Women's Health Mavericks_6. Smita Reddy_Edelman.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Women's Health Mavericks_6. Smita Reddy_Edelman.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Abby Mercado:
Hi, I'm Abby Mercado, Co-founder and CEO of Rescripted, former VC investor and ever entrepreneur, fierce advocate for women, and mom of IVF twins. Welcome to Women's Health Mavericks, a podcast dedicated to shining a light on the people who are moving the needle when it comes to women's health and wellness. From inspiring entrepreneurs and innovators to leaders of big brands defining culture to movers and shakers of biosciences companies dedicated to treating women well. Introduce you to the people, the ideas, and the businesses that are changing the face of women's health in America and across the globe. With these changemakers on our side, the future of women's health is bright. Now let's get into it.

Abby Mercado:
Good morning, Women's Health Mavericks listeners. Today, I'm so excited to introduce you to Smita Reddy, the Global Chair of the Food & Beverage sector and a Global Client Leader at Edelman. Smita, a marketer who's always been particularly drawn to purpose-driven companies and products, has spent most of her career at Edelman molding the famed agency into what it is today. An award-winning communicator of brand stories globally. Dubbed the Unilever on personal care brand, is the largest self-esteem educator in the world, having touched 60 million girls globally. I wanted to chat with Smita to dig into the distinct responsibility big brands have to both broaden and change the conversation we have about women's health and wellness issues as a society, and the impact that these brands can have if they do it right. Awesome. Well, today I am so, so, so thrilled. Welcome, Smita Reddy, the Global Chair of the Food & Beverage sector and a Global Client Leader at Edelman. Thank you so much for joining, Smita. Welcome!

Smita Reddy:
Thank you so much, Abby. It's so good to see you again.

Abby Mercado:
So I'm here in Denver. You're in New York.

Smita Reddy:
I am. I like to say that I just moved out to the suburbs, but it's been three years, so I'm still figuring it out. But, yeah, I live in Westchester, which is, you know, about 30 minutes outside of the city.

Abby Mercado:
Amazing. Do you commute to the office every day or do you?

Smita Reddy:
I do, yeah. I do like three days a week. And then, if I do travel quite a bit. So if I'm in New York, three days, if not, I'm on an airplane. But yeah.

Abby Mercado:
Yeah, I get that. Well, so let's start out with a quick icebreaker. So I would love to know what are you reading, watching and, or listening to right now?

Smita Reddy:
Well, okay, I'm gonna do like a ... here and then also talk about what I'm like reading and watching too. So I'm now listening to a great new podcast that my friend started. Her name's Jessica Bennett, and it's called In Retrospect. And Jessica was the agenda editor of The New York Times and really accomplished reporter. And she's done this podcast about things that have sort of happened in, like the 80s and 90s that in retrospect, we, and when we think about gender and gender equality, you have it with like a different lens. And so it's fascinating and it's on my like podcast list, because I was with Jess at her launch party last night for it. But the first episode, it's actually about General Hospital, that show, and how the most famed love stories, Luke and Laura, actually started from like a very problematic place because it is a story of rape and how it then became this, like, love story that we all talk about from soap operas. In retrospect, right? That was kind of my thought. Right.

Abby Mercado:
That's so interesting.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah. So it's probably more intense of a podcast, but it's like the one that I'm into. I mean, I love the Wall Street Journal's Journal podcast. I think they do a really good job of like, set that's happening in the business world and then the daily. But then sometimes I take a break on the daily because it can get too dark, too dark.

Abby Mercado:
I know. I feel that. I was talking to, I was in my group park the other day and I was talking about that with my friends, and I was like, I don't think I can listen to that episode today. Yeah, it's.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah, it's a lot. Like it's a lot. Like, I take little mini-breaks from the day. But love it that it's like depending on my mood and my psychological state.

Abby Mercado:
I so hear that. Okay, so, next question. What's your guilty pleasure?

Smita Reddy:
It's not a guilty pleasure but I think a lot of pride in it, but I'm like a massive Swiftie. Well, yeah, I mean, this is.

Abby Mercado:
Well, yeah. I mean, this is ot the first time we've talked about Taylor Swift on this podcast.

Smita Reddy:
Oh really? I am more curious!

