Episode 29

full
Published on:

21st Jun 2022

29. Mental Fitness in the Metaverse

We're back with an episode on mental health and wellness, or as the guest this week calls the combination, mental fitness. Sarah Hill, CEO and Founder of Healium, joins me to chat how emerging tech will change the mental health field. Sarah's own journey with PTSD and the struggles of journalism lead her to creating Healium, an app that uses AR/VR technology to teach good practices and address mental health issues. Join me as I learn about mental fitness, media diets, and what's happening on the Silicon Prairie.

Episode Resources:

https://www.tryhealium.com/

https://www.startlandnews.com/2022/05/healium-nfl/

Transcript
Unknown:

Welcome to the meadow woman podcast. We address the

Unknown:

issues, opportunities and challenges facing women in the

Unknown:

development of the metaverse the biggest revolution since the

Unknown:

internet itself. Every week we bring you conversations with top

Unknown:

female talent and business executives operating in the

Unknown:

gaming and crypto industries. Here's your host Lindsey, the

Unknown:

boss POS, the meta woman podcast starts now. Hello, and welcome

Unknown:

to the men and women podcast part of the holodeck media

Unknown:

Podcast Network. I'm your host Lindsay The Boss Boss and from

Unknown:

struggle to success recovering it all. Or returning listeners.

Unknown:

Thank you so much for supporting the show. For new listeners,

Unknown:

welcome, I hope you enjoy, you'll get very used to hearing

Unknown:

this syndrome. Sure. Today's guest is super special because

Unknown:

she's at the pinnacle gaming, mental health and emerging tech.

Unknown:

So just really crazy overlap between those three categories.

Unknown:

I'm excited to welcome Sarah Hill, CEO and chief storyteller

Unknown:

and founder of helium, taken directly from its website.

Unknown:

Helium is a mental fitness tool that offers you a new active

Unknown:

approach to meditation that is powered by your body's

Unknown:

electricity. Utilize real time data to train your brain so you

Unknown:

can self manage your anxiety, focus more intently in sleep

Unknown:

better. And I also want to note that it's helium as an H E A L r

Unknown:

u m so feel Sara, welcome to the show, please introduce yourself

Unknown:

a little further than I just did. And give the audience a bit

Unknown:

of your backstory what you do. Lindsay, it's so great to be

Unknown:

here with you and your listeners. And I am a former

Unknown:

television reporter. And covered a lot of trauma so developed

Unknown:

helium for me, as well as the millions of people who struggle

Unknown:

with anxiety and want to sleep better and feel better in a

Unknown:

drugless way.

Unknown:

Love actually want to start with kind of your your hero origin

Unknown:

story here. And you develop this company and moved into the tech

Unknown:

space. And we will get into that. But I want to start by

Unknown:

actually back in your very successful career as a broadcast

Unknown:

TV journalist. I understand you're a 12 time that America

Unknown:

Emmy Award winner, which is a lot like more than two hands

Unknown:

worth. That's how you know that you were very good. Many moons

Unknown:

ago, we talked about the kind of pressure that that spotlight

Unknown:

has. And more fundamentally, I'm sure plenty of people can relate

Unknown:

to having a stressful job or having a stressful life or

Unknown:

dealing with trauma, receiving feedback or going through

Unknown:

difficult experiences. And that kind of general anxiety that as

Unknown:

of right now, especially in the post pandemic world just comes

Unknown:

from being alive. But can you speak to how your career in

Unknown:

broadcast journalism, you mentioned it very lightly,

Unknown:

already helped motivate you to create helium and move into the

Unknown:

kind of healing space? Absolutely. So I spent 20 years

Unknown:

as a broadcast journalism, I worked for the ABC, NBC, CBS

Unknown:

News affiliates in Missouri. And as part of that job, you hear

Unknown:

this with a lot of journalists, a lot of journalists experience

Unknown:

burnout.

Unknown:

They have panic attacks, they have difficulty sleeping,

Unknown:

because they're constantly feeding the beast and

Unknown:

constantly, you know, covering trauma, interviewing people

Unknown:

who've lost children, we went out with the trauma teams in the

Unknown:

aftermath of the tsunami in Sri Lankan Indonesia. And so you as

Unknown:

a journalist have to cover sometimes the worst day of

Unknown:

people's lives. And in order to be a good storyteller, you need

Unknown:

to step inside their story, and experience what they're

Unknown:

experiencing to be able to properly communicate it in a

Unknown:

video story. So, you know, as a journalist, we absorbed a lot of

Unknown:

that pain. And you never think that it's, you know, you cover

Unknown:

homicide and the morning, you, you know, might go to a trial in

Unknown:

the afternoon, you know, in interviews, someone's you have

Unknown:

to knock on doors of families that have experienced great loss

Unknown:

in their life. Because sadly, you know, that's, that's your

Unknown:

job. And ultimately, that end, you know, I have worked in great

Unknown:

environments with great bosses who continue to be my mentors

Unknown:

and great stations and opportunities. And it wasn't

Unknown:

that I wasn't supported. It's just the nature of the business,

Unknown:

and ultimately, that stress and made me sick with insomnia and

Unknown:

the inability to sleep and you don't really realize how

Unknown:

insomnia can impact your body and not having that mental reset

Unknown:

every night until it backfires. And it backfired on me in the

Unknown:

form of panic attacks and once you have a panic attack

Unknown:

