Cancel Culture, Content Creation, and Cold Showers | Valeria Lipovetsky on Healing Yourself in Every Way

You've been in the fashion industry for so long. You originally started in wellness. You have a background in nutrition. And so you were creating nutrition content, then got into fashion. A, how's the transition been for you? Well, your numbers obviously tell. It was easy because exactly to your point, it's what my audience wanted. And I felt like I would be able to bring so much more value and storytelling through fashion than nutrition. When I got my diploma in holistic nutrition, it really came from a place of I want to learn more for myself and my family. And when I started sharing it online, it was just the right amount of nutrition without being overbearing. And I was worried that at some point, I'm going to cross that, because I'm a Virgo. So whenever I go into something, I go. So I was really trying to find that balance where I can share wellness without it feeling like this big scary thing and that we're all doing it wrong. And I didn't know that I could find that balance. So when fashion kind of came into my content strategy, I was like, you know what? With fashion, I can do it. And you've done it so naturally, but still being a mom, raising these three boys, obviously having, you know, you have three kids under the age of like 10, right? They're like, no, one's a teenager almost. My eldest is 12, Jake. And then my middle one, Benjamin is 10 and the little one is six. So I'm in a honeymoon phase right now. With having your kids online, this is something that I always think about. We don't have kids yet, obviously. So I always think about it as like, where was that decision to be like, you know, we're going to be comfortable sharing our kids online versus sometimes creators get so nervous to do that because everything going on with AI, the dangers of AI, kids. So how do you one, keep your kids and your family safe when it comes to like online kind of exposure? And two, what do you teach them to be mindful if they're on devices and platforms? So I've been doing this for nine years now. And the times where I used to share my kids online and my family life online, which was on YouTube through family vlogs, it was a different time. And something to keep in mind whenever you are a creator and whenever you are opening up and sharing your life online is that you're allowed to change your mind when it comes to your boundaries and what you want to keep and what you want to give. And the same kind of happened to me when it came to family content. When they were little, the world to me felt a more innocent place. And I really saw how much joy sharing my family life brought to us as well and to my audience. But at some point when they got older, I started being very conscious of the fact that I don't want them to grow up in a household where they don't know if there's a camera somewhere around and they're not feeling comfortable expressing their emotions or saying something. So I very naturally and intuitively started to move away from that and made a decision. That decision of course upsets certain people because a lot of people were signed up to see the family content, but my family comes first. So I kind of made a new boundary and implemented that. And as time goes by, I'm seeing how our family dynamic kind of works. My kids now, the 12 year old and 10 year old, they don't have devices yet or social media but they know what we do. They're very involved in the conversation that we have at the house and understand the whole idea and business behind social media. So now they are more curious. Now they do wanna participate. And Gary and I have these discussions all the time because I'm the one that I'm like, I don't want you to be on social media. I don't want to open up the world to you and other people's opinions. But for Gary, he comes from a different place where he's like, why won't you give them the opportunity? Obviously we are supervising and we are in control of it but why not give them the opportunity to find their voice online? This is not something that is going away and we know the importance of a personal brand. So why not give them an opportunity to exercise the things that they're learning from us? So we're still figuring that out but overall in terms of what we teach them is we are very open about how our business works. And my kids are very well versed when it comes to social media. And that is important for me because I want to make sure that they look at it from the angle of this is a tool, not an identity. Right. And when it comes to giving them access to screens, do you have a heart stop on how much screen time each child has based on their age? How did you navigate that? Because so much of your business comes from online, right? Oh my God, listen, I feel like there needs to be, and maybe there is a support group for all the parents to try to figure out what's the right thing. From reading The Anxious Generation I was listening to this podcast with Naval and this other, he's a doctor and he wrote the book The Sovereign Child. And he talks about the idea of really giving your children the freedom to make their own choices and not decide for them. And by the way, there was a part where they were talking about social media and use of electronics and things like that. And the doctor is like, yeah, I have five kids and I just, I let them go. Like you do whatever you need to do because I don't know what they're learning from it. Like it might be really beneficial. We're giving these