The Chris Cuomo Project - MDMotivator

Episode Date: November 1, 2022

In this week’s episode of The Chris Cuomo Project, Chris is joined by Zachery Dereniowski, best known as MDMotivator on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, to speak about his journey from medical school student to social media star, how random acts of kindness have have helped pull himself and others out of depression, why people who have the least give the most, and much more. Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday. To find how to watch CUOMO on NewsNation, visit https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/how-to-watch-the-newsnation-television-broadcast/ . Get a 4-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale at https://www.stamps.com/chris. Thanks to Stamps.com for sponsoring the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

the idea of who initiates vulnerability, and then we realize that we all just want to be connected. And people then would hug me, more people would hug, more people would hug, and it just turned into this like... But then when the last person then stopped people, then it goes into another 20 minutes of no one. Whoever takes that first leap of faith to be vulnerable, we recognize that. Hey, welcome to another episode of the Chris Cuomo Project. Please subscribe. Please

follow. Please spread the word because that's what it's all about. Organic growth. Call it a project because it's about me and you. Oh, what's this I have on? If you're only listening, it's a shirt that says free agent. This is the merch. I want you to buy it. You'll see the link. I buy it every time I have it. Yes, that same shirt. But you know, I want to use the money for us to crowdsource contributions. That's what it's about, okay? It's not some brand extension thing. But I do like this idea. Free agent, open mind, open heart, no tribe, no team, okay? Certainly not about these two toxic parties. On the back are a lot of the different items say, are you free? A lot of us think we are. But if you're adhering to what a party is and you're having to oppose the other side and you're having to adopt that group think, are you really free? Are you really a free agent?

Because free agents will become change agents. And that's what we need. We need the system to change, to give power to people. Quick reason for this. When you think primaries, you think parties, right? The parties run the primaries. They figure out the candidates. Parties aren't given that power in law or in the Constitution.

It's just culture. Why do we allow them to dominate? Something to think about. Now, another thing is that I often bash social media and say social media is not reality. Now, I say that for one primary reason. It isn't. Any survey you look at, anybody who measures it, these are the furious few. It is a magnified minority.

Now, many of us are on social media. Look, I'm different. It's my job to engage. Many of us, so let's say many of you are on there, but you're passive. That's fine. I'm not criticizing it. I don't know why you go on at all, to be honest. But those who are active, voices that get magnified, people who identify in there are

strong Democrat or strong Republican. You do a survey of Democrats. The most recent one I've seen was from Harvard. 80% of Democrats say they're center left. That ain't Twitter. Okay. People who are strong Democrat, strong Republican, less than 20% in recent research. So it's not reality. That's why I say it. Now that said, there is good on social media. It is a tremendous platform for not just getting out information, but for connecting emotionally, for doing good things, for crowdsourcing contributions, and to do uniquely well what you are about to be introduced to on the podcast today. MD Motivator. Forget about how giant-sized his success is. He has found a way to do well on social media by doing good. You've seen his videos

where he asks people for things, and when they say yes, he winds up giving them things. But how did he start? Where did it come from? This is not a gimmick. It wasn't about him becoming famous. It was about him being in pain. What a journey and what a sense of purpose. What a great guy. I'm a big fan and a friend of MD Motivator. support for the chris cuomo project comes from prize picks i gotta tell you there's a reason prize picks is america's number one fantasy sports app three million members why easy

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I'm a fan. I'm a fan. That's why I wanted to talk to you. I love following MD Motivator. I love what you're doing. I love, and I know you know who this is because he's got like 11 million followers on TikTok. You go up to people and you ask simple questions, asking for help or asking for money. When they say yes and they do something for you, you do more for them. And it's so simple and so beautiful. And it really resonates with people. So thank you for what you're doing. I appreciate you. I'm excited for this opportunity to connect and open up. MD motivator because he was in medical school. He was training to be a doctor. Also, I love what is behind your motivation for doing this. Even if you're a fan, I bet you may not know this

if you don't pay enough attention. You got into this because you were hurting. You were feeling depressed. Yep. And you'd had a knee surgery. Yep. You had a breakup. College was kicking your ass.