If you've ever had one It's like someone turned up the volume

Unknown:

full steam set your hair on fire and elephant on your chest

Unknown:

difficulty breathing and all of a sudden your body is short

Unknown:

circuited and you feel like what is going on, you feel like a

Unknown:

lion, you know is going to attack you. But yet there's no

Unknown:

lion in the room. And that's just, you know, your body

Unknown:

revolting in that fight or flight area and my husband was a

Unknown:

cop. He's still my husband, but he used to be a counseling

Unknown:

psychologist. And, you know, he he said to me, sir, I know

Unknown:

exactly what's happening, because I thought is a stroke, I

Unknown:

have a heart attack, he, you know, is all these things. And I

Unknown:

didn't want to admit to myself that no, you know, it was

Unknown:

everything that I had had absorbed over the last couple

Unknown:

decades, and was looking for drugless solutions and found

Unknown:

neurofeedback. And in the old days of neurofeedback, and this

Unknown:

was you know, 15 years ago, when I was experiencing insomnia, and

Unknown:

you had to glue electrodes to glue, like literally with glue

Unknown:

electrodes on your scalp and your forehead and do these games

Unknown:

and that at the time, they were kind of boring, where it was

Unknown:

training your brain to, you know, calm itself, so that you

Unknown:

could learn to sleep and learn to self regulate your brain

Unknown:

patterns. And you know, here I was, at the time I was in my 40s

Unknown:

I had never learned how to self regulate my brain patterns on my

Unknown:

heart rate. And it's, you know, a sad state of all the things

Unknown:

that you learn in your life, yet you don't learn how your own

Unknown:

mind operates or how you can actually control it. And nobody

Unknown:

had said to me, you know, did you know that she can actually

Unknown:

control your brain patterns and your heart rate, and had I known

Unknown:

you know that I might have learned it. But in those

Unknown:

Neurofeedback sessions, I found them kind of boring in a way so

Unknown:

it would make up stories, because I was a storyteller in

Unknown:

order to make it more engaging for me. And to make a long story

Unknown:

short, we developed helium

Unknown:

and added that Neurofeedback integration. In virtual and

Unknown:

augmented reality, we were doing virtual tours for a group of

Unknown:

veterans who weren't able to physically travel to see their

Unknown:

memorials in Washington, DC and I would create video stories in

Unknown:

virtual reality of their memorials so they could see

Unknown:

them. And to make a long story short, in all of those tours, we

Unknown:

noticed that VR appeared to be affecting the veterans

Unknown:

physiology, they weren't just watching these experiences, it

Unknown:

was it was if somehow they were feeling them. So I reached out

Unknown:

to that Neurofeedback specialist who was actually my husband's

Unknown:

business partner in his practice at the time, and said, Can you

Unknown:

do some brain maps, you know, on these individuals experiencing

Unknown:

these stories, because something's happening inside

Unknown:

their their mind. And I just, you know, would like to gain

Unknown:

more clarity on what's going on, because they take off the

Unknown:

headset, their body appears relaxed, they take

Unknown:

a deep cleansing breath, and they say, I like how I how I

Unknown:

felt, can I watch that again? And so, you know, Dr. Taryn did

Unknown:

a brain map could see significant shifts in the fast

Unknown:

activity in their brain very quickly in a matter of minutes.

Unknown:

And, you know, I remember him saying, to me, this is

Unknown:

significant, this kind of media, you know, could have healing

Unknown:

abilities to allow people to learn to self regulate. And what

Unknown:

if we, you know, imported the brain patterns in there that

Unknown:

they could actually do those Neurofeedback sessions inside

Unknown:

virtual reality, or in augmented reality without the goggles. And

Unknown:

that led us on a very long path of doing additional research. We

Unknown:

have five peer reviewed journals, trying to develop what

Unknown:

kind of media impacts brain patterns and heart rate and

Unknown:

certain way. So helium of source is like a media detox, for all

Unknown:

of the negative fiber that you put in your media diet

Unknown:

throughout the day.

Unknown:

Wow, I'm sure that you have talked about this at length by

Unknown:

now and given that, that sort of backstory to many folks, but I

Unknown:

have to commend you for also sharing your own mental health

Unknown:

struggles, which is something that can be very difficult, and

Unknown:

for collecting these different experiences and putting them

Unknown:

together because it's, it's quite a lot of different pieces

Unknown:

to kind of connect between, you know, your own work and what you

Unknown:

went through to the work you did with veterans to the work you

Unknown:

have seen in your husband's practice or in that community

Unknown:

and then putting it all together into one cohesive kind of plan

Unknown:

is, is really cool. Along the way, it wasn't just me it was we

Unknown:

had a great we haven't

Unknown:

retention? Yes, someone has to be the visionary though to, it's

Unknown:

cool. It's neat to hear how you were able to think of those

Unknown:

things and bring in people who could support these ideas and

Unknown:

help create and develop those ideas further as well. Very cool

Unknown:

to find the junction of all of those. It's like I said, it's

Unknown:

not every day you meet someone who is in gaming and VR and

Unknown:

creating mental health solutions.

Unknown:

It was a drunken sailor walk, if you will, the journey, as they

Unknown:

call it, it was not a linear path. And anyway, it was, you

Unknown:

know, skills that I had a need that I saw, what kind of skills

Unknown:

do I have to fit that need? Who's in my network? And how can

Unknown:

we learn? You know, how to make these experiences in a way that

Unknown:

can even far more greatly,

Unknown:

you know,

Unknown:

allow people to self manage their anxiety and sleep.

Unknown:

Yeah, well, and I want to I know, I'm jumping around a bit

Unknown:

here. But I do want to talk about the sleep portion. Because

Unknown:

since we've last spoken, sleeping them, I have seen come

Unknown:

to fruition. So can you explain that part of the app and what it

Unknown:

does? Yeah, so sleep is a new product, it's within helium. So

Unknown:

if you're a helium subscriber, you get sleepy as well. And

Unknown:

these are experiences that are designed to downshift the

Unknown:

nervous system. So they're meant to be viewed in a reclined

Unknown:

position, either in your bed. And these goggles, by the way,

Unknown:

come with blue light filters. So there's a night mode that you

Unknown:

can put on, and they're all calming experiences, the dreams

Unknown:

that you have, after, you know, watching some of these sleep,

Unknown:

human experiences, mine are

Unknown:

fascinating. And I actually remember on which usually I

Unknown:

don't, don't remember them as well. And so that's been out for

Unknown:

about a couple months. And you know, you can put the headset on

Unknown:

your bedside, take asleep em before you go to bed at night.