restrictions on kids based on what we know from the past, but the world is gonna look different when they're older. So I'm just sitting there being like, okay, so am I messing them up this way or am I messing up this way? You know, there's really, you don't have a win-win situation here. So I think it's just scary with all the overload, sometimes on screen time when it comes to brain development and how getting in the, you know, blue light constantly from these devices, even for us as adults or women, right? When I started going down this whole like fertility, holistic rabbit hole, the amount of what blue light can do to your hormone levels and how disruptive it can be to women's health kind of shocked me. Now I obviously have like an EMF, I mean, I've gone a little to the extreme, I have an EMF locker on my phone, a little nuts, but I have an EMF locker, I have a blue light screen on my phone. And, you know, I haven't gone as far, like I have these really fun blue light glasses. I need to start using them more, but that's what worries me. I think it's technology growing faster than we, as a civilization and as a society, are we gonna be able to catch up to? Yes, but also, I also believe that it's an evolution question. Like, are we going to, is the next generation going to evolve? Like even, you know, the way we process things or brain changing based on what the reality is today, because we used to be, you know, monkeys, you know? So, I mean, I think there is going to be some kind of evolution there, but listen, when they're little, 100%, I agree, there needs to be a lot of limitations, but as they get older, I do see a lot of benefits also to what they can learn and pick up. The kids today, the things that my kids know, I don't even, I don't even understand, I don't even have the opportunity or even think about exposing them to certain information, because it's not something that I'm interested in. So to have, you know, an opportunity for them to go online and look at the history of a certain country or where things are made, they are, their brains just work in different ways. So I'm very much of trying to still balance it out, but I'm unclear yet. I wanted to also get into the business of, your business and being a content creator. So you started nine years ago, like we said, pivoted from kind of nutrition-focused content to family-focused content. We're still talking about what you're doing from a nutritional aspect. And then you became one of the biggest content creators we have in the, I would say luxury fashion space. You're one of the top ones, you know? And so how has that been for you personally, because you were growing up at the same time as Valera in her 20s and now it's Valera in her 30s, you've been growing up as this version of you has been evolving. So what has that done for your a personal identity and two, from a strictly business aspect, to be in this position that now is the whole family? Like Gary works with you, you guys are all in this together. What was that moment that the light bulb went on and Gary was like, listen, I'm gonna leave what I'm doing and I'm gonna come join you. So talk to me a little bit about that. Okay, so in terms of the identity and how it shifted from me from putting myself online, I think it's been a tremendous, tremendous decision that I made when I decided to bet on myself and start building a career out of it. And then I came into social media, not from a place of this could be a business, but from a place of I have so many limiting beliefs about myself and who I am. I need to get into a situation where it's a sink or swim, where I'm putting myself out there and I don't have an option but to succeed. And to me, social media was exactly that. I had to learn to be okay with people's opinions. I had to learn to be okay with who I am. Even the sides of me that I didn't love necessarily, a lot of the feedback and negativity that came shed a lot of light on things that I wasn't even aware that bothered me about myself, right? So it was a huge teacher for me and still is. And this is why I love it so much because it's not this easy, fun journey. It may be look like one from the outside, but inside it's a lot of grappling with myself. So that's been extremely enlightening. In terms of the family and when we decided to make it into a business, I don't think there was any other option but to look at what was presented to us. Gary has so many years of experience as an entrepreneur and he really saw this opportunity. He came to me and he's like, listen what you're doing right now, this is the media of the future. And if you want to make something out of it because I truly believe that we can, is it okay if I'll join you on this venture and we do this together? And for me at that point, I was just swirling around in dresses and making recipes in my kitchen. I didn't know what it could be. So I was- And how many followers did you have at that point when Gary was like, let's make this into a business? Is mine tied? I think I had maybe 10,000 on Instagram and then on YouTube it was maybe 20,000, 30,000. But we had receipts at that point. Like I was getting brand deals and back then for a probiotic company to pay me $200. It was a big deal. I was like, are you kidding me? I use it anyways, I'm getting this for free and I'm getting $200. So we started really getting proof from the world that this is what people want to see. But for Gary, he got the proof that this is where the industry is going. So when he sat down and he's like, do you want to do this? We'll