Allison London Brown | CEO of LUMINELLE 360 | Femtech Innovation, Fundraising, & Personal Missions

Allison London Brown is the CEO of LUMINELLE 360, a company focused on improving women's health through innovative medical technologies. In this episode, she discusses the challenges of fundraising, particularly for startups and women-led organizations, and the importance of personal mission and storytelling in leading a company and securing financial backing. Allison also emphasizes her commitment to changing diagnostic practices for women's health, particularly uterine biopsies, by developing a device through LUMINELLE 360 that enables physicians to perform these procedures more effectively.

Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonlondonbrown/ | https://www.luminelle360.com/ 

Charity supported: Tunnel to Towers

Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at podcast@velentium.com. 

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Host: Lindsey Dinneen
Production: Marketing Wise
Producer: Velentium

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Episode 020 - Allison London Brown

[00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey with Velentium and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world.

[00:00:10] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them.

[00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives.

[00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives.

[00:00:39] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives.

[00:00:43] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference. Hello and welcome back to The Leading Difference Podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and I am so excited to introduce you to my guest today, Allison London Brown. Allison is the CEO of LUMINELLE 360. She is a visionary leader with a passion for changing the lives of patients, providers, and caregivers and inspiring teams to achieve their full potential. She has experience working with startups, venture backed organizations, global partnerships and corporations, as well as associations, NGOs, and global government agencies. Thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited to talk with you.

[00:01:28] Allison London Brown: I'm excited to be here. It's, it's great to meet you, Lindsey, and to talk to your audience, and I look forward to it.

[00:01:35] Lindsey Dinneen: Wonderful. Well, I'd love if you wouldn't mind starting off by telling us a little bit about yourself and your background.

[00:01:43] Allison London Brown: Yeah, so I am currently the co-founder and CEO of a company called Luminelle. And we in essence are a company that's focused in women's health. And we do that using our insights into what happens for women in diagnosis, especially in the office place. And we have a proprietary visualization system that physicians can use in their office. I wouldn't say it's just my job. It's actually a mission for me.

[00:02:17] So a little bit about me. I am a recovering scientist. I started in chemistry and engineering, so I still have a little bit of that, I'm a nerd, whatever, and I was with J&J for a lot of years in GE and some really great, amazing companies and was trained in both the medical device and as well as in the consumer and pharma world. So I've had some really spectacular experiences with tremendous people and great physicians and their patients. And, I've been in the women's health industry for a really long time.

[00:02:53] And in the company I'm in now, a few years ago, some physicians came to us and started talking about a problem that they were having and I had to say, I really didn't understand or believe it because I've been, again, been doing this for forever, and they were telling me that the difficulties of something as simple as getting a uterine biopsy. What we started looking into is that the failure rate for uterine biopsies is 50%. And that just seems really unacceptable, right?

[00:03:29] And so then the more I dug into it, the more I was learning about uterine cancer and how it's the fastest growing mortality rate. And that African American women, if they're diagnosed with uterine cancer, they have a 90% mortality rate. Hispanics have a six times mortality rate.

[00:03:50] So, just doesn't make sense, right? What is going on? And really what I discovered was that the way we do endometrial biopsy is they do it blind. So it's like this little straw that goes in to, to try to take a sample and you're not taking the right spot and you're not taking enough tissue. And so we get these really high failure rates. And the reason I'm saying all this about that is it was shocking to me, A: as a woman and B: as a person who felt like I was extremely knowledgeable and had been doing this for forever. So I was honestly shamed, that I didn't realize that this is such a major but small, a simple problem, right?

[00:04:40] So we've shifted all of our efforts really into creating this new device that we are going to launch any minute now which is allowing physicians to do very easy sampling. And I will tell people it's the most meaningful thing I've ever done in my career. And again, had great opportunities to work on major launches, but this is, I feel like is kind of that legacy moment, people talk about that legacy moment and I feel like that's this for me.

[00:05:10] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, I love that. Yeah. You talk so much about it being so important and underrepresented and can't believe that there's this gap, and you know, that seems to be coming out more and more. There's so much more awareness, there's chatter, there's emphasis on women's health. However, there's also, it feels like there's still such a barrier to progress. Yeah, and I was wondering if you could touch on that, because obviously you're at the forefront of this. You are the one who is paving the way, but it is tough.

