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care. Learn more

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at www.lilio.com. The

2:08

COVID-19 pandemic has taken a serious

2:10

toll on children's mental health. Leading

2:12

child health care groups, including the

2:14

American Academy of Pediatrics, said today

2:16

the pandemic has triggered a quote,

2:18

national state of emergency in mental

2:20

health among America's youth. Talk

2:23

to parents and teachers. Talk

2:25

to young people. They'll tell you there's

2:27

a serious youth mental health crisis happening right

2:30

now in this country. It's

2:34

really hard to turn on the TV

2:36

or scroll through social media these days

2:38

without reading something about kids and mental

2:40

health. We can trace it back to

2:43

the pandemic. In 2021, pediatricians

2:45

and psychiatrists declared a state

2:47

of emergency in children's mental

2:49

health. But did

2:52

you know mental health starts even

2:54

before kids learn their ABCs? I'm

2:56

talking about the very real emotional

2:59

lives of toddlers and babies. What's

3:02

actually going on in their brains

3:04

behind those smiles and frowns. So

3:07

here's what the data says. The Centers

3:09

for Disease Control found that one in

3:12

six children ages two to eight years

3:14

old had a diagnosed mental, behavioral or

3:16

developmental disorder. And that's

3:18

pre-pandemic data. One 2022 study

3:20

found that babies born during the first year

3:23

of the pandemic have nearly twice

3:25

the risk of delays in communication

3:27

and social development than babies born

3:29

pre-pandemic. If

3:32

your anxiety just spiked, don't worry. Experts

3:35

tell us kids can bounce back from these

3:38

setbacks. What they need

3:40

are supportive adults, like the child care workers

3:42

looking after our kids day in and day

3:44

out. I'm

3:50

Gloria Riviera and

3:53

this is No One Is Coming To Save

3:55

Us, a show about America's

4:00

child care crisis. This

4:03

week we're talking about the mental

4:05

health of our young children. I

4:07

talked to Terry Chebet, an infant

4:09

mental health consultant. I had

4:11

no idea this job even existed but she's

4:13

been doing it for over two decades and

4:15

by the end of our chat I was

4:17

convinced every child care center should have a

4:20

Terry. You'll also hear from

4:22

Grace Blanco, the director of a child

4:24

care center serving low-income families in New

4:26

Jersey. When child care centers

4:28

reopened, Grace saw firsthand how the

4:31

pandemic stunted young children's development. Before

4:36

all of that we need to take it

4:38

back to the beginning, to the start of

4:40

every child's story. From the moment we are

4:42

born our brains are poised to be profoundly

4:45

shaped by the world around us and those

4:47

in it. When babies

4:49

are born there are a

4:51

hundred billion neurons in

4:53

their brain that are

4:56

relatively undecided

4:58

about what they're gonna do. That's

5:00

Terry Chebet. She works at Jewish Family

5:02

and Children's Service in Boston. Some

5:05

are targeted to help us breathe,

5:07

some are targeted to help our

5:09

heartbeat, but most of them are

5:11

yet unconnected and they

5:13

get connected up by the experiences

5:16

that young children have in

5:18

their lives. Some of those

5:20

experiences are great, some of

5:22

those experiences are not so great, but

5:25

it's those experiences combined with our hard-wiring

5:27

that make us who we are. Clearly

5:30

she is the perfect person to ask

5:32

about what could be happening in those

5:34

cute little heads. I had a lot

5:37

of questions. Let's say

5:39

I ran into you at a cocktail

5:41

party or a dinner

5:43

party and I asked that

5:45

dreaded Washington DC question, I am

5:48

in Washington, what do you do?

5:50

What would you tell me? I would

5:52

tell you that I support the

5:55

relationships that young children have with

5:57

their caregivers and then

5:59

I would tell I'm an early childhood

6:01

mental health consultant, which is a

6:04

mouthful and very hard to understand

6:06

because in essence, what it is

6:08

is a person who supports the

6:11

relationships that young children have with

6:13

their caregivers. It's amazing to

6:16

me, and it will never cease to be

6:18

amazing to me, that this all happens between

6:20

zero and five. And

6:22

it's not a clean slate, I know, but

6:24

so much is to be decided.

