You Can Overcome Anything: Ep 297 - Homeless Immigrant to Impacting Medical Field – Marly Brodsky - You Can Overcome Anything! Podcast Show

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you looking for more out of your life? Do
you need ideas on how to start new businesses and
how to move forward in your own personal life? Well,
guess what you have come to a right radio show
at You Can Overcome Anything Podcast Show. You're learning here
from many people from all walks of life who are

(00:22):
sharing their challenges, their stories, their habits and the mind
shifts they had to overcome to become who they are today.
On top, you will get a chance to connect and
see how you can overcome anything by networking and learning
about your next move through this radio show. I present

(00:42):
to you our great speakers at You Can Overcome Anything
Podcast Show with your host Caesar is you know, Hello
there and welcome back to another episode of You Can
Overcome an anti in podcast show is their host Caesar

(01:04):
Espino and today I have a special guest. She is
a true embodiment of resilience in transformation. She's not only
a devoted mother of two, but also the founder and
CEO of med Companion and co founder of Odyssey Protection Services.
Her journey is nothing short of inspiring. Having overcome homelessness

(01:26):
brought at the tender age of twelve in surviving a
rain termer at the age of eighteen. She has become
a revolutionary trailblazer in public health and advocacin following the
national certification of Health Education Specialists in driving innovation for
the past fifteen years in the healthcare landscape that their
education extends globally as she is an active philanthropist working

(01:50):
with tribal communities in the jungles of Panama. Recently, she
shared her incredible story from being a homeless immigrant to
reshaping the American health system on the Resilience Factor podcast.
Is my pleasure to introduce you to Marlee Broski. Hey, Marley,
how are you.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
I'm doing well. How are you?

Speaker 1 (02:12):
I'm doing good. I'm doing good. So, you know, just
listening to that and reading that, I got this goosebumps.
You know, definitely the fact that the things you're doing
just by reading that is amazing. So tell me a
little bit about where you're originally from and how is
that upbringing for you.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, So, originally I was born in Panama. Both of
my parents are from Central America, Panama, and then at
the age of like a year old, my dad ends
up having an accident in the fishing boats that he
used to be a part of as his job, and

(02:50):
as a result of that, he had to stay in
the States have several surgeries, and my mom was brought
to California. So I ended up growing up in San Diego, California,
which is where I was up until I was twenty
two years old. And as you mentioned in the introduction,
you know that was that was not an easy upbringing.

(03:14):
You know, at the age of twelve, my parents had
a very successful landscape company that they started from the
ground up. So up until that point life had been
pretty good. We were typical middle class family. And then
one day, when I was twelve years old, to one

(03:36):
wrong decision and a bad business partner left us on
the streets.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Wow, you know that that's actually very interesting. I was
talking about that exact point in the idea of you know,
we always are attached to the materialistic aspect of life,
right and as you mentioned, right, one day you have
it all and then before you know, you can end
up losing that. And what I tell people is that

(04:04):
while that's you know, really hard to go through through,
as long as you're living and you have you know,
breath on your lungs, then something good can come out
of that as long as you continue to push through, right,
and you know, we can have money right now, and
we can lose it all. We can you know, have
a house, we can lose it. We can have a marriage,
we can lose it, all these different things that we

(04:25):
can lose. And I always tell people that there's only
one thing that if you lose that set is the
end of it, and that's your life. And as long
as you have that, you know, the the ability to live,
you know, you can lose at all and you can
regain all of that stuff back again if you follow
a process, if you are attached to the right people,
if you're doing the things that really are there to

(04:46):
serve you right, Because it can also go the other way, right,
And so I can only imagine for you at that
early age being you know, left with nothing, right, So
tell me a bit more about that. How is that?
And more than anything, how are you able to, even
at an early age, be able to bounce back because
you know, it doesn't matter whether you're an adult or

(05:07):
not and you're going through those hard times. Is not
an easy thing to do.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, one hundred percent. I think you bring up a
really great point with having this attachment to materialistic things.
And I always tell people like, don't get me wrong,
I love nice things, I really do. But having been
in situations where I've had it all and lost it all,
and had it all and lost it all, I know
where true wealth lies. And I learned at the age

