I remember at one point my publicist, he reminded
me that I am my own target audience. So it made
me more observant of the things that I do on
a day -to -day basis. It's my book signing, it's
my first book. I was talking to an audience of
maybe one or zero, but it just gave me the confidence
that I can post on the internet and that it's
not scary. My uncle bought me a pair of glasses
I couldn't see. So I didn't know that I couldn't
see like that. I would squint my eyes and...
Do weird things. How does one person run all
of this? That's the question I try to figure
out every day. The ADHD explained a lot of my
dating behaviors. Because in my 20s, I always
had to have a girlfriend. I don't know why. I
could never do my own thing. So I always had
a girlfriend and then having a lot of ideas that
I wanted to get off the ground, but I couldn't
really do it because I didn't have the time or
the money. So that was very frustrating. People
who make content online, here are. Our thoughts
and opinions, it meant a lot to me. So you just
like put your tickets out there and people just
come to see Dr. Kojo. That's cool. Yeah, I can
look at the analytics and see that people actually
do watch until the end, which is super cool.
Welcome to another episode of No Prior Auth.
This week, I'm talking to Dr. Kojo Sarfo. Kojo
is a DNP, a board -certified psychiatric mental
health nurse practitioner, and probably the most
recognized psych NP on the internet. He has over
3 million followers on TikTok, 4 .5 million across
platforms, and about 150 million monthly views.
He was born in Ghana, moved to Norway as a toddler,
grew up in Nashville where his parents worked
as janitors while putting themselves through
school. He got his DNP from Augusta University,
worked forensic inpatient psychiatry at Eastern
State Hospital in Virginia, and started posting
TikToks about two months into that job. Now he's
in Los Angeles running a telehealth practice,
a clothing company that donates to Mental Health
America, monthly comedy shows in Hollywood, and
all over the country. And he's got a book with
Simon & Schuster. He wasn't diagnosed with ADHD
until he was 25, and now he's the voice an entire
generation uses to understand it. Let's get into
it. Thanks so much for being here, Kojo. Thank
you for having me. That was so kind, everything
that you just read. All true, all true. So let's
just kick off with you telling us a little bit
about yourself as far as how... you got started
in this journey. And like, if you ever saw yourself
being such a public facing individual. I, I knew
I was going to do something. I felt like I had
been a give. I didn't know that it would be at
this scale, this magnitude. And I'm somebody
that I, I would consider to be honest or I try
my best to be honest. And whether that's like
in my first book. You are the one talking about
my journey through school and little undiagnosed
ADHD for 25 years. Or whether that's just talking
to somebody I met, maybe a friend or somebody
at the psych hospital, a patient. I try and put
my stories out there. And I remember at one point
my publicist, he reminded me that I am my own
target audience. So it made me more observant
of the things that I do on a day -to -day basis
and the things that frustrate me. And just talking
about things has allowed me to reach. the world.
And it's incredible what we're doing right now.
It really is. One of the things I love about
your content that I think is very unique is,
yes, you are a healthcare professional. You're
a psychiatric nurse practitioner with a doctorate.
And you come at it from the patient lens. And
so when you're watching your content, it doesn't
feel like you're watching a coach kind of archetype.
It feels like you're like, chilling with a friend
and i remember when i came across one of your
tiktok lives and you're like doing your music
and super chill i remember feeling that way and
i was like this is cool that he's also just like
not afraid to be who he is even if that's like
imperfect whatever like just show up as kojo
i'm happy that uh i'm able to inspire people
and just your appreciation for the content you
know first and foremost thank you so much uh
and i know that um When I was working back at
East Central Regional Hospital in Odessa, Georgia,
when I was still in school, I would play basketball
on second shift with the patients at the psych
hospital, and then I would get to know them,
and we'd have regular conversations, and that's
how I would get my assessments done, and I would
go chart after that. So I didn't really show
up with a pen and paper, like, oh, did you sleep?
Did you eat? Do you have any thoughts of hurting
yourself? Like, we would ask those questions
and talk about that. through a regular conversation.