Abby Mercado:
I mean, we talk about women and media and culture. Like, yeah, of course we're talking about Big Tay.

Smita Reddy:
But this is actually great because this is putting me in a better mood already. So going back to my first, your first question and things I'm also listening to. There's a great Taylor Swift podcast called The Ringer, which dissects, like, every one of her albums, which is like super fun to listen to. But yeah, I love Taylor Swift. My girls are super into her. We're all, like, my husband is like, I didn't know that there was another option to listen to other music in this house. So he is also, it's been like we've taken over the airwaves.

Abby Mercado:
So, I love that. Did not know about that podcast and I have got to take a listen. There's another podcast. It's a business podcast. It's called Acquired and they do deep dives into like Walmart, Standard Oil, Amazon, and Taylor Swift was one of their episodes because she's such a business icon. And so it kind of puts Taylor in this amazing business lens, which of course, and this was before the Eras Store, so it's like, I almost want to pay a see a review from then with, like, the actual, them actually dissecting the Eras store. I'm here for that. So.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah. Totally.

Abby Mercado:
Well, thank you for humoring me with those icebreakers. Well, tell us about you. About yourself. Who are you? Where do you come from? How did you get to where you are now? And what do you do now?

Smita Reddy:
Yeah. You mentioned my title at the top. But I lead our Global Food & Beverage and Beauty sectors at Edelman. And I also run a lot of, few of our large client relationships. And so I've been at the firm for 14 years, and I have sort of built over time this background in purpose marketing, but it's really about helping brands and companies find what their purpose is. What kind of impact do they want to have on the world? What kind of larger societal impact they want to have? I do a lot in terms of helping build brands in general, right? Like commercially, culturally. But, you know, where I get excited about is this purpose space. So we've worked with a lot of companies from, you know, I'm browsing a Dove campaign for "Real Beauty", is probably one of the biggest, most storied cases in how having a deeper purpose as a brand can actually have major financial benefits as well, and continue to build that brand. I mean, they make superior, amazing products, but also they have a deeper meaning and a different, deeper purpose attached to it. And also as a mom of two girls, like, it's, you know, work that's really personal to me. So that's just one area. In the realm of health and healthcare and inequities, we work on the Vaseline brand, which is a very prominent skincare brand, and we actually helped them two years ago launch this platform called "See My Skin". And it was based on the insight when people of color look for skin issues through Google and search, only 6% of the issues that, our skin issues, are actually of those of people of color. So when you're Google searching and you have a rash, the rash looks different depending on what your skin tone is. And so, if you're not spotting it through search, how would you know that that's a problem, right? And we know that in skincare and in any sort of dermatological issue space, it's all about early identification because if you don't identify it early, then it can lead to something worse. So we created a website and a platform called SeeMySkin.com that actually is the largest database of images of skin issues and skin problems on people of color. So we can actually intercept that search so that then they can go get treatment.

Abby Mercado:
Wow. That's absolutely amazing. So, you know, genius idea fascinating inequity that, you know, like, how many inequities, like, haven't we uncovered? You know what I mean? Like, when I hear stories, like, that I'm like, man, I'm getting it so wrong and, like, we don't even know the extent to which we're getting things so wrong. So what was the process in identifying that? I'm just curious to kind of look under the hood and understand how Edelman worked with Vaseline to kind of just bring that to light and uncover that issue.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah, I mean, I always say that it starts with a good problem to solve. And so, we like problems. Like, we don't want real problems, like, you know, we don't want too many problems but we like when we're thinking about ideation. What are the problems that are out there that people don't even realize exist? And so that's sort of sometimes they're hiding in plain sight, right? So no one was saying, Oh man, I really am, I'm a black woman and I have eczema and I can't find an image of me. No one is actually saying that. But then when you Google search and you look at the images and only 6% are actually of people of color, wow, okay, well, if we had images out there and it was more reflective of our world, how many problems could that solve for others, right? And so, it's sort of untangling it because they're hiding in plain sight and, but they're, it's hard to find and it's hard to understand. And so in some of the conversations that we've been having over email about like a bit more on me and my background, and a lot of people can't tell because of the podcast that I'm first generation Indian American, my parents are both from India, and this issue of healthcare and inequities is very personal to me in many ways. My father is a physician. He is a gastroenterologist, a liver specialist, actually, at the University of Pennsylvania. And my mom passed away two years ago, almost two years ago now from ovarian cancer. And I learned a lot through that whole process. One is she was not positive for any BRCA gene, and neither am I, you know, luckily, you know, all of that. Like, this was a good thing. But, you know, my father quickly also educated me to say, Listen, you might have all of the things lining up, but maybe you won't be susceptible to this. But there's also has not been a lot of research done on South Asian women. So you have to advocate for your own healthcare and you have to be on top of it. And ovarian cancer, which my mom battled on and off for eight years, is very hard to detect. And so I thought a lot about that and just okay, that is, just it is what it is. So just because everyone's like, No, you're healthy here and you're this and, it's based off of data and information primarily probably of a white woman, right? There's been more research, you know, within the African-American community, within the black community, but like South Asian is very particular, right, in the United States. So data and research can only get you so far. And we all know our bodies the best and our health the best. And so advocating when something feels wrong or right or something feels off is really important. And my mom had a lot of health scares, and it was because that she was married to a physician that she was able to advocate for what she needed. And I think she was able to fight cancer probably longer than most because of that. And so that's a real privilege. And so, but not everyone has that. And so you have to advocate for yourself.