Yes, sir. Tell me why you arrived at the conclusion that it would help your pain if you could try to help others. First off, you did your research. I love that. You came ready. You say my spiel.

It wasn't even about helping others at first. It was a way, it was a cry for help of helping myself. Explain. The first set of videos I was doing often that I started with was blindfolded hugging people with signs that would say like, if you have anxiety or depression, hug me. I was blindfolded because as a stranger, it was much easier to connect with a stranger than it was for me to text or call my mom or dad or friends back home or fake it with my friends in Australia.

I say I love you at the end of every conversation because for two years, no one told me they love me. I hug people because no one hugged me for two years. Give me the eureka moment of, I'm going to go and blindfold myself and ask people to hug me. The eureka moment? Yeah. Where did that come from? I was just having a conversation with one of my friends and we were trying to talk about like feelings, but I never really went into it. Specifically, I was in the basement studying for a test with a bunch of other like classmates and had a therapy session online. And I came back and I told myself like, don't let them see you cry. Don't let them see you cry. And like one of me and my friends, Bradley, he stayed back and we chatted a little bit about the hypothetical of like, it must be hard to be like a student, like to go on through things.

And like, we were just talking about like how it's hard to talk to like people, you know, but it's easier to talk to strangers. And I was like, maybe if you like you blindfolded and like try to talk to someone because then all the biases are out the window. All that matters is the story. You're not looking at what they're wearing, you know, like are they good looking or bad looking or just human connection? What did you think was going to happen?

I didn't know. I still like if I did it today outside, I still wouldn't know what would happen. The uncertainty of it, the vulnerability too from my perspective, right? People could hit me or you know what I mean? Like people could like, I don't know. You don't know. It's dark. It's just dark for hours.

So what was it like doing it the first time? It was the coolest experience because I've never felt more connected to someone that I don't know. All I was doing was listening. And I learned through that, like people didn't want answers. People just wanted to be heard.

And this gave that individual an outlet to at least get something off their chest. And maybe they've been holding for so long or a day or whatever, however long it was, an ability to release. It's so ballsy. It's so scary. And it's such an interesting thing because when you're dealing with depression, dealing with pain, the last thing you want to do is expose yourself. I love your lesson about how wrong it is to not talk about it, even though everybody kind of conditions us

not to talk about it. Right. Especially as men. As men, especially. You know, suck it up. You know, suck it up, man. Nobody wants to hear your drama. Do something about it.

Exactly. That's what we're told. And that almost like makes you like subconsciously want to hold it back more because it's like, I shouldn't talk about it. And it just builds, builds, builds. And you get put in this hole and you don't know how far down the hole goes. So you're sitting there with a blindfold on. I'm also blindfolded.

I have no followers on like any social media at this stage. And like, I'm actually like the worst of state of depression I've ever been in. So it was really a cry for help. It was like, honestly, what I was thinking in that stage, that moment, the first video was like, I want to hear someone who has a similar story to me or a similar story. And there are a few steps ahead. The sign said, if you have anxiety or depression, hug me. So you weren't even asking for a story. What happened? People shared and people would come up in clumps. So the coolest thing is I didn't know because I would watch back the footage after for 10 minutes. I'll stand there. No one, no one hugs you. But then randomly 10 minutes. What was that like? 20? I don't know. Because everyone sees you.

Everyone walks back. Everyone reads the sign. Then when one person would hug… But wait a minute. 10, 20 minutes. Nobody's coming. Or they're coming. But they're not…

They're walking by. Are they like… People are laughing. People are like, that's gay. Like, really bro? Or like just like… So this is like a disaster. All the things that like play off in your head that…

The what ifs, the what ifs, they were happening. All the bad ones. Yes. So in the first phase where you're like, oh my, I cannot believe I did this. I got to stop. Did you want to stop?

