's also going throughcaregiving herself. Her father
was diagnosed with Parkinson'sdisease, and her mother has an
(14:01):
autoimmune condition, so she'sin the middle of it right now
herself, but we came togetherand said, We've got to be able
to build a way for people tojust organize the complexity and
offload some of the stress ofcaregiving, because I don't
think It needs to be this way.
And so hero generation is threemain pillars, really. So the
(14:25):
first one is the collaborationorganization that we talked
about. So we have a loved onesprofile where you can keep all
the information, the insurancecard, the doctors, names and
locations, the medic currentmedications, the farm where the
pharmacy is any legal documents.
We have it all listed, you know,and you just upload the
information easily, and you canchange you can bring in a team
(14:47):
as many people as you want, andthere's different levels of
information that they can see.
So of course, you know, youdon't want the family friend
who's going to maybe pick upgroceries. You don't want them
seeing, you know, the legaldocument, right? So you can
definitely there's high securityon all of those pieces of
information, but it's just allin one place that you can easily
say, you know, to my brother,it's in Hero generation, just go
(15:10):
check it out there. And then thecompanion piece to that are is
the task and calendarmanagement. So you can go in and
create all your to do's that todo list that never ends, and you
can assign it to team members,or you can leave them
unassigned. So when somebodysays, What can I do to help you?
(15:30):
Just say, go into herogeneration and take one of those
tasks off my list. They justthey do it. They click a little
button that says Done, and youknow that it's done. All the
information is there. It justmakes it so much easier to
manage right the holisticpicture of caregiving. So the
weddingregistry, if you will, yeah,
Don Priess (15:52):
it's collaborate.
And even if, even if you don'thave a team, even if it's just
you yourself, just theorganization, it's all there.
You don't have to think aboutit. You can remind yourself. You
can schedule yourself and yeah,that's
Nicole áBeckett (16:04):
absolutely it syncs to your calendar. So we
also have a notes section again,which, you know, we all have
notes on our phone. And what wereally wanted to do is, with
Hero generation, was bringeverything all in one place.
Because oftentimes you're like,Where was that I'm the last time
I went to the doctor, what didthey say? What did I put that in
a note? Was it in a textmessage? I put in a Google Doc?
(16:25):
Where was it? We just want thatall to be in one place so you're
not spending just that extratime searching and you know all,
I don't know if I mentioned thisalready, but like, it's not
like, like, death by 1000 cuts,right? Where it just all keeps
piling on and piling on, thatextra time that you're spending
just organizing. And we justwanted to make it as easy as
possible for caregivers to tomanage this really highly
(16:50):
stressful both emotionally,physically process, and just
make it a lot easier. So that'swhat we cover with the first
pillar. The second pillar areresources. So that question that
I asked, What's the differencebetween hospice care and
palliative care? Right? You canGoogle it, and, you know, get
different information. And youknow, Google is getting better
with their AI, but we wanted togive a place where real people
(17:14):
were answering some of the morecommon questions. And so we have
a video library on our site thatpeople can search through, and
it's a lot of more the morecommon questions that come with
caregiving, especially aroundlike estate planning or ER care.
We've got physicians, we've gotlawyers, we have experts in
their field sharing theirexpertise, and it's all in one
(17:35):
place again. And you can gothrough and that that 3am wake
up when you just can't sleep andyou're stressed about something,
you can go through it on yourown time. And then, in addition
to that, we do have our digitalcaregiving expert, which is
powered by AI, but what we'rereally proud of is that we've
wrapped her in her name is, it'sask Andrea. So she's named after
(17:56):
my mom, but we've really wrappedher in an empathetic voice,
understanding the caregiverside, so you can ask a question
very specific and tailored toyour situation. I'm in. La, my
mom was just diagnosed withdementia. Where do I even begin?