[00:05:45] Allison London Brown: Yeah, so people always ask me this question about, oh, as a CEO, my job is 99% of the time I'm raising money. Right? That's what you do when you're in a startup. You're raising money. You can never have enough money. You're always raising money. And so the question inevitably is talking about all of the statistics about how women founders don't get cash and the VCs don't fund us, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:06:11] Yes. Okay. So all of that may be true, but I do think that the bigger challenge is not 'cause I'm a woman, but because of the fact that I'm dealing in women's health. And, it's difficult. I've worked in a lot of different male down there care issues, and I have difficulty understanding all of it. And I'm sure that for investors ,who are predominantly male, are also struggling to understand why this is so impactful. I think the other thing is there's been so much legality in the United States around women's health. There's, lawsuits left and right, and so it does make some investors a bit wary. So on a positive side, we are seeing some significant wins when it comes to reimbursement. And so doctors are actually getting paid for their work. I think we're seeing some innovation come. But it's a whole lot too late maybe. I dunno, can I say that?

[00:07:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that's fine. . Yeah. But now you have a bit of a unique fundraising experience if I ascertained correctly through some of your posts, and one thing that really stood out to me is there was a comment at one point where you said something to the effect of, if you're not comfortable raising money or asking for money or whatnot, then maybe you need to find a different occupation or different job title. Yeah. Yeah. I love the boldness of that. I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on that, because obviously, like you said, that's a huge component of what you have to do.

[00:07:54] Allison London Brown: Yeah, I mean, I think. The essence of all that anybody does really is we're all storytellers, right? We should all be telling a story. If you want someone to buy into what you're doing, whether it's to write you a check or to join your team, or to stay on your team, we talk about leadership and loyalty and recruiting and all these things, but in essence, all of those things really go down to, you gotta tell a good story. You gotta believe your story. And I don't mean like making up a story, I mean, you're sharing this common experience with somebody, or you're sharing how you've come to something with somebody.

[00:08:28] And so I think the challenge is it's easy for some people to ask for a sale, right? I'm selling you a product, I'm selling you a widget, I'm selling you a contract, whatever that is. But when you are raising funds for your company, you're kind of selling yourself. You are saying to an investor, trust me. Trust my team. Trust that I am going to take care of your money. I'm a good steward of your money and that I will not waste your money. And not only that, but that I will give you a good return.

[00:09:09] And I think when I talk to a lot of younger, newer entrepreneurs, the idea of selling yourself in a way and then getting the close on the deal, getting that check right? You gotta close the deal for whatever reason is very troubling for some people. And I mean, that's the whole point, "I'm telling you my story so you can understand why am I doing this, why I know I can be successful, why my team can be successful, and write me a check. Show me the money."

[00:09:46] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And now you have approached it in, well, my perspective, a little bit of a unique way, and that is that you mentioned at one point that you raise a lot of capital through your own networks and through maybe not just Angel Investors or VCs or whatnot, but that you have been able to draw on your own social network, and so I was wondering if you could share a little bit about that process and if it's still an option, what opportunities still exist for people to invest in your company?

[00:10:18] Allison London Brown: Well you're welcome to invest, of course I'm always raising money, so, yes, thank you for asking. So the first part of that question, though it's kind of personal and I think people talk about doing like a friends and family round. That's not what I'm talking about here. The way that I have approached our fundraising, done a lot of Angel Funds, we've done a lot of high net worth individuals. We've been very judicious in our spend. We've been very fortunate. I mean, raised very little money, and have four or five, 10Ks, five patents, we're commercial, we've got contracts.

[00:10:55] But we are now at that stage that so many startups find themselves in, which is, I hate this word, but it's the "valley of death" where you finally have got everything ready to go and you run outta cash. A lot of us are in that boat. This has been a horrific year for raising money. So I, earlier in the year really tapped into my network. But I raised actually a little bit over a half a million dollars in two weeks, and most of it was from people in my church and their contacts.

[00:11:28] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow.

[00:11:29] Allison London Brown: So when I talk about it being personal, when we say this is missional, it is missional on a mental, emotional level, but for us it's also on a spiritual level that we really believe in what we're doing and we believe that kind of, for such a time as this, is why we're doing it. There's a reason why this idea came to us at this time with this group of people, with these physicians, with the technology that's available today. And honestly, that's not lost on a lot of people who know me personally, they understand why we are doing what we're doing. We will not quit. we will do whatever it takes to keep us going. And so in terms of fundraising, yes, we are still fundraising. We have a note that's out. We are opening up a seed round in the first quarter. And we have some very big plans for how we are going to launch this product. Not expensive plans, but big plans. Anybody who's interested, you can find me on LinkedIn. I think I'm on the only last name, London Brown. So easy to find.

