Join the community! The Diabetes App with Co-Founder & COO Taylor Companion

Taylor: 00:00:00

What's up everybody.

Taylor: 00:00:01

Welcome back to another episode of healing in hindsight, your no, BS

Taylor: 00:00:05

source for thriving with diabetes.

Taylor: 00:00:07

I'm Taylor, Daniele.

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And if you're new around here, welcome.

Taylor: 00:00:11

If you are returning welcome back and today's episode, I'm pretty excited

Taylor: 00:00:16

about, I know I say that every episode, I really think I need to start.

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And I'm pretty excited counter to counter.

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How many times I say I'm excited, but it's the truth.

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Like I'm not even lying about it because today I have the diabetes app on the

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show and I'm pretty excited about it.

Taylor: 00:00:40

Okay.

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Because this is one of the apps that has been such a great exhale

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is the best way I can describe it.

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There's a whole app just for diabetics.

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They are, a whole little, not even little, it's like just a whole space

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in the app world for us, where we can learn so many things from each other

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we'll we can connect with one another.

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They have spaces for type one conversations, type two

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conversations, all conversations, even if you're non-diabetic,

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there's plenty of resources on it.

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It's been a really cool application to use.

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They do live events within it.

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They do giveaways, all types of things just to benefit us.

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And I have thoroughly enjoyed using it.

Taylor: 00:01:28

I haven't been on the platform that long.

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Maybe two months, almost two months now, but it's been a great experience

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to be able to scroll through and read through people's stories and, the highs,

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the lows, literally the good days, the bad days and everything in between.

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It's been a great application to, keep and utilize whether on my phone or

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on my computer, whenever I just want to really tune into the community and

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hear other perspectives outside my own and see what things people are

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doing to help with their management.

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So I'm excited to have their COO Taylor.

Taylor: 00:02:06

You heard me, right?

Taylor: 00:02:07

It's a double Taylor show.

Taylor: 00:02:09

I'm pretty stoked about the first too.

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I know that there are other tailors out there.

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I know there's another Taylor.

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Who's also in the diabetic space, so, but this particular Taylor is one of

Taylor: 00:02:20

the founders of the diabetes app and I just really appreciate her time and

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being able to come on and, talk about the early days of when they decided to

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get started to what they're doing now, to what they'd like to do in the future.

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And we had such a good chat about how great this app is and all of the

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perspectives that it brings together.

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So with that being said, let's get to it.

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My conversation with Taylor, the COO of the diabetes app, let's do it.

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You're listening to healing in hindsight.

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You're a no BS source for thriving with diabetes.

Taylor: 00:02:58

What's up guys, I'm Taylor, Danielle, and it's my goal to help millennial

Taylor: 00:03:02

diabetics like myself, live an amazing life without your diagnosis,

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getting in the way I get it.

Taylor: 00:03:08

I was diagnosed back in 2015 with type two days.

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And it was really hard to find people around my age to understand

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how to travel, socialize, or even have meaningful relationships.

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But I feel like with a focus on mindset, perspective and nutrition together, we

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can take back our health and our lives consider this the red table talk, but for

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diabetics minus the entanglements though.

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So let's do it.

Taylor: 00:03:36

All right.

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Hi Taylor.

Taylor: 00:03:38

Hello.

Taylor: 00:03:39

How are you?

Taylor C: 00:03:41

I am good.

Taylor C: 00:03:42

How are you today?

Taylor: 00:03:44

I'm I'm excited to talk to a twin today.

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This is going to be fun.

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you are the first, now that I think about it I know that there is another Taylor

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in the diabetes space on Instagram.

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And she and I have interacted on clubhouse and things, but you're my first.

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Other Taylor that I've interviewed.

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So I'm really excited.

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I will try not to trip myself up saying a name that we share, but it's really

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cool to have you on today and to talk about an application and community that

Taylor: 00:04:14

is actually still fairly new to me.

Taylor: 00:04:16

I've seen a couple of friends use the diabetes app and I was like, wait, what?

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We've got an app.

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So, it's been really cool to hang out in the community, see all the

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events and things that y'all put on and to get to learn more about what

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you do and how the company runs.

Taylor: 00:04:33

So welcome.

Taylor C: 00:04:35

Thanks you I'm so happy to be here.

Taylor C: 00:04:37

And you're the first Taylor I've ever other Taylor I've ever met.

Taylor C: 00:04:39

So it's a first for me too.

Taylor C: 00:04:42

Yeah I've heard of other Taylor's.

Taylor C: 00:04:44

Never spoken to another one, but.

Taylor: 00:04:47

Okay.

Taylor: 00:04:47

So, so I gotta ask because I've gotten mixed answers on this.

Taylor: 00:04:53

I feel like Riley, so, but I guess I'm a little bitter Taylor swift, like

Taylor: 00:05:03

I used to, so my past roles before I started to dive into

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podcasting full-time is I worked in training and customer support.

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So I would literally teach people how to either answer the phones, email

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chat, or whatever, to interact in the customer service department, I had a

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operations team manager role at one point.

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And when I used to answer the phones, it was really frustrating because

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you'll say, Hey, thanks for calling in.

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My name is Taylor.

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And they're like, Kayla, Nicole, I don't know how.

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Works.

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And so, Taylor swift is blown up since then and it was just

Taylor: 00:05:43

like Taylor, like swift Taylor.

Taylor: 00:05:48

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:05:48

So I spent a good portion of my corporate career having to

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refer to myself as T swift.

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And it's ruined my life, just a little bit

Taylor C: 00:06:02

actually in the same boat.

Taylor C: 00:06:03

So I totally understand.

Taylor C: 00:06:04

Or I'll say yeah, my name is Taylor swift.

Taylor: 00:06:08

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:06:08

So I don't write songs about every bad relationship that I've had.

Taylor: 00:06:12

I keep that private, no shade against Taylor swift.

Taylor: 00:06:15

It's just unfortunate that out of all the tailors, which I fun fact

Taylor: 00:06:19

I was named after the singer Taylor Dane, my middle name is Daniele.

Taylor: 00:06:23

But.

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And so I'm fine with that.

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And I had one person one time, they saw the first three letters

Taylor: 00:06:31

of my middle name and for whatever reason, he was an older gentleman.

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He was like, oh wait, are you Taylor Dane?

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And I'm like, okay.

Taylor: 00:06:38

I really hate to be that person, Taylor, Dan's not black.

Taylor: 00:06:41

So I don't know how you got that.

Taylor: 00:06:44

That's a compliment though.

Taylor: 00:06:45

I appreciate it.

Taylor: 00:06:46

But no, I'm not the infamous Taylor Dane who was a singer back in the nineties.

Taylor: 00:06:52

So, but yeah it's just been a fun ride to see the rise of

Taylor: 00:06:56

Taylor's, but hers takes the cake.

Taylor: 00:06:59

So any hoop, I am excited to dive in to learn more about you and the

Taylor: 00:07:05

company and the things that you do.

Taylor: 00:07:06

So why don't we start out with just letting us know where

Taylor: 00:07:10

you're from and how did you get involved with the diabetes app.