And I realized that I got more out of people
that way. So seeing things from the patient's
lens or seeing it through the other side, I try
to stay there as much as possible. And then when
I put that vantage point on social media, it
really connects with people because when you
come in, you're all buttoned up and you're using
big words. Sometimes as professionals, we'll
use big words, like even gate, like just say
walk. Like we don't realize that people. I know.
The healthcare field don't know what these words
mean. So true. I love that about your content.
Yeah. Cause sometimes I'll say stuff and my mom
will crack up. She'll be like, what are you,
what are you saying, honey? You, the words you
use and I'm like, it's normal for us, you know,
but it's, yeah, it's not like commonly, commonly
known. So, okay. Tell us about that first TikTok
that you posted. Like what were, what was going
through your mind? So the first TikTok that I
ever posted. I was in Detroit, Michigan. I had
the app downloaded, but I had never logged into
it. I was in Detroit. I was promoting my first
book, You Already Won, which came out September
29th, 2019. And I had heard that TikTok was going
to be the next big thing. I'm a big Barry Chuck
fan, Gary V. So he was talking about TikTok ad
nauseum. TikTok, TikTok, TikTok. You got to do
it. So I made a TikTok promoting my first. with
really bad lighting. You couldn't even hear me
properly. I think TikTok is still up there, like
my very first one. And nobody viewed it. I think
I had like three likes or 10 views. I didn't
understand the platform, but that was my first
attempt at trying to post online. I said, hey,
as I'm in Detroit, is my book signing? Is my
first book? I was talking to an audience of maybe
one or zero, like knowing what I know now. But
it just gave me the confidence that I can post
on the Internet and that is not scary. And even
if people don't engage with it, because that's
your biggest fear when you post Internet, having
something that doesn't get enough likes because
you don't get that validation. So I actually
I didn't post again for two more months after
that because I'm like, nobody wants to see what
I'm doing on TikTok. And when I came back December
2019, I would make like short comedic sketches
in my scrubs and that. was what finally converted.
And people would ask me questions, why are you
wearing the scrubs? What do you do? And then
I would get to know more about what people were
wanting to see from me. And that was kind of
my portal into making the type of content that
I make now. That's really cool. I love that.
You've talked before about kind of knowing something
was different as a kid, but not really having
the language for it. In an immigrant family where
your parents were working multiple jobs, how
do you even bring that up as a kid? How was that
for you? I knew something was different and I
had my own way of doing everything from getting
a homework done to the way I put my clothes on.
Like I was always peculiar, I guess an interesting
kid. And it wasn't until I was in grade school
that I realized that some kids will go to the
nurse's office and they will take medications
and they come back and they would sit down and
not be super talkative. And I would ask the kids
like, why do you go to the nurse's office? They
say, oh, because. Like, I got to take medications
so I can focus and do this. And I cough too much,
so I take medications. That way I don't talk
a lot. And when I realized that people were taking
meds for talking a lot and being disruptive in
class, I told myself, okay, that's what I need.
But I didn't know how to bring it up to my parents.
And the few times that I would bring it up, my
mom would say, no, you know, you're fine. We're
going to pray for you. Let's just pray harder.
So I'm like, okay, let's just pray harder and
we'll just, we'll. figure it out and you know
i was able to figure things out on my own i wasn't
harder than it needed to be yeah but i guess
it made me the person i am today yeah because
growing up as a kid like were you what kind of
student were you like were you did you get decent
grades or were you getting in trouble for talking
a lot or what were you like as a kid so because
we came from norway to nashville tennessee the
first Two or three years, I would say I was an
average student to below average student. My
goal was to not get held back, honestly. I just
didn't want to get held back. Yeah. I couldn't
read when I came to the States. How old were
you when you came to the States? Six and a half.
Okay. I couldn't read until second or third grade.
So I was barely hanging on. And by the time I
hit fifth grade, I'd say that's when I hit my
stride because I learned to read and we finally...