And it'll give you la, la, youknow, geographic resources, some
(18:17):
things that some questions youcan ask, some things to start
thinking about, you know, andyou can have that dialog with
her, and we say, you know, it'sjust a starting point. It's not
going to replace real, you know,legal experts, etc, always talk
to them, but, but it's likethat, those times when you're
just like, I just need somebodyto talk to you. And they can
just start that information,give you that information, feel
(18:39):
a little bit less stressed out,less more empowered, is really
what we wanted to to bring withher. And then again, she wraps
it in, you know, always saying,You're doing a great job. This
is a challenging time. We youknow, I understand this is very
difficult, but you're doing agreat job. You're doing all that
you can. It's great that you'reasking these questions, you
(19:00):
know, like those reaffirmationsthat people need to hear
totally I talk a lot about thechat GPT. Like, my chat GPT
gives me compliments all thetime. I'm like,
Yes, I know. I think when youstart interacting, it
like, sends me emojis. Now,What? What?
(19:20):
I love it.
And so I think, and, you know,I'm not in that situation at
this moment, but, you know,it's, I can see where it is
comforting and it is, you know,it's like, it's intuitively
picking up, you know, on what,what it it's feeling that you
know that right onto Right,right, right? You know exactly,
(19:41):
because I'm like House members,yeah, you know, I don't know,
but it doesn't have eyeballs. Idon't know how it knows, but
that's what I
Don Priess (19:49):
care caregivers feel alone. They feel isolated and
they feel alone. So just, youknow, just that alone, having
that, whether it's real or not,it doesn't matter. It does,
right? Really doesn't.
Nicole áBeckett (20:00):
Well that also so the third and final pillar,
because exactly what you justsaid, is that people feel so
alone, but there are so many ofus out there, so we wanted to
build a community piece to it.
And right now, what that lookslike is we're pretty new. What
that looks like is we're anaggregator of amazing events
that are happening all acrossthe country that people can go
and search through and see,okay, you know, there's one in
(20:22):
Atlanta for, you know, DementiaCaregivers, or there's something
just for young caregivers. It'svirtual. There's some, you know,
and so just to see, and peoplecan go, they don't have to
interact, they can just listen.
But just to know that there areother people out there that are
going through caregiving. Imean, I've had so many people
(20:44):
cry to me just saying, you know,I know it was out there. I just
didn't know how to find it. Ididn't know how to like connect.
And that connection piece, ofcourse, we're human beings. It's
so, so important, and you learnso much from other people, all
their experiences. So we knewthat that had to be an important
part to hero gen two. And sothat's it, in a nutshell, the
(21:07):
platform, great.
I'm curious, like when you saidyou when you first started
caregiving, and you would lookfor resources, and you couldn't
find anything, because there,there are a lot of different
resources out there, and I justwant to be open about that,
because and, and, and many ofthem, you know, I have my
opinion about them, and some ofthem are, you know, very they're
(21:32):
success oriented, and they wantto, they want to cash in on the
50 million plus caregivers. Andsometimes they're, you know,
what I found is, they're they'rejust not actually delivering
what they are saying they'redelivering. What did you find
when you went out there? Whatwas, what was missing in those
other resources?
I think, well, especially when Istarted, which was, you know, 10
(21:54):
years ago, which doesn't feellike it was that long ago, but
the way things change, it'scrazy, you know, you'd have to
Google things, and then I, youknow, putting them together. And
I think all the pieces wereseparated, right? The
collaboration. You know, theredefinitely are project
management tools out there thatI could have used where there
was Google Docs, right? There'sall of that, but it's, they're
(22:16):
all siloed and in differentplaces, and it would just take
so much more time to bring themall together. And then, like, I
think the palliative care versushospice care for me is like it
was just what sticks with me somuch, because I was so confused
about it. When my dad said thathe was, you know, for going
treatment, they said, Here's,you know, he's gonna be in
(22:38):
palliative care. It's like,great. But then it was through
the hospice nerd, like, youknow, there's no single
Don Priess (22:44):
answer either.
There's no single everyone has adifferent definition. Everybody
has a different
Nicole áBeckett (22:49):
definition. We talk about it in the
documentary, because I wentthrough the same thing, like my
mom. They put her in hospicebecause it was supposed to be
better care. Yes, suddenlythey're taking her off of all of
her medications. And I'm, like,what's going on now? She's
suffering, like she has, she hasa pressure sore. Well, we'll
just give her morphine, well,then she's gonna die. Well,
yeah, she's in hospice, butshe's not ready to die. Like,
(23:11):
what's going on here?