incorporate, we'll start building it as a true media company around your personal brand. I had to really sit with myself and be like, am I ready to do this? Because it's a lot to carry. It's a lot to carry. It is. Because all of a sudden you're like, I'm responsible for so much here. That goes beyond just me having fun online. Or just you can't really, you don't have excuses anymore. Like it requires 110% out of you to get up in the morning and be like, let's go to work. Let's make people think, let's make people smile. Let's make people entertained. What does that look like? What does it look like? And what does it look like without betraying my own values or morals or what I see for myself? So there's a lot of things that play there. But you know what? At that point I was like, I have a really good understanding of who I am, but a better understanding of who I want to be. And that path would get me closer to who I want to be. So it was a full on yes. If you know me, you know I avoid sea dolls. Like the plague, they're everywhere, even in snacks labeled as clean, organic or healthy. But the truth is they wreak havoc on your metabolism, your hormones and make you super inflamed. That's why I'm obsessed with Prima, one of the few products I completely trust. 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My favorite flavor is the salted caramel plus the Prima bars are sweetened with organic raw honey and only contain organic whole food ingredients. So you're fueling your body with real clean nutrition because you're part of the biohacket community. You get 20% off, just use code iman20 at eatprima.com. Ditch the seed oil, fuel your body right. You will feel the difference, I promise. How is it working with your husband? Listen, I'm not gonna sugar coat it because the first, I would say four years and it was more for me than for him. The first four years were struggling because I had to learn to get my ego to die and to really come to a place where what we're doing is not you against me, but you and me trying to achieve this big goal that we have for our family. He had more experience again, he's also older, so he had time to really learn how it works. For me, it was my first like business. So and it's with my husband and it's our family thing. So it took me a while to really let the kind of communication that you need in order to succeed happen. But once it did, and also once we started building our company and we started putting departments between us and have clarity of what each role is, it became much easier. I ask you that because, so I started obviously the podcast 13 months ago and my husband was, he works in media for a pretty big personality and he was like, oh, okay, go create your podcast, have fun, you have the agency and the podcast started growing and we started, and he's like, wait, this is becoming a serious thing, it's starting to grow. He didn't really pay attention to it that much in the beginning. And this year, I just got so busy and I was like, yo, I need help. And we are, we've never worked together. We kind of, he's helped me in the past of the agency when it was a startup and I was grown and he's like kind of do your own thing. And I remember when he started getting involved with Biohacket and this vision of what he saw this becoming and building it to be like a media company, eventually we'll have other creators in here and essentially become like a full-fledged machine for podcasters. It's always been a little bit of a struggle with us because I have my vision and I've been a founder for so long and then he has like his tactical male energy that comes and he's like, no, everything is around KPIs and numbers and I understand this is what you wanna do for just brand awareness, but it does not work like that. So for me, it's being a little bit of a living together, working together, it's not always easy, you know? It's like learning roles and it's like, how hard can I push you without upsetting you and then we'll have a fight in the house and then, you know? I think it's gonna be a lot of fights until it's gonna signal to your brain, okay, this is not the way to do it and we stop at this, right? That's why I said it took me four years or so because I really had to pay attention and be like, okay, this is too much. The way to communicate this needs to be less emotional and more practical and Gary's also the kind of guy that he runs on KPIs, he runs on data, so I know now, which also made me a way better business person and communicator, I know now that when I come to him, I need to come with data, you know? It's not just like fluffy, airy visions that I have. So it really challenged me, it made me better. We still have disagreements here and there, but they don't feel like all encompassing anymore, you know? It's very straight to the point and you move on. Who is the pusher one in the relationship when it comes to growth and being like, you can do more, we can do more, we can get to this. Oh my God, Gary, 100%. And I don't want it to change. I don't want it to change because I, for a while, I really wanted to be that person, to be like, if I'm a real business person, if I'm a real entrepreneur, it's all about doing, doing, doing. But because I also live with Gary and we're raising kids and also in my own feminine identity, I'm like, I don't want this. Let, you know, this comes naturally for you. You are a leader, I always tell them, you are the visionary. Like go and claim that role and do whatever you need to do. I want to be in my ease. I want to be the creative. I want