(05:35):
of twelve that people can take a lot of things
away from you. But the things that you invest in yourself,
your education, your skill sets, your memories, those are things that,
no matter what you go through in life, are always
going to be a part of you. And to your point,
you know, as long as we're alive, there is hope,

(05:55):
there is opportunities, There is a way that you can
balance back from everything. I mean, this is why I
love I love your podcast. You can overcome anything. It's
not going to be easy, but you can. And that
was a very hard time because when you go from
middle class to suddenly nothing. We were a family of
five at the time, and of course this is not

(06:19):
something my parents were expecting. So shortly after we became homeless,
my mom found out that she was pregnant, so we're
now about to be a family of six, no house.
My dad kept trying to find work, and of course
it's a very difficult time. We lost our cars, we
lost everything, so trying to bounce back from that was hard.

(06:39):
We used to we did have one car, and we
used to sleep in that car. Sometimes it would be
at a park we I mean, thankfully it was in California,
so the weather there is.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Super nice, and I think that we probably went to
a lot of like the camping ground parks because they
had showers, they had away where we could at least
look somewhat put together, and we had just a small
little plastic bin where we got to put some of
our clothes, and that's that's pretty much all we had left.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
And it was difficult, but we realized that as long
as we had each other and as long as we
were alive, we had everything. So we ended up growing
up having a very close connection. And a lot of
people are like, how come you and your family are
so close. I'm like, listen, when you have nothing and
all you have is each other, you learn to truly
value that bond because no matter what, that's all you

(07:36):
have left, and that's that's who you're fighting for, and
that's who you're fighting with because it's the only way
that you can get through it.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
You know that that's huge. The fact that you mentioned
and really having that connection is huge and being able
to foster that I can only imagine to you, like
you know, you kind of have two things to deal
with in or at least I want to get your
opinion on that. And not only did you you go
through those harsh times, right, also being an immigrant to

(08:06):
the funtry, right, I mean, I think that's that's an
added that added value, but that's an addict think to
the mix. Right. How was that too right? Because obviously
you know there's other this stereotype or that there's so
many different things me myself being an immigrant, I know that,
and I guess I've been through I lived that that sometimes,
you know, people tend to see that part of it,

(08:28):
and that can also create a different layer of difficulty
to what you're trying to accomplish.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, I mean one hundred percent, as an immigrant, you
already started a disadvantage. You have to fight harder, You
have to learn a different language. I didn't even learn
English until I was nine or ten years old, so
English is my second language and that's something that I've
constantly tried to improve and understand it even still my
husband will tell me like that, that's not the word

(08:55):
you want to use. That's not what it means. It's like, oh,
well translated, I thought that's what it meant. But at
the end of the day, there it is hard being
an immigrant and being an immigrant family. You also think
about all the things that could happen. So one of
the things for us was, you know, it was very
important that nobody knew what we were going through. And

(09:16):
that was something my mom made here. She's like, you
can't tell anybody. If you tell somebody, they might take
you away from us. You will not be with your
brothers and sisters.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
You will know.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
So it was this constant struggle of having to put
up this face that life is good. I'm still going
to go to school because I have to. People will
notice if I'm gone, But I'm just going to smile
through it and pretend life is okay, even though I
don't even know where I'm going to be sleeping tonight,
or if I'll come home to food or anything like that.

(09:48):
So it's hard, and being an immigrant it's even harder
because you're like, oh man, they're for sure, like my
family is going to be taken away if they know.
So that was that was a big struggle, and that
was something that as a family, we we just decided like,
we're just going to keep this to ourselves. Nobody needs
to know, and eventually, one day, when we get through
it and we're all successful, we'll talk about it. And

(10:10):
that's what we've done. We've talked about it now. But
back then, my goodness, we.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Were so terrified to even tell someone or if we
had friends be like, oh, I want to go to
your house, It's like, oh no, my parents work all
the time.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
You know that's going to happen.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
There was always an excuse and it was very difficult
to go through that.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, did you ever lost faith on you know, not
being able to see the light at the end of
the tunnel.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
There was one. There was one time and this is probably,
you know, an area that I know a lot of
people are going through and an area that I like
to share. But you know, I grew up Christian, We
grew up Seven day Adventists, and my dad has always
been a man of really really big faith, and even
through those darkest times, have Bible studies, We still read