Yeah, that's it's bringing thatback that we had the, like, a
pretty similar experience,
Susie Singer Carter (23:17):
yeah. So I know that's so important for
people to understand thedifference and what what is
provided in palliative careversus hospice care, and what
you know, and you need to knowit, because you will need to
manage that and be on top of it.
Because if you aren't, yeah, itwon't happen right chances, and
Don Priess (23:37):
which, yeah, what's so very important about what
you've done here is that peopledon't know what to even look
for. They don't know they arethis is all new to people unless
they've done it before, unlessthey've been a carrier before.
This is a new frontier. Youdon't know what questions to
ask. You don't know what you'resupposed to know. So for them to
(23:58):
be able to go to and say, Oh, oreven of like you say, events.
What? What kind of event am Isearching for? I don't know. So,
if there's a menu, fantastic,right? I mean, so that that's so
important, because exactlyright, Susie had no idea what
she was walking into when shebecame a caregiver. No clue.
Susie Singer Carter (24:15):
Yeah, I didn't even know I was a
caregiver. Let's, let's start.
Yeah,
Nicole áBeckett (24:18):
that that that right there. Yeah, that right
there, especially you don't evenknow your account,
even know it. And, you know, Ithink I was the, you know,
saying it wrong for very long. Iwas a caregiver, right? And I
was like, No, it's a caretaker.
And
Don Priess (24:32):
you know that we used to say it used to be
caretaker.
Nicole áBeckett (24:36):
I didn't know what it was. I was like, I was
so confused, because I didn'tknow what I yeah, I thought I
was just like being a daughter,yeah, say exact, exact same
thing where, you know, it wasn'tuntil I got out of it, and then
looked back and then startedrealizing, Oh, that was a that
was a big thing. Like, that wasmore than doing the research,
(24:56):
like, Oh, my God, so many.
People are in this role. And Iwas, you know, in my 30s. I lost
both my parents in my 30s, and,you know, I didn't have any
friends who had, even, you know,experienced anything like that.
Susie Singer Carter (25:12):
So most people don't want to even think
about it, you know, it's not intheir purview, and they don't
Nicole áBeckett (25:18):
want to, yeah, they're, they're starting
families, or they're, you know,advancing in their career and,
you know, so I certainly did notrealize what I what I was even
doing, that I that there was aname for it, and there were
resources. I had no idea. Inever once, I never even once,
really looked into my mom'sdisease, like diagnosis disease,
(25:40):
like I knew the name and I knewwhat was happening, because I'd
go to all the doctorsappointments, but I never even
thought to, like look more intoit, to empower myself a little
bit more with information. Andso we just want to spark those
things and people, because we'vebeen through it. So now we know
here's how, what we can do, andat the same time, we want to, we
want caregiver support to bemore rooted. Our mission is to
(26:04):
have it more rooted in thehealthcare system. I mean, my
parents, both were in LA, youknow, UCLA and Cedar Sinai. They
had the most phenomenal healthcare. I I'm so grateful for the
health care that they received.
I will say, you know, I again, Iwas at with both my parents, but
my mom, especially, every singledoctor's appointment, and never
once did somebody turn to me andsay, How are you doing
(26:27):
supporting? Do you needresources? Do you need support?