[00:12:46] Lindsey Dinneen: Amazing. Yeah. I love what you said, and you've now said it a couple of times, of being so mission focused. Like this is not just a job to you, it's not just a company to you. This is a life's work and I love that. And I'm wondering if you can speak a little bit to, you've found this purpose, you've found this goal, and this mission to orient around and then how are you able to, like you said, story tell and express that to people who may not have experience or concern?

[00:13:21] Allison London Brown: The organ! They, they don't have a uterus! That's OK.

[00:13:25] Lindsey Dinneen: Exactly so, so, right, or people who might think, oh well, "I'm healthy, I'm fine." But that doesn't necessarily mean anything. So I just love to hear how do you share that heart and that passion and really help people care and understand like you do.

[00:13:39] Allison London Brown: Yeah, I mean, it does depend on the audience and everybody will say that, " it depends," but it does. I mean, you have to know kind of who you're speaking to and what's gonna matter for them, what's gonna get them to a, yes. Typically when I'm meeting with a group of, especially let's just say older gentlemen, it's easier for people to think about, "oh, have you had a colonoscopy?" Right? "Have you had a skin biopsy?" Have you had, all these different things that we kind of take for granted, right?

[00:14:08] These wonderful abilities to do diagnoses, and it's all driven by the ability to see. My business development manager, Jamie Harding, she goes on rant all the time about how sight is one of the most critical things in medicine, and yet here we are doing something blind. And, for a typical biopsy, the failure rate is 2%. So I think for a lot of guys they can get their head around, "oh, can you imagine no anesthesia, and the doctor starts just using some probe, and no camera, and it's just like digging around to try to figure if you have a problem." Okay.

[00:14:56] Or, you know, it's hard sometimes, but it's like getting a root canal without anesthesia and he's not looking. I mean, it's, there's a lot of different ways could say this, but at the bottom of this, it's like you gotta be able to see, right? So that's not a hard thing, I think for a lot of them to understand. Many times I'll spend more time talking about the technology, or I'll talk about the dollars, the actual economics of the situation versus the problem itself, because that can be, again, it can be a little bit distressing for some audiences.

[00:15:30] But, get 'em in the mindset of what if this was happening to you, and then what if this was your mother or your sister or your daughter or your granddaughter, you know? And she goes in, she has this horrific experience. It's extremely painful. And then. You wait a couple weeks and the doctor says, "oh well, either we didn't find anything or we are not really sure because it was Inconclusive." Inconclusive! That is the word that nobody wants to hear, right?

[00:16:05] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yes.

[00:16:06] Allison London Brown: Inconclusive. What does that mean? You can't tell me what's wrong with me. So yeah.

[00:16:13] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, so part of it definitely is sort of putting it into almost like, like you gave some great examples of putting it into terms where it's like, yeah, "can you imagine if you had a root canal where the dentist wasn't looking at you , and you had no anesthesia, what would that feel like?" That's ridiculous , and there's a solution for that.

[00:16:35] Allison London Brown: The other one is, I like this one, is a skin biopsy. You go in, you have something on your arm, you can see it, it's on your arm. Everybody can see it. It looks weird. Your wife has said to you, "you need to go get that thing checked. You need to go get that thing looked at," as we would say in the south. You go into your doctor, the doctor sees it, the doctor gets out a tool, then the doctor turns off the light and then tries to find where it was. I mean, it's kind of that same thing. Things you don't do blind. This is like a whole, like if I had a bazillion dollars, I'd be doing commercials about things you don't do blind, right?

[00:17:10] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Oh, I love that though. . I'm already starting to think of so many great ideas with that particular...

[00:17:17] Allison London Brown: Exactly.

[00:17:19] Lindsey Dinneen: You know, looking back, let's say years ago, and I recognize this as a little bit of a, a newer venture, although you've been very involved in med tech and science your whole life, did you always have an interest in science and healthcare from an early age? Is this something that you thought you might ever do or was this sort of a, an evolution over time?

[00:17:39] Allison London Brown: I can tell you the exact time where I decided this is what I wanted to do. So in high school, I thought I was gonna be a musician. I actually had a full scholarship in music and piano, voice and drama and really thought, that was my journey. And I took a chemistry class. I had put it off until my senior year. And fell in love with chemistry. I mean, I always liked math and then, at the time there were all these really interesting things going on around genetics and just so many different breakthroughs in medicine and I just felt like that was my path. So I started studying in chemistry. I started looking at the different careers in chemistry. I knew I didn't really wanna be in the lab, I didn't wanna be like a bench top scientist or anything like that.

