NEURO-DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE WITH DEREK GREEN

Christina: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of I Am Christina DiArcangelo. And with me today, I'm so happy to have Derek Green on with us. Well, with me, but us meaning everybody who listens and views. I don't want you guys to think I've cracked up here. That I have a whole tribe of people. I don't. But welcome, Derek. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Derek: The pleasure to be with you again. Thank you for all the education and information you provide to listeners and those who come across your podcast.

Christina: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Derek, why don't you tell everyone a little bit about yourself, what you've been doing, maybe about your new role, as much as you're allowed to talk about and we can go from there.

Derek: Well, you know, I've had a great opportunity to represent citizens of City of Philadelphia as an at large member city council. Last year, I resigned to run for mayor, and that was a quite exhilarating experience. But also it was a good opportunity to continue to connect with people around the city of Philadelphia and beyond. People still to this day reach out to me about my campaign. And because of the challenges in reference to fundraising, I made the very difficult decision to suspend my campaign, and I did endorse the eventual winner of the Democratic primary. Since then, I call myself a citizen at large or a recovering elected official. So I'm still with my law firm, where I've been since 2015, also joined another firm, but continue to do the work that I've done, even though I'm no longer an elected official, but still helping provide advocacy for people with all perspectives. And one of the blessings that I really enjoyed in my campaign was the ability to really showcase my family life, especially my son. Many people who live in northwest part of the city have seen my son grow up from me pushing him to community meetings in a stroller to now him being 22 and so being able to share some of our journey in the campaign through our campaign commercial was something that was also a great joy. And my wife has a funny photo and video of my son in our kitchen seeing the commercial come on TV, and he like, oh, wait, that's me. And just some of the people just recognizing both him when he was at St. Joe's and other environments. So that was a real blessing, to be able to share that part of my nine to five life as an elected official with my home life as well.

Christina: I love that I'm smiling widely because I had already known about your son, right. Because I work on the cannabis side, and I know you're pro cannabis as it relates to therapeutic advancements, relational to clinical research, because I try to make sure we're clear about that. So people don't think you think it's okay to just smoke cannabis or whatever, and it's going to help you. So I always like to designate that but the advancements with respect to autism and cannabinoid work that's out there. And we were blessed in our state when we first had cannabis approved by our governor, Governor Wolf. We have this awesome program for multiple indications, one of which being autism. And one of our original companies that came in Ilara Healthcare, which is now Zalera. And I know you know the guys at Zalera because I also know them and work with them through all of my companies to support them. They did a lot of work in autism early on at Ilera and developed a product called Hope, Hope One and Two, that you can still get in the Pennsylvania program. You can also get it in DC and also in Louisiana, that product. And it was specifically formulated for autism. So I don't mean to turn this into a cannabis discussion, but that's why I know about your son.

Derek: And it's interesting as someone who followed the conversations even before the legislation was introduced allowing medical cannabis, now, it was a group of mothers who had children on the spectrum, who had different physical or learning differences, who really advocated in the General Assembly to move that legislation forward. And they really did Yeoman's work to really make and change the narrative of what people may have traditionally thought regarding cannabis and explain why medical cannabis was important for not only their family, but for other families to help improve the quality of life of constituents in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And it really helped to move and change the direction of cannabis as it relates to what happens here in the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania. I know there's conversations now regarding adult use cannabis. All of the states surrounding us now, even Delaware, have been moving in that space. And so now we have a new governor and we also have some new leadership in Harrisburg, just like we'll have new leadership here in Philadelphia both in the mayor's office and in city council. And so that provides opportunities to continue those conversations about the benefits of cannabis and how it can improve the quality of life for citizens within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Christina: I'm really proud that we're located in Pennsylvania. I know you've watched some of my other podcasts where sometimes this will come up and I talk about I've had Dr. Donner on how many times and he's a physician here in the Commonwealth and has seen, I don't know, 250,000 patients through compassionate certification centers when they first opened. And he and I do a lot of research together. But he also, whenever we have patients that come through Affinity Patient Advocacy that need a card, we refer directly into CCC so that people can get their medical cards and see the benefits of cannabinoid treatments. Therapies otherwise, I think it's important that we continue to do the research so that we can show that this actually works for these therapeutic areas, especially in cases like autism. And you might not even know this, Derek, but I found out last year that I'm spectral. I went all these years of my life thinking that the things I had were anxiety related or ADHD. As a female, I'm not trying to talk about it in a bad way, but as a female, a lot of times we're misdiagnosed more towards mental health, things like ADHD and anxiety or depression. And so I finally which is ridiculous, but I finally took the testing for it, which you would think that I would have already done considering I'm a clinical researcher. But I finally did it. And when I got the results back, I surely wasn't surprised. I have a nephew who's autistic. That goes to Pitt. He's pre med. And so, you know, I've watched Cameron over the years and the struggles and things, and I could always relate to him, right? Always relate to this kid as if he was my know. And once I found that out for myself, it just made things a little bit easier for me because I would get criticized in situations because of the things I do. And I don't do it on purpose. Like, I don't like people in my space for long periods of time, don't like it, don't want you in my house for long periods of time unless you're my kid. I just I don't like it. And even when my father would come to visit me when I lived in California and I loved my father so much, he was my main guy, after a couple days I'd be like, you got to get out of here. It's getting on my nerves. And I just couldn't help myself in all these years, these little things I did, people would talk about me and I couldn't help it. And I kept saying I could not help it. So once I got the diagnosis, I was like, oh, I could take a deep breath.