Yeah, this is a bad idea. Maybe I should just stop. But like, I just wanted to find someone who had a similar story to me. I was so hurt inside that like, no embarrassment would hurt me more at that stage. I wouldn't have done it in any like stage in my life before. So when one person finally did come up or they, I forget what specifically they shared at that moment, but I noticed right when that first person,

what do you think happened? People saw somebody connecting with you and thought it was okay. Yeah. So then they came. It was the idea of who initiates vulnerability. And then we realized that we all just want to be connected. And like people then would hug me. More people would hug. More people would hug. And it just turned into this like. But then when the last person then stopped people, then it goes into another 20-minute spurt of no one.

Whoever takes that first leap of faith to be vulnerable, we recognize that, holy shit, it's okay. What happened to you after that first set of experiences? I felt connected again with people. And I love the ability to authentically be vulnerable and relate and then create content that hopefully empowers people to do the same in their own life. So interesting point that we should iterate.

Sure. You did not go into this as a business. You did not go into this wanting to be an influencer. You were a medical student. I was in college starting this on the road to being a medical student and you were far from home. He's from Canada. He was in Australia. I was in medical school. I was in medical school. So you had enough on your plate. You had a future. You had an ambition. Yeah. And you do this as an extension of your own kind of like self-help. Yes.

This was my therapy because therapy wasn't working online and Zoom. And I didn't want to talk to my family. I didn't want to worry them from halfway across the world. So I thought I couldn't go to Instagram. I had to go to TikTok. TikTok strangers. It's the only other friends I had. I didn't have friends.

I didn't have any friends I felt connected to with on the other side of the world. So. And when you went back and it had those experiences and you felt connected. Yeah. What was that next step of I'm going to do this again? It was a feeling of like, how do I describe it? What's your favorite sport? Rugby. When you play rugby, do you think of anything other than rugby? No. You're in the moment. You feel alive. And that feeling of being present and just you. I felt me afterwards. I felt alive again. And the ability to feel like that feeling that I only got maybe from basketball or maybe

when I was younger, to feel like that. And it was addictive. I wanted to do more of this goodness. And people don't know this. When I went home and I started really creating videos, I did it for six weeks. My videographer who volunteered for free, who was working at the mall,

when he would work at the mall, I would stand outside for four or six hours, no video, but just do it every day. I did it every single day in my hometown. No video, just because I really believed in it. And I still do it once a week now, but no video because I know how important it can be. What's the worst thing that's happened to you trying it?

Someone threw Skittles once, but I've done this probably like 2000 hours now. But you would think the worst thing would be someone punch you or hit your cameraman or say something really like derogatory. I don't know, like slurs or, but no, that was, someone's called me as gay, but no one's ever hit me. That's my biggest fear is getting like hit, right? Like why not? Why not? People do mean things all the time. Yeah, just kick me in the shin or something.

But I think it's interesting. It's about what you're conditioned to believe. We're conditioned to believe someone's going to try to hurt you. Yeah. And yet your videos are showing that given a chance, people may surprise you by doing the right thing? Every day, still to this day, I have sweaty palms.

I'm always like, what if, what if? And it's like, what are the odds? 100% of the time. I feel like if you put out good, 99% of the time, it's always like bounced right back to you. What kinds of super intense moments do you remember of people sharing and of what they've expressed to you that just blew you away? Probably the first time I did a video where it was about someone who has the least gives the most. So it was in my hometown. It was probably about three weeks after I started this. And it was a

sign that said, who do you wish you were with right now? This guy comes up to me at the intersection. He just blurts out. It's like, my ex. I said, what happened? He's like, she cheated on me. He just blurts out, it's like, my ex. I said, what happened? He's like, she cheated on me. I said, so how are you now? He's like, I'm homeless. I'm like, how come?

He's like, well, she has two kids and I didn't want them to be on the street. So I let them have the house because I didn't want them to experience what I'm experiencing. And I was blown away by the fact that he just said that so effortlessly at 10 in the morning. And then I was like, because I have a mic on, a wireless mic, and my videographer is where he's over there. And I was like, wasn't this guy just across the street two minutes ago putting change into another homeless man's cup? I thought he said he's homeless. He's like, yeah, he did.