Abby Mercado:
Well, thank you for sharing that. And I'm so sorry for your loss. That's devastating. And ovarian cancer is, it's so tough. And I feel like we're talking more and more about it. And there's also an element you're like, Why have we not been talking about it? And we're so far back, we're so far behind from a diagnosis perspective. That's a type of cancer that is really difficult to diagnose, and it's captured when it's often like pretty late in the game. Our 25-year-old Chief of Staff just had an ovarian cancer scare. At 25. She had an ovary removed and she's fine. She froze her eggs. It's fantastic. Like, thank you, ART. Like, it's just amazing technology. But it's so scary and it's taking so many lives too early. So thank you for sharing that story. Well, so tell us a little bit about like, obviously you're purpose-driven, right? What did that kind of come about in your career? Was that kind of early days at Edelman, you said, Alright, I want to work with Vaseline. I want to work with Dove, you know, kind of these brands that are meant to do better good, do more good for women and to actually dig in. Like, how did that come about for Smita?

Smita Reddy:
I mean, I think it definitely wasn't something that I graduated from college and was like, I want to work in purpose marketing because I don't even think that was like a thing. I mean, yes, there's always a side of me that we all are, like, my father, I mentioned my family, you know, like we were brought up with this idea of like, service and giving back to your communities. Giving back to where you came from was really important and that core value belief system of mine growing up. But I think when I first started out in PR, I worked in entertainment for a little bit and internship, but my first real job out of school was working in corporate and financial technology. And so, I was just more, just doing what it took to kind of get along. And then I did start working in the purpose space on our Unilever team and our business, which is an account that I still oversee. And I really fell in love with it. I felt so good about the work. And I also noticed that our team was so motivated by it. Even if a project didn't require you working on the weekend, you were working on the weekends, or because you were like, Well, no, I really want to see this through, you know? And, and that's like passion. And so then I just sort of said, Okay, well, how do I do more of this work? And how do I find myself doing more of this work? And you build expertise, but I also think there's this element of like, if you want to do this work, everyone's like throwing out manifesting and it's like, I just kind of set myself up and around. I just found myself jumping into things and proactively being like, I can do that, I can do that. I can do that because I liked doing the work so much, and I was so passionate, and we had a team of people who were so passionate. So if it wasn't me, I could bring in other people. So it was more of that realm, and I'm still kind of doing that to this day. If there is any sort of deeper element to a project or a brand or a company, I'm like, Well, here I am. You know, I'm just trying to find myself and attach myself to it. And maybe it's me asserting myself too as well, but I think it's where I gravitate towards. I spend a lot of time with work and working, but I don't believe in that notion that it's like, Oh, it's just business. No, it's personal. It is personal for me. I'm taking away from my family to do this work, and I'm not upset about it. I'm just saying, I like doing it. So there's that element of wanting to see it through a lot of reward and satisfaction from what's out there in the world.