And that's not a knock on themin any way, because doctors are
overwhelmed and they're doing somuch, and their main function is
to care for the patient. But nowthat healthcare is being
offloaded to families and thehome so much more, we really
need to have that dynamic changein the hospital setting as well
(26:51):
by offering them resources,knowing that starting them like,
here's what you don't even know,that you know right, that you
need to know exactlyon certain diseases that have
stigmas attached to them, youknow, or misunderstandings in
the in the health industry andand again, not because that it's
purposeful. It's just thatpeople in the health industry
(27:13):
don't often take the time theydon't have the time, they're not
paid to have the time toactually dig in and do the right
and understand dementia orunderstand Parkinson's, they're
just looking at themanifestations of and treating
it like a one size fits all,which obviously it doesn't. And
so, you know, and so many timesI got, you know, the kind of
(27:33):
response from doctors that was,like, impatient, like, how do
you put up with this? I've had,I had doctors say that to me,
like, because if my mom was,like, on a, on a, you know, loop
of loop of questions, sorry,like, do you need, do you need a
valium or anything? And I'mlike, What are you literally,
like, trying to make a jokeabout it. And I was like, Oh, my
(27:55):
God, it's so insensitive. Andthen getting Pat like, let's and
then taking it to another wholenother level, you know, past
insensitivity. It's actuallydestructive, and, and, and it's
torturous, because if they don'tunderstand the disease, they're
going to treat the person in aproper way, in, you know, right,
right, not appropriately. And,and that's when you get into
(28:19):
really big trouble, because theystart making you sweeping
generalization, right? Andyou as the caregiver, are
already so overwhelmed that toeven take on one more, you know,
I don't want to call it one morething, though,
Don Priess (28:35):
yeah, a lot it's that's going back to, yeah,
going back to pillar one, which,and I think this kind of ties in
all of that. And that is the todo list that people that like.
For example, if when Susie's,you know, and I was very close
to Susie and her mom, but youdon't as a friend, you don't
know, what can I really do? Yes,and if there was Olivia drop
(28:56):
down that said that, and youcall five your friends and say,
pick one, pick one. Now suddenlyyou have five things off your
plate. They're doing somethingthat is no big deal, picking up
groceries, and that seems likenot a big deal to the caregiver.
Oh, my God, it's huge. Comingover for an hour so you can take
a shower or go to the gym orsomething, you know, those types
(29:21):
of things. So that list alone,if you had nothing else, that's
amazing, and it allows you tocontent because people don't
know, the friends don't knowwhat to do exactly, even family
members don't know what to do.
You know, my brother
Nicole áBeckett (29:36):
say, like, go pick up my groceries. You know,
that's just right.
Don Priess (29:39):
But if they pick it, if they choose it, and say, Oh,
I could do that. Yeah, no bigdeal. You know,
Nicole áBeckett (29:46):
sign it like I could assign. I would probably
have no problem. When somebodysays to me, What can I do to
help? I would have no problemassigning. I'm like, I'm going
to send you a task, and youassign that person, they get an
email or notification thatthey've been assigned a task.
Then it's like, done, you know,it's just that one layer of of,
you know, removal, and it justmakes it a lot easier, that that
(30:07):
we found with people as well,right, right? Wow. I just wanted
to pivot a second and just talkabout your activism like you
were talking like in your bio,it talks about your your your
background, in that, and how,how does that manifest? How did
that and where does it comefrom, and are you still involved
in that?
(30:28):
Yeah. I mean, yeah, I don'tthink you ever lose that sense
of wanting to use your voice forchange, especially when you see
something you know that needschanging. And so my previous
company, same side, my brotherand I actually ran it. It was an
events platform where you canhold an event, whether it was
(30:50):
like a music concert or a yogaclass or whatever, and you can
connect a cause to it, and allof your attendees or guests,
they would receive informationabout that cause, whether you
know, it was planned parenthoodor, you know, I don't know,
Sierra Club, whatever it may be,you know, anyway they would
(31:12):
receive information. You know,where that started. I think just
my parents were, you know, theywere both teachers, part of a
union. Always had to stand upfor what their, you know, their
profession, or, you know, wentout and and did a lot of that.
But, you know, my dad really wasthe one who was always going out
(31:36):
to different events to sharehis, you know, be being
civically engaged. So, you know,I worked my first poll. I worked
at a polling place when I wasstill in high school. And, you
know, it's just civic engagementand using your voice and and,
you know, being involved hasalways been something that's
incredibly important to me. AndI think, you know, my brother
and I started same side in 2017when, you know, a lot of people
(32:01):
were looking for a way to havetheir voice heard that didn't
really understand how to use it.