Unknown:

And then during the day, you can train with helium train with an

Unknown:

EEG headband, so that you could actually see your own brain

Unknown:

patterns displayed inside the screen. Because the self

Unknown:

management of anxiety and that self care during the day, sleep

Unknown:

hygiene isn't just before you go to bed at night, it's during the

Unknown:

day. And in learning how to you know, self regulate your brain

Unknown:

patterns and heart rate, not a replacement, any of this for

Unknown:

psychotropic medication, or professional counseling, which

Unknown:

we all know is one of the best things that we can do for

Unknown:

yourself ourselves. But as a self coping mechanism, drugless

Unknown:

non harmful coping mechanism, it is valuable to be able to learn

Unknown:

to self regulate during the day and train during the day, and

Unknown:

then lay down at night. And, you know, float through a butterfly

Unknown:

Island, you know, glide through a glacial lake. All of these are

Unknown:

beautiful nature based escapes that have the option during the

Unknown:

day to be powered by your brain patterns.

Unknown:

So cool. Now I actually want to jump back in because I realized

Unknown:

we didn't go fully into what helium is either. So he actually

Unknown:

started with sleeping. Um, and I would love for you to talk about

Unknown:

that more, because we've talked a lot about the VR portion. But

Unknown:

I know that there's also an AR portion. So it's really

Unknown:

accessible to a lot of different folks. So can you tell me more

Unknown:

about the kind of the services that are tell the audience more

Unknown:

about the services that helium offers, how it works, what kind

Unknown:

of feedback you've gotten, and I mean, I will say I've used it,

Unknown:

and it's beautiful. So highly recommend to you. So VR goggles

Unknown:

are not required in augmented reality just on your mobile

Unknown:

device, you can open up a magic portal in your living room or in

Unknown:

your bedroom. And you can walk through that portal or if you

Unknown:

don't have mobility, you can teleport through that portal.

Unknown:

And then you're inside another beautiful magical kingdom and

Unknown:

Nebula in space, a peaceful waterfall. You can flow through

Unknown:

the center of your brain and learn about how all of the

Unknown:

synapses fire and how your thoughts have power. Actually,

Unknown:

what you think about has eject direct impact on your brain

Unknown:

patterns and your heart rate. And, you know, in augmented

Unknown:

reality, that's how it works. In its very simplest form. It's a

Unknown:

free app that you can download on iOS and Android. Just search

Unknown:

the helium store the App Store for helium H E A L I E u m, and

Unknown:

then in virtual reality on either Oculus quest, Pico G two

Unknown:

4k pico Neo three, five vive focus by Flo Search the app

Unknown:

store for helium, and then that we have a free version in that

Unknown:

free version. You don't have the ability to connect

Unknown:

To wearable, but that's okay. Some people just you know, like

Unknown:

to use it without a wearable, and there's limited content, but

Unknown:

it will give you a taste of what some of these experiences are

Unknown:

like. And then if you subscribe, you have the ability to get a

Unknown:

helium score, which is a score associated with your focus calm,

Unknown:

according to your your brain patterns. And then also, you can

Unknown:

see a session length, so how long that you've been using it,

Unknown:

and you can download your own data to track your progress over

Unknown:

time. And so either in VR or and AR without the goggles do have

Unknown:

the ability to use it. However, VR is more engaging, more

Unknown:

memorable. And it more greatly tricks the brain into thinking

Unknown:

that it someplace else because it's more immersive. In

Unknown:

augmented reality, it's a little bit more variable, because

Unknown:

you're seeing your own real world. And that real world

Unknown:

inside your living room might be all the clutter that you have on

Unknown:

the couch that's reminding you that you have to clean it up.

Unknown:

But you're able to bring in those assets inside your own

Unknown:

environment, even without goggles. And remember, some of

Unknown:

those experiences that perhaps if you do have VR goggles,

Unknown:

you've created an associative memory that you can then go back

Unknown:

to in a stressful situation, or go back to outside of the

Unknown:

goggles just on on your mobile device in order to learn to to

Unknown:

downshift. And this is just media healing healing media,

Unknown:

that is allowing people to learn how their brain patterns work,

Unknown:

how their heart rate works, and, you know, learn to self

Unknown:

regulate.

Unknown:

I actually want to talk a little bit about

Unknown:

I mean, so I understand why you developed each for AR and VR

Unknown:

because they each have their strengths, the AR is super

Unknown:

accessible on the go, wherever you are, the VR is the more most

Unknown:

immersive, or like learning based or this healing based is

Unknown:

kind of a good way to say it experience that is is probably

Unknown:

more for like kind of a longer term. person who's trying to to

Unknown:

keep or to learn better how to self regulate. But can you tell

Unknown:

me what it was like to develop across platforms to developing

Unknown:

for an AR on your phone, and what those environments are

Unknown:

going to look like is presumably very different, developing VR

Unknown:

experiences, and then also just what it's like developing for

Unknown:

several different VR goggles. This isn't something we get into

Unknown:

a lot, but traditional gaming industry, a lot of companies

Unknown:

will develop for Xbox or for PC, or some will develop a cross

Unknown:

platform. But what is that kind of cross platform like in the AR

Unknown:

VR space?

Unknown:

Yeah, it's difficult. So, you know, specifically in the early

Unknown:

days, where there wasn't a lot of tools that you could create

Unknown:

at once, and then click a button, and it automatically

Unknown:

deploys to all of the others, you know, like we have in some

Unknown:

of those ways with iOS and Android. But more of those tools

Unknown:

are coming online. And so you know, as a company, we had to

Unknown:

develop almost individual apps for each headset. Because the

Unknown:

headsets are different, their inputs are different, their

Unknown:

remote controls are different, how they collect, or how they

Unknown:

connect to Bluetooth, are different as well. And so it was

Unknown:

was difficult, and not to mention the fact that we are you

Unknown:

know, importing a user's brainwaves into the experience.