My uncle bought me a pair of glasses I couldn't
see. So I didn't know that I couldn't see like
that. I would squint my eyes and do weird things
to see the board. And when I got my glasses and
I became more comfortable with reading, then
I started reading everything. And by fifth grade,
I was an accelerated reader. I got second place
in the spelling bee. I should have got first.
I couldn't spell strawberry. You got second place
in the spelling bee too. It sucks. You just feel
like you're going to win and go on to the National
Scripts one, but that's neither here nor there.
But my time I was in fifth grade, I was a really
good student, like all As and all Bs. And then
I didn't struggle again until high school. And
then I really struggled in high school. Because
I was in the International Baccalaureate Program,
IB. I'm not sure if you're familiar with that.
But it's like AP classes on steroids. And I was
probably the... I like to tell my classmates
now that I was the dumbest out of everybody in
that program because it was a super programming.
People went to Harvard and Yale and Georgia Tech
and all these big schools. And I ended up with
a 2 .7 GPA. I barely got through. And that's
when my dad recommended nursing. And he said,
your GPA is not that good. You can't get into
most places. But I'm just happy that my story
was that same exact way because I don't know
what I'd be doing if I. I was a good student
in high school. Yeah. That's a great point. My
GPA wasn't very good either. And I remember my
dad being like, it's going to be really hard
for you to become a dentist or an orthodontist.
Like you want to be with this GPA. And I'm like,
yeah, you're right. You're right. Anyway. You
regret that, right? You'll regret the path you
took. No, I don't regret it at all. You know,
it's, it's interesting. It's really interesting.
So how many siblings do you have? And what are
your parents like? I'd be fascinated to meet
Kojo's parents. It's a random question, but I'm
curious. Oh my goodness. There's six of us in
total. From the oldest, Christabel, who, 1982,
she's 40. She'll be 44 at the end of May. And
the youngest is going to be 21 in June. So that's
a wide range. The six months in total, we're
super close. I think we're closer than most siblings.
We always communicate, even if it's just through
Instagram Reels or Snapchat. We always talk.
My parents are very interesting people. I believe
that they're neurodivergent and undiagnosed.
There's a lot going on with my parents, but they
are... some of the most resourceful people that
I know because they don't really, they're not
big planners. They kind of wing things. And I
see where I get my, you know, winging things
on the fly from, but my parents are very, very
interesting, very religious. Yeah. And we're
up in the South as well. So you take the, you
know, the Bible belt, all of that. And then,
you know, as West Africans, we're also super
religious too. Parents are very interesting people.
They're both in health care now, so they're helpers.
My grandmother's a social worker. My mom was
a social worker before she became an RN. So it's
a whole family that's, you know, we're hell -bent
on helping out individuals. Yeah, that's really
cool. What did your family think when you first
started posting on social media? Were they, like,
supportive? Did you get some confusion, judgment?
My family, and even to this day, my mom doesn't
understand what I do on social media. My dad,
like, he gets it. And I know one time my sister
showed him a joke of mine on stage and he was
laughing. And I was like, yes, my dad thinks
I'm funny. But they don't really understand the
magnitude of social media. I think it may have
hit them just this past year or so. Because my
mom, she works at the... psych hospital that
i used to work at in augusta georgia so her new
co -workers are my old co -workers some of them
are still there from 10 15 years ago and they'll
say oh coach i used to work here this is what
coach was like and she's like oh yeah coach was
my son and then um you know she's like telling
me that all these people are saying oh he makes
all these videos online and the videos are so
good but she doesn't watch it so she's like oh
i that's my son like i don't know exactly what
he's doing so um i think it started to kind of
hit them in the past so like the magnitude of
social media because they've seen you know me
on tv and you know they see me get the second
book deal and all that stuff yeah they're proud
of that but seeing how big social media is i
think is just now kind of hidden in the past
year a year and a half gotcha gotcha Okay, let's
count it up and talk about the business of being
Dr. Kojo. So you've got Sarfo Psychiatry. You've
got Abranti and Signora Clothing, Sarfo Entertainment,
social media coaching, courses, a Patreon, two
podcasts, monthly comedy shows, brand deals with
CBS, Paramount, Hulu, booking agent, keynote
speaking, a book deal. How does one person run
all of this? Do tell us. That's the question
I try and figure out every day. I try and max
out my capacity. So I've been so much more focused
on having the capacity to do things. And as long
as I have that space internally, I can do all
this. I don't want to say with relative ease
because it is difficult. But with employment,
I'll be burnt out at the end of the day. On most
days, if we have five work days in a week, maybe.