Taylor C: 00:07:15

Yeah, for sure.

Taylor C: 00:07:16

So I am from Toronto Ontario.

Taylor C: 00:07:18

So in Canada grew up there have never lived anywhere else.

Taylor C: 00:07:22

And I'm actually one of the founding members of the diabetes app.

Taylor C: 00:07:26

I'm currently the COO of the company.

Taylor C: 00:07:30

But yes, I am one of five people that founded the diabetes.

Taylor: 00:07:36

Awesome.

Taylor: 00:07:37

So my understanding is you are not diabetic, correct?

Taylor: 00:07:41

That is correct.

Taylor: 00:07:43

Awesome.

Taylor: 00:07:43

So how did you join these groups of people to found this app?

Taylor: 00:07:48

And what's been your experience working with such a deep community, honestly,

Taylor: 00:07:54

and trying to manage such a complex.

Taylor C: 00:07:58

That's a great question.

Taylor C: 00:07:59

So originally there was five of us.

Taylor C: 00:08:02

We were working on a separate project all in Toronto.

Taylor C: 00:08:06

We had a downtown office who are coworking together.

Taylor C: 00:08:08

And our CEO, also one of the founders Sean, one of his very close family

Taylor C: 00:08:14

members was actually diagnosed with T1 really late in his life.

Taylor C: 00:08:20

And he was personally like helping him through that.

Taylor C: 00:08:23

It was a really big adjustment for him as I could imagine.

Taylor C: 00:08:27

And that kind of sparked the idea because I guess as he was helping him,

Taylor C: 00:08:32

he realized that there wasn't a lot of that he could find like online peer

Taylor C: 00:08:36

support there wasn't like one space.

Taylor C: 00:08:38

It was lots of Facebook groups and whatnot, but sometimes they were a little

Taylor C: 00:08:42

bit noisy and he was older, so he wasn't really interested in, searching through

Taylor C: 00:08:45

Facebook and trying to find the right group, the wrong group, all that stuff.

Taylor C: 00:08:49

So that's what sparked the concept, cause he found this problem area and was like,

Taylor C: 00:08:55

maybe that's something that we can work

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with.

Taylor: 00:08:58

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:08:58

That's pretty awesome.

Taylor: 00:08:59

As someone who was diagnosed, so I was diagnosed with type two in 2015

Taylor: 00:09:04

and same, this whole platform was started because I went online and.

Taylor: 00:09:09

Where is everybody I'm supposed to have a group of people and get to learn from.

Taylor: 00:09:13

And so, kudos to you guys for deciding to step in and fill that need,

Taylor: 00:09:17

because like you said even if you are tech savvy and you hop on Facebook,

Taylor: 00:09:20

Facebook is just a black hole now.

Taylor: 00:09:23

And so trying to find the right crowd, the right people people who are open-minded,

Taylor: 00:09:28

because I'm sure you've learned and just operating with the community, like no

Taylor: 00:09:32

diagnosis is cookie cutter and you find a lot of those cookie cutter groups.

Taylor: 00:09:37

There was a couple that I was in where you can only talk about this

Taylor: 00:09:40

way of eating and if you reference anything that falls outside, I'm like,

Taylor: 00:09:44

that's, that doesn't work for me.

Taylor: 00:09:47

So, wow.

Taylor: 00:09:48

That's really special that it was through an extra with a friend.

Taylor: 00:09:50

So I know CEO, chief operating officer.

Taylor: 00:09:55

Yeah, my corporate vernacular still there.

Taylor: 00:09:56

Okay.

Taylor: 00:09:57

So what did you, what do you currently head up and how are you helping to shape

Taylor: 00:10:03

the app to be so useful for diabetics?

Taylor C: 00:10:06

Yeah, for sure.

Taylor C: 00:10:07

So I guess I can take you through a little bit of the history.

Taylor C: 00:10:11

So yeah, like I said, the conception started between the five of us.

Taylor C: 00:10:16

I will mention as well one of the other founding members, she was a nurse worked

Taylor C: 00:10:20

with people with both types beforehand and myself, as well as the other young

Taylor C: 00:10:26

lady had diabetics in our family.

Taylor C: 00:10:27

So it wasn't like we were very outside of the issue.

Taylor C: 00:10:29

But obviously at the time when we were thinking about doing

Taylor C: 00:10:33

this, we were a team of five.

Taylor C: 00:10:35

So there, currently we're a team of 20, so we've grown in the past, year and a half.

Taylor C: 00:10:39

But we were pretty much doing a lot of the stuff on our own.

Taylor C: 00:10:41

So personally my role we came up with the idea, but I took on more

Taylor C: 00:10:45

of the marketing at the beginning.

Taylor C: 00:10:47

Ended up growing that department.

Taylor C: 00:10:49

I was the CMO for a while.

Taylor C: 00:10:51

And then as of 2021, I transitioned into COO taken over operations.

Taylor C: 00:10:57

My biggest role at the company right now is managing pretty much most of the

Taylor C: 00:11:02

personnel on our team to ensure that, the vision of the company is properly

Taylor C: 00:11:07

executed upon and the big the big vision, the big strategies, all that stuff is

Taylor C: 00:11:11

still comes from that core four and five.

Taylor C: 00:11:13

And it's my job to make sure that's executed.

Taylor: 00:11:18

That's awesome.

Taylor: 00:11:19

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:11:19

I can only imagine five people and you're having to wear so many

Taylor: 00:11:23

hats and as a two person show, there's still a lot of hats to wear.

Taylor: 00:11:28

So congrats on your growth, by the way, I've worked in startups

Taylor: 00:11:31

and I know the hustle is a real to try to get all together.

Taylor: 00:11:34

So I'm curious, like what were some of the technical challenges that you guys face?

Taylor: 00:11:39

Like you decide, I want to do an app and I remember at least back from

Taylor: 00:11:43

some of the companies that I've been with that were like a lot smaller.

Taylor: 00:11:46

The first people that you're trying to get on board are your developers.

Taylor: 00:11:50

So that way all the technical stuff is getting taken care of.

Taylor: 00:11:53

So as a five person team, how did look for and find that technical talent,

Taylor: 00:11:57

if it wasn't already there in order to start the foundations of build.

Taylor C: 00:12:02

That's a really great question.

Taylor C: 00:12:03

So at the beginning as well, we really needed to lean on the community in

Taylor C: 00:12:09

itself, which goes into the technical capabilities because we didn't want to

Taylor C: 00:12:14

guess like what the community wanted.

Taylor C: 00:12:17

So, we started off market testing just as a really simple concept.

Taylor C: 00:12:21

Blended them to an email sign up.

Taylor C: 00:12:23

If you're interested in this sign up for this email we got a lot of hits.

Taylor C: 00:12:26

We got a lot of growth just on that email list without even having a platform.

Taylor C: 00:12:30

And from there before we even decided to build anything, we did focus groups.

Taylor C: 00:12:34

We did surveys, we sat down with type ones.

Taylor C: 00:12:37

We sat down with type twos, what would you want to see from this community?

Taylor C: 00:12:40

And what's lacking and all of that.