We understood how to use it. Mybrother was, you know, a former
Navy SEAL, like he was very, youknow, very pro people using
their voice. And so that's howwe started same side. And, you
know, it's, it's ebbed and flow,because you can be as you guys
talked about with the with thedocumentary, how you're just
(32:23):
flat out now, after a while, youcan get tired, and so it ebbs
and flows with me. But you know,there's there's, it never ends.
So you get involved. How you canI think now I'm, you know, just
changing a little bit of waysabout how I get involved. Maybe
I'm not out in the street asmuch, but I'm definitely using
my voice in other ways, becauseit that that need, that desire
(32:46):
to be heard, never leaves,right?
Yeah, and, I mean, someone whocomes from that civic kind of,
you know, imprinting, don't you?
I mean, I, for me, it's been soclear and obvious since I
started this documentary thattraditional advocacy just
doesn't work in in this kind of,you know, political system. And
(33:08):
I'm not just talking about thisadministration, you know, sure,
I just my friend, just, she justwrote and produced and directed
a film about Lilly Ledbetter,and we watched it last night.
And I'm just, you know, whatLily went through is, is no
different than what you knowwe're going through with, with
the nursing home industry,right? So it's like that they,
(33:29):
you know, she would get thesebills passed, and they go
through, through thelegislature, and then the lobby
would step in and go, Yeah,we're not going to let that go
through. We're going to pay forall these politicians, and now
it's going to die on the vine.
It was happening. It happens allthe time. Always happens. So if
(33:50):
you don't use your voice and getout there and be a strong
collective constituency,nothing's going to happen. Am I
right?
Absolutely, and that's a bigpart. I mean, we're not there
yet, because hero Gen is prettynew, but advocacy is going to be
a very big part of it, when aswe grow, as we go, because, you
(34:10):
know, it's just there's so muchthat, especially caregivers, who
we focus on, so much support,that just could be there and
it's not. And again, you know,you've got to be that. Someone's
got to be that aggregator, thatthat organizer, and, you know,
that's kind of in our DNA. Andso we're really zeroing in on
(34:32):
that next phase of, yeah,generation does
too. It's so true. I'm glad,yeah, it's good to hear. I just
like to validate that, because Ithink, you know I, I was like
Pollyanna three years ago,thinking that you know you, if
you if something's wrong, itwill be, it will it'll be
acknowledged. And there will besome, you know, penalty, and
(34:53):
there'll be some, you know,reparation, reparations. And
there aren't, there just aren'tlike you. Are out of luck. It's
like, you know, just cut yourlosses and buy and your losses
are, are human beings? Mm, hmm,yeah, yeah. So
Don Priess (35:12):
does does hero generation? How does it work? Is
it subscription service or? Howdoes that work?
Nicole áBeckett (35:17):
Yeah. So we have two tiers. One is totally
free, and that allows you to setup the loved ones profile, and
you can keep that in perpetuity.
So we really again. We know fromour experience that being
prepared and organized for whenyou know maybe your parents
aren't at a space where you needto be caring for them or your or
(35:37):
your loved one, whoever it maybe, is not in a space, but being
organized by having thatinformation you know ready to go
when maybe you do need to stepinto a more serious role is so
important. So we've made thatfree tier, managing the loved
ones profile, keeping all theinformation in one place,
totally free. And then the nexttier is what includes all of the
(35:58):
task and calendar management,the AI, ask Andrea, the notes
and the messaging within theplatform that's paid here. And
it's 1799 a month, so it's very,you know, affordable. We haven't
made it too crazy. So, yeah,that's, that's what allows us to
keep going and adding in newfeatures. We're continually, you
(36:21):
know, building out our road mapand taking feedback from users,
or, you know, people who arecaregivers, who aren't even
users. Yet. We love gettingfeedback because we really do
want to, you know, we're doingthis at the end of the day, we
want caregivers to have lessstress, have less to dos, and be
able to spend more time, moremeaningful time, with their
(36:42):
loved one, and not feel soeither guilty or, you know, just
tired. Yeah,
Don Priess (36:51):
resent. What's the most? Yeah, what's the most
interesting or helpful feedbackyou've gotten from somebody
who's used it that you've maybeimplemented?