Unknown:

And how do you tell stories with biometric data? And not only

Unknown:

that, but it's stories in the round. And quite honestly, you

Unknown:

know, when it comes to, we created the virtual reality app

Unknown:

first. And then we created the augmented reality app as a

Unknown:

companion to the virtual reality experience. So on that AR app,

Unknown:

you have the ability to cast it to your mobile device. And you

Unknown:

can start on your mobile device, you know, select a VR thumbnail

Unknown:

that you want to send to your headset, and then it sends it to

Unknown:

your headset and you can automatically put it on. But as

Unknown:

a long story short, yes, it was difficult. Because while those

Unknown:

two mediums virtual reality being completely immersive

Unknown:

inside the goggles, and augmented reality, being a 3d

Unknown:

assets imported into your real world environment are very

Unknown:

different. They're also very the same, in that the line between

Unknown:

AR and VR is blurring into you know, what we call XR and in our

Unknown:

shop X just means solve for x. It's extended reality, whether

Unknown:

that be AR VR or Mr. And, you know, much as in the early days

Unknown:

of still images and video. There is a very distinctive line but

Unknown:

tween still images and video. And now still images get

Unknown:

inserted into video all the time. And it's still just video,

Unknown:

right? It's, it's the same with AR and VR. And we're seeing that

Unknown:

the headset manufacturers as well, you know, with our

Unknown:

passthru cameras and their augmented reality development

Unknown:

tools blur that line as well, in that, you know, these VR

Unknown:

experiences more and more, you can tap the side of your

Unknown:

headset, and then you see the real world. And it's going to be

Unknown:

the same thing in the future more and more with VR apps that

Unknown:

there's also going to be an augmented reality option if you

Unknown:

want to see the real world and just see those assets super

Unknown:

superimposed over it. Not all experiences are there yet. And

Unknown:

for us, they're separate entities. But we know in the

Unknown:

metaverse.

Unknown:

You know, it's not just going to be in a virtual reality headset,

Unknown:

it's going to be in some kind of heads up display. And, you know,

Unknown:

collectively you can embody avatars in augmented reality

Unknown:

experiences as well. So we see that line blurred blurring and

Unknown:

we also saw the need to be ambidextrous on both platforms,

Unknown:

so that we can be ready when the metaverse is fully put built, to

Unknown:

happen into whatever medium it is to allow people to experience

Unknown:

helium and selenium.

Unknown:

So cool. I'm actually glad that you want to do the term XR

Unknown:

because that's a term that I've seen pop up now, multiple times

Unknown:

and haven't had a great basis for understanding but I like

Unknown:

this idea of them of AR and VR experiences bleeding into one

Unknown:

another and teeing taking cues from each of them to create kind

Unknown:

of a new version of reality for people to experience. I want to

Unknown:

pick apart since you brought up the metaverse, of course we talk

Unknown:

a lot about the metaverse on this podcast and a lot of fun.

Unknown:

But what are you first of all, what does that word mean to you?

Unknown:

And what? You as a person who's developing these experiences,

Unknown:

particularly working in the field of mental health?

Unknown:

Are you excited? Are you nervous? Or what do you think

Unknown:

about how the metaverse is going to help or hurt us with mental

Unknown:

health? What is this impact going to be like, as emerging

Unknown:

tech becomes more familiar in our day to day routines? Yeah.

Unknown:

And the answer to that is yes and no. Will it help us or you

Unknown:

know, hurt our mental health much like any kind of

Unknown:

technology? It depends on how you wield that. And to me the

Unknown:

metaverse is very simply the immersive Internet where you can

Unknown:

live work and play. And these are, you know, immersive land

Unknown:

space landscapes that you can go into and collectively experience

Unknown:

a group

Unknown:

helium experience that's powered collectively by your biometric

Unknown:

data or your your brain patterns. And those are

Unknown:

collectively pooled among the group. And, you know, together

Unknown:

they're, they're controlling assets in in the environment.

Unknown:

But those platforms are very are nascent right now. You know,

Unknown:

there's there are companies doing great work in that space.

Unknown:

But the ecosystem for developers is, is just starting. And also

Unknown:

the user base is just starting as well. And so I'm excited

Unknown:

about the future of the metaverse to collectively bring

Unknown:

together people in a singular space to have experience they

Unknown:

have experiences, and also conversations about mental

Unknown:

health, mental wellness and mental fitness. And, you know,

Unknown:

there is power in in group activities. And so that's why

Unknown:

we're, you know, looking forward to the onset of the of the

Unknown:

metaverse.

Unknown:

With that being said, how do you kind of balance that with people

Unknown:

who have or with general media, public, whatever, who has

Unknown:

criticisms about this tech coming about the way we

Unknown:

currently interact with tech? Like,

Unknown:

what do you say to folks who are on the very much you know, more

Unknown:

tech is bad kind of spectrum for things? And obviously, is

Unknown:

particularly bad for mental health? And how are you thinking

Unknown:

about how to reach out and approach those people and get

Unknown:

them to see the vision that you have, which I think is very

Unknown:

positive and a very different take on on the way we can treat

Unknown:

mental health?

Unknown:

Yeah, and, you know, not all technology is bad. It's a diet

Unknown:

and we call this a media diet. So there's a great film out

Unknown:

there.

Unknown:

From from 2020, I'm sure many of your listeners saw it called the

Unknown:

social dilemma. And it talks about, you know, the risks and

Unknown:

the

Unknown:

fallout of the rise of social media 25% of youth and young

Unknown:

adults, we call them the young generation have suicidal

Unknown:

ideation. And so that came about with,

Unknown:

you know, you could argue, was it a coincidence or not, but

Unknown:

that, you know, mental health emergency came about, at about

Unknown:

the same time with the rise of social media, and obviously,

Unknown:

youth and young adults, they're comparing themselves to others,

Unknown:

they're spending a lot of time in social media, and it's become

Unknown:

addictive. And, you know, what we are advocating for? And

Unknown:

helium is it's a diet, you know, do you need social social media?