Taylor C: 00:12:42

And once we had that list that's when the kind of the search came came to fruition.

Taylor C: 00:12:47

And what we had decided would be the easiest course of action because

Taylor C: 00:12:50

yes, we got a lot of traction with just that email sign up.

Taylor C: 00:12:53

We had a lot of people interested in, you've been sitting

Taylor C: 00:12:56

down with us for the groups.

Taylor C: 00:12:57

There wasn't like a, what am I trying to say?

Taylor C: 00:13:01

It wasn't a guarantee that they would download the app, that they

Taylor C: 00:13:04

would actually come and use it.

Taylor C: 00:13:05

You know what I mean?

Taylor C: 00:13:06

So we actually found different, like almost like white label apps where

Taylor C: 00:13:12

you can just plug in your branding.

Taylor C: 00:13:13

You can tweak certain features and you're good to go.

Taylor C: 00:13:16

So that's what we ended up going with.

Taylor C: 00:13:18

And we worked with this third party company to brand it, how we

Taylor C: 00:13:21

wanted to tweak the features as we wanted to and publish it that way.

Taylor C: 00:13:25

And we were able to soft launch in July of 2020 so that we can test to

Taylor C: 00:13:31

see if this was something viable.

Taylor C: 00:13:33

Very obviously was we were able to grow, as of right now, we're

Taylor C: 00:13:36

sitting at just over 13,000 users with, grassroots marketing budget.

Taylor C: 00:13:40

So I think that's a really great win on our side.

Taylor C: 00:13:43

And since about, I would say January of 20, 21 we've been taking the steps

Taylor C: 00:13:48

to build our own proprietary app.

Taylor: 00:13:52

Nice, nice.

Taylor: 00:13:53

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:13:53

I've seen the rise of these you make like we've already built it,

Taylor: 00:13:59

make it your own type applications.

Taylor: 00:14:01

What I think is really smart because if you're not in a position to spend the.

Taylor: 00:14:07

Gosh, budgeting for developers is expensive.

Taylor: 00:14:10

So you don't have the room for that.

Taylor: 00:14:12

It's a great stepping stone to be able to, like you said, test things out, create

Taylor: 00:14:16

the community that you want and know what you'd like to have when you built it.

Taylor: 00:14:20

So that makes me curious now that you guys have launched and, I know

Taylor: 00:14:23

we just had a huge update to the desktop and the main app, which it

Taylor: 00:14:27

looks really clean and really nice.

Taylor: 00:14:29

What were some of the must haves when you guys were putting together, over

Taylor: 00:14:33

this kind of foundational application, like these have to be here, if you want

Taylor: 00:14:37

to really see this community thrive.

Taylor C: 00:14:42

So I think a big part of that also came, like I said, at the

Taylor C: 00:14:46

beginning we did a lot of focus groups.

Taylor C: 00:14:48

We continue to do focus groups and user interviews with users on the app, just to

Taylor C: 00:14:52

make sure that, we're staying up to date.

Taylor C: 00:14:54

If we want to add something, does this make sense for you?

Taylor C: 00:14:56

I think that we'll always come back to our, before we come

Taylor C: 00:14:59

out with anything that's new.

Taylor C: 00:15:01

Like it always comes back to something that the community said that they wanted.

Taylor C: 00:15:04

Especially because some of us are not diabetic and we don't want

Taylor C: 00:15:07

to make those decisions for you.

Taylor C: 00:15:09

This is supposed to be a community where you feel safe.

Taylor C: 00:15:11

So, we can't make those decisions just guessing.

Taylor C: 00:15:13

So on that point, like a lot of the features that we had came up with

Taylor C: 00:15:18

were actually things that like the community said that they wanted.

Taylor C: 00:15:22

So, having articles, having resources so that you can know, you can

Taylor C: 00:15:27

listen to people's stories find something that's familiar, making

Taylor C: 00:15:29

sure that those feeds stayed open.

Taylor C: 00:15:31

They weren't private as well.

Taylor C: 00:15:34

The live streams were also something that people said that they really liked.

Taylor C: 00:15:37

So we had to make sure that we kept all of that.

Taylor C: 00:15:39

And I think the other thing which could potentially be a little bit

Taylor C: 00:15:42

controversial depending on where you fall.

Taylor C: 00:15:44

But when we, like I said, at the beginning, did our groups with, we did

Taylor C: 00:15:47

T1 groups and we did teach you groups.

Taylor C: 00:15:50

And we found that the T ones really wanted their own space.

Taylor C: 00:15:53

They wanted their separate kind of space so that they can talk to

Taylor C: 00:15:56

each other because, it's a vastly different kind of problem than what

Taylor C: 00:16:00

teachers would be going through.

Taylor C: 00:16:02

And what we did talk to teachers teach, you said that, I don't mind, like I would

Taylor C: 00:16:05

be with everybody, I could be alone.

Taylor C: 00:16:07

It really doesn't matter.

Taylor C: 00:16:08

They're very flexible.

Taylor C: 00:16:09

But that was something that we found from the T1 community that

Taylor C: 00:16:11

they wanted their own space.

Taylor C: 00:16:13

So that was also something that we had to be very sensitive to.

Taylor C: 00:16:16

If you don't want, if they don't want to be lumped in together with everybody

Taylor C: 00:16:19

else and we're not going to make them.

Taylor C: 00:16:21

Sure.

Taylor C: 00:16:21

So that was also something that was a high priority.

Taylor: 00:16:25

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:16:25

It's interesting because T2 is such a.

Taylor: 00:16:29

It's a kind of depends on where you fall.

Taylor: 00:16:31

So for example, I'm a medication based, but my dad takes both medication

Taylor: 00:16:37

and insulin, so it just varies.

Taylor: 00:16:39

And now you've got type three C and you've got Modi and it's really crazy

Taylor: 00:16:45

how the lines are starting to blur a bit.

Taylor: 00:16:47

And it's more at least how I S I've started using it, like type

Taylor: 00:16:52

one and type two don't care to me.

Taylor: 00:16:53

It's like insulin depends.

Taylor: 00:16:56

Or not because it's starting to get such a mixed bag now, and

Taylor: 00:17:00

it's just like trying to keep up.

Taylor: 00:17:01

And, you get to a point where people finally understand the difference

Taylor: 00:17:05

between a type one and a type two, and then you might show up as a type

Taylor: 00:17:09

two or some with modem, yeah, take insulin, but you're not type one.

Taylor: 00:17:13

You're like, so it's becoming such a mixed bag, but I still appreciate and

Taylor: 00:17:17

understand there are just some aspects that I myself will just not understand.

Taylor: 00:17:22

I don't know what it's like.

Taylor: 00:17:24

We're a pump.

Taylor: 00:17:25

I do have a shot within my regimen, but it's not insulin, so it's not

Taylor: 00:17:29

something that I like have to depend on in order to carry out my day.

Taylor: 00:17:34

So I totally understand and respect it because it's different.

Taylor: 00:17:37

And a lot of people that I've talked to this has been since they were kids and

Taylor: 00:17:41

that's one area I will just never know when I'm like all the awards to you.