(11:01):
the Bible in the car, We still prayed, We still
talk to God. It's like God, if you can get
us through this, like if you can get us through
just another day or just the next hour. And it
just came down to living life, counting every second, every
minute because we didn't know where it was going to be.
But there comes a point after several years of being

(11:22):
homeless and you know, having stayed at a hotel because
we had more money that day, and then going back
to car and then having a little bit of food,
it gets it gets hard. And as a teenager, I
think there was a point where I didn't think that
my life was worth it, and I felt like maybe

(11:42):
dying would be easier. And as the oldest that was
very hard. And one thing I remember was we were
staying in this motel and we had this like we
had a few utensils because we would buy some cereal.
We would eat a little but a cereal every day.
And I remember like everybody was sleeping and I grabbed

(12:05):
this knife. It wasn't a sharp.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
Knife, it was just one of those butter knives, you know,
but we had it.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
And I sat in the bathroom thinking like what if
I did end my life, Like what if this is
how it ends? And I was battling this internal battle
between like where I was and also being like, well
I don't I don't want to die, but I feel
like I should. And I sat there for a long

(12:32):
time and then I just said, God, if if there
is more, if I could be more, if I could
have a better life, if I just keep going, can
I change this? Can I be someone? Is it always
going to be like this? And then I kept thinking, well, geez,
if I end my life right now, like I know

(12:54):
how this ends, and it's not going to be nice,
and then my parents are going to be left to
deal with this, and I don't want to put that
on them. And now they're going to have to try
to find money to to deal with with the outcome
of this, and it's going to put them in a
worse situation. And I was almost like upset that I
couldn't even afford to die that point, because I'm like,

(13:16):
what am I going to do with how is this
going to affect my family?

Speaker 1 (13:19):
You know?

Speaker 2 (13:20):
And in that moment, my brother walked in and that
was my sign, and he was like, what are you doing?
What are you doing? And everyone's like now awake, freaking out.
My parents took me to the hospital. I went through
this whole evaluation, and in that whole process, I was like, Okay, God,
you didn't let me go through with it. You didn't

(13:41):
let it happen. I asked you for a sign, and
you sent to my brother. And after that, I just
made a promise. I was like, I am never going
to tempt with my life again. I am never even
going to think about that as a possibility. And no
matter what, I'm just going to keep going because if
I keep going, there's no way that I can fail.

(14:02):
I just have to keep getting up, keep getting back up,
keep failing, keep trying, and eventually my life will get better.
And it did, so yeah, you really can.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
That's that's you know. And for the people that are listening,
as you mentioned, and you know, you never know what
people are going through. And and that's a really good
point the you just made. And and one one of
that is twofold Number one is sometimes we feel like
that's easy way out, and yet we forget and and
don't recognize that there's other people in our lives that

(14:35):
truly care about you, and you actually leaving this place
is not making any better. It's actually going to make
it worse for those people. So think of those people
that really care for you and love you, and and
also think of, you know, what will be the outcome
by doing that right and what you're going to leave behind.
The second thing you mentioned is just keep moving forward.

(14:56):
You know, well, you know you might be going to
the storm, rain, Now you're not staying in the storm.
You got to go through the storm and you're going
to get to that other side. Right, So that's huge
in terms of that. Tell me about your brain tour.
How did that come about?

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, so the irony is that, you know, eventually we
did get through it. Things started to improve. My parents
were about to get a little apartment. So by the
time I was a senior in high school, things were
a little bit better. But in that process, I was
still homeless. And just the way that I was brought up.

(15:33):
You know, college is not something that anybody talks about.
And I had told myself I wanted to be a doctor,
but I didn't know that I needed to go to
college to do that one. And this is just something
that I always told myself, like, you know, when I
graduate high school, I'm going to go to the hospital.
I'm going to apply to be a doctor. They're going

(15:54):
to train me and I'm going to be this awesome doctor.
That was my plan. And I had this teacher, you know,
reach out to me and she was like, oh no,
that's not how it works. But she made it her
priority to make me believe that an immigrant like myself
with no money could go to college. And then she
helped me. And I, like I said earlier, when you