And I'm like, all right, I'm going to ask him. Didn't you just put change into this homeless man's coffee cup? I thought you're homeless. He's like, I did. He's like, it's my birthday in a few days. He's like, I had a few extra bucks, so I gave him a couple bucks. I'm like, how old you're homeless. He's like, I did. He's like, it's my birthday in a few days. He's like, I had a few extra bucks. So I gave him a couple bucks. I'm like, how old do you turn?

He's like 32. I was like, this is like mind blown. We recorded it. We started a GoFundMe. We raised him, I think like $10,000. That was the first time I ever did a GoFundMe and got him a job. He's now doing well.

But it was mind blowing. The idea like, it was like, I had a few extra bucks. He needed money. I have money. He's now doing well. But it was mind-blowing. The idea like… It was like… I had a few extra bucks. He needed money. I have money. Here's his money. And like…

That's the biggest repetitive pattern I've noticed too. Is the least I give the most. And like… People don't need crazy amounts of money. They need a little bit of money. But more importantly, a support system to pivot them back in the right direction. There's so much there. Sorry.

That was like the biggest like… No, no, no. No. You much there. Sorry. That was like the biggest like first story. No, no, no. No. You sorry. You're kidding me. This is like soul food. The least give the most. Yes, sir.

So you're saying that people that present as like they don't seem like they have a lot of money are the most generous. What does that mean to you? People of the least give the most. Like why do you think that is? They know what it's like first off to not have. Therefore, they don't want people to feel sort of like when I was depressed. I know what it's like, so I don't want people to feel like that. That's why I still do it. But I also feel like at the core of that, when you have your least, I think you have your priorities

in check. I feel like soy milk versus almond milk doesn't matter. I feel like iPhone or 13 or 4, all the stupid shit that we think about goes out the window. When you don't have the money, you don't measure yourself by the money. So your life becomes about what it should be about. Right. I went to Mexico multiple times over this past year and my perception was like, okay, we can financially give back. The money stretches farther there. I'm going to do good. I go there and realize money doesn't matter. They want family, love, and faith. Like the money is so secondary.

And there's so much- Because they've learned how to live without it. There's so much happier than we are here. And I was like, what are we doing wrong here? Like what, there's, money's good. Don't get me wrong. But like, we have it backwards, I feel like. And I'm just trying to,

I went in there with the intention to give or like to help. But like, they actually like, I learned way more and just gratitude and perspective. I think you're dead on. And I think what it is, is what sometimes is called the eternal quest for more that American culture uniquely, and again, MD motivator is from Canada, but he's all over the place. We're all about more. I got these new balance. I got to get three pairs of them.

I got to get the next one. I got to have more. I got 10 bucks. I got to have a hundred bucks. I got a hundred bucks. I got to have a thousand bucks. I got this car. I got to have this car.

We are big on that in this culture and it never ends. And you're never going to be happy that way because there's always going to be something that would be more. Or someone else has something a little bit bigger, a little bit better, a little bit newer or flashier. So you got to find it inside. You know, I was just reading something recently that is in understanding your success, which again, I just, I just, I can't think of a lot of examples of somebody who's doing well, you know, his social media is like blowing up, but you're doing good, you know, because so

much of social media is so frivolous, you know, and it's, or just geared towards promoting animus and promoting outrage and hate. I mean, especially in our politics, but you're doing the right thing and it's working out for you. And I love that. And I was reading that if people define themselves by external sources of satisfaction, they have several times less chance of being happy

than people who define it by internal sources of satisfaction. Has that borne out in your work? Yeah. I don't know. Maybe the external source, like what would you define as giving? External? Internal?

Okay. The act is external. Yeah. But the motivation is internal. Okay, yeah. I'm doing this really for me. I know you need it, but I'm doing it for me.