Three or four days, I'll be burnt out. I'll be
tired by going to sleep. But I am excited about
the reason why I'm tired. And it's more so, I've
said this before, being Dr. Kojo, I think, is
easy. Being Kojo is very difficult. So taking
care of myself, making sure that I'm getting
sleep, make sure that I'm still talking to family
members and friends. Because sometimes I'll become
so, you know, insular. And all I'm thinking about
is business, business, business. So whenever
I do go travel and I see family, I try to let
this stuff go. But it takes a lot of a lot of
work, a lot of, you know, checking in to make
sure the systems are good, a lot of collaboration
with people. And I think that finding the right
people is a key. And I've read business books
where they talk about you have to have the right
people work with the right team. But having the
right people, people who have done things before.
That's the key. Because with Starfield Entertainment,
we're working with actors who they've been doing
it their whole lives. So of course, it's going
to be good. And with Starfield Psych, where I
learned from you about how to streamline things,
that's what you do to help people get their practices
up and running. So when you go to the experts
in different fields, it makes things a lot easier
for you. But it is a lot sometimes. It is a lot
sometimes. I will admit. I would imagine. Which
of your revenue streams would you say actually
moves the needle financially? Like if you had
to cut half of them tomorrow, what survives?
What survives? Probably the biggest one I would
say is Facebook. Facebook content monetization.
And it's been that way for the past four, at
least four years. At least four years. Facebook
pays, at least for me, I'm not sure other creators
do, but Facebook pays the best for me. And then
it's YouTube and then it's TikTok. But Facebook
is the fastest growing platform that we have.
We have 2 .1 followers on Facebook. And at some
point, I think it's going to overtake how many
followers we have on TikTok, the 3 million we
have on TikTok. So Facebook, long form content.
Even the shorter reels, all that. And even the
text posts that you make on Facebook, just your
thoughts or posting photos, that leads to money
because they want engagement. So Facebook is
probably my number one revenue. Well, actually,
it'd be Facebook and brand deals. So brand deals
would actually be there if we're being more specific.
So brand deals and then Facebook. Of course,
the psychiatry as well. I would rank that underneath
the social media monetization. Yeah. Yeah, for
sure. OK, good to know. So being that you're
a Ghanaian American black male psych NP and that
psych nursing is dominated by white women, what
has that been like for you? I. I like, like,
I'm a big fan of wild cards and, you know, people
being in spaces where you wouldn't originally
expect them to be. So nobody sees it coming.
And I think that that's why it works so well,
because people wouldn't expect me to be in this
profession and even be speaking publicly about
it. It's not something that I just think as a
community, you know, African -Americans and also
Africans, we don't talk a lot about what's going
on. internally. We just kind of do our best to
write it out and hope that it gets better on
its own. So for me to share my personal experiences
and to be in this field, I think that it has
helped inspire a lot of people who are also minorities
to know that they can also help themselves out
by helping out other people, because that's one
of the biggest benefits of being in these professions.
You get to help yourself out. Because a lot of
the knowledge that we acquire in school, we use
that on a daily basis. Like we know what therapies
will work for us, what medications we could try.
We know the different things that people should
be doing for wellness and self -care. So it's
been really good. And I'm starting to see a lot
of minorities apply for psych NP jobs or even
to get into the profession. A lot of RNs will
go into psych. And if I'm not... maybe like six,
seven years ago, psych was not that popular.