to be able to hold all these different roles in a way that suits my lifestyle. Because for me, at this point in my life, it's no longer about proving anything to anyone, but more of having a regulated nervous system. So, you know, you got to learn what to push and pull and where to hold back. Yeah, exactly. And talk to me a little bit about Creator Method because I've just been fascinated in watching that business take off. But I haven't, I knew you guys had opened up a few spots for people, but now you obviously are mentoring a lot more people. So talk to me about that little business. Yeah, great. It's not little anymore, it's like a full-fledged thing. Yeah, it's been a baby for the past year. We almost had it for a year now. And it's been such a beautiful journey. It's also, again, came from a place where we sat down and we've been always kind of the go-tos for a lot of creators to go to ask questions because there is really no one that is moving fast enough and ahead of the game that knows how to help you, right? And a lot of people within the industry don't want to share secrets and things like that. So I remember when we were building everything out, our infrastructure and just our business, we had, I mean, I had Gary that had his business in kind of knowledge, and then I had me who was in it doing it and learning as we go along. So we were really building the plane and flying it. And I really wanted to create a space, a community that will be a go-to for creators. This in the Creator economy is not going anywhere. It's projected to be like $24 billion or something. And today it's no longer just you need to be a creator because you want to do fashion. No, we have doctors. We have business owners. We have lawyers. We have so many people that have in all these trades that are trying to become their own marketing machine, which is the right thing to do. And I wanted to be that platform where they can come. They have all these tutorials that they can watch that pertains to wherever level they're at. And they have the support. We have the community. And it's so beautiful to see how it grew and people supporting each other. So many people have left their jobs. They're 95 because now they're making money. You know, we have one plastic surgeon that's a member and she said 90% of my clients come from my Instagram. Like I need people to understand that. The power of that. Exactly. And because we had that vision and we had that understanding just by watching the amount of opportunities that were coming our way because we were out there being visible, I want to get people to know the power of that and how to do it. So we started Creator Method. And yeah, but first, you know, we wanted to try it out. People were, we were only giving access, memberships to a small group just to kind of see how it goes. And now we're still very selective because you want to have people that are serious about it. And people that you want to coach and mentor that you think they will take your advice and go make that for themselves in the world. Exactly. And because we're all a group of, it's all entrepreneurs, right? You want to make sure that the energy matches. Absolutely. Because they're supporting each other. At this point, it's bigger than me and Gary. Because they get together, they communicate, they give feedback to each other. Like it's beautiful to see. And of course the real life aspect of it is also something I love. We're doing events a few times a year. So you know how it is, because you're doing it as well, of building a community of like-minded people is everything. Those connections are everything. And giving back, I feel like my biggest thing with Biohacket, my purpose, my why was to, and there's a slogan for us, you know, Curiosity Heels. I wanted to build a community personally for myself where people can have real, raw conversation, unfiltered, ask questions that maybe they don't want to ask a general practitioner or ask, you know, somebody in their family and come to this community and be like, I feel this way, is this right? What is the data thing? What is the research saying? Should I treat my child in this way versus this way? And to really have authentic, but brutally honest conversations and be able to apply that to their own life. And I'd feel judged for it, correct? So it's been a beautiful journey and it's been something that gave us a lot of motivation and inspiration to continue. But I definitely see it as something that will become global. Also, something that really pissed me off. We started looking into building a program like that. I went online and I'm like, who are the leading voices in this space of teaching creators and holding their hand in a way and advising them that I can look at? And all I found are people that tell you all these hacks and ways to have the algorithm. And they need to buy a course in your role. They never build anything of their own. There's no person or brand to speak of. You know what I mean? I was just like, Gary, there's really no one that has a track record that we have. So why people pay and listen to those people? Like let's give people actual tangible information and tools. So that was like a no-brainer for me. And I love, because obviously we're good friends and I've been following you for a while. You talked a little bit about something recently on your page that this year is a year you're gonna start speaking more of your truth. And if you get canceled, you get canceled and you don't care. I know, I'm still working on it. You know what? Like the idea is