Yeah. It feels good. Yeah. It's to be like, you're so selfish. I'm like, I'm actually very selfish. Like I've never felt more like fulfilled. And the most beautiful thing with those things is like, so about to be like, you're so selfish. I'm like, I'm actually very selfish. Like I've never felt more like fulfilled.

And the most beautiful thing with those things is like, so about a month ago, I took a hundred kids from the local housing projects where I'm from to Adventure Water Park. When we're there, we're just doing all this stuff. And this dad comes up with his three kids, three daughters, they're 10, eight and six. They're like, they're huge fans of your videos.

Can we take a photo? And she's like, my daughter who's eight actually, she, before every and 6. They're like, they're huge fans of your videos. Can we take a photo? And she's like, my daughter, who's 8 actually, every night before we go to bed, we watch one video. And actually last week, we watched one of your videos, and she took her piggy bank, and she cracked it and broke it. And she made us go on the weekend to the grocery store to pay for another guy's groceries because she wanted to do what you do. And that is what it's about,

is the idea of a video inspiring someone to take action what did that mean to you everything that was the coolest thing ever that was the coolest thing how does that hit your heart it makes me like it's so happy because it's like a year ago i would have like questioned if i want to live you know i mean like so yeah it's hits what has been the hardest part for you emotionally hardest part emotionally probably processing it because yesterday we went to like this Washington Square Park, asked a guy for a hat or a shirt, whoever was going to give it to me for free. He gave it to me for free because I said, it's my brother's birthday. He

said, no problem. Come back whenever you want. I said, come with me. Hour later, we had him on Times Square billboard for three days sponsored by The Shade Room. And we're going to blow up his business overnight. Things have happened so fast in my life right now. I'll look back in 30, 40 years and be like, remember when we put someone on Timescript billboard in 45 minutes and like helped their,

like it just, I feel very grateful to be part of these things and see these things because without social media, I wouldn't be sitting here right next to you. We don't fake the funk here, and here's the real talk.

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drinkag1.com slash CCP. Check it out. So, you start doing these videos for yourself to try to reconnect and deal with your own pain. Yep. When does it blow up? The first day I came back, I made a video that said, your vaccination status won't change how much I love you.

Like three days after moving back home to Canada. That video had like 20 million views overnight. So like the first day. So you see that it's had 20 million views. Yeah. You have no real following on social media at the time. You're just another medical school. Did you believe that you had

had 20 million? I believed it. I didn't understand. It was unfathomable. I was trying to respond to all the comments and I was trying to respond to everyone. Were your friends like, did you see what happened? Did you see what happened? Yeah. It didn't really process. It was just like, I said, Patrick, we might have something, my videographer. At the time I still didn't think it was going to work. I just

love the idea of creating content around authenticity and putting yourself out there and connecting. Because at that time, September of last year, saying that, especially in Ontario, that was a really touchy subject. It was about unconditional love, but when we see the V word, vaccination, people, I wouldn't do that now. What do you think that's about,

by the way? To vaccinate? Oh, which part? The V word. And how weaponized getting a vaccine. What do you think that's about, by the way? To vaccinate? Oh, which part? The V word. And how weaponized getting a vaccine. What do you think it's about? That's a tough question in terms of my answer on this podcast. But in terms of what it's done to people, when I say it's blindfolded anxiety and depression, people would hug me.

And one of the first things they would talk about, I never used it though, was about the vaccine. Was about how it broke up their family or about how they haven't spoken to their mom or dad or how they were kicked out of their house. What happened do you think? Because we broke people apart. Right, but why?

We get vaccinated all the time. Yeah. When you have kids, like they bring them in. It's like, you know, you were in medical school. Yeah, yeah. What do you think it was about this one? Because people get like the flu vaccine. Yeah.