Taylor: 00:17:45

I cannot imagine.

Taylor: 00:17:47

I barely can hand it, being in my mid twenties.

Taylor: 00:17:49

So I appreciate that you guys like really focused a lot on just hearing

Taylor: 00:17:54

people's opinions and thoughts and how you can create something that is going

Taylor: 00:17:58

to allow them to feel comfortable.

Taylor: 00:18:00

Cause it's, like I said, it's hard, especially in the Facebook world.

Taylor: 00:18:03

It's so hard.

Taylor: 00:18:04

So what were some of the responses from, early adopters of the app?

Taylor: 00:18:08

Like w was there any particular feedback that you guys got or was an overall, just

Taylor: 00:18:12

like a really good positive experience?

Taylor: 00:18:14

Cause I know launching anything is still quite scary and you want to hope that

Taylor: 00:18:18

people like it, but with its current growth, I imagine the people who got

Taylor: 00:18:21

in early had had a lot of good things.

Taylor C: 00:18:24

Yeah.

Taylor C: 00:18:25

We're really lucky that a lot of the people that we came across, even in our

Taylor C: 00:18:30

user groups, like before we even launched are still members to this day we keep in

Taylor C: 00:18:34

contact with, and we talk to them all the time and it was actually really awesome

Taylor C: 00:18:38

to build those relationships with them.

Taylor C: 00:18:41

And yeah, I would say that mostly the feedback was positive.

Taylor C: 00:18:43

I think it did take a little bit for them to get used to navigating.

Taylor C: 00:18:48

I don't know if he's like at the time the layout was a little bit different.

Taylor C: 00:18:50

There was like group folders on the homepage.

Taylor C: 00:18:52

You would click type one, you would click type two, or there

Taylor C: 00:18:54

was an all type section where you could communicate with everybody.

Taylor C: 00:18:57

Now it's a feed, so same kind of concept, but you can customize what you see

Taylor C: 00:19:01

on your feed from different groups.

Taylor C: 00:19:03

But yeah, like it was all ultimately positive.

Taylor C: 00:19:05

It was something that people were like, I'm so glad that you guys did this,

Taylor C: 00:19:08

that there's finally a spot that's just for us that includes everybody.

Taylor C: 00:19:11

Cause that was another thing that we got when we were doing groups that, there's

Taylor C: 00:19:14

type one apps and there's type two apps, but there's not like all of us together

Taylor C: 00:19:19

kind of thing which we wanted to do.

Taylor C: 00:19:21

And just having a space.

Taylor C: 00:19:22

I think people were really happy that there was a space.

Taylor C: 00:19:25

A lot of the people that we talk to.

Taylor C: 00:19:28

In those groups, or even just in general having a support group or

Taylor C: 00:19:31

mental health, like a lot of them brought up that wasn't something that

Taylor C: 00:19:34

was discussed when they were diagnosed.

Taylor C: 00:19:36

It was you're going to go on medication and that's what your goal is.

Taylor C: 00:19:39

And that's it like good luck which I found shocking personally.

Taylor C: 00:19:42

Cause you would think as the, like in some of these people were diagnosed

Taylor C: 00:19:45

as a year ago, two years ago and just the rise of talking about mental

Taylor C: 00:19:49

health and its importance and all that stuff, you would think that would be

Taylor C: 00:19:52

something that would be talked about.

Taylor C: 00:19:53

And it wasn't, so I was I was honestly shocked and so a lot of people were

Taylor C: 00:19:57

thank you so much for building this.

Taylor C: 00:19:59

So yeah.

Taylor C: 00:19:59

To answer your question, it was positive.

Taylor: 00:20:03

Good.

Taylor: 00:20:03

And no, you were right on I had a guest last season Dr.

Taylor: 00:20:06

Gregory doodle.

Taylor: 00:20:07

Who's an endocrinologist in New York and he.

Taylor: 00:20:11

Day and night trying to fight for others in his same field.

Taylor: 00:20:15

So Hey, you have to stop and pay attention to this.

Taylor: 00:20:19

And he said his wife was a big inspiration because she wrote a

Taylor: 00:20:21

book and she's a psychologist.

Taylor: 00:20:23

And she's these are the things that people are talking about.

Taylor: 00:20:26

So when they walk into your exam room about their medical condition, pay

Taylor: 00:20:30

attention to their mental health and it sparked this whole shift in his practice.

Taylor: 00:20:34

And now with primary cares, taking a big load of diabetes care because

Taylor: 00:20:40

endocrinologists are so booked up.

Taylor: 00:20:41

Yeah those minute clinics are no fun.

Taylor: 00:20:44

Even with my diagnosis.

Taylor: 00:20:46

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:20:47

I don't think my primary has ever asked about my mental health, no shade to her.

Taylor: 00:20:50

She's great.

Taylor: 00:20:51

But even so okay.

Taylor: 00:20:52

Yeah, you've got it.

Taylor: 00:20:53

You're a diabetic.

Taylor: 00:20:55

Here's your drugs.

Taylor: 00:20:56

Here's a stack of papers.

Taylor: 00:20:58

Figure out diabetes education, but no follow-up cause I never went,

Taylor: 00:21:01

nothing about, support, whatever.

Taylor: 00:21:04

Like I went home calling my parents, but they weren't diagnosed the same age as me.

Taylor: 00:21:10

They were diagnosed with a full-on family, their late thirties, forties, all of that.

Taylor: 00:21:14

So to go home and there's nobody, it was hard.

Taylor: 00:21:20

So I can totally relate to people being so happy that, Hey, I can go here

Taylor: 00:21:27

and say, my numbers are crap today.

Taylor: 00:21:29

And I feel really bad because you're constantly.

Taylor: 00:21:32

It's just beaten into you.

Taylor: 00:21:34

Like you have to have these numbers and it's just am I back in school

Taylor: 00:21:37

or are we doing report cards again?

Taylor: 00:21:39

No.

Taylor: 00:21:39

So, I too have found, the conversations in the post to be really inspiring and

Taylor: 00:21:44

really helpful to see that other people were just like, it's a space where I would

Taylor: 00:21:48

do the same thing on Instagram, except for, I scroll through half the people.

Taylor: 00:21:51

Cause I can't relate to them.

Taylor: 00:21:52

It's just oh, that's cool.

Taylor: 00:21:53

But these people's oh, I totally get this like 100%, all the lights,

Taylor: 00:21:58

all the comments and all the things.

Taylor: 00:22:00

So, I'm glad it's been such a great experience for people to hop on to.

Taylor: 00:22:05

So I love how involved you guys are in the app.

Taylor: 00:22:10

I think I get more notifications that you all are posting.

Taylor: 00:22:13

Anyone else that I follow.

Taylor: 00:22:16

And I think that's really amazing.

Taylor: 00:22:17

But before I dive into that engagement, how did you guys even

Taylor: 00:22:21

find us to start talking about?

Taylor: 00:22:24

Because I'll be honest, I'm struggling to find people just

Taylor: 00:22:27

engage with me and be like, Hey, let's chat, let's talk about things.