great. But I'm thinking about my business and the people that we're supporting with it. I'm thinking about my kids. Like every time I have a thought, I'm like, let's see how it affects these 100 people that are depending on me. You know what I wanted to ask you? Because you know me, I am unfiltered on that. My husband sometimes comes to me and says, Eman, please take that piece of content, like take it down. And I'm like, no. And he's like, I aspire to be like that. Pull that shit down. And I'm like, I'll think about it. And then 10 hours later, I'm like, fine, I deleted it. I'm very like unfiltered, brutally honest. It's a little scary, I think sometimes, because I feel like I will just go all out. And right now, listen, I don't have kids yet. Maybe I don't have to think of that. They're in schools. Maybe the school moms will get upset. What's gonna happen? But tell me a little bit about maybe what you are open to showing people more of yourself that you maybe are with close friends and family, but you haven't shown that self of yours online. You know what? I'm still figuring it out. I wanna say that the catalyst to this was very much October 7th that happened, because it really, and we spoke so much during that time. I really respected your, what you shared and the perspective that you had. It may not always align with mine, but it came from a place of just really your opinion and respect and understanding of what's going on. So I love that and we didn't see, and we still don't see much of it online. But at that point, I very much realized that I have to make a stand and I have to say what I believe in, and it's going to be very scary. I wish it wasn't under those circumstances, but that was kind of the catalyst to be like, you know what, I've realized that no matter what I say, people will- Somebody's gonna be upset. Somebody gonna, yeah, exactly. So why do I feel the need to hide certain things? So that was the beginning of it, and I'm still figuring it out, because I'll tell you, something actually we spoke about it this morning with Gary. I sent him a video of our friends in Russia. It's a couple and they did kind of like a funny video where it's a trend where they say something like, I'd say a woman doesn't know how to cook, pass or like no. And it was a whole dialogue with them, but the way he spoke and the way she spoke, I sent it to Gary and I said, if we would have done this with our audience here in North America, we would have been canceled because I see a lot of pushback when we do a lot of trigger, when we do episodes with Gary on my podcast, because Gary is just- No filter. He is who he is. There's no filter. He's a Eastern European, you know, classic man and very traditional and it's hard for people to hear a different perspective. So I'm still kind of trying to figure out where I want to put energy and what I want to share an open conversation about and what is honestly not necessary because I don't need others to validate my opinion. It's just almost odd. To me, I've lived in four different countries. So when I came here, had a different cultural perspective, lived all over. We as South Asians, as Pakistanis have no filter. We're just like, it is what it is. Tell it and move on and don't be, we literally say don't be a little bitch about it. Like just, it's not a big fucking deal. It's a motto for life. It's like, don't be a little bitch. But here people get so sensitive. Like they get so personally offended. And I think it's because, and you and I spoke about this. I'm a born American, you're so proud. I'm like, listen, we have regressed, I think, as a society in America. And I was like, I'm a born American. I'm proud to say that I'm American, but I am disappointed in certain things going on. I think generally society here has become very soft. And it's this whole thing. Like you said on your, I saw you put this up, yes, the other day. There's no such thing as having like, saying you're just depressed in our culture. Our parents would slap us on the face and be like, oh, you're having a bad day. Get your ass to school. Like we'll come and talk to you later. Pay tuition fees, go figure it out. So there was no room for that. So is it that we have made society here, and I will come on and say it, so soft that we constantly have excuses for our mental health, for anxiety, for this or that, because we are allowing people to just sit in those negative emotions versus where we come from. There's less room for that. It's more of like, you need to go get shit done. Don't wallow in your misery and get on with life. As someone who's testing and I was retesting for what works for my gut, immune system, and hormonal health, I definitely do not mess around with any probiotics that die before they even reach my gut. So this little guy, Just Thrive, is completely different. It is clinically proven to arrive 100% alive, survives antibiotics, and even helps to heal leaky gut in just 30 days. It beats bloat, helps with nutrition absorption, and turns your gut into an antioxidant factory. And it's the only probiotic I trust and recommend to my Biohacket community. Check it out at JustThriveHealth.com and use code Biohacket for a discount and enjoy. There is a saying that we shared with our kids the other day, because we had to give them a little wake up call. And the saying goes, hard times make strong men, strong men make easy times, easy times make weak men, right? And it's this cycle. So I think right now we're at a place where strong men made easy times, and we live through easy times, even though