6:27

How does that happen? It

6:29

happens through repeated experiences. So

6:32

a baby is born, they

6:34

cry, we cry because we're

6:36

hungry. Hopefully, there's a caregiver

6:38

who can identify, oh, that

6:41

cry means hungry, and feed

6:43

a child. Over

6:45

time, that child learns to

6:47

associate that feeling with

6:49

the idea of hunger and

6:51

starts to know over time, oh, when I

6:54

have that internal sensation, I'm supposed to feed

6:56

myself. That means my body is hungry. I'm

6:58

supposed to eat. So

7:00

it starts out by those littlest,

7:02

tiniest moments and happening again and

7:05

again and again. The little

7:07

moments are what make us eventually

7:09

who we are and teach

7:11

us what to expect from the world, who

7:13

we are in the world, and how the

7:16

world is going to treat us. That

7:18

phrase, what to expect from the world, that's

7:21

such a big phrase. How did you get

7:23

into this work? I

7:25

ended up here, like probably most

7:27

people who are so curious about

7:30

how do we become who we are?

7:32

So I started, I got a degree

7:35

in counseling psychology, I worked in a

7:37

psychiatric hospital, and I was

7:39

fascinated by some of

7:41

the hard things that I saw and wondering

7:44

what happens to make this so

7:47

that makes life so hard for some

7:49

people. So then there

7:51

was an opportunity to work with

7:53

new mothers as a volunteer at

7:55

the Center for Early Relationship Support

7:57

at Jewish Family and Children's Services.

8:00

And I went on to work

8:03

for that organization supporting infant mental

8:05

health through the experience that children

8:07

were having with parents. What

8:10

I realized in my early years

8:12

of working with new mothers was

8:14

that if we can take

8:16

good care of the caregivers, then

8:18

they will be able to take care of

8:21

their children. I love that

8:23

phrase, if we can take good care

8:25

of the caregivers. That is something that

8:27

I haven't heard put quite like that,

8:29

and it fills me with, okay,

8:31

yes, that is what we need to do. Yes,

8:35

that is what we need to do, Gloria,

8:37

that on every single level. If we change

8:39

the policy in America,

8:41

if we change the focus that everything

8:45

happens in particularly those first

8:47

three years. It is not

8:49

that children are done by the time that they are three,

8:51

but so much has happened, so

8:53

much of the wiring is set, so

8:56

much of our nervous systems are set

8:59

by the time children are three. Children

9:01

succeed because of the relationships they

9:03

have. If we want children to

9:05

have good mental health and to

9:07

grow adults who have good mental

9:09

health, we have

9:11

to give them that experience as

9:14

young children. Let's

9:16

think about who is raising our children. Most

9:19

children are in some form of

9:21

daycare, and most daycare teachers or

9:24

early education and care professionals qualify

9:27

for federal assistance because they don't make

9:30

enough money, they have two and three

9:32

jobs, and think about yourself as a

9:34

new parent or as a parent now.

9:36

When are you most able to help

9:38

your children with their big and hard

9:40

feelings? When you're

9:42

rested, when you're calm, when

9:45

you're fed, when you're not

9:47

worried about 20 other things, how are we

9:49

taking care of the people that are taking

9:51

care of the children? health

10:00

and the adults too. This

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What are your self-care non-negotiables? Maybe

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12:16

You've observed a lot of

12:19

children. What does good, healthy

12:21

mental health look like in

12:23

a child? Oh,

12:34

I love that question so much, Gloria. It

12:37

looks like a child going towards an

12:39

adult when they need

12:41

help with their big feelings. So

12:44

often we see children who are

12:47

growing up in less than ideal

12:49

circumstances with parents who are not

12:51

available to them to help them

12:53

with their big feelings. And

12:56

instead of going towards an adult to

12:58

help them manage that, go away from

13:00

an adult because they don't necessarily trust

13:03

that an adult is going to be able

13:05

to help them with that. And so

13:07

my work is to help the

13:09

grownups stay regulated enough,

13:11

calm enough, available enough to help

13:14

the children manage those big feelings

13:16

and learn what are they called?

13:18

What do I do with them?

13:20

And how can I feel better?

13:23

I love it when I hear

13:25

stories about children who say, I just

13:28

feel and it's like, yes, what, what?

13:30

Tell me what you feel. That's what

13:32

I want to know. But it's not

13:35

often that clear.

