WEBVTT - Minnie Questions with Anne Wojcicki 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.560 Have you ever thought about how incredibly complex I spit is. 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:11.280 It may only be water, but just aliva isn't simple. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:16.239 That remaining one percent holds incredibly meaningful information that could 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.400 change everything. And I'm not just talking about your family 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.640 treat Hi. I'm barre to day Thurston and on this 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:26.320 season of Spit and I Heart Radio podcast with twenty 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:30.440 three and Me, we explore how DNA isn't just about ancestry, 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:38.479 it can also be key to understanding your health. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:41.520 I'm so excited to be back and even more excited 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:46.839 to share this special episode from Many Driver. If you 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.680 haven't already checked out her show, you gotta do it. 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.360 It's called Many Questions and I've been on it and 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:56.320 it was great and I feel like we're friends now, 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.600 but I hope we're not overstepping my bounds anyway. Check 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.000 out the whole podcast now. In this episode, you're about 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:06.600 to hear Many Sits with an Wajiski, co founder and 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.600 CEO of twenty three in Me. What an intimate and 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:15.119 inspiring conversation between two women who share a deep appreciation 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.639 for both health and happiness from the joy of finding 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.240 moments of adventure, bigger, small, to the importance of advocating 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:26.120 for oneself many and and they explore it all. And 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:31.040 story is one of community and connection with a unique 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.399 early childhood fascination for how the human genome works. It's 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.759 definitely not a part of my childhood story, but that's 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.720 why she runs the company and me. Yet it was 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:45.080 this fascination that ultimately inspired Ann's lifelong mission of empowering 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.120 others to take ownership of their personal health. AND's work 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:52.680 asks us, what can your genetics tell you? And how 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:54.840 can it help you lead a healthier and happier life 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:58.280 As someone who has been fondly referred to as the 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:02.120 Princess of Possibilities, and helps us understand where to find 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:04.520 some of these answers. And it's no secret that your 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:06.800 d n A may have something to do with it. 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:15.120 Let's take a listen. You have two sisters. I have 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.640 two sisters, so I live with my middle sister. Are 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.160 you the youngest with the oldest from the youngest? Ha? 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:23.960 I see, I was the youngest to them, became the 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.200 middle of three, So I get it. I get that dynamic. 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.200 We very much have the birth order dynamics in our family. 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.720 We all tease each other about that aspect. It's a 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.480 real thing, No, I joke. I was like in the company. 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:37.840 One of my superpowers is learning how to ignore people, 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:43.080 and I learned that from my siblings. So I I 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.520 never mind getting criticism, I never mind taking feedback because 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.880 I'm really good at ignoring it. You've been say whatever 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.119 you want. I'm gonna, you know, make my own decisions. 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:58.560 And hello, I'm Mini driver. Welcome to Many Questions, Season two. 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:03.400 I've always loved Prust's questionaire. It was originally a nineteenth 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:06.960 century parlor game where players would ask each other thirty 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.639 five questions aimed at revealing the other player's true nature. 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:15.400 It's just the scientific method, really. In asking different people 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.639 the same set of questions, you can make observations about 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:22.280 which truths appeared to be universal. I love this discipline, 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.639 and it made me wonder, what if these questions were 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.440 just the jumping off point, what greater depths would be 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:32.400 revealed if I ask these questions as conversation starters with 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:36.560 thought leaders and trailblazers across all these different disciplines. So 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.440 I adapted Pruf's questionnaire and I wrote my own seven 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:42.480 questions that I personally think a pertinent to a person's 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:45.920 story they are when and where were you happiest? What 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.360 is the quality you like least about yourself? What relationship, 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:53.400 real or fictionalized, defines love for you? What question would 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.240 you most like answered? What person, place, or experience has 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.839 shaped you the most? What would be your last meal? 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.680 And can you tell me something in your life that's 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:06.120 grown out of a personal disaster? And I've gathered a 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:10.880 group of really remarkable people, ones that I am honored 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.200 and humbled to have had the chance to engage with. 