Nicole áBeckett (37:01):
Well, this is funny. This, I probably
shouldn't say this, butwhatever, like, people are using
it for their pets, which we werenot expecting at all,
phenomenal, though. That'sgreat,
exactly. We're like, Okay, ifthat's use case, but you know,
that's that's not the purpose.
But I think what I don't thinkwe set out to do this in the
beginning, even though, when youthink about both Shruti and mine
(37:24):
were both sandwich generationcaregivers. We both have kids,
it never crossed our mind to useit for both your children and
your I wasjust thinking that too.
I mean, like, we're like, oh,obviously. So now I use it with
my childrentoo, but for families that are
broken up, you know, like, ifyou're divorced and you add, I
(37:45):
mean, that would work. Really,really, wow. I
mean, all of the use cases thathave come to us, so we've had
therapists that have said, thiswould be so great. Exactly that
scenario, our families, theyhave children, they're divorced,
particularly special needs, kidsthat have a lot of care. That's
right, this is perfect for them.
I just the other day, somebodytold me, I'm using it for my
(38:07):
college age student because theydon't have any of their info.
And like, God forbid, somethinghappened to them, I know that
it's all in one place. They knowthey can access it,
right? Where's my birthcertificate that right I used to
get from my daughter.
Don Priess (38:25):
What's my blood type? Yeah,
Nicole áBeckett (38:29):
exactly, exactly like all those things
that, like you never reallythink of, but then when you need
them, it's really important tohave them. That's so great.
Think about it.
Don Priess (38:38):
Any plans to expand that to pillars two and three,
or just more of that for otheruses for pillar one, like for
children, having resources,things like that, or pets, or,
you know, yeah, will that expandto those pillars also
absolutely, oh
Nicole áBeckett (38:53):
my gosh, yes.
There's so many. There's there.
The road map is endless, but weabsolutely right now, obviously,
because we're growing and, youknow, we need to be hyper
focused on one target market,but, you know, people are using
it outside of what we'refocusing on, marketing it to.
But eventually, I mean, we'regonna have to raise a little
money and do all that to reallykind of expand the team, but
(39:19):
organically, right? Becauseyou're gonna, you're gonna see,
like, what the market isdemanding and what exactly
that's exactly right. I mean,already, because so many people
have talked about children,we've updated our homepage to
include them, like, just as alittle bit of like, you know,
this can also be used, but we'realready starting to say, Well,
(39:39):
it's kind of seems like morepeople are wanting to use it
with children. But, you know,our heart and our the genesis of
all this is with, you know,helping people who are, you
know, supporting aging lovedones or ailing loved ones. So,
you know, we got to expand theteam. But, yeah, it's, it's,
it's a good problem to have,but, you know, we, we both
Shruti and I, Shruthi is aphysician, you know, we kind.
(40:00):
From a place where we want tohelp everybody everywhere, all
at once, right? And we've gotit, you know, be focused a
little bit before you canreally,
yeah, I'm not a business woman,but I do know that grow too fast
of growth is not the thing. So,yes, right? So that's, that's,
that's great, is it? It's anapp, then I take it,
right? So, right now we're webbased, so you can just log in
(40:24):
online and on your phone. It'smobile. It's optimized for
mobile if you log in throughyour phone. We wanted to first
Also make sure the features thatwe had put out there were most
useful before we built the app,because it's a lot easier to
just build on the web. But anapp will be coming probably next
year,and is it easy to use for people
that aren't internet savvy,right? Okay,
(40:48):
I really think so. We focused onthat. We've had a lot of
feedback from folks that youknow, get see a lot of different
platforms, and they've all said,it's, it's, it's very easy. So
you know, but again, I'll takethe feedback from users, and if,
if it's not, I won't, you know.
We want to know. And so far, wehaven't, you know, we haven't
had that be an issue. Usabilitybe an issue, right? Right? The
(41:10):
issues that we deal with,really, to be perfectly honest,
are families, you know, whereone person is more tech savvy
than the other, and maybe thesister or the brother, who you
know in this has happened a fewtimes the you know, they're not,
they're not used. They don't useit in their everyday life. They
don't use it for work. But so togo onto a platform, it's just
(41:33):
not, you know something, yeah.