Abby Mercado:
A lot of reward and satisfaction from what's out there in the world. I feel like I really connect with that. It's like I have two beautiful children and I'm going to be taking time away from them and friends and family and all the things that make life really rich. I'd better be doing something rich professionally and not from a monetary perspective, but something that is so deeply satisfying and knowing that I'm doing something in the world. And I feel like we talk a fair amount about Gen Z's and what they like and what they don't like. And I've also seen you kind of spoke about Gen Z's in some places on the internet, but it does feel refreshing that there's kind of this up and coming generation that is very much focused. First of all, they don't like to be like talked about and we call Z's and all the others things. But there is more of that purpose behind what they want to do professionally. So yeah. Yeah. Purpose.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah. Yeah.

Abby Mercado:
So you've been with Edelman for a long time and I think Edelman and Dove's relationship is pretty storied. So I would love to hear just the, and you know, Dove's brand is amazing, right? Like beauty is a source of confidence not anxiety. Brand values centered around like body positivity and all of these things that as a woman, like, that's amazing, right? I love Dove because this is so, it's just so obvious that the brand stands for more. So we'd love to hear just a little bit more about the history of Dove and some of the campaigns that you've worked on, and what's really meant the most for you for Dove, because I look at Dove and I'm like, This is a women's health brand. So tell us everything.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah. I mean, I'm a part of it starts before even being working in Edelman. But we were part of the fewer, smaller agency circles that helped launch the campaign for "Real Beauty", and it's actually approaching its 20-year anniversary next year. So it's really cool. And so, you know, actually, my boss was like involved in the early stages of this, ... And I feel like I have, like, the privilege to work on it for the past ten years, working years working on Unilever. And so I feel like, okay, this is like a legacy, right? But it's also hard to, like, keep a legacy going. And so, I think they've done such a brilliant job of also staying true to that original promise of beauty as a source of confidence, not anxiety, but showcase how that lives in the world. Because what that looked like in 2005 or 2006 looks different than what it looks like in 2023. And so they've done an amazing job of showing staying true to one promise, but moving with time and culture and being very culturally relevant. When we first launched, it was all about images that we saw in magazines. We all remember the women in their white underwear on the billboard and really sort of looking at like, what beauty images we see in magazines. And we've tackled everything from issues around social media, interacting with social media, Because the medium and the message. The message hasn't changed; the medium has, right? And so, did that look like on Instagram or TikTok? And, you know, it's been really interesting to be a part of that journey. I think one of my things that I'm most proud about, there's a lot of campaigns that we've done and a lot of creative efforts, but a lot of people don't know is behind Dove is the Dove Self-esteem program, which is an actual initiative to educate girls on body and self-esteem education. And today, we've basically educated more than 60 million girls. So same education, they've either gone through a workshop or seen a piece of content, or watched a piece of content around self-esteem education. And that makes us larger than any NGO, you know, like we are the provider of Self-esteem education. That's not, you know, and our partnership with them. And so it's quite amazing if you think about it from that magnitude and the campaigns we all see and the size and the scale of that, but like the work behind the scenes is really phenomenal. And Abby, if you ever were in New York, we would love to invite you to a workshop. It's truly life-changing. You'll think it is, really eye-opening so we can figure that out. I think you would really love it, especially the parents. Even though, I don't know, do you have two boys or two girls? Like even if.

Abby Mercado:
I have a girl and a boy. Yeah.

Smita Reddy:
I think it's even amazing for a boy to go elsewhere. It's like these issues are not just limited to women, but also understanding womanhood or girlhood as well.