(16:16):
go through homelessness, when you realize that you shouldn't have
attachments to materialistic things because they come and go, you
start to put all of your energy towards the things
that are going to stay with you a long time.
So I put all my energy in my education, who
was learning, getting the grades and all those things. So
I ended up getting a full ride to San Diego
State University and it was thanks to this teacher. And

(16:41):
I share that. I will get to your question, but
I share that because that was a big part of me.
I was like, man, I finally didn't I got to college.
I'm going to better my education. I'm going to be
someone in life. And one month into college, I started
to feel really sick and I woke up one morning
couldn't feel hapy body, couldn't move, it, couldn't feel it,

(17:02):
and I fell to the ground and I told my parents.
I was like, I need to go to the hospital.
So my parents took me to the hospital, and I
knew it wasn't going to be good, Like I just
knew I was not okay. And that's when the doctor came,
and you know, I saw that he pulled my parents
out first and talked to them for a while and
then came in and gave me the news, like you

(17:24):
have a brain tumor. And I'm thinking to myself, like God, seriously,
I finally made it, Like I made it to college,
and now you're gonna do this to me, Like why?
And it was really life changing, and everyone around me
was like, Marley, there is no way you can go

(17:45):
to college now, Like you have to take care of
your health, you have to give up your scholarship, you
have to withdraw from from school, you have to do this.
And it was like all these things that you have
to do. And the thing about immigrants and people that
go through a lot of hardships in life is that
the more you tell them no, the more they're going

(18:07):
to want to do it. The more they need to
prove that everyone's wrong. So I remember sitting at the
dean's office with this piece of paper they wanted me
to sign to withdraw and resign my scholarship, and my
parents were there. They were like, whatever you want to do,
we're here, We're going to support you. And mind you

(18:29):
still couldn't feel half my body. So I was sitting
there and I'm crying because I was like, God, no,
if you brought me here, I know you're going to
help me get through this. I know there's got to
be another way. And the Dean's like, Okay, well you
need to sign here and you're good to go. And
I looked at the dean, I got the paper, I
ripped it up in front of him. I was like,

(18:50):
I'm not dropping out. I was like, I may not
be the a student thought I'm used to being, but
if this is how I have to end, if this
is how my life is going to end, then it's
going to and with me trying and seeing where I
got and it was very difficult. I ended up getting
really bad grades. I ended up not getting into medical

(19:11):
school as a result of my grades, but I ended
up having really great experiences. I ended up working on
some of the biggest research projects at the university had
and at the same time I graduated. I did graduate,
so it wasn't with a four point zero, but it
was with the two point seven. And I feel that

(19:31):
for everything that I had to overcome in order to
even get to that point, I was like, you know what,
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, it's a huge COMPLI for sure. Yeah, yeah, no,
And and be part of that. You know, the idea
is there are sillience, right and just being able to
say I'm going to start something and somehow I'm going
to finish these regardless of the odds, right, And I
think that's huge and and that is really for anything
that we do in our lives, whether it's education, whether

(19:58):
it's open up that dis business where there's you know,
leaving my nine to five so that I can venture
into something that I've been wanting to do. It may
not be one hundred percent how you wanted to be,
as if you said something that was huge and there
was a lot of great lessons and a lot of
great things that you learned through that process that gout
to where you are now, right, And so I think
that that's by itself, you know, a huge accomplishment that

(20:22):
a lot of people say, no, you know, you know,
maybe it's not it is. You know, you went through
a lot of different things in that process. What are
some major takeaways that you learned through that process the
guts to where you are now?

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Major takeaways, I would say a big one is just
taking the opportunities that are presented to you, even when
you feel that you're not capable, or worthy, or or
accomplished enough to do them. Because even though my grades
were not a reflection of my true potential, there were

(20:59):
a lot of men, tours and professors that saw my
potential beyond just the grades. And I would say the
biggest takeaway was my professor, doctor Groschen. He was He
was one of the smartest scientists I've ever known and
had one of the most desired lab research projects, and

(21:24):
people would come and fly in to work with him.
And I remember that the only reason I actually knew
him was because I was still I don't know why I
was crazy, but I was still trying to get into
medical school. So even though I was going through all this,
I was still trying to get into medical school, and
I was taking organic chemistry. I had failed or granitic
chemistry two times, and this was the third time that