13:37

When it's not overt, what

13:40

have you observed in children that has

13:43

clicked for you and made you think, aha,

13:45

they're trying to figure it out. It

13:48

might be quiet. It might be a behavior

13:50

they're doing by themselves. What does that look

13:52

like? Let's start even with

13:54

babies. I see something. I'm a baby. I

13:57

light up and you delight in that with

13:59

me. I might coo and you might

14:01

coo back at me. What happens

14:03

to the baby that doesn't have somebody

14:05

respond to them? They start

14:07

to become more and more locked in

14:10

themselves and they grow into a child

14:12

and they think, well, what

14:14

do I do if I need something? Well,

14:16

I'm not really that important or people don't

14:18

care that much about me or I'm not

14:20

going to be responded to. I don't expect

14:23

that somebody is going to care about what

14:25

I'm feeling, what I'm experiencing and what I

14:27

need. So I'm going to try to figure

14:29

it out on my own. So now

14:31

this baby is a two-year-old who is pushing

14:33

their friends or clearing the table when they're

14:36

upset or not being

14:38

able to seek connection in

14:41

a positive straightforward way so

14:44

they go about it in a negative

14:46

way. For so many

14:48

parents who are unavailable or so

14:50

many teachers who are unavailable, they

14:53

don't respond to their children

14:57

in those fun moments,

14:59

those delight with me moments. They

15:01

respond to their children when they're doing

15:03

something wrong, when they're doing something bad,

15:06

when they need to be corrected. And

15:08

so children learn that the way I

15:10

can get that connection that we need,

15:12

that vital connection, that fuel, is

15:15

by doing something to get

15:17

in trouble. So I think of that

15:19

as like getting connection through the back

15:22

door rather than the front door by

15:24

asking straight for it. And that also

15:26

is the beginning of poor mental health,

15:28

poor relational health. And

15:30

that just grows. It just keeps getting

15:33

bigger and bigger. You

15:35

talk to teachers all the time.

15:37

You're always teaching the

15:39

teachers, so to speak. When I look at

15:42

this, it's like these teachers need to be

15:44

part social worker, part therapist, you

15:46

know, part everything to do their job

15:48

the way the children really

15:51

need it to be done. Can you

15:53

give me an example of a

15:55

common topic that comes up

15:57

for you when you're teaching teachers? So

16:00

this is what I've also learned Gloria

16:02

is that adults need a lot of

16:05

what kids need You know I'm

16:07

always sad when I go into a

16:09

classroom and a child is sad or

16:12

crying and the teacher says or any

16:14

adult says You're fine. You're okay That's

16:17

maybe the only way that they have

16:19

to tell us that they're feeling something

16:21

and we want I want them to

16:24

pay attention to what That is teachers

16:26

think that their job is to help

16:28

children learn their colors and their numbers

16:30

and their ABCs Because

16:32

they are taught they

16:35

they learn how to

16:37

become teachers They become certified to become

16:39

teachers at least in Massachusetts by taking

16:42

one course on human growth and development

16:44

and then being in a classroom Nowhere

16:47

are they taught that relationships are

16:49

the center of how this process

16:51

works and the most important piece

16:55

Well, how do I teach something or how do

16:57

I create something that I didn't experience? That's

17:00

the biggest Problem

17:03

it's very hard for me to be

17:05

patient with children if nobody was patient

17:07

with me or Curious

17:10

about children if nobody was curious

17:13

about me Wow, Terry

17:15

your job just got a lot more complicated

17:17

than I thought coming into this interview. It's

17:20

very complicated Creating

17:22

systems of care that are

17:24

consistent reliable and predictable so

17:26

teachers who are consistent Relationships

17:29

that are consistent that is something

17:32

we want for all children and

17:34

that is mental health promotion I

17:37

think it's really important to note that it's

17:39

not the bad things that happen to us

17:41

that undo us It's how we understand them

17:43

and manage them So

17:46

if a bad thing happens to a

17:48

child a traumatic experience and they have

17:50

a relationship with adult who can help

17:52

them through that process They

17:55

will be okay, but children

17:57

who have a lot of bad

17:59

things happen to them them or

18:02

toxic stress, which is just repeatedly

18:04

having bad things or hard experiences

18:06

happen to you without a caregiver

18:08

to help them manage that, they

18:10

don't do so well. But positive

18:12

childhood experiences buffer the

18:14

experience of adverse childhood experiences.

18:17

KK And what keeps you

18:19

going after decades in this

18:22

world? KK The way

18:24

teachers light up when

18:26

we introduce the critical nature

18:29

of their work in

18:32

building brains and nervous

18:34

systems through relationship, they

18:36

light up. Most people get

18:39

into the field because they care about

18:41

children and they

18:43

want to do the best by

18:45

children. So when I say

18:48

relationships matter, let's start there. Almost

18:50

always they are excited to jump

18:52

on board. That keeps me going.