Abby Mercado:
Absolutely. Oh, I just, I love everything about this. And I feel like this is something we talk a lot about at Rescripted. But these big brands have big personalities. They truly have like obviously life and death products, like, truly, they make your skin feel very soft. But they're also doing amazing things for culture and for the way that people think about their lives. And because brands are so big, because we live in this capitalist world, seeing brands like Dove actually take leadership and say, Okay, this is right, this is true, this is good. And we're going to talk about this, and we're going to continue to put out these campaigns that are just so incredibly authentic and really speak to the uniqueness that is America, that is the world. It's just so cool to see that leadership. So thank you, Edelman. Thank you... So we've talked a little bit about mental health. We talked about skin health. We talked about ovarian cancer. So tell us a little bit about, you have kind of a striking or pseudo women's health and wellness statistics that you're additionally dedicated to fighting. Those are kind of like three issues that are your issues that you're really excited about.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah, and I think mental health is one. And I would say that the intersection of what that means for our girls, you know, that's where kids are going into adulthood. I think that area, you know, I've definitely looked at it really closely from the lens of the Dove conversation around beauty and body confidence. But then I'm also acutely aware of the negative impacts of social media and what that does on mental health. I think those are two areas, like within mental health, that I'm thinking about a lot, thinking about a lot. Especially as someone who comes from the marketing side and we do a lot of work with clients in social media and like, we put our campaigns out there. And what is responsible social media look like? How can I really, even in my role as a marketer, play a role in that? And we don't want people on platforms all day long. Social media can provide a lot of great in the world. It connects people. It makes you feel closer. It can educate you, it can entertain you. But how do you grab that appropriate neckline, when you're like, not all day? I think it's important. And then just the overall sort of, we talked about it through the lens of skin health, but I am sort of really keenly aware and a lot of the work that we do in Edelman is focused on like health inequity. And some of these are not clients that I directly touch. We have a very large health sector practice, you know, where we work on AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson, just like some amazing companies that are doing so much good in the world. And that idea of like, okay, What are we missing? What's missing? What are we, what need are we not selling? What community are you not reaching because of where they're based, or because of all the things that we don't realize? All of our messaging was in English. And now we reaching this emerging Hispanic population in the US with this really critical information like, okay, that's a healthcare inequity. We could solve for that, right? Those are like actually really good. I didn't even think about that. That's information that we can take.

Abby Mercado:
No. I mean, I love just, I love that whole, like, literally operating a business based on what are we missing. And knowing that these brands are so powerful that they really have the duty and the know-how to actually affect change. And you all are truly helping them understand what they're missing. And so, I want to circle back to social media really fast. So what do you think, how can we use social media responsibly? Straight up. That's the question. Mic drop.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah. Listen, I'm someone who I'm on social media a lot for work. I love TikTok, I think it's a lot of fun. I can spend a lot of time on there. And then I noticed I actually had this epiphany, like right before my summer break, because we all needed some time off in August, and I really needed some time off in August. But I was like going through my day working, working, you know, kids, life, you put the kids to bed, you get some work done, and then you're like about to go to bed and then open up TikTok and then I am just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Is that the best thing for me to do right before I go to bed? Probably not. Now, I was sort of like, I have not read a book for pleasure in a really long time. So then I picked up a few books over my vacation, and I just found that I was in a better mental state. So I should put a timer on my TikTok usage, which they now have within the app. And, at first, I was like, I don't need a timer, I'm not on it that long. And then I was like, Oh no, I need a timer. So I limited it to like 20 minutes, 25 minutes a day and I'm just in a better place mentally, you know? Like, and I know me and it's like, listen, I can also spot trends on work and things like that still. Sometimes I go outside of the 25 limit. Sometimes I'm not even on it. Sometimes I'm actually just reading a book before I go to bed. But I just found like, finding other things into your life is really important because it's just, especially as working parents, we want to decompress and it is easier to decompress that way. But if you just switch it out with something else, like maybe a show that you're watching. Also just we're on our phones all day for work. Maybe just put down the phone.

Abby Mercado:
Put down the phone year, yeah. In a, in a drawer and lock the door out.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah, but I'm not answering the email. I'm just putting the phone away and like, I'm watching a show or if I'm reading a book, I'm just using my hands differently and I'm plugging in a different way.

Abby Mercado:
Absolutely. I'm one of those people. I can't have my phone in my bedroom because like, TikTok is too fun. I agree with you. It's too fun. I think we.

Smita Reddy:
I think I need to have it outside of my bedroom, too. Yeah, I think this is where I'm at as well.

Abby Mercado:
Yeah, yeah, but I agree with you on the, the personal. I too am also on TikTok a lot for work and just social a lot for work. But just the personal enjoyment I get, it gets a little scary. It's just a happy place. Or it can be if you change your algorithm.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah. Yeah. You can get into, like, my Swift talk and recipes. Even my algorithm, come on in. It's fun.