Derek: And I think what that diagnosis provided for you, like it has done for others, is clarity. Because there are a number of people, and my wife and I have seen this as well, people that we've known maybe decades before. But because cannabis and even ADHD is still somewhat relatively newly discussed in reference to research and treatment, but with a much broader awareness of these different dynamics of differences. And so now, because of a much more open conversation about these perspectives, people are now doing like you have done, have gone back and said, wait a minute, maybe I should do some additional research on myself, and that would explain a whole lot of things. And also it will also help to deal with some of the anxiety and challenges because now you have an understanding why there are certain, for lack of better word, triggers that create anxiety. But when you have that knowledge going in, it makes it easier. And I think that's something that out of the conversation regarding autism and the phrase being on the spectrum has helped to raise awareness not only for those who are on the spectrum, because it's a spectrum for a reason. Some of the things that are challenges for Julian may not be the same for someone who's also on the spectrum. And if you've met one person on the spectrum, that means you've met one person on the spectrum.

Christina: That's right

Derek: a spectrum, because it's a broad range of perspectives. And I think now, as we have become, as a society much more educated, that has provided some clarity for a number of people who were thinking, why has this caused such a problem? Now I have a better way to move forward and address some of those challenges.

Christina: I think it's awesome. And for me, I consider it my superpower because I have so many different companies, right? And a lot of times, people are like, how does she have, like, a CRO, a nonprofit, a tech company, the brand, the magazine, the podcast? How does she do all this? Right? It's the way my brain is wired, right? So I see things, and I'm creative because I have that ability, because I feel as though this is my superpower. So I can switch really fast from one thing to the like here, we're shooting a podcast, right? We're in the middle of the afternoon. I'm doing something with my tech people. This morning. I talked to one of my interns for the nonprofit. I'm doing stuff for the event, all these things. I'm doing all these weird things, and now I'm on here, and I can just switch. For me, I can switch very easily. I know that not everybody could do that, right? And so for me, I was like, oh, I now get it. And Derek, I was 46 when I figured this out. I just turned 47. So then I have a conversation with my mom, like, hey, Mom, I just want to let you know, right? And she's like, no, it's a death sentence. Like, oh, no, you're not autistic. You're fine. I'm like, mom, that doesn't mean that I'm not okay because I'm autistic. It just means that my brain works differently. And now we have some clarity, mom, as to why these things that I do make sense, right? For me, it was a way to go, oh, okay, now I know, right? And then I have a ten year old, right? So my son has some mental health disorders that I've openly talked about, but he hasn't picked up yet. On the spectrum side, he's close. I see a lot of the same things, similar to some of the things I do, but then he does things different. There's different things. Like, you mentioned different things. I'm his Mama. Right?

Derek: But what's interesting also not only provides clarity, but also gives a perspective that being comfortable with. I have this learning difference, and I'm glad that you use a phrase, this is your superpower. Because when I think of my son, people go through this perspective. And you kind of got that from your mother when she said, oh, it's okay, because when someone gets the diagnosis or the perspective, maybe on the spectrum, it's often put in a negative perspective and how now that you know, things are going to become more challenging. And when I think of my son, Julian would not be Julian if he was not on the spectrum. That is an aspect of who he is as part of what makes him who we love and how he does certain things. And I know there was also a process of trying to find a quote unquote, cure. Well, it's not about finding a cure. It's more about awareness and giving people that perspective and allowing people to be comfortable that this is a difference that they have. And that's why I often use the phrase difference as opposed to disability because of the negative connotations that the word disability has, that you're not something because you're disabled, you're not whereas a difference just says, well, this is different than that, doesn't create a lesser or greater. It's just a different.

Christina: I agree. I try to just look at it now as, like I said, my superpower, right? And my teams all know because it's hard to work with me sometimes, like I mentioned, because I'll be like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And if I have staff that goes across the entire, all the companies, which I do, some go across, all across. I can go real fast. They're trying to keep up with me. So then I have to slow myself down a little bit because I recognize right, because now I know. Whereas before I would just do it, Derek, and not know why I was doing it, and I would just do it, and then I would apologize all the time, right, because I felt different. I've always felt different. And now I'm able to say, well, you know what? I feel different, but I feel different in a good way because I know what I'm able to do and I know how I can help people with this.