[00:18:37] But medicine was so intriguing, I kind of thought that I was gonna go be a researcher at like NIH or National Cancer Institute or something like that. Some big, huge impact on the world. And, over time, I just, I found myself feeling more and more drawn to really understanding another form of science, which is understanding, "why do people make the decisions they make and why do they buy the way they buy?" Which, you know, behavioral decision making. And so marketing and sales was very intriguing to me. So I think I've I just leveraged a different part of my brain on the commercial side to really figure out how do you get someone, again, you get somebody to that yes.

[00:19:26] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. So very multi-passionate and multi gifted. Do you still do anything with music, voice, or drama, out of curiosity?

[00:19:36] Allison London Brown: I don't do drama anymore. I mean, well, ask my friends-- might tell you I'm dramatic all the time. I don't, I dunno that I am, but don't like drama. Let's just that way. I try to avoid drama in my life. Look, I'm very comfortable in front of an audience, and think all that upbringing of being on the stage, and I had the opportunity to sing at the Grand Ole Opry, so it wasn't a foreign concept to be in front of a large audience. I think that's very helpful. I'm in a band at church and I do that kind of stuff, but I don't have time anymore. I, you know, I'm trying to raise money. Right. I don't have time for that.

[00:20:12] Lindsey Dinneen: Right. But I love how that performer background may have helped contribute a little bit to your comfort on stage and giving presentation, being in front of people because that would be a very useful skill that, that, would intimidate some other people sometimes if they're suddenly in this role where, oh my gosh, now I have to be the face of the company, which means I have to do Y, and Z.

[00:20:34] Allison London Brown: Yeah. Right. Isn't that like the number one fear I think people have is speak in front of a crowd?

[00:20:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, . So there you go, you already had a little bit of an edge there 'cause you had that comfort, that's amazing. .

[00:20:46] Allison London Brown: Yeah, I mean, I think that's helpful, but and I tell people this all the time, again, if you cannot communicate your ideas or your story, then it is gonna be very difficult for anybody to buy in. I may have been a scientist, but again, that training in drama I think helped because a lot of people in science, they have a hard time articulating their ideas at a level that if you're not a PhD, you can't understand it. I am not a PhD. There are many brilliant people around me all the time and I'm like, "can you please dumb it down for me." Like I can't communicate it back to you in a way that makes sense, it's not gonna stick with anybody.

[00:21:29] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And speaking of not having time anymore, you are a board member of multiple other organizations. Can you share a little bit about that? And also, do you get a chance to sleep or...

[00:21:43] Allison London Brown: Yeah. Yeah, I've actually had to back off some of my work. I've been involved with CED, which is the Council for Entrepreneurial Development here in Raleigh, for a long time. I guess 10 years. And this year I've had to really back off of that work, even though it's a passion of mine to help other entrepreneurs. I do sit on the board of Clayco Therapeutics. I really believe in what they're doing. They're working on a new biologic for necrotizing enterocolitis, and I know that's a big word, right? Basically it's when babies are low birth weight or premature, we talk a lot about like lung development, right? They can't breathe well or whatever. A lot of times their gut doesn't work, so their stomach doesn't work, and there's not a good diagnosis for it at all. And there's also a really not a great therapy for it. There's not like a drug. Some of these kids end up having multiple surgeries, it can lead to slow development, it can cause, just a myriad of other really horrific things for kids. And so they have a product that we believe is gonna be able to literally reset the gut, and allow the children to be able to feed properly. So I mean, these are like itty bitty little babies, right? So it's, I guess, adjacent to the women's health world, but it's, I just think it's a fascinating area of medicine, which is biologics, using natural substances to heal our bodies.

[00:23:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah.

[00:23:16] Allison London Brown: Not synthetic things. And its a great mission, yes, I do get to sleep.

[00:23:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay, good.

[00:23:22] Allison London Brown: I do get to sleep. But I do try to get involved in things that, A) where I think I can add value. I try to get involved in things where I really know make a difference or help the entrepreneur, and it's something I, I believe in.

[00:23:34] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yes. And paying it forward is such a wonderful thing. So what are you looking forward to, as the company continues to move forward, either personally, professionally, what are some things that you're looking forward to?