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.120 You may not hear their answers to all seven of 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:20.039 these questions. We've whittled it down to which questions felt 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:24.440 closest to their experience or the most surprising, or created 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.480 the most fertile ground to connect My guest today on 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.799 many questions is the founder and CEO of the biotech 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.040 Phenomenon twenty three and me and which is key? And 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.000 founded the company with the central idea of creating a 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.800 consumer product that sought to rework the healthcare model by 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.120 empowering individuals to take control of their own health. I 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.680 know when I did the DNA test, I was interested 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.640 in my ancestry you'll perhaps be unsurprised to hear that 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:55.440 I'm virtually a Northern European, specifically Anglo Saxon. The other 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.159 focus though, of twenty three and me, are these health 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.400 reports the company also fair that give you a deeper, 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.880 more complex view of your health using your DNA. It's 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.560 pretty extraordinary to be able to find out if you're 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.799 an increased risk of developing certain diseases ahead of actually 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:14.200 developing them. It gives you a chance to take preventative measures, 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.120 to really see your own health from the place of 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.839 knowledge being power, and is an incredibly inspiring person to 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.480 talk to. She was the kind of child who lay 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.600 in bed at night wondering about molecular biology and the 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:29.160 expanding universe. But she also seems to be the kind 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.240 of person who wouldn't judge someone like me who used 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:35.240 to lie in bed at night dreaming about being on 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:46.440 night Rider. Where and when were you happiest? There's two 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:48.720 things so one I mean, which I think every man 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:50.680 would say, it's like the birth of my children was 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:54.360 just there's nothing better than the day your children are born. 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.240 There's just there's no comparison. Yes, But when I think 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:01.239 about besides that, moment which I have to miss honor. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.960 I took off a year when I was traveling after 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.520 the stock market went crazy in two thousand and I 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.200 finally said, like, I need a break, and I decided 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.359 that the only place I could go to get peace 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:16.760 and quiet was Siberia. Oh you like the cold, Okay, 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:18.960 Well it was in the summer. Well, no, I take 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.320 it back. It was it was September. I made the mistake. 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.960 It got cold. Maybe I left in August. But I 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.520 decided I was going to take the train across Siberia. 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.160 It was going to be meditative, the Trans Siberian correct, 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:33.120 I've heard of that trine. So I started in Moscow 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:35.159 and I ended in Beijing, and I stopped along the 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.520 way and I wanted to go to a place called 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.880 Lake which is in you know, near Mongolia, and there's 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.040 an island on in it called Okon Island. And I 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.719 just wanted to go to this island and camp. And 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:49.039 I remember once I got there and I had this 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:50.800 guide and I remember asking, I was like, what do 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.440 we do? He's like, you will watch the fire, Like 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:55.360 That's all we did. And it was the first time 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:57.000 I remember it was like there was kind of before 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.000 that moment where I was so attached to my BlackBerry 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.240 kind of running, and then there was after that where 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.440 I was like, you just enjoy like every moment was 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.719 so vivid and it's amazing, like to be really free 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.840 in the world, Like I had one pair of pants, 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.520 one pair of sweat, one sweater, two shirts. I didn't 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.880 have a phone, and I just traveled like every day 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.800 was a little bit different, and again I had no responsibility. 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.360 There's something about being truly free and having no responsibility 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.920 and exploring the world. And I remember getting to Beijing 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.400 and walking in and it was like I had my bags, 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.720 I couldn't speak the language, like it smells totally different. 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:32.760 And I remember just like I love everything about this, 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.320 like it's just so different and I can't wait to explore. 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.600 And I kept traveling. I just loved it. And as 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:40.800 you know, like as as a parent, like once you 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:44.680 have children, you're never mentally free, like you will always 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.080 you'll always worry about them. And so there's a brief 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.640 moment when you're an adult un till you have kids 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.000 where you actually are truly free, absolutely, because that's really 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:55.440 what it is. It's like that nomadic impetus just to 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.080 go to go and put yourself in a different landscape, 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.320 a different environment, to not worry, to be able to 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.920 put down a phone. That is a pre kids experience. 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.000 Because you're right, you can try. I've tried to go 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.400 off by myself. It's hard. I mean I can, but 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.480 I'm your brain is will forever be with them. You're 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.520 always gonna want to check in, You're always gonna worry. 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:14.960 And I think there was something about, you know, even 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:18.360 in this time, it's hard to ever fully disconnect. I 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:20.120 have no doubt if I went back to that island, 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:22.720 I would have cell access. And you know, there was 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.840 something about like really forcing a break and just enjoying 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.760 that experience. And I think I love that sense of adventure. 