Unknown:

While you can make an argument? Yes, or No, social media has no

Unknown:

value in that. It can help keep you safe. Is there a tornado in

Unknown:

my neighborhood? Is there a child molester living next door

Unknown:

to me, it allows you to stay connected to people and

Unknown:

loneliness, it's also a health threat. It also allows you to

Unknown:

know who to vote for who to vote against, it's it's information.

Unknown:

And so there are good good aspects to that rise of social

Unknown:

media. But left unchecked, if you are not properly maintaining

Unknown:

your media diet, it'll make you sick. And if you're constantly

Unknown:

consuming negative media, and research shows, what you watch

Unknown:

has a direct impact on your brain patterns and heart rate.

Unknown:

So what you're consuming in that media, it you know, it can also

Unknown:

trigger trauma inside you as well. So you have to temper that

Unknown:

with reality. And that's, you know, the best ways is reality.

Unknown:

But not everybody lives near a park, or a beautiful forest, or

Unknown:

has the funds to take a trip to, you know, whatever, whatever.

Unknown:

You know, beautiful waterfall in South America. So enter the, you

Unknown:

know, healing media, media, that is positive fiber to your media

Unknown:

diet. And also, you know, specifically designed in a way

Unknown:

to try to, you know, shift your brain patterns allow you to

Unknown:

become more self aware of how to self regulate, and also try to

Unknown:

create some unique and memories that you can go back to in a

Unknown:

stressful situation. So if you can't see the mountains, in

Unknown:

reality, in virtual reality, you can have a unique memory that

Unknown:

you can go back to. And research shows that when you view these

Unknown:

experiences inside a headset, that is more of more engaging

Unknown:

and more memorable than if you saw it through the filter of

Unknown:

watching a video on on your phone. So that's a very long

Unknown:

explanation. But it is a diet and media diet, that, you know,

Unknown:

we as consumers have the ability to control.

Unknown:

That's, you've used many terms throughout this that I think are

Unknown:

great. mental fitness is one downshifting is one, sleep

Unknown:

hygiene is one. But I do really like the idea of positive fiber,

Unknown:

and immediate diet as well. Immediate diet is another one.

Unknown:

These are good words to frame a lot of the issues, which is just

Unknown:

that's a side note, but that's I appreciate adding this

Unknown:

terminology to my vernacular to my patterns as well. And it's

Unknown:

fascinating to me that you're working to actually create

Unknown:

virtual memories. That is, that's so cool.

Unknown:

I mean, I don't know how to, I think even the most letter, like

Unknown:

the highest form of Luddites, who would be excited to hear

Unknown:

that, like, that's just really cool.

Unknown:

It's it's that, you know, selfishly, I haven't always been

Unknown:

able to get to beautiful landscapes. So, you know,

Unknown:

helpful for me to be able to have that place that that you

Unknown:

can go back to in your mind whenever you need it, regardless

Unknown:

of whether or not you have a mobile device, or whether or not

Unknown:

you have virtual reality goggles. You know, we all need

Unknown:

that, that place to remember. So cool. I want to pivot a little

Unknown:

bit into actually building a company, because that's

Unknown:

something that you have experience with as well. And

Unknown:

this helium has been around since 2016, if I'm not mistaken.

Unknown:

So you just over the five year mark here and I know that you

Unknown:

have done a great many things with it. But one thing that I

Unknown:

saw recently was a story about the NFL pitch competition. And

Unknown:

the pitch competition specifically is aimed at helping

Unknown:

pro players reduced stress and anxiety through non drug based

Unknown:

treatments. And the NFLPA is really involved in that I've

Unknown:

seen a lot more athletes open up about their struggles with

Unknown:

mental health, I think in the way that you bring attention to

Unknown:

a lot of broadcast and media journalism or journalism roles.

Unknown:

The NFLPA has brought a lot of attention to

Unknown:

professional sports and what that can be like. But tell me

Unknown:

about what it has been like for you. Winning the NFL pitch

Unknown:

competition, building the company, as a woman, and what

Unknown:

kind of skills you're able to take from your background in

Unknown:

media and entertainment to help you on this journey. And I had

Unknown:

to have the successes you've had.

Unknown:

So it was a great experience. And the NFL and the NFLPA are

Unknown:

doing very important work on mental health and wellness.

Unknown:

Matter of fact, they recently formed a mental health and

Unknown:

wellness committee to focus specifically on you know, what

Unknown:

are some tools that they can get in player's hands, and their

Unknown:

families, and, you know, elite athletes, the

Unknown:

immense stress that they encounter, not only from a

Unknown:

performance anxiety perspective, but you know, what they get in

Unknown:

their social media feeds, and, you know, at media conferences,

Unknown:

and the pressure that they have, is immense. And yet as an elite

Unknown:

athlete, that, you know, not all

Unknown:

either want to seek counseling, although it's, you know, one of

Unknown:

the best things that's out there, or have the ability to,

Unknown:

you know, take a psychotropic medication, because, with anti

Unknown:

doping, you know, it can impact their their human performance as

Unknown:

well. And so, you know, helium, Slepian drugless solutions, a

Unknown:

lot of players travel, and, you know, downshifting in their mind

Unknown:

at night, in order to sleep is difficult. And so this is a, you

Unknown:

know, a drugless way that, you know, you can

Unknown:

have a cleanse at night, if you will, and, you know, put a

Unknown:

beautiful memory in your mind before before you go to bed at

Unknown:

night. So the pitch competition was held a couple of weeks ago

Unknown:

in Las Vegas during the NFL Draft. And we were delighted to

Unknown:

be among six really amazing companies doing important work

Unknown:

with human performance, and entertainment, and a variety of

Unknown:

different ways that they're adding value to and hydration,

Unknown:

that they're adding value to elite athlete athletes. So it

Unknown:

also, you know, unlock some some phenomenal opportunities for us

Unknown:

that we're just beginning to realize, and so grateful for

Unknown:

that, that opportunity and excited to get helium in the

Unknown:

hands of more elite athletes. And also amateur athletes as

Unknown:

well. We recently formed a partnership with Athletes

Unknown:

Unlimited, which works with professional female sports

Unknown:

teams. And we're excited that they're using helium as well.