[00:23:48] Allison London Brown: I'm looking forward to a vacation I don't, dunnah know if that's a good thing to say, but I'm looking forward a good, a vacation, that would be nice. We did not do a vacation this year 'cause it's just been one of those years. No, so in terms of the company, I have this vision in my head of having a building and having 20-30 people and 10 to 15 sales reps and just this humming, working, hive of people all focused in the same direction, working and aligned on the same outcomes, and just this community of believers that have come together to really make a difference. So I kind of have this idea of that place where we are all together doing something. And I think that could happen for us this year. So I'm extremely excited about that and giving people jobs, right, and giving people an opportunity to join with us in this mission. So that's exciting for me.

[00:24:53] Lindsey Dinneen: Absolutely, are there any moments in particular that stand out to you, that really solidified for you, "yes, this is why I'm here doing what I'm doing"? Because of something that happened that just was such a reinforcement of, "yes, I'm in the right place at the right time."

[00:25:13] Allison London Brown: Yes, I have. Two things. The first thing is we were doing research around this new biopsy tool and listening to physicians talk about what they're doing today, how they're doing it today, and hearing. doctor, after doctor say, "what I'm doing today is just fine, not good, not great, just fine." And I thought, "you gotta be kidding me." Like, how is that an acceptable answer? And not trying to diss the doctors, please. That's not at all what I'm trying to say. To me that just sounded like they have acquiesced or they don't feel like anybody's gonna pay attention to them or their plight or their concerns. And so why bother? And it felt very defeatist. Again, for people who-- my friends who know me, like, give me a challenge. Like, just go ahead, tell me, "no." let's see where that goes. So that was one thing.

[00:26:20] The second thing is much more personal. And in my prayer time, in my devotional time, in my, crying out to God to ask him is "Is this really real? Is this really gonna happen? I'm running outta money." All those fun things that we think about as entrepreneurs, "what am I supposed to do?" kind of at your wit's end and just having this huge sense of, " yes, move forward. Yes, go forward. Yes, I'm here with you. Yes, I'm in it." And I know that sounds kind of kooky, for people who are not maybe into that kind of thing, but a few years ago I would've said, "that's crazy." But I will tell you, it was extremely meaningful event for me and it stays with me. It keeps us going because I just, I believe in us. I have faith that this is what we're supposed to be doing.

[00:27:19] Lindsey Dinneen: Thank you for sharing those stories. Those are both very meaningful and it is encouraging because feeling that belief and that reassurance that "yes, you're in the right place, doing the right thing at the right time" is so important because it's not easy. Nothing about what you're doing is easy , so you have come back to that.

[00:27:40] Allison London Brown: Yeah, and I feel extremely blessed that I do have that, because I, a lot of my friends are thinking through what is their purpose? What should I be doing? How blah, blah, blah, it's tough when you are seeking for something that's meaningful, right? And I do believe that we've been given that opportunity.

[00:28:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh. I love that. I, yeah, absolutely love that. Pivoting just for fun, imagine someone were to offer you a million dollars to teach a masterclass on anything that you want. It can be in your industry, does not have to be. What would you choose to teach and why?

[00:28:20] Allison London Brown: Yeah. There's a lot of things I think I would like to teach people. It's something my girlfriends and I have been talking about quite a bit lately, which is, as a woman-- and it's probably not a masterclass, it may be more of discussion group-- but it's, how do you move through those different periods of your life physically, emotionally, mentally, all of those things and still be true to yourself. And I think, I look back on my twenties and my thirties and I think "well, wow, was that really who I was? Did I have to evolve through that to get to where I am?" And if there's a way to impart any knowledge to someone to say, here are some skills you can use, here are ways to leverage your brain or deal with hormonal issues, or deal with the fact that you're having to take care of your family or whatever it is. I feel like we chunk it up a lot. We talk about, oh, mothers in the workplace, or we talk about now the big thing is menopause in the workplace, which I think is hilarious. But it's great that we're talking about all these things, but there's not a kind of path, how do you go from being an 18 year old to a 22 year old, to a 30 year old, to a whatever year old, right? So to me it's really sitting down and thinking through how do you go through each stage of your life. That would be one thing that may sound kooky, but...

[00:29:50] Lindsey Dinneen: Nope. I would sign up for that Masterclass. No, I love that. And because that's not something that is really talked about and like you said, each stage is different and it brings its own unique sets of excitement and challenges and considerations and you don't really hear enough people saying, "Hey, here's some things to think about. Here's some things to watch out for." So, yep. I'm on board.

[00:30:16] Allison London Brown: Yeah, I have a friend that she's in her thirties and she listens to a group of us talk and she's like, "oh, so this is what I have to look forward to." And I'm like, "oh, yes."