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:32.440 So I used to bike to work every day, and 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:34.760 I would never take the same path. And in part because, 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.319 like I just I love getting lost, Like I love 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:40.240 getting lost and figuring it out. I love exploring, like 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:42.400 seeing new things, like seeing a new restaurant, like seeing 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:44.640 a new house, like somebody change their garden, Like I 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.439 just there's something about like that tiny, minuscule sense of 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:50.960 adventure that you get when you're you know, working and 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.960 with kids that really kept my brain alive. I couldn't 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.760 agree with you more. I'm not the biggest fan of routine, 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:00.480 and routine is what children obviously thrive on, but finding 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.679 the variants. I think freedom and variety would be corner 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.840 stones of happiness for me as well. My favorite thing 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:09.280 I used to do with my dad when I was little. 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.360 I would get in the car. He wouldn't have a destination, 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:13.640 and I would get to pick left or right. Yeah, 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:15.880 that's funny. I used to do that as well. Yeah. Yeah, 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.240 I think there's some people who love that kind of 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.920 adventure and some people who just don't. But I love 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:23.760 that sense of wild adventure, like no idea where I'm 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:25.640 going to be, Like I've spring break next week and 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.920 I do not know where I'm going. That's super fun. 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.360 I like that. I think it's really good being that 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:32.480 kind of apparent as well. I think they get to 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.720 see that modeled, just that idea of get lost and 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.240 you can always figure it out. There's always somewhere to stay, 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:40.400 always somewhere to eat, can always sleep in your car. 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:43.400 It's a good exercise exactly. And also you can always 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:45.320 figure out where the north star is. We just learned 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.920 that on a camping trip in the desert recently. It 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.320 was so brilliant. There's all sorts of tricks you can 0:09:50.360 --> 0:10:00.680 always mind, Yeah, what relationship real or fictionalized to finds lovely. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.800 I had a truly extraordinary childhood. I've had the same 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:06.920 best friends since I had Again, I met one of 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:09.880 my best friends in kindergarten, another a couple of years later. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:15.440 And there's something about true love that when you can 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.920 go through all those iterations again, I go through my childhood, 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.920 I go through adulthood. You know, it's up and down, 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:29.160 and it's incredibly supportive, real connection that endures and also 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.320 evolves and evolves, and it's it's it's it's the type 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:33.760 of thing where again I think about it from like 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:36.400 a rubber band perspective, is you have that ability to 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.640 stay connected, but you're not it's not restrictive. Again, I 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.600 think back on on the relationship and also how different 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.160 we all are now, but yet how supportive of like 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:49.719 the true person and like evolving and becoming your your 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.960 that real person. So I'm grateful to the whole community 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.680 that I grew up in because it's a community, like 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.040 we do events all the time for like the community 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.000 that we grew up with, and it's all these people 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:04.120 who I've known since kindergarten and my parents friends. It's 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:08.360 this like true appreciation for differences and that you're a 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.000 unique person. And I think that's kind of one thing 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.040 that I love is like that in some ways, like 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:18.439 the more you are truly you, it's like everyone shines. 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.840 There's no force of conformity other than that you should 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.760 be the true you. So I feel really lucky whenever 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:27.959 people talk about me and my sisters, and I almost 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.000 feel I have to correct them because it does take 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.360 a village in that capacity. And I think back again 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:35.840 my friendly met in kindergarten, those parents, like I call 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:38.439 them emano, but like mom and dad and their siblings, 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.960 like they were part of the whole community that raised 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.280 all of us and that are still taught me about 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:47.160 true relationships and true connection. That's so interesting, this huge 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.400 business that you're doing, when actually the fundament of it 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.360 is because it feels to me that microcosm of a 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:59.320 connected community that you come from, beloved and appreciated and supportive. 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:01.600 You take that to the macro and you put that 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.120 on a global like imagine if one could have that 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:07.800 feeling of connectivity and community on a global scale, like 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.000 how different the world will be, Like I completely understand 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.080 why you why twenty three and me is like your 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:15.640 life's work. Like that makes that's super cool though. I 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.760 really like that it's connected to your emotional evolution, to 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.760 how you yourself evolved. I think in some ways the 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.560 best companies are almost just an extension of the person. 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:27.679 Do you think that that is exactly what it is? 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:30.480 That really the ones that work are they are connected 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.680 on a deep level. Yeah. I like, to me, twenty 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:36.520 three is not a it's not like it's just a company. 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:38.599 When I talk to a lot of the founders in 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:40.720 the area where they've done really well and it's and 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.280 they've stayed connected, it's because it's such an extension of them. 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:47.440 And in a lot of ways, like I'm perpetually fueled 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.920 by the intellectual curiosity and also the sense of community. 