(21:44):
I was taking it. But I was determined that I
was going to somehow understand it. And I used to
go to his office hours every single day and it
had been a month and I was there every single
day trying to understand it. And one day he looks
at me and he was like, I want you to
come do research with me. And I looked at him,

(22:05):
I'm so confused, because I was like, I'm sorry, yeah,
I have failed organic chemistry twice. This is my third time.
What in the world do you think that, says researcher, like,
I don't understand it. This is why I am here.
And I would say he was probably one of the

(22:27):
few people in my life that just took a big
bet on me and made me believe that that ordinary
people could do extraordinary things. And that has been like
a motto in my life because now I don't look
for people just for their grades. I look for people
that have potential. I look for their skills, I look
for their heart. And that's exactly what this professor did

(22:50):
for me. And when he told me that, I was like,
I'm sorry, I don't know what fumes were in your
lab today, but clearly you're crazy, Like there's no way,
he insisted. He wanted me to be his researcher so much.
He was like, I will pay you. I have funding,
I will pay you. And of course, being a broke
college student, I was like, Okay, that sounds good, I'll

(23:11):
do that. And eventually, through the whole process I failed.
Every day. I had no idea what I was doing.
I did not feel like I belonged there. I did
not really fit in, but everybody was so welcoming, and
I'm seeing like international students that are like geniuses coming
in and doing research and here I am like barely

(23:31):
trying to survive in past organic chemistry. And my job,
My project was to create a nanoparticle so that it
could be used for prostate cancer vaccines. That was my project.
And I did that for two years, and every day
I failed, until one day I didn't and I had

(23:55):
figured it out, and I remember going to him and
I said, I think I'm crazy, but I think I
did it. And he looked at me, and he looked
at the paper and he starts crying and he's jumping
up and down, and he was like, you actually did it.
Oh my god, you actually did it. I at this
moment of like, huh, I actually did it. That is

(24:18):
so crazy. And ultimately he did tell me. He was like,
you know, this was a hard project, and I knew
that if I gave it to somebody who's used to
just getting the quick answer, the quick a, the quick result,
they were going to give up. But when you kept
coming to my office, you kept willing to fail, you
were okay with failure. I knew that this was the

(24:40):
product for you.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, I love that. There's two lessons that I take
away from that. Number one is, sometimes, you know, when
you don't believe in yourself right, sometimes you have to
go by somebody who's believing you to keep moving forward.
And that's kind of what happened to you, right in,
somebody believing in you, and you're like, what really like me?
Like I cannot be that person. That person really believed

(25:04):
in you, and that that was part of an initiation
for you to continue to move forward. The second thing
that I take away from this is that against all odds,
right again, you didn't fail. You felt plenty of times,
and you continue to move forward and you kept trying,
and so I always tell people that I think the
only true failure in life is the moment that you

(25:27):
give up, the moment that you said, I'm not gonna
do this anymore. Right, I think that that there's no
failure in trying. As long as you keep trying and
you get to that some sort of outcome, then you
actually succeeded versus failing. And you know, as we go
to school, you always hear the idea of if you
get bad grades, your failure, right, I mean, so it's
always engraved in you from day one. You know you

(25:50):
cannot do this or your failure. You got to go
through those failures, and I don't really call them failures.
I call them more like lessons. Go thro those lessons
to be able to learn something that is going to
help you move forward in your future. Right, and when
you actually learn from those lessons and you apply the
teachings of that, I believe that you're actually succeeding in life.

(26:11):
And so those are the two major things that I
that I take away from that which are huge, and
anyone listening to that definitely needs to take a note
of that. Tell me about how you then embark into
Now you're the CEO of medic companies, the co founder
of Odyssey Protection Services. Tell me more about how did
that come about and what is that that the two

(26:33):
different things that you do there.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, So, as I mentioned, I did not get into
medical school. I was rejected by all twenty medical schools
that I applied to, and again just trying to see
those opportunities. And I'm a big believer that when things
don't go according to planets, because God has something better,
and sometimes it's just you creating your own path. And

(26:59):
I ended up not getting into medical school. I ended
up working for this amazing company where they provided medical
scribes for fifteen years, and at that time I pioneered
medical scribes and outpatient clinics and I helped grow that
division from zero to about four thousand locations. So I
spent fifteen years doing that in the healthcare space. And