So that's Yeah. So that's abarrier that we're trying to
address now, how do we, how dowe help families that have
different levels of comfort withtechnology have
an idea for you, which youprobably know, I just think that
obviously an app is going to bea savior, because everybody has
(41:56):
a phone, right? And so everybodyhas a smartphone, yeah, oh,
yeah, pretty much, right. Andthen you can, if you can, you
know, convince them to keeptheir notifications on. Then the
main caregiver, who is, youknow, scheduling everything,
because there's going to be onethere just is, yeah. Then, you
(42:17):
know, then notifications can goout and automatically, and they
could be notified. And then ifsomething is needed, then
they're notified. If something'sbeen completed, they're
notified, yeah, you know. And Ithink that's going to be a big,
big help, because you're notdepending on them, right? Log in
and see what's up, right? Yeah,yeah, you're right to push the
(42:39):
info to them, because that'sjust going to help. That's my
right. That's my you'reabsolutely right. That's what I
Yeah, yeah, yeah. As
Don Priess (42:47):
as of now, will there be I just do any of the
notification? Notifications goout in, like, an email, or
anything like that, email,
Nicole áBeckett (42:55):
SMS, yeah, yeah. Set up if they've put
their phone opted in email is,like, the first way that they
opt in, and then if they alsoadd their phone, then yeah, oh,
they need to add their phone,because that's how you gotta get
it, like, butI'll tell you, I mean, not to
put my sister in law on blast,but my brother, my husband, my
husband, who his family is inAustralia. He's Australian, so
(43:19):
he's, you know, his dad is okay.
But, you know, there's, he'sgetting older, and they're
trying to manage a few thingshere and there. And you know,
even his sister, who's in her30s, is not, is not, you know,
it's just, it's just not in herroutine. So, you know, but it's
good, like, I like hearing that.
I'm totally okay with that. Ineed to figure it's my job, it's
(43:40):
our job, truthy, and my job.
And, yeah, to figure out, how dowe
get a little nudge, getting thatnot you, I'm talking about,
yeah, well, how do we nudgethat?
Yeah, you have to, like, I thinkthat's, that's, obviously, you
know, and I'm preaching to thechoir, but,
you know, yeah, no, I mean, Iit's, it's reinforcing to hear
(44:00):
it. So I know it's,it's good. And I think, you
know, if anyone's thinking that,you know, like, well, I'll never
get my my brother's not gonna,you know, log in to see what he
needs to do. And then, so Ithink that when you have that
part of it, it's gonna bereally, really helpful, because
it's gonna, right, it'll runitself a little bit. It'll take
the onus off of that writingcaregiver, absolutely. So it
(44:23):
sounds great. I would use it. Iwould use it for sure, because
especially with notifications,and the fact that you can, you
can text message, you know what,if you guys do it, if you
whoever's out there is doing it,put their phone number in ask,
because everybody has to getpinged. That's, that's it. I
mean, if they're gonna get freepeople, and they're gonna get,
(44:44):
you know, right, ping about,what can I do to help? Well, you
know, yeah, I'm, I'm more of theask for forgiveness than
permission. Kind of personwith you on that, too. You, you
know, it'll be nice. It'll belike me, sorry to bother you.
It's hard to interrupt your deadbut, but also,
(45:07):
like you said, like people wantto help, yeah, they want to be
part of it. They want to feellike they're doing something.
And so, as you know, you make itas easy as possible. That's what
this does? They feel part of thejourney, right? They feel part
of the I mean, there's not a lotof joy necessarily, in
caregiving, but there are bondsthat can be formed. There are
(45:29):
moments, there's, you know, allof that that can be formed. And
the more that people feel partof that, you know, you just
share in that human experience.