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.520 I think that we foster and we foster a real community. 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.320 I think there's nothing more lonely than the experience of 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:59.440 health and being sick and trying to find the right 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:01.800 people that and connect to. So I think doing more 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.400 in that area and then connecting the world as a 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.840 family and helping people see that, you know, celebrate that 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:28.120 the connectedness, but also each person's individuality. What question would 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.040 you most like answered? What? As a child used to 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:34.640 keep me up at night? What this is? I like, 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.000 I remember learning about things like the electron transport chain, 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:42.240 like like how your cells work and your DNA and 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:45.760 wondering like your body is this incredible? Like each cell 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:48.560 is like New York City and it functions and I 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:50.720 don't do anything. I go to bed and all this 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:52.600 work is happening. And I remember as a kid, I 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:54.800 was like, doesn't it keep you up? Like how is 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.080 it all happening? And so again, the things that perplexed 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:00.840 me the most are the molecular biology g and and 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:02.840 how the body works and that's why again it gets 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.040 down to the genome, like that's the code, Like how 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.439 is it that you have such spectacular diversity on this planet? 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:10.840 And where does this all come from? Is that what 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:15.760 made you so interested in observable DNA reports? Like is 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.640 that where it began? There's two things that like we're 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.120 big triggers for me. So one, as a child, I 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:24.760 loved twin studies, Like I remember when National Geographic pulled 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.120 out a whole you know, edition about twins and the 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.720 twin studies, and I remember just pouring through it and 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:33.520 just fascinating, like identical twins separated at birth, what's similar? 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.040 What's what's genetic and what's environment? And the first time 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.160 I had ever heard about d n A was from 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.400 my mom and she was yelling about something she was 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:42.960 I was about five, and she was yelling at my 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:45.600 sister for something about her genes. And I remember thinking 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.080 she was wearing shorts and that my mom was confused, 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.360 and so I kept asking. I was like, what are genes? 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:53.640 What are genes? And then my mom explained, you know, 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.320 genes and environment, and I was just fascinated, like what 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.280 do you mean, Like, there's like a code inside you 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.080 and then it interacts with your environment and you have 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.760 this ability to understand the code, and then you know 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:07.640 change how you live. And then you could remember asking 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.600 her as like, then you could live forever like you 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.680 could you'd be healthy. And so from early on, I 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.360 was always fascinated with health. And I had spent a 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:18.880 lot of time thinking about going to medical school. And 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.560 I love people like I loved I worked as a 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.120 patient advocate, and I love just like sitting with people 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:26.200 as they're you know, waiting for surgery. And I remember 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.320 talking to this woman who was the first black family 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.800 in Napa, and remember hearing everything about like the journey 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.160 that they had across and you know what it was 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:36.000 like living there and just sitting there while she was 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.840 waiting for surgery, like every human is fascinating and so 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.480 kind of It was that combination of like I love genetics, 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.080 I love looking at jeans and environment, and I love 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.960 the store, like I love connecting with people. It's the stories. 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:49.800 Like the story that's all I have to tell you, 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.240 just really quickly is an adject because my mother, when 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.960 she was dying, we were telling stories with her and 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:56.400 she went, do you remember when you made me do 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:57.920 the twenty three and me and I was like yeah, 0:15:57.960 --> 0:15:59.720 because I wanted to make sure that we were related. 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.440 And she said, and I said to you, they're only 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:07.200 going to find out that I'm red lipstick. We did 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.920 it together because we were interested. We were interested in 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.960 those stories and in the stories of our ancestors. So 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:18.080 where that begins, your health story is connected to that. 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.720 But I loved finding out I am quite literally as 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:26.800 Anglo Saxon as it gets. I'm like nine point seven 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:30.360 percent British and Irish, which is astonishing, which means that like, 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:36.040 my people literally never left that sodden, freezing, cold, lump 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:40.000 lumpish island that is England. Well you proved them you 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:43.840 moved to California. Good job, you're the breakout. And of 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:46.520 course now my skin is not supposed to be in 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.880 the Californian sun. But I'm fully aware of that because 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:52.000 I know what my history is. Yeah, well, I think 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.200 that's what's fun. Is like you can look a certain 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.240 way and people think they know their ancestry, but there's 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:01.000 always interesting surprises. Everyone also finds relatives, like