18:54

KK Thanks to people like you

18:56

and the work that you do,

18:58

we do have hope. So thank

19:00

you so much, Terri. KK My

19:02

pleasure. Thanks so much, Gloria. KK

19:04

We are going to take another

19:06

break. When we get back, we'll

19:08

hear from Grace Blanco, a childcare

19:10

director in Newark, New Jersey. She's

19:13

been helping build those little brains and

19:15

nervous systems for 19 years.

19:17

That's after the break. KK

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LILIO in nurturing the future. Welcome

21:30

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21:33

high-quality child care. Learn

21:35

more at www.lilio.com. Let's

21:54

just start with you introducing yourself

21:56

for our listeners. How would your

21:58

friends or co-workers describe you?

22:02

Oh, that's a good question. I think

22:04

my friends would describe

22:06

me as someone

22:08

very energetic and

22:11

determined. My

22:14

co-workers would probably say the

22:16

same. I remember when

22:18

I first started working at ELC, people

22:21

were amazed at how much energy I

22:24

would have because I would be ready

22:26

to mop and hang things on the

22:28

wall, whatever was needed. I said, I

22:31

can do it. This

22:33

is Grace Blanco. She's the director of

22:35

the Iron Bound Early Learning Center in

22:38

Newark, New Jersey. As director, she's not

22:40

really mopping or hanging things on the

22:42

wall anymore, but she is still

22:44

full of energy and passion for looking

22:46

after kids. Even over Zoom, I could

22:48

tell that almost 20 years in

22:51

the industry has not slowed her

22:53

down. And that energy is really

22:55

needed because the families lean heavily

22:58

on the center to afford childcare.

23:00

Iron Bound prioritizes enrollment for those

23:02

experiencing extreme financial hardship. Some are

23:05

single parents, unhoused, or doubled up

23:07

living with another family so they

23:09

can put a roof over their

23:12

heads. Many families immigrated from Latin

23:14

American countries. You'll hear a

23:16

mix of English, Spanish, and Portuguese at

23:18

the center. Some families are from Brazil,

23:21

like Grace. The center cares for

23:23

children ages 0 to 5. And

23:26

Grace is really tapped into helping

23:28

them build strong, healthy relationships during

23:30

this crucial time of their lives.

23:33

I tell my teachers, you're brain engineers.

23:36

You have the power to really make

23:40

that child thrive, even

23:44

if you're compensating for what they're

23:46

not getting at home sometimes. Every

23:49

time we read a story to a baby,

23:51

we sing a song. We

23:54

cuddle with them. We hug them. We

23:56

pay attention to something that they're showing

23:59

us. compliment them, the

24:01

brain's making those connections, right?

24:04

In a positive way. And

24:06

they go on to develop

24:08

healthier. So yes,

24:11

we have that power. And it's

24:13

an incredible power. I

24:15

wanna talk a little bit about

24:17

what you observed before the pandemic,

24:20

during the pandemic and after. Because

24:22

we know a nurturing stable environment

24:26

is magic, magic food for the

24:28

brain. What did

24:30

you see during the

24:32

pandemic and how it impacted

24:34

the kids' social and emotional

24:38

development? And really their ability

24:40

to form relationships with their caregivers, with

24:43

their brain engineers. Yes,

24:46

we know that the pandemic has been a

24:49

traumatic event in everybody's

24:51

lives, right? Our families

24:53

are already facing many different

24:56

adversities as an addition. So the

24:58

level of stress have increased to

25:00

the roof. We had children who

25:02

lost parent, parents

25:05

who lost employment, food

25:07

insecurity, just to

25:09

name a few. So the levels

25:11

of stress, and when a

25:13

parent is stressed, the parent really

25:16

cannot connect with that baby, right?

25:18

Or with that toddler. So

25:20

our four-year-olds leaving to kindergarten

25:23

now are still pandemic babies,

25:26

right? They just turned five,

25:28

and they may not have

25:30

had all the family embracing

25:34

and positive interactions, not to

25:37

mention the lack of social

25:39

interaction, the isolation. So

25:41

when they came to us for

25:44

back and to in-person learning,

25:47

yes, the teachers immediately felt

25:51

the difference. The science

25:53

backs up teachers' intuition. Research

25:56

tells us infants and toddlers

25:58

raised during the pandemic. showed

26:00

signs of delayed cognitive and

26:02

motor skills, and even language.