I'm sure you remember. It wasn't popular. It
was what you did if you didn't have skills. If
you couldn't, you know, put in an IB, they'd
send you to psych and say, just go work with
them and you'll figure it out. So now seeing
everybody and their mom sign up for psych MP
school. Yeah. It's mixed feelings, of course,
because sometimes it's just, oh, I'm doing it
for money. But I do feel a sense of pride that
more people are following on first steps. Yeah.
And I'm sure you get messages from people who
are like, I'm doing it with you. And that's probably
pretty cool to hear, you know. Now, you taught
for a little bit in a Psych NP program, didn't
you? I did. I did. How was that? That was good.
I was an adjunct professor at Augusta University
while I was in my doctoral program. And I would
take the students to the psych hospital and,
you know, I would be there. Not, I guess you
could say preceptor, but they were still in school.
I was their professor taking them through clinicals.
So we would go to the psych hospital, do it for
eight to 12 weeks. And then I would also teach
the courses within their psych class. So the
psychopharmacology course, I would teach that.
And then if they had any other courses that the
other professors couldn't do. I would step in
and do that. Okay, cool. Did you enjoy that?
Did you ever do a diet? It was a great job. I
miss it. I mean, it wasn't the highest paying
job, but it was a very fulfilling job. And you
got to work on so much. You got to work on retaining
information yourself because you have to know
what to teach people. So I would make sure that
I knew what I was talking about. You get to work
on your public speaking skills. You're addressing
a... group of seven to eight students. Yeah.
And also you talk about mental health, which
is something that you're passionate about. So
that was more of my, my more enjoyable jobs I've
had. I love that. I love that. But tell us a
little bit about what it was like from like when
you were 18 to 25 getting treated for ADHD. What
were those years of your life like not being
treated for ADHD? On a personal note, I would
say that the ADHD explained a lot of my dating
behaviors. Because in my 20s, I always had to
have a girlfriend. I don't know why. But if I'm
dating her and then we're over, then I'm looking
for... I could never do my own thing. So I always
had a girlfriend and then... having a lot of
ideas that I wanted to get off the ground, but
I couldn't really do it because I didn't have
the time or the money. So that was very frustrating.
I think I was definitely a bit more impulsive.
Free Adderall, as opposed to now. In time, when
it came to, you know, the academic side of things,
the undiagnosed ADHD, it helped me through nursing
school because... And also poverty, you know,
just not having money as a family and knowing
that nursing was my way out. That created the
sense of urgency that you need as somebody who
has ADHD to get things done. And I remember my
dad one time borrowed money from one of my best
friend's dad to, you know, get some tires for
my car. And I was so embarrassed and ashamed.
So I drove from... Cloud County, Georgia to West
Alabama, the school I was going to, a four and
a half hour drive with no music. I was just thinking
to myself, just gathering my thoughts about,
you know, what had happened and about how when
I get back to school, I'm going to study all
night and I'm going to take a nap and I'm going
to ace this test. And that's exactly what I did.
I would study all night, take my Benadryl, wake
up and ace the test. had undiagnosed adhd and
wasn't getting like help in the form of medications
or therapy so i'm just grateful that my in a
weird way i'm grateful that my circumstances
were dire because otherwise yeah i know i wouldn't
have done it i would have procrastinated i've
done something yeah that's that's well said it's
a good point um now you've been to the white
house for a health care leaders and social media
roundtable how did that come about and what was
what was that like We got an email a couple years
ago from the Biden and Harris administration
about this new thing that they were starting
called the Social Media Roundtable, where they
wanted to hear from thought leaders online. And
they wanted to develop a relationship with influencers
because, you know, that's where people's eyes
and ears are. So the first time I got an email,
because I've been to the White House twice for
the roundtable. After Dr. Martin, who's worked
with the White House at the time, I think he's
doing his own thing. And I didn't know if it
was a legitimate email because like people get
spam emails all the time. But we replied and
then, you know, you'd see like the White House,
like their signature stuff. And it was really
cool because I realized that the White House,
between the White House and between what we're
doing in California, more people are paying attention
to us. We have more eyeballs on us because I
had to ask myself, like, why is the White House
reaching out to me? You know, like they have
like big, important people. But the fact that
the White House was, you know, and that administration
wanted to embrace people who make content online
and hear our thoughts and opinions, it meant
a lot to me. And we would have regular meetings,
some of which I couldn't join, but we'd have
regular meetings biweekly, sometimes monthly.
where we would talk about different, you know,
policies, things that we think could be helpful.