Taylor: 00:22:31

So to say, we want to build on this idea, will you help us out?

Taylor: 00:22:36

And you got such a great response.

Taylor: 00:22:37

Like how in the hell did y'all do it?

Taylor: 00:22:39

Because people just answer a one question in the comments and

Taylor: 00:22:44

they're just like, no, I'm too busy.

Taylor: 00:22:45

So I was love to know how you guys were able to, build these focuses.

Taylor C: 00:22:51

Well, it was definitely a trial and error.

Taylor C: 00:22:52

There was a lots of like AB testing to find like where our target was

Taylor C: 00:22:56

and what made it a little bit more difficult as well as cause we were,

Taylor C: 00:22:59

we had two different target users.

Taylor C: 00:23:01

We had, the, your typical type one and your typical type two and the age ranges

Taylor C: 00:23:06

are vastly, they can be different.

Taylor C: 00:23:08

Most type twos are, more mature when they're diagnosed.

Taylor C: 00:23:11

The most type ones are around like, 7, 8, 9 typically obviously can

Taylor C: 00:23:15

happen later in life, but typically they're much younger that been

Taylor C: 00:23:17

dealing with it, their entire lives.

Taylor C: 00:23:19

So we there was a lot of research that went into it.

Taylor C: 00:23:22

So, for the T1 user, for example, where would they live online?

Taylor C: 00:23:26

Most likely Instagram, most likely tech talk, most likely these, Apps quote

Taylor C: 00:23:29

unquote where would type twos be like?

Taylor C: 00:23:31

It was we looked into backend research from like Facebook, Instagram tech,

Taylor C: 00:23:36

talk to see like what demographics were most active on their platforms.

Taylor C: 00:23:40

And then we put out our own ads that would lead to a landing

Taylor C: 00:23:43

page for the signup process.

Taylor C: 00:23:44

And see, we were able to see what age groups interacted the

Taylor C: 00:23:48

most with our advertisements.

Taylor C: 00:23:50

So that was step one.

Taylor C: 00:23:51

And then we got a smaller target and a smaller target figured

Taylor C: 00:23:54

out which platform worked best for us to try to acquire people.

Taylor C: 00:23:58

At the same time, we were also focused on building up our social networks.

Taylor C: 00:24:02

So building up our Instagram followers, building up our Facebook

Taylor C: 00:24:06

likes like all of that stuff.

Taylor C: 00:24:08

So we could just grow our online community before we even had

Taylor C: 00:24:11

a platform to bring people.

Taylor C: 00:24:13

But yeah we really leveraged social media through organic growth, as well

Taylor C: 00:24:18

as paid growth to try and bring people over because at the, in the simplest

Taylor C: 00:24:23

of terms, the diabetes app is a social network for people with diabetes.

Taylor C: 00:24:28

So, that was also somebody out, like I mentioned, like that would be our

Taylor C: 00:24:32

target user, somebody that uses social media, that, that likes to be on

Taylor C: 00:24:35

their phone that likes to use these websites and posts about their day.

Taylor C: 00:24:40

So what better place than to leverage the social networks?

Taylor C: 00:24:42

So we know everybody, you use this.

Taylor C: 00:24:44

So that was how we were still able to grow the community.

Taylor: 00:24:48

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:24:49

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:24:49

I can speak to that because again, I think the diva Vedic, Lexi who was a

Taylor: 00:24:53

past guest she was doing some ads and stuff in partnership with you guys.

Taylor: 00:24:58

Wait, you're on what?

Taylor: 00:24:59

And I saw a couple of reels that she did in reference to you guys.

Taylor: 00:25:02

And I was like, oh, well, if Lexi's down, I'm down, and so it's true.

Taylor: 00:25:06

The power of social media is still vast and still growing

Taylor: 00:25:10

and it can still, affect change.

Taylor: 00:25:11

So it's really cool to know that even when you don't have the product,

Taylor: 00:25:15

yet you can still get responses.

Taylor: 00:25:16

So I just need to switch up my game to get people to chat to me.

Taylor: 00:25:21

So, aside from that how did you guys come up with the live events?

Taylor: 00:25:25

Like I said earlier, you guys are super engaged.

Taylor: 00:25:28

You're always active in the group.

Taylor: 00:25:29

But what was the creative process of okay, let's have live events or let's do this.

Taylor: 00:25:34

And growing that process, it's always nerve wracking to go live as

Taylor: 00:25:38

someone who also livestreams on the side are people going to show up?

Taylor: 00:25:42

Will they really interact?

Taylor: 00:25:43

So what was that process and deciding to implement that and to continue.

Taylor: 00:25:47

Yeah.

Taylor C: 00:25:48

So it was actually lucky on our end because the platform

Taylor C: 00:25:52

that we had chosen to go forward with creating the diabetes app came

Taylor C: 00:25:58

with this live stream functionality.

Taylor C: 00:26:00

So we didn't have to ask for it.

Taylor C: 00:26:01

It came already built in and because of the way that the platform works

Taylor C: 00:26:06

only certain people get permissions to go live with sound like an

Taylor C: 00:26:08

Instagram where anybody could go live.

Taylor C: 00:26:10

And that is because on the app that we have you can have followers, you

Taylor C: 00:26:14

can have friends, but when you're in a group and you look at your timeline,

Taylor C: 00:26:18

it's everybody who's in that group.

Taylor C: 00:26:19

So you don't get prioritized posting.

Taylor C: 00:26:21

So if you went live, the entire app would be notified that you went live

Taylor C: 00:26:24

So, because there was some element of exclusivity, we were like, okay, like

Taylor C: 00:26:28

then maybe we can make these kind of like an event that happens on the app.

Taylor C: 00:26:32

And we did a lots of like brainstorming sessions.

Taylor C: 00:26:34

Those are also topics that we asked in surveys and also the focus groups,

Taylor C: 00:26:37

like what kind of live stream would you be interested in tuning into?

Taylor C: 00:26:40

And we got lots of like feedback too.

Taylor C: 00:26:43

I would want to see a nutritionist and I would want to have a cooking segment.

Taylor C: 00:26:47

And I would like to hear from a doctor and I would actually like

Taylor C: 00:26:49

to hear like actual stories.

Taylor C: 00:26:51

And at the beginning we were doing a live stream probably like once every two weeks.

Taylor C: 00:26:55

And we pretty much tested engagement from like we test, we

Taylor C: 00:26:58

did a live stream from an endo.

Taylor C: 00:26:59

We did a live stream from a nutritionist, a mental health therapist.

Taylor C: 00:27:02

We did a cooking segment.

Taylor C: 00:27:04

We did everything and saw like what worked and what didn't.

Taylor C: 00:27:08

And then as we could see the more that we were doing live streams, but we

Taylor C: 00:27:12

actually found that a lot of people were viewing them after the fact.

Taylor C: 00:27:16

So we actually have an archive where all of our past live streams are on the app.

Taylor C: 00:27:20

You can go back, you can look at them, there's some sh some notes, a show notes

Taylor C: 00:27:24

to show you like what the topic was about.