And that thing isn't even accurate half the time. Yeah. What do you think it was about this one because people get like the flu vaccine yeah and that thing isn't even accurate half the time yeah what do you think it was i think it was just the amount of fear and the amount of like media and everything and isolation i think really isolating people and then putting fear in them i think that's the biggest issue is when you're alone and feet and like then you're very susceptible to everything. Has to have a political... Sorry, I'm not giving you like an answer here. No, no, I'm not talking about

a scientific answer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like what do we know about the vaccine? No, no, no. No, I understand what you're asking. I'm just like, I'm not giving you

like a full answer and I apologize about that one. No, no, no. Listen, or do you not... I'm vaccinated myself, but the fact that I feel like I need to stay unvaccinated, that was the other thing. When I did the vaccine sign, people were like, are you vaxxed or not? like, but like, but the fact that I feel like I need to stay unvaccinated, that was the other thing.

When I did the vaccine sign, people were like, are you vaxxed or not? I'd be like, neither. Are you vaxxed or not? Neither? And I say, neither. What do you mean? Neither.

It was like, neither. Just like, because it wasn't even about vaccines. It was about like, that's what it sounds about, unconditional love. The idea of like, we all just lost the sense of being human. We're, we're, I think that part of the vaccine thing, look, I think it was politically weaponized. Yeah.

And I think people used it as a mechanism to drive fear. Now, is the vaccine perfect? No. Did they test it the way that they normally would? No. Is there an okay explanation for that? Yes, which is the technology has been researched for a long time. The RNA iterations of this type of vaccine, they know a lot about.

Was it messaged properly? No. Do I forgive that? Yes. Because it was a weird climate where everything was being gotcha'd and we were in a crisis and it was a new situation. Right. But was it effective in terms of deepening the divide?

Yes. Yes, a thousand percent. And people will go to war over whether or not to get vaccinated and then they'll walk in and get a flu shot. And it's just so screwed up and emphasizes the need for something to remind us of us being better. Absolutely. And that's where you come in. Where was the name MD Motivator born? It was to motivate myself to get my medical degree.

That was literally, I started this to find a friend, but just to push on. That was the name. So now when I walk around anywhere, I go, yo, MD, yo, MD. I would call more MD now than I would ever probably be as a doctor. My name's not MD, Zach.

It's so funny. People put coffee MD, Zach. It's so funny. People put coffee cups, MD, like if I go to Starbucks, like if they recognize and it's like, I'm not. So I'm jumping

your own success. So you do this, 20 million views. You may have something. You are coming up with all the ideas yourself at this point. Yeah.

So the vaccine is a big deal. You're acutely aware of it because you're in medical school, but you're also a great social observer. Yeah. And you say, I love you whether you're vaccinated or not. Now, how does it start to grow? And when does it really start to catch fire? When do you start to get attention? It would have been probably I was then I was doing like the blindfolded hugging videos, like almost like every day or every other day for a few months. And what kinds of numbers? A lot. It's a lot of numbers.

Like millions and millions. Yeah, every video had over a million, for sure. And the followers are just growing and growing. The following was growing fast. And when do you start getting the first attention from the gargoyles like me in the media? E-news was probably the first one that reached out to me. I had a video, like the few of anxiety, depression. They picked it up.

And then I just, my following in the reach is catapulted. And then other media outlets started picking it up. And then I obviously was filming more now because I see traction. And then I used to do this. I would go like Instagram or TikTok live for like an hour every other couple of days. Because when I was really depressed, I wouldn't want to do like my laundry or cook or do like the simple things. So I'll go live and be like, okay, we're going to do our laundry or we'll do this.

So I was doing one of those. And someone's like, I love your most recent video. I would love for you to give money to people. I'm like, oh, that's cool. That's awesome. I would love to. They're like, I'll give you $100. I'm like, you're going to give me money?

I'm like, why are you going to give me money? They're like, we love the connection you create. It'd be cool if you could give someone money. So the money stuff happened because of a live. Someone reached out and actually donated $100. And I was like, okay, someone gave me money. This has to go to the right person. This has to be documented right. This is someone's hard-earned money. There was a lot of pressure because I'd never given out money on the internet. And that's how the pivot went from blindfold hugs to money, cars, flights, all that stuff happened from someone saying, I was doing my laundry. How do you understand what is happening when you ask somebody for money and they give it to you and you wind up giving them a bunch more money.