in some aspects it doesn't look like it, but we really do. We have so many privileges here. Absolutely. So that's what's going on, and people just don't know what to do with it. I think back to even that those generations, your parents, my parents, yeah, they come with so much trauma and so many things, but... Made us stronger. They made it exactly, and you know what? The focus was on things that really mattered. And I feel like now we're kind of losing focus a little bit. And yeah, so we had to sit and talk to our six, 10 and 12 year old being like, we're gonna break that cycle. And that's it. You need to struggle. Yeah, you know, I believe that, oh, I don't have kids yet, so God bless my future children. I think all kids need the right amount of stress and just the right amount of trauma to thrive. It's like a diamond, right? Yeah. And you need to be able to give them the right amount of stressors for them to figure out their voice, their identity, who they want to be, how they want to show up. If you molly-cottle your children, you're setting them up for failure. 100%. Because they won't know how to operate in the real world. And they need to have real-life struggles to figure out, okay, you're getting bullied at school, sweetheart, you need to go figure this out, and you need to figure out what that conversation's gonna be. And you need to learn to have a backbone to go have that dialogue. Well, the most extraordinary people came from, you know, unbearable circumstances, difficult circumstances. You can't see it if you read biographies, you know, if people you admire. It really is a lot of dark past, but, you know, we don't have to let our kids go through such dark times. Of course. But it needs to be something. To fuel them. To fuel them, exactly. And I think that there's definitely not enough fear of anything, honestly. That's the problem. They are not fighting for anything. They're not motivated because they are not really fighting for anything. And I think they need to, if it's to get into a certain school, if it's to choose, they have to be motivated by themselves to get there and do that. Yeah. And I feel that's what's missing. Yes. And listen, the theories are all great, obviously in reality. And once you have, you know, your children, you'll see it. We all speak a big game, myself included, but it's very, very hard to just go about it, navigate it, because you're also part of society. You know, I often say that when we have a rule in the house, but if the school doesn't have the same rule, like it's a losing game, you know? Like it all has to be this united front. So it's very difficult for parents today, but God, I don't know, like military boarding school, I don't know. It's like, I don't know, where is it? I always think about it, and I've been kind of pondering with this. I said long-term, do I, when I have a family, and when we get to that point, as they say, inshallah, see myself staying in the US, like permanently, or do I see myself kind of being somewhere else and going in and out? But where? I mean, I love Dubai. I'm not even gonna like sugarcoating. But you wanna tell me that Dubai won't be this bubble for children? No, you know what it is, Valera, I'll be completely transparent. I think October 7th shook a lot of us to our core, especially if you were Jewish or Muslim. It made you rethink what the hell are you doing? And I realized at that point in coming out of it and a year after, and I have no shame in saying this, that I think I would prefer to raise my kids closer to my culture and to my religion because I'm very proud of my culture and my religion. And I feel that, we love being in Miami and stuff, but we don't really have that here. And I really do wanna raise kids closer to having Eve, having that big community. I was raised with such a big tribe, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, and so that is a big thing to me. And the Dubai definitely is a bubble, but it comes down to the other aspects of what will shape them to make them who they are. And I do not want them to lose their identity. I don't live in New Jersey. I agree with you. So that for me was a really big wake up call. And I said, who will they become and be? Cause we're isolated here, right? You have your mom that's moved down here. We don't have family here. So it was just us. And so for me, that was a really big question mark is, okay, can I still do what we love? Can we still potentially do what we love and still be a part of community in a way that I want to be and raise my kids to be part of their background, their community, their culture, maintain their mother tongue, which for me is Urdu. A lot of kids don't speak it in second, third generation. And I want those values for my children. From that perspective, I 100% agree with you. I wanna also share that I feel like I became way more Jewish since moving to Miami because there is a huge community here. And it's something that you can find everywhere. The holidays are celebrated and it's such a special place for us. So I understand what you're saying. And I do think that going back to religion and the tribe and those ancient values is so important because even learning and understanding the struggle of your ancestors and being around those stories shape you. You don't have to have this like first, how do you call it, like contact with that struggle to understand it, right? So yes, I agree with you. I can't wait to visit you in Dubai. Yeah, inshallah. You know, inshallah. There's that pluses. Also, I feel that we got so polarized