Derek: Exactly. And that's why when you think about how complex our lives are, we saw that especially during the pandemic or other portion of the pandemic where we're on Skype, Microsoft Teams, Zoom all these different platforms and trying to navigate and communicate with people in a lot of different ways. And so many different things come at you during the course of just work. Someone talked to you about an issue you were working with someone on maybe two days ago, but that's happened during the middle of a meeting, and like, an idea popped in your head. So to be able to navigate through all these different things that are happening simultaneously is definitely what I would say is a superpower because of the complexities of life, because you're not going to always get the answer to your question exactly when you want, but you can be in a totally different conversation. And in that conversation, an answer or solution to something you're working on a day or a week ago may come up. But to be able to make that jump and still continue with the conversation you're currently in. But understand, this information is going to help you in a conversation that you were in maybe a week ago. And that goes back to that ability. And I would say that superpower. That comes with this difference.

Christina: I love that you say that because we don't talk regularly, right? And so when you said that, that's exactly like I swear that's exactly what happens, right? All of a sudden I always go crown down, right? Crown chakra down. I'm like it just goes down, right? And all of a sudden I go and so then I write myself a note on my phone. I send myself a text message to my other phone, right? So that way I have it recorded so I don't forget about it. And then I have this special I bought this special journal. I went to Disney with my son at spring break this year and I saw this really cool Cinderella journal. Takes me back to when I was a little girl and it's beautiful. It's got this binding and has like a little lock thing and jewels and all this. I keep it next to my bed because a lot of times when I get to a meditative state at night when I can calm myself down, I think of ideas then. So what I do now is I'll just journal those in my journal and then I act on them the next day right when I wake. So it's just funny that you mentioned that ironic because it happens to me all the time. It just happens all of a sudden. You're like it's like a light bulb. So it's really cool.

Derek: Right. And it's one of those things that once again is rephrasing, especially for younger people that we find because there's so much happening to young people now, all different inputs from social media, all of these devices and inputs and just trying to navigate the world is much different than you and I. We are much less seasoned, I would say. And just trying to understand this current life and being isolated and the pandemic didn't help, but it's being aware of these different perspectives I think is going to make it easier for people to be more cognizant of these challenges. And also some of the great benefits of having people who are neurodiverse and how they can add into the work environment because that neurodiversity can make them a real asset. And I'm seeing that with some of the organizations I'm involved in, like Special Olympics, Southeastern PA, that was cities of inclusion, and they're seeing a lot of corporations and employers really embracing neurodiverse applicants and employees.

Christina: Well, you know, we look at know across all of our companies because first, before I even know I am who I am today, because we understand patients and we try to support patients across all the companies. For us, we want to embrace everyone. One of my board members on APA who's the head of fundraising, has GBS. She has she was paralyzed at one point, all these things, and she sits on our board as the head of fundraising because she is fully able to still perform her duties. She does not have to be in the office. We are able to work from home, as we learned in COVID. We can work from home. You know, for me, I was happy with that aspect because I was, okay, well, all my people can still do what they need to do. And when we got off of the COVID track, we still stayed in that environment. We meet when we can in person, but everybody still kind of does what they want work wise. But I think for people who are challenged and not able to get into the office, these types of situations are great. And more companies should embrace this because they all have superpowers. And as long as you can just really listen and talk to someone, they'll tell you things that you don't even have to ask.

Derek: Absolutely. If you give people a platform, communicate, they will let you know.

Christina: Absolutely. Okay, well, I think this would be a good place for us to wrap up because you and I obviously could talk for hours. And thank you so much for just being so willing to come on and to talk to me about these types of things. It's really important that we provide this information to people so that they understand that there's people like us out there that believe in them.

Derek: Absolutely. It's always a pleasure, and thank you for sharing, because I think sharing is one of the ways that provides the opportunity for more people to be not only willing to find out if this is an aspect of their lives, but also for families, have a better understanding. And that's why I also share like I did in my campaign, our life's journey, so people can see that if you have a child that has a learned difference called autism, there are many other people going through the same journey that you are. And so sharing like you did provides clarity not only for you, but also can provide other clarity, also provide clarity to others who may be listening to this podcast and may say, hey, I'm going to take a similar step.

Christina: I agree with you completely. So again, thank you so much for being on today. We'll have to have you back on once you sink your teeth into your new role, so we could talk about some of that stuff. But thank you so much. And as you know, we always say in all of our podcasts. Remember, we are the same. I am Christina DiArcangelo. Thank you.