What's my thought in my head? Why do you think that that just blows people away? Money. People gravitate towards money. Either money that people listen, first off. Also, asking for money is a very vulnerable question to ask. What is the ratio that we don't see of how many people say no? To money questions?

One to two, one to three. Like not many knows. It's not even money. Like if they didn't have money, they had, okay, I have a bus pass or I don't have money, but here's a phone to call. The money's irrelevant. It's just the idea of listening to someone and trying to extend a helping hand. And you don't think they know it's MD Motivator and they're going to get paid?

Nowadays in my hometown, yes. I can tell when someone knows me. But then, no. And most times, my videos, it's focused on the person. They might recognize my voice eventually, but like, they don't. No. And it's not even about the money. I always ask them like, why'd you help? Like, what's your message to the

world? And like, the money is just like the conduit or the medium in which I'm able to transfer the message of there's kind people out there and strangers are beautiful. Just give them a chance. And how did it start to grow in terms of people giving you things to give to other people? Very fast. Started doing lives where I would raise money. Then people just started donating in a link and there was brands and companies that I was also starting to thankfully finally earn some money from social media to be able to then put in my own money. And just like, it just, well, in the beginning you were giving your own money. Yeah. Yeah. But I was like

taking credit card money. Like I had no money. Like I was like, I was, I was, I couldn't pay my videographer. I was, I was just trying this to see if it would work. I was like, this is, yeah, I was, yeah, it was tough. I couldn't even my videographer. I was just trying this to see if it would work. I was like, yeah, it was tough. I couldn't even afford flowers for when I was doing the hugging videos at the time. I'd ask my mom or dad to help me with buying flowers. How were they with this? They wanted to see me happy. The fact that they didn't see me for two years in med school, being there,

that allowed me to come back home. If that wasn't the case, I don't think they would have supported it the same. Wait, help me understand. So you were at medical school in Australia? Yep. I moved January, 2020, and I came back September, 2021. So you're in medical school. You call them, you say, I got to leave.

They knew it wasn't good. The whole pretty much 2021. My dad kind of convinced me, says like, come home. Like I was crying on FaceTime to him. And it was humbling because when I was 18, I was also kicked out of my house because I failed out of college.

So from my perspective, I saw it as, okay, 10 years later, your son fucked up again. That's how I saw it. I was like with my tail between my legs coming home. I messed up, I lost. And my parents just wanted to support. But my mom thought I made it really, or my parents like quit medical school.

Like you quit medical school, make TikTok videos in your parents' basement. It's a pretty bad decision. And like my mom's friends would tell her at the grocery store, like congrats to your son, like good on your son to like follow his heart and his dream. My mom'd be like, what do you mean? Like you quit med school. Like, what do you mean?

Like that's like in her mind, she didn't say that, but she told me that afterwards. And it immediately started to work and they immediately saw me happy. So they were extremely supportive. And obviously now they're just happy that I'm happy. But my biggest piece of advice to like anyone that's listening, who's like the younger generation is like, you have to double down and believe in yourself

before anyone else fully believes in you. Even if you think it's crazy, if you're able to double down on you, go for it. Because the rewards of that are way better than the rewards of a traditional path that maybe doesn't make your heart feel alive. So you leave medical school. You start doing this. It starts to build.

People start offering you things. Yep. And how big has it gotten now? What's the biggest donation you've ever gotten? Biggest donation I ever got would have been probably last week. It was $50,000. My biggest donation before that was $5,000. And he asked me, what was your biggest donation?. It was $50,000. My biggest donation before that was $5,000. He asked me, what was your biggest donation? I said,

$5,000. He's like, I believe in Grant Cardone. He's like a 10X. He told me on FaceTime, $50,000. A business guy? Yeah, businessman. I didn't believe it. I thought that was a prank. It blows me away.