(27:21):
one thing I learned over time was just how difficult
understanding and navigating healthcare was for people and patients, and
the confusion and how scared they were every time there
was a diagnosis. And having gone through that myself with
my brain tumor and knowing how difficult it is to

(27:43):
hear a live altering diagnosis I always knew I wanted
to do more. But again, what ends up happening in
life sometimes is that then when life is good, you
just get comfortable. And that is where I was. I
was very comfortable. I had a very good paying job.
I was finally making the six figures. I'm like, man,

(28:04):
I'm so successful, Like there can't be more. And I
got very comfortable. Even though I continuously saw that gap,
I didn't really take action in trying to do more.
But then in twenty twenty, I saw and experienced it
with my own grandmother where she was diagnosed with cancer
with breast cancer and then three months later she passed.

(28:28):
But in those three months, I saw how difficult it
was for her to understand what the doctor was telling her.
And not because she didn't she had dementia or Alzheimer's,
but just because it's very difficult to process medical terminology.
It's a whole different language. You hear one thing and
you zone out because now you're focused on the fact

(28:49):
that you have cancer, or this result didn't come back normal,
or this medication is not working, whatever it may be.
It's difficult to capture everything. And then her passing, I
left this voiage she was like my second mom. So
I left this void, like I can't believe this happened.
But at the same time, just like her, there were

(29:12):
so many patients in the fifteen years that I worked
in healthcare in the same situation, and I was so angry.
I would say that my projects now come out of
came out of my anger and my grief. I was
so angry that this happened. I was grieving, but I
kept telling myself, it's not fair. I did a lot

(29:34):
of research to see and like, are there any companies
out there that provide the service, Like what if somebody
could go with you, Like you could pull somebody up
on your phone and they'll be there with you as
a friend, as a companion, taking notes. They understand everything
the doctor's saying. They're trained on that they can help
you understand your medical history or diagnoses. And when I

(29:57):
saw I realized that there really wasn't anything like that.
There was a lot of support for patient navigation, like
after the fact, there was a lot of support of
like booking appointments, but there was nothing that put a
human person in the room with you during the most
difficult time, your most vulnerable time. So I remember going
to my husband and being like, I'm going to quit

(30:18):
my job and I'm going to start this company and
I'm going to call it med Companion And he was like, what, Yes,
that is what I have to do. And it was
this thing that I just couldn't and at that time,
my daughter's health was also struggling, so I was like,
this is a perfect opportunity. I can try it on
my daughter, make sure that I have the support, like
see if it were stress test it. So I ended

(30:41):
up quitting my job and just like.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
That, overnight, our entire like financial stability, I came crumbling down.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
And my husband's like, it's okay, we're going to figure
it out. We'll get through this. You know I support you.
I know you can do this. So I spent the
last two years, UH bringing the program with my business
partner to Fruition and really stress testing it on a
lot of different patients who had different conditions, different ages,

(31:11):
And one thing I realized was, you know, I was right,
Like patients that do have this support do end up
doing better in their health, and they do end up
living better lives. They do end up feeling supported, they
feel empowered, they have the information so earlier this year
we officially launched to the public and we are now

(31:33):
working with different clinics where doctors see the value of
our service and are now partnering with us to bring
the service to their patients. So that is something that
we're working on. So that is the healthcare side. But
my background is in public health, so I love public
health advocacy. And one of the things that also came

(31:55):
of this was the need for public safety and having
done some consulting work in the past and just seeing
different types of security companies out there and finding again
I like to find gaps and problems and then try
to come up with solutions and then seeing just like
the gaps in the security training, the way that security

(32:19):
guards do their job and the way that they care
for others, I felt was lacking in a lot of areas.
So my business partner and we brought in another business
partner who is a disabled veteran, very young and we said,
what if we did it better? What if we can

(32:40):
change it? So that is how Odyssey Protection Services came
to be, and we now provide security services to different people,
but primarily we have been focusing a lot more on
women with domestic abuse and just helping them leave difficult
situations in a safe manner.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Yeah, that's huge. And so this all came you know,
just you know, it's interesting how this all just came
together for you out of all your past experiences and
things you were going through and and just kind of
fell into place. Do you feel like you're leaving your
purpose now and you're you're living that that one thing
that you will made for you you mentioned earlier, like

(33:22):
you're right when you're like probably thinking yourself like is
there more for me? Right? Is there more things that
I can do out of life? Do you feel like
you finally got there? Or is there much more for
you to do? Right now?