Unknown:

Because just as you work out your body, so to do you work out

Unknown:

your mind. And mental fitness is very important as well, you

Unknown:

reduce anxiety, you increase working memory, which reduces

Unknown:

the likelihood of errors, it increases the likelihood of

Unknown:

better management decisions. And so you know, the value of having

Unknown:

that drug less non harmful coping mechanism that you can

Unknown:

use at night or to train with during during the day is really

Unknown:

valuable for those elite athletes. And we're seeing that

Unknown:

borne out with Naomi, Osaka,

Unknown:

you know, all of the different different players who, you know,

Unknown:

talk about getting the twisties before the the Olympics, and,

Unknown:

you know, we need to be having conversations, not just about

Unknown:

the the pharmaceutical interventions, but the great

Unknown:

many non pharmaceutical,

Unknown:

non harmful coping mechanisms that people can use when they

Unknown:

need it as a part of a digital drug that's in your medicine

Unknown:

cabinet. So cool. Um, and I know we I wrapped up about four

Unknown:

questions within that question, but can you tell me about

Unknown:

building the company the journey you've taken as an entrepreneur

Unknown:

and what that's been like for you as a woman?

Unknown:

Or just in general? I mean, it doesn't have to be through the

Unknown:

lens of gender, but just curious about your experiences. Yeah, so

Unknown:

building a company is awesome. And it's with a lot of

Unknown:

challenges, though. We are located in the middle of the

Unknown:

Silicon Prairie, as we call it in the Midwest, which

Unknown:

historically lacks access to venture capital. And so a lot of

Unknown:

people have never heard of us before. And then they are, you

Unknown:

know, surprised to hear about a tech hub.

Unknown:

Buddy operating in the Midwest, we always joke we say, Yes, we

Unknown:

just got the internet last year and, you know, running water and

Unknown:

really, you know, in the age of the internet, and specifically

Unknown:

post pandemic, you know, companies can happen, you know,

Unknown:

great companies happen everywhere, not just on on the

Unknown:

coasts. So it was a challenge for us in raising capital. And

Unknown:

not only we know, you know, the story about female founders and

Unknown:

their struggles with with raising capital, but also, you

Unknown:

know, being located where we were, but, you know, we raised

Unknown:

millions of dollars in the middle of a pandemic, because

Unknown:

our product was providing value for people, and in a drugless

Unknown:

way, and people took notice. And so, you know, Colombia has a

Unknown:

great many future unicorns, with the likes of Zapier and

Unknown:

equipment share, Veterans United Beyond Meat also has as roots in

Unknown:

in Columbia, Missouri. And we're at a strategic advantage

Unknown:

compared to the coasts because our cost of goods is

Unknown:

significantly lower. And so those investment dollars go

Unknown:

further. And also, you know, based in the Midwest, we build

Unknown:

our companies on revenue, not just investment dollars, which

Unknown:

makes us more capital efficient, going forward. So what some

Unknown:

first, you know, Mike seemed to the outsider as a strategic

Unknown:

disadvantage, it was actually an advantage, because we were able

Unknown:

to do more with less.

Unknown:

Do you have any, that I do think that that's a very use

Unknown:

intelligent way to build companies, and especially in a

Unknown:

world where we've seen many a company say, profit doesn't

Unknown:

matter, and really go for it. And there's a place for that,

Unknown:

too, I'm not denying that. But for people who are thinking of,

Unknown:

perhaps not Uber sized ventures,

Unknown:

and even I know that you you've run a good mid sized outfit

Unknown:

where you are, but do you have any advice for people who are

Unknown:

looking to start, and particularly in the area here in

Unknown:

in the Midwest? Were looking to start their own? Is there

Unknown:

anything that you would redo if you could go back, you know, to

Unknown:

the six years ago, since you've been in business? Yeah. So you

Unknown:

need to start their own companies, people who are

Unknown:

getting ready, yeah, yeah. So if you're a first time

Unknown:

entrepreneur, keep in mind that your family, your friends, or

Unknown:

your support network, they are your first co founders. So

Unknown:

before you even, you know, set foot on stepping out and forming

Unknown:

a company, you need to make money and make sure your co

Unknown:

founders, your family and friends are okay, with you being

Unknown:

away and distracted with this huge commitment, because it is a

Unknown:

huge commitment. You can't just stick your toe in the water, you

Unknown:

know, you have to cannonball in, in order to immerse yourself to

Unknown:

build a successful company. So keep in mind that your family is

Unknown:

your first co founder. In those early days, you will have a

Unknown:

large amount of people trying to take a lot of equity from you,

Unknown:

whether it be an accelerator programs that takes significant

Unknown:

amount of equity, I get some consult with that, and

Unknown:

surround yourself with advisors, who maybe in the early days,

Unknown:

they don't take any equity, they're just you know, giving

Unknown:

you their input, there are plenty of people out there who

Unknown:

are willing to help you know, another entrepreneur and give

Unknown:

honest opinions without taking any equity in the company.

Unknown:

Because ultimately, that's what you're building. When you take

Unknown:

on co founders, or other you know, founders in the company.

Unknown:

Before you award equity, you need to make sure that they are

Unknown:

going to be there when it's raining buckets in the middle of

Unknown:

the night.