Abby Mercado:
Yeah. Come on in. Water sign. Oh, so in terms of how you see consumers rule social over the past few years, how has that, have you seen that change? And have you seen, well, maybe I'll start. Well we've seen change. So and what we have seen resonate more with consumers and that is authenticity. That is no filters, no frills. We're talking about real things. And like, truly, like, to me that's refreshing. And for a women's health platform it feels even more refreshing, that this is something that people are actually paying attention to. Offensive videos are the ones that are doing better. So we'd love to hear your take if you agree or disagree, etc.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah. I mean, I think having authenticity is a word that sometimes we talk a lot about and you're like, What does that mean, you know? And just so like everyone's sort of saying it, but I think like, I do think that we are seeing a shift a bit away from the Instagram super filtered vlog curating. I mean, there's also like, a ton of funny memes about "Facebook's for boomers," Like, Instagram's got that millennial cream's going. And TikTok is like where Gen-Z is at and TikTok is a bit more rode, a bit more, like filtered, right? Like a little bit more realm. But I think ultimately the way I look at the platforms is like, What is it serving your life? Really, what I'm seeing and I even think about it in my day to day life. I'm on Facebook really to like, I would say, my third cousins, my third cousins, my mom's sisters from India, family members I stay up to date, and then groups. I get like on, like the kids, the school district group, or like I'm looking for a part-time babysitter or I'm looking for an au pair. Like, I'm on these like specific groups for what I need them for. Instagram, the algorithm has changed so much, but I really only do stories.

Abby Mercado:
Right? I know. Yeah.

Smita Reddy:
I don't scroll this way, I scroll that way, I scroll horizontally and I just go through stories to see what my friends are up to. And then TikTok is where I go to be entertained. So that's me as like a marketer, as a human being, how I use platforms. The way I advise brands and we advise brands is like to think about that, how it fits in your life. Are you looking to build a community or a service as a part of your brand? Maybe Facebook is a place where you can convene a community and have that kind of kind of discussion. Are you a brand that connects people on a 1 to 1 individual brand basis? Then Instagram could be it, or, you know, and TikTok. So you kind of just almost like inserting your brand within those platforms with the right message and the right context, I think is like super critical because we're using it subconsciously for those things.

Abby Mercado:
Yeah. I air on the side of like, I like how it feels hopeful. Our use of social as a society is getting better and it feels hopeful. And we, you know, like it was kind of like we had a big dip and now we're like, Okay, this is harmful for our mental health. Like, as we work with brands and just like being individual consumers, we can be a little bit better. Thank you for that.

Smita Reddy:
But I will still, as much as I can delete my children from going on social media. So there's that too. I feel like.

Abby Mercado:
I feel the same. I do. Definitely, especially my daughter. Yeah. It's crazy not to leave my son out, but yeah. It's for young girls' self-esteem, that like, that's a lot. There's, yeah, it's heavy. Also tell us a little bit about, you know, back to kind of women's health and wellness specifically and mental health obviously. We've been in this whole conversation. How can we make this conversation around women's health both bigger and better and more impactful and reach more people?

Smita Reddy:
You know, I'm seeing this idea of like putting in the context of their lives is really critical. And I just was listening to a podcast about this, and I wish I could pull the statistics out, but the self-care movement was both a positive, but also sometimes a misconstrued movement because people then, when you think of self-care, you're thinking of the bubble that's, they're like, Let me do me time and the face mask. And what actually, what people need are tips to practice self-care. And they fall in maybe different ways. Self-care could also be like setting boundaries for yourself, right? Self-care kids say, Prioritizing your mental state over any other state. So we need to reframe that notion of self-care because right now it's getting into the bubble. And trust me, I love a good skincare product. And I love a good mask. And I love like a good bubble bath and all of that. And all of those things are great. But if you're still hang on stress and you're doing bubble bath like once a week, you're probably not getting to the core of it, which is prioritizing your self and putting up boundaries is really what we need to be doing to practice self-care. And I am really learning this now. And like at my stage in life, which is like, I wish I kind of learned some of this earlier and I'm still not great at it because I have FOMO like everybody else. But saying like, no, I cannot do that work event or I cannot take that, or do I need to be there? This, this is another moment. And that falls with like prioritizing your health and well-being. So self-care is not just bubble bath. It's like I'm going to do all of my doctor's appointments, you know, Like, this week, I'm going to list out every single one down to like, that dermatology appointment, you know, like not just the primary care, your gynecologist, it's like everything.