26:05

In non-COVID times, kids naturally build

26:07

these skills with their peers. They

26:10

are playing pretend or building things

26:12

with big Legos or whatever it

26:14

is, all with their friends. The

26:17

pandemic also complicated access to

26:19

care for children with developmental

26:21

delays and disabilities. Think

26:24

of child care centers as an early warning

26:26

system. When kids are there,

26:28

educators and parents can see that

26:30

they're developmentally behind other students. The

26:33

earlier the signs are spotted, the sooner

26:35

adults can help kids catch up. But

26:39

all of this depends on those

26:41

developmental delays getting noticed in the

26:44

first place. When the pandemic upended

26:46

our systems in so many ways,

26:48

Grace saw many children go without

26:50

the support. Because the

26:52

parents were isolated also, especially if you're

26:55

a first child, you don't know that

26:57

my child may have a development delay

26:59

because I didn't see the other children

27:02

to be able to compare. It's

27:05

my first run as a parent

27:07

that didn't have any concerns until

27:10

they came to school.

27:13

And we identified

27:15

a few children with severe,

27:17

severe development delays that their

27:20

parents had absolutely no idea.

27:23

And how did that affect their

27:25

ability to access services? Maybe

27:28

it's a simple answer. You don't know what you don't

27:30

know, and therefore, why

27:32

would you ask for help? Yeah,

27:34

exactly. They didn't know they needed

27:36

to ask for help. But

27:39

even those that may have noticed, during

27:42

the pandemic, those services were interrupted for

27:44

at least four months. And

27:47

then when they figured things out,

27:49

they were actually able to provide

27:51

some kind of intervention. It was

27:53

done online. Can you

27:55

imagine an 18-month-old baby getting

27:58

anything from a screen? No, I

28:00

can't. So the

28:03

three to five year old is a little bit

28:05

different, right? They have to be in a school

28:07

setting for parents to be

28:09

able to receive services,

28:11

not the child. And

28:14

when we came back, there

28:18

was a shortage of

28:20

key professionals to provide services. I mean,

28:22

that is so hard to hear. That's

28:24

just so hard to hear. My

28:27

question is, have you

28:29

observed children who came back

28:31

into the center, let's say,

28:33

at a young age, between

28:35

zero and three, and made

28:37

progress where intervention, being around

28:39

caregivers on a consistent basis,

28:42

receiving the message that when

28:44

I need something, my need will be

28:46

met? What kind of transformation

28:49

did you see when intervention worked?

28:52

Yeah, we did see progress. Even

28:54

those children that were severely delayed.

28:57

So I usually go in the

28:59

classroom in the morning to greet

29:01

the children. I say, how's everybody

29:03

doing thumbs up? And

29:06

they're in the bathroom and they're putting

29:08

their finger up for me. And

29:11

one day I go to this classroom

29:13

where this little boy we're talking about

29:15

is there, and he comes to me

29:17

like this. Two thumbs up. You know,

29:20

two thumbs up. He doesn't speak

29:22

a word, right? Oh my gosh. That's so

29:24

sweet. He's connecting

29:26

with me, which for him

29:28

is an

29:31

advancement. He's

29:33

connecting, which is an amazing

29:35

skill for a preschooler. Persistence.

29:38

Well, speaking of persistence, let's

29:40

talk about the call

29:43

to action, right? Because I can tell

29:45

from the way that you speak and

29:47

your passion for this that you

29:50

also, I would guess, think about what needs

29:52

to change. I guess

29:55

the first question I would ask you is,

29:57

do you think about policymakers coming out of

29:59

this pandemic? and what they need to

30:01

do? I

30:03

think we lost the momentum. I think

30:06

right after there was a lot of

30:08

talk about the importance of

30:10

childcare. Just thinking about,

30:12

thinking about the economy. That's,

30:15

politicians are thinking about money,

30:17

right? Yes. But we somehow

30:19

lost the momentum, right? But you think, I

30:22

mean, it's important that you say, like, we

30:24

lost the momentum. Because I have felt

30:27

that watching this very closely, since we

30:29

launched this show in May

30:31

of 2021. Do

30:34

you feel like there's anything that you

30:37

received during the pandemic that you would

30:39

like to see stick around? Is there

30:41

any hope for that? Yes. So funding.