Taylor C: 00:27:26

And more people view them after the fact that they actually view them live.

Taylor C: 00:27:30

Although we do get really great engagement on ASPE, endo, and nutritionist seemed

Taylor C: 00:27:35

to get a lot of traction live as well.

Taylor C: 00:27:37

Even some of the more personal ones, we had someone come on and it was

Taylor C: 00:27:40

like eat dinner with me and like just had a conversation with people.

Taylor C: 00:27:44

And that was extreme success in terms of the live.

Taylor C: 00:27:47

Oh, there's so many people there, like getting engaged.

Taylor C: 00:27:51

We also just started doing like every Saturday morning, we have

Taylor C: 00:27:54

somebody come on and just low.

Taylor C: 00:27:57

On the app and those have been quite popular as well.

Taylor C: 00:27:59

So I really liked depends, but I think what makes them special is

Taylor C: 00:28:03

that they're not gone forever if you miss it, because that's the thing as

Taylor C: 00:28:08

well, like we're available worldwide.

Taylor C: 00:28:11

So we have people in Canada, we have people in the United States.

Taylor C: 00:28:15

We have people in the UK, India everywhere.

Taylor C: 00:28:18

So what works for somebody at three o'clock Eastern standard might not work

Taylor C: 00:28:22

for somebody in Pacific might not work for somebody who's across an ocean.

Taylor C: 00:28:26

So having that archive in the database, you can go back and watch

Taylor C: 00:28:30

whatever you want is definitely like something that helps leverage

Taylor C: 00:28:33

the uniqueness of the live stream.

Taylor C: 00:28:36

So I would say,

Taylor: 00:28:38

yeah, I definitely have enjoyed a couple of the live streams.

Taylor: 00:28:42

I think the last one I caught, was it a doctor, one or a nutritionist?

Taylor: 00:28:46

One?

Taylor: 00:28:47

I can't remember.

Taylor: 00:28:48

I also love yells reels.

Taylor: 00:28:49

So whoever's doing the tick talking reels.

Taylor: 00:28:53

Shout out to them.

Taylor: 00:28:54

I'm still trying to figure it out.

Taylor: 00:28:55

I said, eventually I get there.

Taylor: 00:28:56

And I'm like, just I just sit in one space and talk and everybody

Taylor: 00:28:59

else is like, moving around.

Taylor: 00:29:02

We'll figure it out.

Taylor: 00:29:03

So hypothetically speaking if a new user were to join, what

Taylor: 00:29:09

are some of the conversations that they can expect coming in?

Taylor: 00:29:12

Because there's a lot to choose from, from even when I joined,

Taylor: 00:29:16

I only joined maybe a month ago.

Taylor: 00:29:18

And so, it was I got to dive in at my own time.

Taylor: 00:29:21

I'm just like really excited to do all these things.

Taylor: 00:29:22

But as someone who's not, fully active in staying in connection with the community

Taylor: 00:29:26

like that, what's something that they can expect when they first joined.

Taylor C: 00:29:32

The cool thing about the app and where we're at is we're growing every day.

Taylor C: 00:29:37

There's new people popping on literally every day.

Taylor C: 00:29:39

So I would say LinkedIn, one of the first things that you're going to

Taylor C: 00:29:42

see when you pop on, there is a whole bunch of people introducing themselves

Taylor C: 00:29:45

and be like, Hey guys, I'm new here.

Taylor C: 00:29:47

My name is this I'm from here.

Taylor C: 00:29:48

What are you guys up to?

Taylor C: 00:29:49

Where are you guys from?

Taylor C: 00:29:50

And I love those posts because if you are new and you're like apprehensive to

Taylor C: 00:29:54

post something yourself, you can just comment and connect with people that way.

Taylor C: 00:29:58

But so many people talk about so many different things, even type dependent like

Taylor C: 00:30:03

you, if you went into the teacher, like there's T2 diet, there's people that talk

Taylor C: 00:30:07

about, what kind of bread do you guys buy?

Taylor C: 00:30:08

Because I'm trying to be like, no carbs are a little like less carbs or, what's

Taylor C: 00:30:12

a good alternative for this drink.

Taylor C: 00:30:15

I used to love this type of sugary drink.

Taylor C: 00:30:17

What do you guys do?

Taylor C: 00:30:18

Lots of things.

Taylor C: 00:30:20

I need help with this.

Taylor C: 00:30:21

What have you guys done?

Taylor C: 00:30:22

And I think that's something so special that I actually come to realize that's

Taylor C: 00:30:26

really what this community wants is they want information, but they want them

Taylor C: 00:30:31

through the connections that they make.

Taylor C: 00:30:33

So I can talk to you and be like I'm really struggling with this.

Taylor C: 00:30:37

Like what worked for you?

Taylor C: 00:30:39

And you can give me your experiences and I can try that for myself.

Taylor C: 00:30:42

And if it works, it doesn't work, but if it works great you know what I mean?

Taylor C: 00:30:45

It's you get to try it out for yourself, but instead of spending hours on Google,

Taylor C: 00:30:48

trying to find all of these articles and the medical talk and the, all of that

Taylor C: 00:30:55

stuff, I can easily just talk to you.

Taylor C: 00:30:58

And I think that's.

Taylor C: 00:30:59

That's like the main purpose of the app.

Taylor C: 00:31:01

And I love seeing people utilize it for that.

Taylor C: 00:31:03

There's lots of or wins.

Taylor C: 00:31:05

People love to share their wins.

Taylor C: 00:31:06

I had a unicorn today.

Taylor C: 00:31:07

My blood sugars were as this, but A1C was awesome.

Taylor C: 00:31:11

But also it's a place to share if you didn't do so well.

Taylor C: 00:31:13

And the comments underneath are always very much I've been there,

Taylor C: 00:31:16

keep your head up but it's okay.

Taylor C: 00:31:17

Not to feel.

Taylor C: 00:31:18

Okay.

Taylor C: 00:31:18

And really just people supporting each other because some days you're going

Taylor C: 00:31:21

to have bad days, some days you're going to have really good days, but you

Taylor C: 00:31:24

don't have to have good days every day.

Taylor: 00:31:26

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:31:27

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:31:27

It's funny because it just speaks to, even as a diabetic, you never stopped learning.

Taylor: 00:31:32

I just learned what a unicorn means.

Taylor: 00:31:36

Literally the other day.

Taylor: 00:31:38

And it was from one of my, type one friends.

Taylor: 00:31:41

And I was just like, oh, I didn't know.

Taylor: 00:31:43

This was a thing.

Taylor: 00:31:44

You hit this number.

Taylor: 00:31:45

Oh, okay.

Taylor: 00:31:46

Well now I'm excited to start saying that I like unicorns.

Taylor: 00:31:49

They're great.

Taylor: 00:31:50

So you just consistently learn and, I didn't know what a

Taylor: 00:31:54

CGM was until late last year.

Taylor: 00:31:57

And now that I have one, it's oh, I get it.

Taylor: 00:32:00

I totally understand.

Taylor: 00:32:01

And it's just a constant place of, like you said, people sharing

Taylor: 00:32:04

information that could change your life.