That was the biggest donation that I think I'll ever probably receive for that. Honestly, so I have a PayPal link where donations and I get notifications. The coolest ones aren't, 50,000 is amazing. I'll never, it's the $1 donations. Because I know you have to click a link. I know you have to go through all these steps

just to donate a dollar and to do that. And sometimes they're anonymous too. They're not even trying to give names. It's like people just want to help and people are supportive. It blows my mind that people have hard-earned money thinking I'm going to then take that money, use that money properly.

And that money properly is going to go to the right person and get like all the steps that have to happen for that money to be, it's mind-blowing. And now you've also benefited. You believe in yourself. You're following your heart. Yeah. And that led you to finally take a step on your own and start your own fashion label.

Yes, sir. And it is called? 143. 143, which of course I couldn't figure it out. What does 143 mean? 143 means I love you because it's the amount of letters in each word. And instead of calling it, I love you, I wanted it to be something that was universally understood because I do do this from country to country and like there's language barriers and stuff. And I

want to bring people together. So we just started that last week and all the profits go directly towards the kind strangers that I meet. I don't profit off any of it. But I wanted people to have a physical product as opposed to just donating to knowing what the mission is. And the motto is? Kindness changes everything. And is it sport wear? What is it? It's more like casual wear.

It's like earthy tones. I should be wearing it right now. Yeah. And I'll be wearing it soon. And this is one of the cases right here. We have kindness changes everything with the 143 right there. Where do people go to give money? Where do they go to get the clothes? Where do they go to watch the videos?

Yeah. I think the easiest way is to just go to whatever social media platform you use, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube and go to MD Motivator. There's links there everywhere, but I hope you just go to those links, watch those videos, and I hope one of them inspires you to just do the same in whatever that means to you in your own life. What's next for you? We're in the process of hopefully starting a TV show in January, and hopefully by the end of the year, I'll have a nonprofit finalized to be able to continue to scale impact. So we're in the lawyer process of all that right now. Could you have ever imagined a year ago? No. A year ago? Sitting here with you now. Right? I mean, you're going like this. I've been like, I'm sitting here on my couch. I'm in my house on my couch watching your videos for inspiration.

And I'm very lucky that I've been able to have you here. So I'm selling free agent merch. For me, free agent is an alternative to being in a political party or a partisan or tribal. Instead of saying I'm just independent, because independent means you're after yourself. Free agent is, we have to be interdependent. We have to be interconnected. Everything you're trying to inculcate in your videos. So it's open mind, open heart, willing to listen, even if you disagree. And I have merch that says free agent on it. And I've been telling people, buy the merch because I'm going to use the money to give it away. The first donation we're going

to make. So buy more stuff is to you. And you use it any way you want to keep spreading the validation for people that giving gets rewarded. And I'm really, really proud of the work that you're doing human to human. And I'm a fan. I really appreciate that. MD motivator. Good luck. I'm going to buy your stuff. I'm going to watch your videos. And I thank you for what you do. Thank you for the time. Thank you for having me on the podcast. Love you. He's doing great things and he's doing well he's blowing up he's got all these brands in a fashion business great for him i love it i want to work with him going forward he is our first recipient of free agent merch money now you haven't bought enough for me to make a meaningful contribution, so I had to do it out of my own pocket. You owe me. No. So I put this one up, but that's why I want you to buy the merch and to buy it for other people and to contribute so that then we can start talking about people we think are deserving. And I'll make a lot of the decisions, but I want you involved. Okay?

I'll make a lot of the decisions, but I want you involved, okay? So that's MD Motivator. You want to comment? You see the number on the screen? Please call it, leave your email, and let me know what you think, and we'll take them in batches,

and we'll do specials on those calls. All right, please subscribe. Please follow. Please spread the word. Please check out my show on News Nation. You can find it on cable wherever you are. Pretty easy to do. You just go to the website. I'll also put up a link. Click on this link. You can find where you are with NewsNation. It's at eight o'clock weekdays, and I'm trying to do something different there as well. It's news for adults. It's political analysis for people who

know there's a game going on, and I am here to expose it. Be well, my friends. Let's get after it.