And the thing, the coolest thing about it was
that they were at least open to suggestions that
we had because, you know, like I have the attention
of, of the youth and the young adults and, and
even people older than that. So just that one
that he will have to say was, was pretty cool.
Yeah. That's incredible. I love that. Where do
you think you're headed next? What does the next
version of Dr. Kojo look like? The next version
of Dr. Kojo looks like me, but more prolific.
I know it sounds weird to say that I'm going
to do more, but better systems. I'd say better
systems, looking closely at the bottlenecks in
the company and figuring out how. we can get
better, how we can speak the people's language
through the comedy, just an overall expansion,
taking things internationally with the comedy,
having events outside of the U .S. because I
think that within the United States, we think
L .A., New York, Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix. We
think of the big cities, and we go around there,
and we have events, and we do comedy. we forget
about London and we forget about Paris and Tokyo
and there's so much should be done outside of
the US. So I think that the next phase of Dr.
Kojo, I would like to actually go to Australia,
go to, you know, Norway, go back to Ghana, see
what opportunities, you know, lie ahead for me
overseas. Yeah, I love that. Tell us more about
like your journey with comedy as far as. even
this recent tour, like, and do you, does it bring
you a lot of joy doing comedy? Like, are you
having fun with it? Or I'm just kind of curious.
I'm having the most fun that I've had in a long
time with comedy. I love that. And I've been
doing it for, I'd say this is year five now.
I started off in California, which is, you know,
a tough place to start comedy. Normally you started
somewhere else and then you, you bring it to
LA. But it's one of the most enjoyable things
that I've ever done because it's you trying your
best to return to yourself. In a way, it's like
unmasking, which is, you know, due as neurodivergence.
And like you have, or at least for me, like I
have, you know, working with CVS and Hulu and
Paramount and Got Milk and all these brands,
like you have like the Dr. Kojo, like who has
to fit within a box. But then with comedy, I
get to be more me. I get to be more loose. People
can see more of your personality. And there's
nothing better than getting a laugh from something
that you didn't think people also thought. So
it's been a great for me. It's allowed me to
meet so many cool people and make a lot of amazing
connections. So it's something that I definitely
will continue to do as we move forward. Awesome.
So where are you going to be having shows in
the next couple of months if people want to come
see your shows? I know you said you're going
to have one in Chandler, Arizona. So I'm going
to be there in September. But where else are
you going to be traveling? So, of course, Chandler,
Arizona, September 17th. After that is San Diego,
December 3rd. But in about a week and a half
from now, I'll be in Nashville, Tennessee. So
I'm going back home to Nashville. It's the homecoming
for me. The first show is sold out, which is
super cool. I'm still wrapping my head around
that. But the first show sold out and we added
the second one in Nashville. And the following
week will be in New York City, June 11th, then
Chicago, Illinois, June 18th. And then we have
two dates in Massachusetts at the end of July.
Boston and then I think Springfield, Massachusetts,
which is on the Connecticut border. wow a lot
of a lot of shows so you just like put your tickets
out there and people just come to see see dr
kojo that's cool yeah yeah you put your tickets
out there you make your videos yeah and and then
the videos you let people know like you give
them what they want first like they want to know
like what could i have like the rest of tips
and strategies so you give them what they want
and at the end i say hey commie's your thing
i'll be in nashville i'll be in phoenix i'll
be in san diego yeah and uh I can look at the
analytics and see that people actually do watch
until the end, which is super cool. And that
world where attention spans are so short. Oh
yeah. If you could watch a three minute video
and watch it to completion and see the ad at
the end, then that means a lot to me. And you
know, people have been receiving it really well.