[00:30:25] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Indeed. Indeed. Yeah. So, what do you wish to be remembered for after you leave this world?

[00:30:35] Allison London Brown: Well, besides what we're doing here at Luminelle, I certainly would love to have that as a legacy as something that really impacted how, maybe not just how women were diagnosed, but how physicians started thinking about diagnosis differently. But, I guess I would like to be thought of as somebody who liked to have fun and laugh and brought joy to other people.

[00:30:56] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. I love that answer. That's a wonderful thing, . And then final question, what is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it?

[00:31:08] Allison London Brown: I probably should say my husband's face. I get points for being a good wife to say that. And it's true. It's true. It's not-- I'm not making it up. It's true. I'm a sucker for I really am a sucker for the movie "Elf."

[00:31:23] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that movie.

[00:31:26] Allison London Brown: I have three movies I watch every holiday, " Elf," " Scrooged" with Bill Murray and "Die Hard." And I'm not allowed to get those movies out until after Thanksgiving.

[00:31:41] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, So what works for, what works for our family is my husband and I have a tradition of always on Thanksgiving Eve, so to speak, we break bread to get it ready for stuffing so it can, kind of dry out overnight. And we spend the evening watching "Elf," and that's like the start of our holiday season. It's like a really fun tradition, do you think you could get away with that?

[00:32:06] Allison London Brown: I don't know, because I will watch it like 500 times during the holidays.

[00:32:12] Lindsey Dinneen: Fair enough.

[00:32:13] Allison London Brown: I am a sucker for like --not stupid comedy, so I'm not, I don't like slapstick or anything like that, but I just think "Elf" is such, I mean, it's a great story. It's got great songs. It's got Will Ferrell's hilarious. It's got a great ending. It's kind of that. It's, it, I just, and I love James Kahn. Let's just, okay, sorry, but love me some James Conn. I think he's amazing.

[00:32:39] Lindsey Dinneen: That is a fabulous answer. Definitely, that goes to the top of the most unique and that is so fun. I'm so glad you enjoyed that. Oh, my word, Allison, this has been such a fun conversation. I'm really inspired by what you're doing and by your focus on mission and impact and the way that you are working so diligently, even when it's tough and it's gonna be tough to share your story, to bring this to market, to change lives.

[00:33:10] And we are so excited to be making a donation on your behalf Today to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which since 9/11 has been helping America's heroes by providing mortgage-free Homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children, and by building specially adapted smart homes for catastrophic injured veterans and first responders. They are also committed to eradicating veteran homelessness and helping America to never forget September 11th, 2001. So, thank you so much for choosing that organization to support. And we just really appreciate your time.

[00:33:47] Allison London Brown: Thank you. I really appreciate it. And I hope that if one person hears this one post, one mention can sometimes change a life. And so if you're a woman out there, and if you've had abnormal uterine bleeding. That is your warning sign. And so go get checked. Don't wait. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go to your physician and do not accept a subpar answer.

[00:34:17] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah.

[00:34:18] Allison London Brown: So I think if I can get, just as important as it is to get physicians doing the right thing is for us to be asking for the right thing and being our own advocate. And write me a check. while y'oure at it, write me a check, I'm not sure I'm actually allowed to say that. There's probably some like SEC violation I just did. But

[00:34:40] Lindsey Dinneen: Write the company a check. It's important.

[00:34:42] Allison London Brown: Yes. Write the company a check if an accredited investor, please. Yes, no, I'm happy to talk to anybody who would like to know more.

[00:34:51] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. Well, thank you again. I just wish you the most continued success as you work to change lives for a better world and thank you also to everyone who has listened to this episode, and if you're feeling as inspired as I am, I would love if you would share this -episode with a colleague or two, and we will catch you next time.

[00:35:11] The Leading Difference podcast is brought to you by Velentium.

[00:35:17] Velentium is a contract design and manufacturing firm specializing in the development, production and post-market support of diagnostic and therapeutic active medical devices, including implantables and wearables for neuromodulation and other class three indications.

[00:35:32] Velentium's core competencies include electrical design, mechanical design, embedded software, mobile apps, contract manufacturing, embedded cybersecurity, OT cybersecurity, systems engineering, human factors and usability, and automated test systems.

[00:35:49] Velentium works with clients worldwide from startups seeking seed funding to established Fortune 100 companies.

[00:35:56] Visit velentium.com to explore your next step in medical device development.