Taylor: 00:32:06

My parents didn't even know what a CGM was.

Taylor: 00:32:09

And my grandmother on my dad's side is also a diabetic.

Taylor: 00:32:13

And she's, in, in her age is not really paying attention stuff.

Taylor: 00:32:17

And he's wow, I could get her a CGM and could help monitor

Taylor: 00:32:22

from where I met while she.

Taylor: 00:32:24

At home, so that way, if something happened, I'm just like, there's

Taylor: 00:32:27

so much that you learn just from interacting with other people.

Taylor: 00:32:30

And I think that's really special.

Taylor: 00:32:31

So spotlighting you a little bit more, I'm curious to know, since you are

Taylor: 00:32:36

a non-diabetic, what has been your experiences, not only watching people

Taylor: 00:32:42

in the community on a, you mentioned you had connections through their

Taylor: 00:32:45

family or friends what is that like being on the outside, looking in of

Taylor: 00:32:48

people, going through this condition,

Taylor C: 00:32:52

extremely eyeopening to say the least like my, my, my, my grandma had type

Taylor C: 00:32:58

two not very long before she passed away.

Taylor C: 00:33:00

So I wasn't that.

Taylor C: 00:33:02

Like into what she was going through.

Taylor C: 00:33:05

My mom had gestational with each one of her pregnancies.

Taylor C: 00:33:08

Obviously I was one of them, so I was not aware, but when she had my

Taylor C: 00:33:11

brother and my brother, I'm like 10 years older than my brother.

Taylor C: 00:33:14

So I saw like how difficult that was for my mom.

Taylor C: 00:33:17

And given that she was gestational, she's much more likely to have type

Taylor C: 00:33:21

two as she's getting older as something that like she's preparing for.

Taylor C: 00:33:26

And on my dad's side, there's also a T1 close relative which that was a

Taylor C: 00:33:30

little bit more eye opening as well.

Taylor C: 00:33:32

But joining this community and being a part in fostering it and growing it on

Taylor C: 00:33:38

both ends has opened my eyes as to what both of them and all of these people

Taylor C: 00:33:44

have to go through is so difficult.

Taylor C: 00:33:47

And they just have to do it like, you know what I mean?

Taylor C: 00:33:49

It's not.

Taylor C: 00:33:52

They don't have a choice like they, if they have kids, like they have to,

Taylor C: 00:33:57

and so that they can live and they can survive and be healthy and all that stuff.

Taylor C: 00:34:00

And as I mentioned before, I like finding out that that mental health or

Taylor C: 00:34:04

support groups, or even nutrition for some of these people when they were

Taylor C: 00:34:07

diagnosed, it was never something that was talked about was like, well, what

Taylor C: 00:34:12

do you mean it wasn't talked about?

Taylor C: 00:34:13

I don't understand that, that's crazy to me.

Taylor C: 00:34:15

And finding out like, just different areas, like how, and Canada, how

Taylor C: 00:34:20

the health system is versus how the health system is in the United States.

Taylor C: 00:34:22

And I obviously I'm from Canada, but a lot of our user base is from the

Taylor C: 00:34:27

U S and finding out how difficult healthcare is and just the cost of

Taylor C: 00:34:32

insulin that has been shockingly.

Taylor C: 00:34:34

He like, you shouldn't have to pay to, to survive something that is entirely like.

Taylor C: 00:34:39

Out of your control is yeah.

Taylor C: 00:34:41

All of that eyeopening humbling and educational.

Taylor C: 00:34:45

Definitely eyeopening.

Taylor: 00:34:48

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:34:48

It's really crazy.

Taylor: 00:34:49

I didn't take it too seriously my first couple of years.

Taylor: 00:34:51

So it was just like, okay.

Taylor: 00:34:53

All right.

Taylor: 00:34:53

It's, here's the thing because I think that's the hard part when you

Taylor: 00:34:56

have something that's so invisible is that I think the biggest shock that

Taylor: 00:35:02

I've learned from other people who are non-diabetic and learn about the

Taylor: 00:35:08

community, learn what we go through.

Taylor: 00:35:09

And they're just like, I can't believe that people sometimes don't believe

Taylor: 00:35:15

you when you're like, Hey I need to step aside because I got this going on.

Taylor: 00:35:21

Oh, you're just using that as an excuse get away from it.

Taylor: 00:35:23

It's no, doubt.

Taylor: 00:35:24

You want to watch me like die in front of you.

Taylor: 00:35:26

Right.

Taylor: 00:35:27

So I probably should go take, and so to interact with people more

Taylor: 00:35:31

and I had that same reaction.

Taylor: 00:35:32

People used to be shocked when I told them like, Hey, I'm diabetic.

Taylor: 00:35:36

And even my team when I would go for walks and constantly having snacks at my desk.

Taylor: 00:35:40

And I was like, man, you're just always eating.

Taylor: 00:35:41

I'm like, yep.

Taylor: 00:35:42

I'm always treating this damn blood sugar.

Taylor: 00:35:44

Cause it's just what you gotta do.

Taylor: 00:35:46

And so for people to finally get a peak at that and can understand that.

Taylor: 00:35:51

And my understanding is that even though the apps is, built for

Taylor: 00:35:56

diabetics, you guys also allow non-diabetics and you have a space

Taylor: 00:36:00

for caretakers or anything like that.

Taylor: 00:36:02

If they want to learn more.

Taylor C: 00:36:03

Yeah.

Taylor C: 00:36:04

That is correct.

Taylor C: 00:36:05

So when you register for the diabetes app, you can select your type.

Taylor C: 00:36:10

So you could say I'm type two, I'm checking a one or three C other, whatever.

Taylor C: 00:36:15

I prefer not to say, but we also have a supporter title.

Taylor C: 00:36:18

And that could be for, if you are, like you said, like taking care of somebody

Taylor C: 00:36:23

who has diabetes, you want to learn more, maybe your college roommate has diabetes.

Taylor C: 00:36:26

You want to know what to do.

Taylor C: 00:36:28

Maybe you're a parent to like a really young T1 kid and you're out of your depth.

Taylor C: 00:36:33

We thought it was really important to have that space so that, the education

Taylor C: 00:36:37

can just continue and grow because if us going through this was a,

Taylor C: 00:36:41

like a learning lesson for anything.

Taylor C: 00:36:43

It was that there's lots.

Taylor C: 00:36:45

If you don't have it, you don't know about it, but you should know about it.

Taylor: 00:36:49

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:36:50

Yeah, absolutely.

Taylor: 00:36:51

I think that's Kind of something that I look back on and appreciate

Taylor: 00:36:54

my parents for, but also at the same time dang, I wish you would've told me

Taylor: 00:36:58

because my mom, I knew now was about 10, 10 ish when my mom was diagnosed.

Taylor: 00:37:04

And all I knew is that everything was sugar-free and ice cream tasted weird.

Taylor: 00:37:08

That's all I knew.

Taylor: 00:37:09

Right.