30:43

Yeah, we get a lot of supplemental

30:46

funding during the pandemic. We're able to

30:48

raise salaries. The difficulty

30:50

about getting people interested in working

30:52

in this field is because

30:55

the salary is so low. Yeah. You

30:57

can make more working for McDonald's

30:59

sometimes. Assistant teachers make less

31:01

than $40,000 a year. I'm

31:04

not talking about those just starting because that's

31:07

on the 30s. $40,000, it's not

31:10

a living wage, you know? I mean, that

31:12

is something right there that is tangible and

31:14

concrete and people can go out and use

31:16

their voice and demand it, right? So

31:19

I thank you for that. I thank you for

31:21

your time. Grace, I have to tell the listeners

31:23

behind you, you have so many incredible signs. Amazing

31:26

Grace is one. You can do

31:28

this is one. My

31:30

brain has too many tabs open. That's

31:33

probably true too. Thank you

31:35

again, Grace. We appreciate you and the work that

31:37

you do. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.

31:42

Listen, I know that paying our childcare workers

31:44

more is not going to suddenly solve our

31:46

widespread mental health crisis. It is just not

31:48

that simple. I wish that it was. What

31:51

I do know is that high

31:53

quality childcare will set a kid

31:56

on the right path. Terry

31:58

told us that you get healthy. happy

32:00

kids when their caregivers are healthy and

32:02

happy too. So when we fail to

32:05

support our caregivers, we fail our kids.

32:08

Fortunately, none of this is irreversible.

32:10

People like Terry help our teachers

32:12

manage their own emotions, so

32:14

they're better equipped to help kids

32:17

showing signs of trauma. Everyone

32:19

learns how to express themselves

32:21

in kinder, healthier ways. The

32:24

issues we have with childcare didn't start

32:26

with the pandemic, but it was the

32:28

boiling point. Grace showed us

32:30

how important childcare providers are in

32:32

helping kids return to normal. They

32:34

really are heroes, but they're not

32:36

superhuman. They need to get paid

32:38

fairly so they don't have to

32:40

pick up a second or third

32:42

job just to make ends meet.

32:45

And instead, they can go home and

32:47

be with their own families. Providing

33:05

full mental health and support

33:07

services to young children is

33:09

entirely possible. It's already

33:11

happening. Just look at

33:13

K-12 schools across America. They

33:16

have counselors, support staff, and

33:18

access to resources outside of

33:20

school to meet all the

33:22

needs kids might have. So there's

33:25

no reason this can't happen in the 0-5 space too.

33:29

Our guest, Terry, is actually involved in a

33:31

pilot like this right now in Boston. She's

33:34

collaborating with our partner, Neighborhood Villages,

33:36

and other schools you've heard from

33:38

this season, Epiphany and Ellis. They

33:41

are bringing these K-12 resources

33:44

to childcare centers. There's

33:46

no reason to wait until kids are

33:48

5 to start showing that we care

33:51

about their mental health. There's

34:10

more No One Is Coming To Save Us with

34:12

Lemonada Premium. Subscribers get

34:14

exclusive access to bonus content like

34:16

unheard clips from our interviews. Subscribe

34:19

now on Apple Podcasts. No

34:22

One Is Coming To Save Us is a

34:24

Lemonada original produced with neighborhood villages. I'm

34:27

your host, Gloria Riviera. Crystal

34:30

Genesis is our senior producer. Tony

34:32

Williams and Tiffany Bowie are our producers.

34:35

Tony Williams and Johnny Vince Evans

34:37

are our audio engineers. Our

34:39

music is by Hannes Brown. Jackie

34:41

Danzinger is our VP of narrative

34:44

content. Executive producers are

34:46

Stephanie Whittles-Wax and Jessica Cordova-Kramer,

34:48

along with me, Gloria Riviera.

34:51

The series is presented by Imaginable

34:54

Futures, the J Willard and Alice

34:56

S. Marriott Foundation, the

34:58

Bainum Family Foundation, and the Conrad

35:00

and Hilton Foundation. If you

35:02

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35:19

for listening and we'll be back next week. Until

35:22

then, hang in there. You can do

35:24

this. People

35:40

love to pretend that there are simple

35:42

formulas for living your best life now.

35:45

Eat this and you won't get sick, manifest

35:47

it, and everything will work out. But

35:50

there are some things you can choose and

35:53

some things you can't. And it's

35:55

okay that life isn't always getting better.

35:58

I'm Kate Bowler. And on Everything Happens,

36:01

I speak with kind, smart, funny people

36:03

about life as it really is. Beautiful,

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terrible, and everything in

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between. Let's be

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Hello, hello, hello. I am

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Jose Andres. Maybe

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