Yeah. What would you say is kind of like the
dark side of the fame that you've. kind of come
into as well as just like being such a public
facing content creator? What are the hardships?
Isolation and loneliness. You, it's, I didn't
realize until maybe I think two years ago that
I've put myself in a bubble, you know, and that
all of my social events and things that I do.
our premieres and red carpet stuff and things
that don't exist outside of, you know, Hollywood
or in New York. And the past few years, I've
made a much more intentional effort to see my
friends, to, you know, hang out with my childhood
friends. In fact, David and Big Mike, two guys
I grew up with, they're going to fly to Chicago.
And after the show there. uh you know we'll be
there for two extra days and we'll get the hangout
stuff like that um is very important to me because
when you ascend and you become a public figure
you like people they still see you as who you
are but it's hard to have normal conversations
it's hard to make uh friends like i'll try and
make friends with some of the guys and before
the social media stuff comes out everything is
like normal but then You know, they may say,
oh, I saw you on Facebook. You didn't tell me
you were on Facebook. And I'm like, am I supposed
to, like, I don't know. Like, I'm not going to
tell you that. Hey, I do social media. I'm just,
I want to play a pickup game of 21 or, you know,
play flag football. But it can be difficult for
people to, like, I know I've changed, obviously,
because you evolved. But at the core, I'm still
the same. But other people struggle to, you know,
to put into perspective who you are, what you
do. And they put you on a pedestal sometimes.
So it's hard to just connect. So making friends
has been a lot harder and that will leave you
lonely and isolated. You can say the same thing
in a sense for dating. It kind of like it's,
you know, like you and your persona overshadows
who you actually are. Right. Yeah. So it's probably
hard to just meet someone that just kind of sees
you for who you are as like Kojo. yeah not like
the famous kojo it's much harder than i thought
it's way harder than i thought and anybody who
wants to be a public figure or do something like
this full -time and take it seriously like lock
on your friendships and be more intentional about
that and if you can find your person find them
now and then and then do your thing it becomes
uh significantly not impossible but significantly
harder Yeah. Gotcha. Cause you're, are you single
right now? Yeah. You're single right now. Okay.
Yeah. But you eventually see yourself like, I
know you've talked about it before publicly,
like wanting a family and kiddos and stuff. Yeah.
I want six kids to be family. Oh, I love that.
I love that. Um, what, what advice do you have
for psych NP specifically? Um, who are just graduating
and who are kind of on the fence about, do I
need this like personal brand? Should I be on
social media? Is there a value to it? Like any
advice as far as how they make that decision?
I would say that the most important thing is,
is you yourself. You have to be very selfish
in the beginning of your career because you're
getting out of school and you're. transitioning
from being an RN and taking orders, now you're
given the orders. So the liability, the responsibility
is much higher. So you have to make sure you're
in a good space mentally and physically and emotionally
to handle the new job that you're about to do,
first and foremost. And you have to make sure
that your responsibilities at home are also,
you know, accounted for, that you know that you
have the support of your family members and friends.
Because that first six months, that first year
can be hard. because of the learning curve. It's
so steep. So you have to figure out how to take
care of yourself first and foremost. And hopefully
the increase in income from RN to NP will help
out the work -life balance. Hopefully that's
better for you. And as you start to take care
of yourself, then you can ask yourself the question,
how involved do you want to be on social media?
And if you do choose to be on social media, you
have to figure out how much you want to post.
Do you want to talk about your personal life?
Do you want to talk about... You're divorced.
You want to talk about your kids. How much do
you want to disclose, especially when patients
will look you up online? Patients, they'll find
yourself, whether you mention it to them or not,
they will say, oh, I saw your video about antidepressants.
So you have to figure out how much of yourself
you want to share online. And if you want to
actually do it, then you have to dedicate yourself
to seeing things from the patient's perspective.