and divided. So I grew up in London and a lot of my friends were Jewish. We never looked at each other and said, you're a Jew, you're a Muslim. There was just never that thing. But since I have moved to America, I've been here now for 11 years. I feel there's such a polarity over here and there's such a you against me concede with our politics, with our political system, with ethnic groups. That I am not used to. I love being around diversity. That is, I love hearing different languages and different cultures and trying out different food because that's what I grew up with for 17 years. And so for me, that is concerning to me that we look at each other a little bit here and be like, oh, so what's your background? Where are you from? And it's just something that I am not comfortable with. So am I doing myself a disservice by being uncomfortable in my skin? Yet this is the country that's given us everything career-wise. And then we'll continue to, because this is at the head of anything. You know, every industry emerges out of the US, right? We are at the forefront of medicine, of technology, of media. So I guess I'm at that place trying to have that discussion and find that balance between being somewhere overseas and still coming back here. What does it look like while maintaining my truth? So I think that this is the result of that we have it too good here. Because if you look at other countries, they have to fight for survival and their focus is like even look at UAE or Dubai, whatever, like even in those Muslim countries, there are so many Jewish businesses and so much going on there. Absolutely. Because their goal together is to prosper. Here we are starting to focus and there are bigger players that are moving, you know, kind of the game here. But we started having too much time, you know, and freedom to think about things. And this is where the divide happened. So I do believe, I think if we continue this way, US will not be the leading in all these industries. Hopefully we're not going to get there. But that's absolutely what's happening with this. And I'll go as far as saying, I think this hard left turn that we took towards wokeism in the last 11, 12, 13 years, it's a cancer. I think wokeism is an absolute cancer to our country. And if that is not taken away, like you said, we start focusing on the things that really matter over here. This country will self-employed. And so we need to start focusing on things, go back to traditional family values, really focus on the things that matter, really reinstill in ourselves. Why are we proud to be American and be here and not focus on the nuances of like shit, like pronouns, like I'm sorry that for me, I mean, I'm going to just come on. I just at this point, like I don't care, like do whatever you want to do. But let's solve, you know, the struggles of mothers here. Let's solve economy. Absolutely. There's so many problems. Homelessness. Homelessness. There's so much that we need to do. You want to call yourself whatever. Doesn't matter. Do whatever you want. Exactly. But don't make that like. It's not a struggle. It's not something we all need to rise up and fight for. Everybody has their own reasons, right? Everybody has their own why. Quickly tell me Valera, because we've talked about so many interesting things. What are your top wellness practices right now? I want to know about all the things that are yes for you or no for you. OK, so I used to I guess that became a no ish is actually co-plunging. I've been navigating that development in my life. I used to be a hard like co-plunger and obviously learning about my hormones, but even listening to your body, just moved away from it, really gone more into like cold showers because there's benefits there. A different yes is red light. Love it. Have it in my house. The panel that one has been great. I have to tell you, I've been very conscious of breaking a lot of my wellness habits to see what I do that that is something that I actually enjoy and want to do rather than have to do it because I have to or whatever everyone tells me to do. So I've been kind of reconstructing all of that. So I'm keeping it simple right now. I know it's hydration in the morning, very few supplements, checking my hormones, things like that and really trying to personalize a routine that works for me. Any products that you're loving that you want to share? Well, I started taking creatine, which I can amazing. Amazing. But yeah, figuring that out. They're valued. Right. I I'm looking into different things, but I'm the one that I don't jump on things that are out there. I take time to see the studies and everything that's coming out and other people trying it. So I feel like I haven't been. I haven't been really part of all the things, but I want to hear what you're doing. I mean, what am I? I'm I'm really focused on this whole like holistic fertility thing right now. So when it comes to that in Chinese medicine, you're meant to keep your womb warm. Yeah, I completely stopped cold plunging last year. Could I could I maybe do a little bit of cryo here and there? Yes. But I'm really focused on bringing blood circulation to my room. Acupuncture, eating warm food, a lot of herbs. I'm on a whole like I did this whole like heavy metal, like toxin, burden, load, full toxin, burden, load and kind of start eliminating all those airborne things. Glyphosate, heavy metals, things that were in my system that were really blocking me up and causing my hormones to be. You went to work. I mean, I have to my mitochondria health was shit. I