Speaker 2 (33:34):
I feel like I'm finally in the path that I've
I was meant to be. I don't feel that I
have fully achieved my purpose. I feel like I'm still
very early on on this mission. But I am on
this path of changing the healthcare system and providing better

(33:54):
experiences for patients or families and doctors.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Yeah, no, I get it. Tell me about your philanthropy
work that you're doing in Panama.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah, that is a very dear project to me. So
when that was another one of my opportunities in college.
When I was in college, part of my project in
order to graduate in the public health department was to
do research and find a public health topic to do

(34:29):
research on. And once again, I was given this scholarship
along with a few other contestants, and everyone was doing
everything locally, and I said, well, I don't want to
do anything domestic, like I want to go explore true
public health in a community that truly has nothing and

(34:52):
understand how culture and lack of access plays a role
in people's health.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
I have an.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Opportunity to learn more about my own culture. And everyone's like, well,
that's never been done before, and I tend to question
the status.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Cool a lot.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
I don't follow the rules as you've seen. And I said, well,
is that because that's not allowed or is it because
it's just nobody's never done it? And they're like, well,
I guess nobody's ever really asked for that. So I'm like, okay, well,
I'm going to write a proposal of why this is
important to me and I'll see where that goes. So

(35:33):
I wrote a proposal with my mentor and the school
ended up approving it. So I took my sister, who
was a junior in high school to be my assistant,
and my sister and I lived in the jungle for
two months with the tribe, and I got to experience

(35:53):
what lack of access to healthcare and resources was really
like and what cultural believes play in health. So I
witnessed firsthand tuberculosis. I got to educate children on proper

(36:14):
dental hygiene. I had a lot of donations from the
hospitals I was working at. I used part of my
scholarship money to donate to the community. We provided food,
and it just became something so dear. I thought I
was going to go there and change and drive change,

(36:35):
and instead, you know, this experience changed my life. So
it became something that I became very passionate about. I
also experienced firsthand. I came back and I had malaria,
I had typhoid fever. I mean I had all of
the above. So I was hospitalized. So I witnessed firsthand,
and all I kept thinking was like, I am so
lucky to be in America where I have access to

(36:57):
care and I could feel better and about the week
or so, and every year my family and I donate money.
We continue to do that out of our own pocket.
Once I got married, it became a project that my
husband and I now do together with our kids. So
my husband is a pediatric emergency doctor, so he goes

(37:19):
and gives talks to the tribes about how to stay
hydrated in the jungle when you're sick, and how to
use natural resources to take care of yourself if there's
no medicine or ivy fluids to keep you hydrated. So
we do that, and we also do talks in the

(37:40):
women's hospital about public health telemedicine, and we continuously donate
money for resources.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
I love it. That's huge and I got so I
got to commend you for everything you've done. I mean,
this is very inspirational and being able to know that,
you know, again, you surely could overcome anything when you
set your mind to it and you work through that
process and and well maybe that that that what I
call that, that that that ride or that journey right
might have not been that beautiful you know scenery, it

(38:14):
still was a right, you know, and and it's allow
you to be where you are now. So that's huge.
How can people get a hold of, you know, more
about the things you're doing in terms of you know,
either your companies, or maybe they say, hey, I have
an idea of being able to do something similarly my
own you know, own country or something. How can they
get a hold of you?

Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yeah, they can get a hold of me on Instagram
it's Marley Underscore Brodsky, or if they want to email me,
that's probably the best way to It's Marley M A
R L Y Underscore, Brodsky b R O D S
and dog A s K Y med Companion M E
D C O M P A N I O N

(38:55):
dot com. That would be the best.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
And then and let me ask you this, Like you've
obviously gone through a whole lot of different things, what
habits do you do? You have any habits, any daily habits,
anything that you do on a day to day basis
to kind of keep you moving and going forward in life.
I do.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
I would say that after becoming a mom, it gets
a little bit harder to stick to those habits. Yeah,
but one thing that I never move away from is
my prayer. I pray daily. I pray in the morning,
I pray in the evening. One thing I used to
do was journal and I was just having a conversation

(39:37):
with a friend that I was like, Oh my God,
I've been journaling so much lately, and I feel like
my life is changing again because I'm able to just
write everything down, express my feelings, express what I'm going through,
and just have some gratitude for where my life is.
And I always said that. I was like, God, if
you get me out of here, I will use my gifts,

(39:57):
my talents and the money to give back. And that's
something that I try to look for things and ways
that I can continue to get back.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Yeah. I love that. My last question for you is,
and there's probably a little bit of a Anvera advantage
because you've gone through it a lot and you've been
to a lot of different things in life. Nevertheless, for
the people that are listening to us and are watching us,
if they're going through any challenge, whatever challenge that might be,
what is one thing or a couple of things you
can tell that person to overcome that challenge.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Yeah, So I will leave them with two things. I
would say, never lose faith in God. And if you
don't believe in God, then just don't lose faith. Believe
in something higher, whether it's the universe, higher power, whatever
it is. Hold on to that. Just hold on to
that faith. And then the second thing is the words
my dad told me when I had my brain tumor,

(40:51):
and I feel like that is something I live by
every single time, and when I became very depressed during
my brain tumor, and sweetheart, pain is always going to
be inevitable, but you can choose to make it better.
So every single time I think about pain or hardships

(41:17):
or difficult times or anything, and I think about how
painful it is, how hard it is, I realize I
can't change that. There's no way that I can change that,
but I can change my mindset around it. I can
either let that get the best of me or I
can make the best of it. And his words have
been words that I forever hold dear and every single time,

(41:41):
whether I'm sick, whether my business is struggling, whether I'm struggling,
my kids are struggling, I always think I always go
back to his words. Or It's like, pain is inevitable,
but being miserable is an option. So you know your
mindset is going to be what carries you throughout any
difficulty situation.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
I love that. That's huge, and and you're right, and
one of the things that I that I always go
back to is, you know, the choices and the decisions
that we make today will determine the quality of life
that we have tomorrow. And while you mentioned there's things
that we cannot control, you know, again, whether it's the
pain you're going through, politics, or whatever it might might
be going on in live right, there are certain things

(42:22):
we cannot change. But we do have the option to
figure out if we want to be in a miserable
place like you mentioned or not right, And we got
to be able to choose, and once we choose, we
got to go after that. So I definitely love that.
Well again, this was amazing. I really enjoy our conversation.
Anything else that you want to share Before I let

(42:43):
you go, I will.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Just say if if anybody's out there in a dark place,
you know, I promise you just keep going. It's going
to be worth it. It will be worth it. You
just have to believe it.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
Awesome, Mark, thank you so much for those for the interviewing,
for everything that you've done up to this point. Really appreciated,
and so thank you for being on the show today.
Thank you so much, definitely and Flair, So yes, Tom,
please make sure that you guys shared this message because
definitely someone needs to hear this message and I'll see
you guys the next episode of You Can Overcome Anything
back the show. Thank you. Hi.

Speaker 4 (43:18):
I'm Caesar Espino, real estate investor, business coach and consultant
and author of the book You Can Overcome Anything Even
when the World says No. My number is four two
four five zero one six zero four to six. In
my book, I talk about making the necessary changes to
shift your mind for prosperity and certainty. Pick up your
copy at Amazon. I also love helping families with their
real estate and can purchase your house fast and all cash.

(43:40):
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. My number is
four two four five zero one six zero four six.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Thank you for having me today. I am so glad
you've tuned into this podcast. You can find me at
your favorite podcast platform where you can like, subscribe, comment
and share, and to learn more about my myself, my services.
You can find me at www dot Caesararspino dot com,
or you can also find me at your social media.

(44:08):
Thanks for joining me and I am looking forward to
having you at the next episode. And No, you truly
can Overcome Anything.

All Episodes

You Can Overcome Anything: Ep 297 - Homeless Immigrant to Impacting Medical Field – Marly Brodsky

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}You Can Overcome Anything: Ep 297 - Homeless Immigrant to Impacting Medical Field – Marly Brodsky