Abby Mercado:
Yeah, yeah.

Smita Reddy:
And that takes time. And we're busy. And there's so many other things that come first in our lives, but that has to hold the most importance. And I'm not great at that either. I'm working on it. After my mother was sick about two years ago, I was like a walking cliché of the sandwich generation. Like I had, like, very young kids, and I was taking care of her and toggling back and forth, and I couldn't prioritize me. And that's fine. I mean, it just, it just wasn't what it had to be. But I am thinking about ways to, you know, still prioritize yourself, which means de-prioritizing other things.

Abby Mercado:
Yeah. I love that. I think this is such an important topic, and it's something that we're starting to talk a lot about at Rescripted. It's like, Do I have to dry brush and like go get a pedicure and a manicure? Like, I don't even like mani-pedis, but like, society is telling me that that's what I'm supposed to relax as a female and like, anyway, you get the idea. Like, that's great. Like, I don't want to take a bubble bath after I spend an hour trying to put my four-year-old to bed, like.

Smita Reddy:
It feels like another chore. Yeah. Like, the complicated skincare routines: I have no time for that. My skincare routine at night is like, and again, I'm not doing #plug, but I will say like, I use Dove Bar because it's like very, and like, and dermatologists recommend it for kids. My daughter has eczema, like, I use Dove Bar on my face, and I use a moisturizer and a random green. If I have to do more than that, I'm done. I'm already falling asleep. Like, I won't do anything.

Abby Mercado:
Yeah. Eye-creams, eye-creams are like fake news. I'm just like,

Smita Reddy:
Yeah, there's a a lot.

Abby Mercado:
Like, no moisturizer. Yeah.

Smita Reddy:
That's it. That's all I need to really live. And then like, I don't know, wake me up if something else comes on that's good. But for now, I'm sticking to that.

Abby Mercado:
So if you had to say, like, if I was like, ultimate form of self-care, would you say that, like setting boundaries? It's setting boundaries.

Smita Reddy:
It's setting boundaries. It's saying no to that event or that thing that, that I have to feel like I have to go to and just instead like being at home and being at peace with that. That's the ultimate form of self-care. And also no one is going to tell me what to do at that time. I could watch a show, I could call a friend, I could work out, I could be on TikTok. But that is just what I'm going to do.

Abby Mercado:
I love it, I love it. Well, as we're wrapping up here, we always, you know, the word Rescripted, rescript is a verb. So what is the one thing that you would rescript about women's health and wellness, if you could? Rewrite the narrative? What's the script? You can pick multiple things too. And it's okay if you've already said it.

Smita Reddy:
Yeah, I think I would flip the script on what a patient looks like.

Abby Mercado:
Oh, okay. Yeah.

Smita Reddy:
You know. Yeah, it's, you know, all of our studies and our research are based on one model of what a patient could look like. And I think we need to flip that script to include lots of, obviously gender plays a role in that and what the construct of gender is today. Obviously race and ethnicity plays a role in that when it comes to mental health issues. Things like, you know, neurodiversity plays a role in that. So I think we need to flip the script on what a typical patient looks like.

Abby Mercado:
I love that.

Smita Reddy:
When you're home, it will create a way to end that facade.

Abby Mercado:
Well, Smita, thank you so much for this. Just fantastic conversation. I learned so much from you and just admire the work that Edelman is doing with an amazing brand like Dove and Vaseline and all the rest. Where can people find you and learn more about you?

Smita Reddy:
Well gosh, where can they find me? I guess LinkedIn. Yeah, LinkedIn LinkedIn. I'm LinkedIn and I have a private Instagram account, so.

Abby Mercado:
So, nothing.

Smita Reddy:
But everything else you can find me at. Yeah.

Abby Mercado:
Awesome. Well, thank you again so much and I'm sure we will talk soon.

Abby Mercado:
If this podcast means something to you, be sure to hit, follow, or subscribe. This helps you because you'll never miss an episode, and it helps us because you'll never miss an episode. It's wild enough to be a woman without taking on the Wild West of women's health information. The good news is that Rescripted did the legwork on your body, so you don't have to. And we're here when you're ready to be an expert in you. Head to rescripted.com and follow us at @HelloRescripted on Instagram and TikTok.

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