figured out the correlation between your mitochondria. And did you know this is a fun fact? Did you know you have more mitochondria cells in your oocytes and your eggs and you do it anywhere else in your body? You have a hundred thousand to six hundred thousand mitochondrial cells in your oocytes, in your, in your eggs, than you do. Your muscle is about five thousand. Wow. And why is that? Because we birth life, we bring life into this world. And if your mitochondria is not working properly, which a lot of ours isn't because of gut health and inflammation and other things, then how are you supposed to have healthy eggs? Right. So this whole thing about our eggs are aging, but that can be reversed if you strip down the inflammation, get your mitochondria to start firing. So for me, it's been all of this kind of stuff that I've been geeking out about. And the environmental toxin burn low, the full burn low that I did was like just shocking. I had like nickel in my system that was through the roof. I was like, what forever chemicals? Pifas. I was like, where the hell like my house is like plastic free. Like where is this shit even coming from? Some of my pathways are more susceptible. Some are not some chemicals I've been able to detox on my haven. I've been doing this really intense protocol with IVs, with Fositito choline and with this doctor in Morristown, then I'm doing the at home version right now. So I've just been on this whole thing. You know, you really have. I'm sure it's also infuriating to know how much control we have and how much we can heal ourselves because, you know, I see so many women that are struggling to get pregnant, that have unhealthy pregnancies, difficult pregnancies and all these things that now you learning all this information and knowledge that's out there. How do you not like scream? Well, the IVF industry, they're very few good doctors and a lot of them are complete scam artists. They want to flood you with medication. They don't even test you for a lot of hormone levels. They should be. They're not checking for things like inflammation. They're not running a full thyroid panel. It is a lie for anybody who listens to my podcast. You know, I say this time and time again, it is a lie. You can improve your AMH and FSH. You can improve your egg quality and you can also have babies in your 40s. It's not as easy. Obviously, it's your 20s, your 30s, but it can happen without IVF. Yeah. So it's your choice. If you want to do IVF, absolutely. But that is not the first place all of us should be going to. I have a really close friend of mine that's pregnant. She's about to give birth and she has a lot of complications. She also have like her own, you know, genetic disease. And it's even a miracle that she got pregnant. But, you know, she moved here to Miami recently and it's been so frustrating to see the way the medical system is handling this pregnancy. There she keeps hopping around between different doctors. You know, yesterday she had a doctor's appointment where he said, we have to do a C-section, but it has to be a 36 weeks. And, you know, to make sure that you survive. And she said, OK, well, this is going to be the date. And he looks at his calendar says, oh, no, I'm in Brazil. Actually, I won't be able to do it. You know what I mean? Like this is the kind of things that I just when she tells me these things, my mind is blown. It's basic human decency. No, the medical system here is not the Canada's any better. You know, absolutely. Canada's even like terrible, but like the US is deeply broken. It's just that you see, this is the things that I wish we could put all our efforts to fix that because that is extremely effective. Everything will one of us. Exactly. So there's definitely bigger fish to fry for us. But, but yeah, I'm I'm happy that you are able and have the platform to speak on the things that you're learning to educate other people. And, you know, for some people, they may be controversial, but for me, it's I'm putting it out there. I'm like, yes, you don't have to do what I'm doing. You don't have to take the route that I'm taking. It is a choice. You can choose to engage. You can choose not to engage. It's up to you. I'm just here giving you information that I've learned on my time and my dime. Yeah, that I want to give to you guys and give you the resources and the tools. And what you do with this is totally, absolutely up to you. And what liberates you? Is that the yes? Yes. If it's a no, don't do it. Now it's beautiful. Thank you so much for being my friend and coming on the show and I know you've had such a busy schedule, so I'm just excited. I've adored you for so long. I'm excited for my community to get to know you a little bit more. Follow you, follow creator methods, see all the incredible stuff you and Gary are doing. You obviously have your own podcast as well. Yes, not alone. Yes. And you can obviously find you an Apple Spotify, YouTube. What did I miss out? Tell me all over the place. Yeah, this is it. Valerio Lipovetsky on all platforms and creator method for those who want to take their creator journey to the next level. But I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you, Valerio. Thank you for tuning into Biohack It. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please don't forget to subscribe, rate and leave a short review. It really helps us reach more listeners just like you. Follow us on Instagram at biohack dash it for exclusive content and the latest updates. Remember, your health is in your hand and curiosity heals.