whether you 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.000 know your ancestry actually matches what you thought it was, 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.240 your genetic ancestry matches what you thought. But then there's 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.200 like the whole world of like you're connected to people 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:09.840 that you never knew you were connected to. And we 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:11.840 even found that we have a first cousin that we 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.960 didn't know about. Yeah, so it's I always tell people like, 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.800 if you don't have a family a DNA relative story, 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:19.960 you know, just sit back and wait and I'm sure 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.239 one will come your way. Like the reality is that 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.520 life is complicated, life is long, and people like sex, 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:27.320 and so you know, you end up having a lot 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.920 of relatives that you didn't necessarily know about. I think 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.919 I have to find out that Adam Driver is my cousin. 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.399 Oh you know. That was one of the first studies 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.119 we ever did, is Warren Buffett and Jimmy Buffett. Oh 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.000 my god, I want to find out they came to 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.320 us determined like that, you have to find out how 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.479 we're related. We had a very brief conversation once I 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.320 had family drive. A family moved from Ireland to Canada 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.240 and they then moved down to the neighboring state that 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.919 Adam drivers family is from, and it felt like there 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.760 was proximity enough that there was a likelihood if it 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.840 was a neighboring state. But I'd love to know. That 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.320 would be a fun follow onto the story. He might 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:04.679 not want to know. Be like god, no, because I 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:06.720 if I am, then that's going to follow me around 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:12.600 like a yoke ask me forever. But connection and storytelling 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:14.840 like that is the nexcess of science and art like 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:16.919 right there. So what's one of the things that's interesting 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:21.159 is most of science today is not made accessible. I agree. 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:22.919 So that was like one of the other things, like 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.760 my father is a particle physicist, and when there was 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.879 a Nobel Prize given for the expanding Universe, and I 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:30.760 remember asking my dad. I was like, what's the difference 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.720 between an expanding universe versus an inflating universe? And he 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:36.000 looks at me. He's like, well, one is expanding and 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.200 one's inflating. And I was like, you know, thanks, dad, 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.080 that's great. I didn't catch that. And I realized, like, 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.360 there has to be a way to make science accessible 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:49.359 and relatable. I see because again I have my little kids, 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.119 like fourth grade humor, when people are like looking at like, 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.720 oh I can do this with my Like I'm double jointed. 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:56.960 Can you do this? Can you do that? Like that's 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.440 like we're all different, and how do you get people 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.600 excite it about human you know, human variety, human variation, 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:06.879 and like the magical experience of science. I mean, I 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:08.840 wonder if it would make us more tolerant as well, 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:10.919 Like the more that we see being able to twist 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.919 your tongue is a genetic coding. But that idea that 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.280 I wonder if you see someone who looks differently to you, 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:19.720 but they can do the same thing that you can 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:21.800 do with your body, So there is this connection. There 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:24.399 are these pathways and bridges, Like I wonder if that also, 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:26.359 like the more that we know, the more that we 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:28.679 know that we're connected, will we start living in a 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.679 more connected way? Will there be a sort of systemic 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:36.320 societal change based on really bellying up to our connectivity 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:40.160 rather than the hideous separation that everyone seems to keep 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:42.560 fighting for. Well, we had some and there was a 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.480 story that was written about this of somebody who was 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.000 descendant of white supremacists who had a child that they 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:52.080 had last tracker or didn't know about, and that child 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:55.960 had multiracial children and they reconnected on twenty three me. Wow, 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:00.000 And he said he was like I had to really 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.520 assess my past, like how I was raised, because these 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:07.600 are my grandchildren and I'm going to love them, and 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.600 it's this whole It's a really wonderful story about sort 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:12.639 of that reconciliation of Like, and the father of these 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.120 children was like, was I excited to have a white 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:19.440 supremacist grandfather? Like no, but like it's family, so we're 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.280 going we're going to work through it. And they spend 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:24.600 time together. So I do think it's been an eye 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:26.800 open up for a number of customers to realize that 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.119 they have this assumption of like, oh, I'm French or 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:32.040 I'm I'm something, but the reality is you are quite 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.879 connected to everyone, and one day there's going to be 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.680 the ability to put together a human map where every 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:42.080 single person is connected and so we are all connected. 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:44.439 I mean then the amazing thing to the reason why 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:46.919 I'm fascinated with DNA is like, it's so simple. You 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:49.040