Unknown:

And, you know, you find out as you go along in the journey that

Unknown:

some people that you encounter are their founders. They are

Unknown:

they're all you know, all the time. And

Unknown:

they have that founders mindset, and then you have others who are

Unknown:

employees, and, you know, great great employees in the company,

Unknown:

but perhaps, you know, they value

Unknown:

not getting up at two in the morning or, you know, going that

Unknown:

extra mile or, you know, working on weekends. You know, they're

Unknown:

the people who value that and which is great. You need both

Unknown:

kinds of people in the company. You need founders and then you

Unknown:

have employees. And so make sure when you bring people on that

Unknown:

you know before

Unknown:

You award them that

Unknown:

founder status or that equity, that you make sure that you

Unknown:

explain that there is a difference between an equity

Unknown:

holder in the company and also, you know, a regular employee,

Unknown:

you know, and, and that greater greater responsibility. Because

Unknown:

early on a lot of companies, that's that's a common mistake

Unknown:

that they get. I also had someone who told me once that

Unknown:

before you want to hire anyone, take a shower, and ask yourself,

Unknown:

do you really need this person? And early on? That was great for

Unknown:

us? Because,

Unknown:

yeah, I mean, as you get older is your company advances that

Unknown:

you need to scale faster, that mindset does not work. But in

Unknown:

the early days, you think, Oh, well, I have this project, I

Unknown:

need to hire someone for that project. Now, chances are, you

Unknown:

need a contractor that can do that one time project, and then

Unknown:

then they're done. And so, you know, granted, I was doing a,

Unknown:

you know, a one woman show for a significant amount of time, but

Unknown:

it also allowed you to retain a lot of equity in company. And

Unknown:

then the last piece of advice that I would give you is that

Unknown:

anyone who is going to work on your apps or your development

Unknown:

needs to have ironclad work product ownership agreements.

Unknown:

And so whether it be through your IP attorney, or, you know,

Unknown:

whatever legal you have no one touches you don't get into any

Unknown:

conversation until you either signed a nondisclosure agreement

Unknown:

or with that potential contractor, or you've hammered

Unknown:

out that work product ownership agreement, so that it's clear

Unknown:

that the company owns that IP. And then okay, sorry, the fourth

Unknown:

one is that even if you don't think you have intellectual

Unknown:

property, get an IP console. And if you have one firm that tells

Unknown:

you well, there's nothing patentable here, it's just

Unknown:

software, go to another one.

Unknown:

Because we encountered that early on. And we now have, you

Unknown:

know, very significant, broad, valuable patents in that space,

Unknown:

connecting consumer wearables to the to the metaverse, but even

Unknown:

if you think I owe there's nothing to be protected here.

Unknown:

It's just software or whatever. No, it's not just software,

Unknown:

there's a system and a method that can be protected. And which

Unknown:

is, you know, very valuable, in a future exit for a company or a

Unknown:

company trying to raise venture capital.

Unknown:

Those were all really great pieces of advice. The one last

Unknown:

thing I want to ask you about when it comes to building a

Unknown:

company and where you are in middle America, is were there

Unknown:

any events or things? Obviously, the pitch competition is huge

Unknown:

for the NFL, but were there any ones very early on where it was

Unknown:

like, this is where I got a good mentor? This is where I learned

Unknown:

a lot, or this is what helps my business grow? Was there

Unknown:

anything any events or even I don't know, like going to

Unknown:

university and speaking or things of that nature, where you

Unknown:

were able to put yourself out there and really see a return on

Unknown:

that? Absolutely. You were you were involved. We were involved

Unknown:

in about a half a dozen different accelerator programs,

Unknown:

where we just kept learning, learning, learning, learning,

Unknown:

stadia adventures, they have an accelerator program for human

Unknown:

performance and sports enterprise companies. That was

Unknown:

phenomenal. The mentors in that group really move the needle and

Unknown:

introduced us to some important people in industry,

Unknown:

as well as mass challenge. We won a prize at the MassChallenge

Unknown:

Houston program, which also introduced us to some very

Unknown:

important advisors for us that have you know, significantly

Unknown:

moved the needle for helium. And then in our very early days, we

Unknown:

were part of a program called Mizzou venture mentoring

Unknown:

service. And all universities have an entrepreneurship. Most

Unknown:

of them do mentoring service. They also have an

Unknown:

entrepreneurship legal clinics. So if you can't afford an

Unknown:

attorney for an IP Console, go to them they might have, you

Unknown:

know, the ability to line one up for you. And those mentors were

Unknown:

our first board of directors before we had a board of

Unknown:

directors and you know, as a company, you want to keep that

Unknown:

board small. So surrendering yourself with a variety of

Unknown:

mentors who can counsel you on you know, your pro forma

Unknown:

you know, legal questions, employee equity plans, you know,

Unknown:

all those kinds of questions that come up in forming a

Unknown:

company, so they don't just have

Unknown:

have to be a

Unknown:

board of directors, you can surround yourself with mentors

Unknown:

and that that early day and they were very instrumental in our

Unknown:

growth and development.

Unknown:

So many good resources in there. So I hope that folks out there

Unknown:

who are listening can can take a lot of those and run with them.

Unknown:

Before we get into the last little segment, and we're

Unknown:

running up on time. So I'm trying because so speedy, I'm

Unknown:

going to do a quick summary of what we talked about. We started

Unknown:

with your past in journalism, and how it was a turn and burn

Unknown:

industry very difficult. You had to tell the story of the worst

Unknown:

day of many people's lives and put yourself in the shoes of

Unknown:

those people to do that. And so you had your own kind of journey

Unknown:

with mental health and mental health struggles that really

Unknown:

motivated you to then later on Create helium in conjunction

Unknown:

with some other experiences, helping veterans and doing lots

Unknown:

of cool stuff, which I just thought was a really cool kind

Unknown:

of origin story for you. Helium is an accessible AR VR world and

Unknown:

set fresh set of worlds. To help you learn about your own neural

Unknown:

patterns. There's an associated helium score to keep track of

Unknown:

how you're interacting with the app and how well you're kind of

Unknown:

learning yourself. The VR is the more immersive form that can

Unknown:

where a lot of think, deep learning can take place. But the

Unknown:

AR is AR is more of kind of an accessible form. And they are,

Unknown:

they do work in conjunction with each other to create portable

Unknown:

experiences to help you no matter where you may be

Unknown:

physically. And when you need time to actually downshift

Unknown:

there, they're asleep. Ium is also a companion product. I love

Unknown:

the names of these things. As a side note, that sleep Ium is a

Unknown:

companion product product specifically designed to

Unknown:

downshift the nervous system, it's needed to be consumed

Unknown:

laying down before bed. And it can be considered part of a

Unknown:

regular sleep hygiene routine, which I thought was a great

Unknown:

term. And we talked about developing cross platform and

Unknown:

how it is difficult, you started having to develop individual

Unknown:

apps for each headset. As time goes on. There's more tools to

Unknown:

help but six years is quite a long time in the VR space. And I

Unknown:

know that at first, you I know you've been through a lot with

Unknown:

getting that app up and running. And as of right now AR and VR

Unknown:

are blending into each other to form XR, so the experiences are

Unknown:

companion to each other and encourage continuity between

Unknown:

what users learned on from one to the other. We then got into

Unknown:

discussion on the metaverse and how it is the place to

Unknown:

collectively or individually experience virtual worlds, but

Unknown:

that you are looking forward to the power that comes from group

Unknown:

activities. And as more folks join experiences will only get

Unknown:

better. We shifted to talk about media diets and why they're

Unknown:

important. There are risks to technology consumption, and

Unknown:

young people in particular are facing a mental health crisis in

Unknown:

conjunction with the rise of social media and emerging

Unknown:

technology. But maintaining a medium diet will help you

Unknown:

prevent or prevent some of those more difficult things that can

Unknown:

come with technology. It's important to temper your media

Unknown:

consumption with reality. And helium media aims to be a

Unknown:

positive fiber in that medium media diet to create calming

Unknown:

memories that you can then return to in stressful

Unknown:

situations. So one thing that I thought was really key is that

Unknown:

you like to create memories for people who may not be able to

Unknown:

actually explore those same physical worlds, or have access

Unknown:

to those same physical worlds but still can implant the memory

Unknown:

to return to either in a awake, a woken state, awakened state,

Unknown:

waken state, or a dream state, whatever that word may be. And

Unknown:

the last thing we kind of ended on was a discussion on

Unknown:

entrepreneurship and how you were able to build your business

Unknown:

in the middle of the Silicon Prairie in Missouri, talked

Unknown:

about how raising capital can be challenging, especially at first

Unknown:

and particularly for female founders, that you were able to

Unknown:

raise because the product was providing value. And you use

Unknown:

that to build revenue so that you didn't have to them rely as

Unknown:

much on the investment cycle. Family and friends are your

Unknown:

first co founders. So make sure they're ready for the journey as

Unknown:

well. In the early days, people will try to take large amounts

Unknown:

of equity. So be wary. Find good mentors, find good folks who

Unknown:

could provide advice for free, not for free, whatever it may

Unknown:

be, find that balance where you can actually get that advice.

Unknown:

You need to consider whether you need employees or contractors.

Unknown:

As you said in the early days, take a shower, which I think is

Unknown:

akin to slipping on a helium VR said if I would like to say

Unknown:

something myself,

Unknown:

get ironclad work product ownership agreements, get IP

Unknown:

consults, so you can protect yourself very early on and look

Unknown:

for accelerator programs to help you grow. local universities

Unknown:

tend to have a lot of resources, and also look for nationwide

Unknown:

competitions to get your product out there. So I think that

Unknown:

there's so many nuggets for people to follow up on whether

Unknown:

they are people looking to improve their own situations,

Unknown:

people looking to start a company so much in here that I

Unknown:

can't wait to get out in the world. So thank you so much.

Unknown:

The last little segment I love to wrap up with what I call a

Unknown:

moment of reflection. And I sort of asked this question earlier

Unknown:

on. So I would love for you to reach back to a different point

Unknown:

in your career. The question I like to ask is, what is one

Unknown:

thing you would like to tell your younger self about getting

Unknown:

into the emerging tech industry and being successful?

Unknown:

That knows our data. They are fertilizer that will help you

Unknown:

grow and you're going to experience a lot of noes. And

Unknown:

celebrate them because they will get you one step closer to a

Unknown:

yes. Oh, we like that. That's a good reminder can be so easy to

Unknown:

feel down after No, but you're right. It's a it's an

Unknown:

opportunity. Sarah, thank you so much for coming on. This has

Unknown:

been such a joy such a breath of fresh air for me.

Unknown:

You have a beautiful spirit and I can I can feel that among your

Unknown:

listeners as well. So Oh, well thank you that just warms me.

Unknown:

Where can people find you follow you find helium I know it's in

Unknown:

the app store so everyone should go download it. But any social

Unknown:

media channels you want to plug articles whatever, give us give

Unknown:

us the info. We're on Twitter at helium X are tick tock Facebook,

Unknown:

Instagram, LinkedIn and go to try helium.com And that's try h

Unknown:

e a. L I E om like healing tried helium.com So cool. So do you

Unknown:

have any personal social media accounts that you'd like to use?

Unknown:

With an age mid mo SAR ah mid Mo, on on Twitter, among

Unknown:

Tiktok and Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn as well?

Unknown:

Yes. Go follow Sarah. share her work. share her thoughts. So

Unknown:

cool. For all the listeners out there. Be sure to leave those

Unknown:

five star ratings and reviews. Check out other holodeck media

Unknown:

podcasts including men of business and business of

Unknown:

esports. I'm on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn at wins

Unknown:

at Lindsey pass. You catch me Wednesday nights in the business

Unknown:

of esports. Life After Show. You can catch this podcast in your

Unknown:

feed every week. See you next week. Thanks for joining us here

Unknown:

on meta woman. Make sure to subscribe to this podcast

Unknown:

everywhere you get your podcasts leave a five star review and

Unknown:

tell your friends family and colleagues all about us. Also,

Unknown:

make sure to follow meta TV on all socials to get more of the

Unknown:

best Metaverse content anywhere. Tune in every week for another

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for Seeking Alpha

About the Podcast

Seeking Alpha
Your sherpas in the wild worlds of crypto and dating
Join two women in their journeys through their careers, dating, and navigating emerging technology. We're here to learn together, be open about our lives (including the struggles and successes), have fun, and give a platform to some of the most interesting voices around the industry.
Support This Show