I mean, I I always say, like,when, my mom died, you know,
obviously I just thought it wasso unfair, like, How did I lose
both my parents so early? And mybrother was, was the one who was
like, You know what, Nicole, Ithe way I look at it is like,
(45:49):
everybody has to go throughthis. We just went through it
early. And I'm like, you know,you're right. And so it's, it's
the human experience, and thatwas our experiences. And
you did quality time with hertoo. You did it. And, you know,
that's how I feel about my mom.
You know, my mom was older, butyeah, and I think it's never
easy. It's never easy. Like mydad died when I was 16 in a
(46:11):
plane crash, and my mom died,you know, in her late 80s. So
it's like, and from, you know,very long out. So either one
isn't easier, neither oneexactly never. Doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter if in your 50sor in your 30s, losing a parent
sucks, if you have a goodrelationship and it's nobody
(46:31):
wants to lose their mommies anddaddies. We don't know, and it's
never, never easy. But I always,I always say that, you know,
having cared for my mom, Iwouldn't, I wouldn't change that
for anything, not his momentsare so, so beautiful and
valuable. And, I mean, you know,right? Just, you just feel like
(46:54):
you've been through, yeah, awar, and you've been and you're
like, you call it herogeneration. That's exactly what
it is.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, everyone'sheroes in that, in that
scenario, their loved ones.
Yeah, ittruly is. And that's what, yeah,
that's really what more what ismore important than that? I
(47:15):
don't know,right, right? I really don't.
Yeah, it's hardto see when you're in it. And
again, that's why now being outof it, looking back, why we want
to be able to remove as muchstress as possible? Because
there's so many things thatdon't have to happen or that
don't have to be stressed over.
(47:36):
So if we can remove as much ofthat as possible by just a to do
list, gathering all theimportant information in one
place. Again, it relieves a lotof that time I stress for more
of the, you know, meaningfulinteractions and the meaningful
time,
Don Priess (47:53):
yeah, and you become more you're able to be more
present for the person you'recaring for, because you're not,
you know you are. Now don't have7000 things now you still will,
yes, but if you ease some ofthat stress, you're a better
person for them. And that'smaybe more important than
anything. That's
Nicole áBeckett (48:10):
exactly right?
I 100% that's exactly it.
Yeah, great. Well, I think it'sgreat. I think it's great what
you're doing. I think it's greatthat you took, you know your
journey, and turn it into a giftfor others, and you're paying it
forward. And that's what's so,that that is, that is the human
thing to do. That is what we do,and that's what, what's what
(48:31):
we're here for. We're, we're, weneed to remain community,
because community, withoutcommunity, we are destined for a
very bad life, you know, doesn'tmatter. Yeah, I just think that
what's we've lost community andand it's so important. We really
need community. We just do andwe need, we need really nice
hearts like your brother and youYes, so thank you for being
(48:55):
good, like our eyes, and thankyou both too for our sister
from LA, because we're la peopletoo. Yeah, so there are nice
people in Los Angeles.
Are? There are so many goodpeople in LA Yeah, and
Don Priess (49:09):
all the good people love the Dodgers.
Nicole áBeckett (49:11):
Yes, exactly.
It's easy to be a Dodger fanthese days, but you know, yeah,
we're making up for it now.
We're seeing our flowers after.
We're
Don Priess (49:25):
trying not to be too cocky, giant fans and Padre
fans, but it's okay, we can. Wedeserve it
Nicole áBeckett (49:33):
totally, all right? Well, I love what you're
doing. And this podcast is thisshow this Our hearts are all
about love, because why don
Don Priess (49:49):
Well, that's because love is powerful. Love is
contagious, and love conquersall. We thank everybody for
watching, listening today. Ifyou like what you heard and saw,
please follow. And share and doall those fun things, and go
Nicole áBeckett (50:02):
to show notes and find out more about hero
generation and Nicole and herpartner what they're doing. And,
you know, support them if youlike it, and, and, yeah, like
Don said, support us, and alsosupport No Country for Old
people coming out August 1again, I'm going to tell you
that because I love you all, andI don't want you to go through
bad times like I did. So we'regoing to change this system. I
(50:25):
love you and everyone. We'lltalk. We'll see you next time.
Don Priess (50:29):
All right, take care, everybody. Bye, bye. You.
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