Taylor: 00:37:10

But I wish I would have known what are some things that I can do to

Taylor: 00:37:14

help, and even later now knowing that my dad takes insulin when he comes

Taylor: 00:37:18

to visit, making sure I have space in the fridge for him, making sure

Taylor: 00:37:21

if we go out, we get back in time.

Taylor: 00:37:23

If he doesn't want to bring it with him, all these things that I didn't

Taylor: 00:37:26

even consider monitoring, because there's just, there's a lot to learn.

Taylor: 00:37:30

So it's really cool that you guys offer resources for everybody because

Taylor: 00:37:34

like my partner's not diabetic and we are, it's an open-ended conversation.

Taylor: 00:37:39

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:37:40

Hey, what are some things that we can do?

Taylor: 00:37:43

The freestyle Libra to app is now approved in the U S so now I can use my

Taylor: 00:37:48

phone and I can share that information with him because we live separately.

Taylor: 00:37:52

So if something happens while I'm by myself, he can,

Taylor: 00:37:54

get help, things like that.

Taylor: 00:37:55

So it's really cool to have a space for people who are on the outside to, to

Taylor: 00:38:00

learn it now, because you just never know when, and you don't want to put that

Taylor: 00:38:04

pressure on people, but you never know.

Taylor: 00:38:07

So I would love to talk more about some of the goals and the future of

Taylor: 00:38:13

the app before we head out for the day.

Taylor: 00:38:16

What are some things that you want to see are features or something that

Taylor: 00:38:20

you want to see added to the app?

Taylor C: 00:38:23

So one of the things that came up recently we recently just did us,

Taylor C: 00:38:27

another round of focus groups with the community to see what's what's going on.

Taylor C: 00:38:31

And when people would like, and one of the things that came up that I

Taylor C: 00:38:33

think is a great idea, and I can definitely see us doing in the

Taylor C: 00:38:36

near future is having marketplace.

Taylor C: 00:38:38

I've I have an extra box of test strips, is anybody want to come pick them up

Taylor C: 00:38:42

or I'm going to sell 20 bucks, whatever those kinds of things obviously there

Taylor C: 00:38:45

would be like some regulations on that, but somebody very crackly brought up.

Taylor C: 00:38:49

If that was available on the app, I wouldn't have to use like, try to

Taylor C: 00:38:53

find struggle through like Facebook marketplace or could GG, for example,

Taylor C: 00:38:57

because not everybody on their diabetic and wouldn't need that stuff, but it

Taylor C: 00:39:00

would be much easier to find on your app and I was like, you are correct.

Taylor C: 00:39:06

That's an amazing idea.

Taylor C: 00:39:07

So I would definitely like to see that come into play.

Taylor C: 00:39:10

I would Also contemplating doing something like in terms of like

Taylor C: 00:39:13

gamification adding some sort of like loyalty system or point system by

Taylor C: 00:39:18

just doing simple actions on the app.

Taylor C: 00:39:19

And with that, you can get some sort of tangible reward.

Taylor C: 00:39:22

I think that would be super fun to implement.

Taylor C: 00:39:25

But those are the kind of two concepts that were floating around as of right now.

Taylor C: 00:39:29

The world is our oyster.

Taylor C: 00:39:30

But I think I would preface that by saying that as I mentioned before,

Taylor C: 00:39:34

absolutely nothing we would do, we will do unless it comes from the community

Taylor C: 00:39:40

and is approved by the community.

Taylor C: 00:39:42

Because we're building this for them for everybody we're all diabetics.

Taylor C: 00:39:46

And if it's something that they don't want, then we're not gonna be.

Taylor: 00:39:50

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:39:51

Yeah, no, that's dope.

Taylor: 00:39:52

The marketplace.

Taylor: 00:39:53

Absolutely.

Taylor: 00:39:53

Because I've seen so many people, getting these little pods and like you said Hey,

Taylor: 00:39:58

I'm out of the supplies and I can't get to see my doctor or get another prescription.

Taylor: 00:40:02

And I'm like, oh yeah, I can send you a whole box of strips.

Taylor: 00:40:05

I think one thing though, that we would all probably get off her hands is the

Taylor: 00:40:11

boxes upon boxes of lancets, because nobody runs through Lance's as fast

Taylor: 00:40:19

as they put some, give me more strips.

Taylor: 00:40:22

I don't or even products, I've been talking to some really great companies

Taylor: 00:40:27

that are creating consumables or wearables or things like that are made

Taylor: 00:40:31

by a diabetic Saudi, even be cool to see 100% of their cause you cause it's right.

Taylor: 00:40:36

If it's.

Taylor: 00:40:37

Bad diabetic might as well have a marketplace.

Taylor: 00:40:39

You don't have to Wade through all the nonsense.

Taylor: 00:40:41

What about the desktop version?

Taylor: 00:40:43

I haven't played around with it a whole lot, but are there plans to turn

Taylor: 00:40:49

it into like the Facebook S kind of thing for dive, but I could see it and

Taylor: 00:40:53

I could see being way more wholesome because there's a bit more empathy

Taylor: 00:40:58

involved, versus just having all of these different personalities and things.

Taylor: 00:41:02

So, any plans to expand the desktop version?

Taylor C: 00:41:06

Yeah, so definitely.

Taylor C: 00:41:09

For us when we were developing the desktop, we really wanted it to mirror, at

Taylor C: 00:41:13

least in terms of functionality, the app.

Taylor C: 00:41:15

We didn't want it to be like completely two different experiences.

Taylor C: 00:41:18

If a button does something on the desktop, it should do the same thing

Taylor C: 00:41:21

on the app that kind of like technical capability in terms of like how it

Taylor C: 00:41:24

could grow, like there's lots of options that we could explore and like

Taylor C: 00:41:28

enhancements to make it like that.

Taylor C: 00:41:31

Like you're saying like, like Facebook S kind of platform.

Taylor C: 00:41:34

I don't, I think we would take it step by step because we are

Taylor C: 00:41:38

a very like niche platform.

Taylor C: 00:41:40

And we wouldn't want to like all of a sudden change everything about what we've

Taylor C: 00:41:44

done and to make it more like every other social media platform, because I think

Taylor C: 00:41:48

that's why people like, like us in general is because we are focused on diabetes.

Taylor C: 00:41:53

And like I mentioned, like there's a lot of noise on platforms like

Taylor C: 00:41:56

Facebook, where it's like here's a recipe here's a news story.

Taylor C: 00:42:01

Here's your family photos from 2012 memories, like all that stuff.

Taylor C: 00:42:05

Right.

Taylor C: 00:42:05

And yeah, don't get me started on Facebook memories.

Taylor C: 00:42:07

Those are embarrassing

Taylor C: 00:42:15

But with that being said, I think, yeah, in terms of functionality and features,

Taylor C: 00:42:19

we can definitely expand a lot to make it more user-friendly to make it more

Taylor C: 00:42:24

like the platforms that you're used to using, but I don't think we would step

Taylor C: 00:42:28

any like away from the diabetes community.

Taylor: 00:42:31

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:42:32

Yeah, no, totally.

Taylor: 00:42:33

And I know everybody's trying to.

Taylor: 00:42:35

Create their own spaces.

Taylor: 00:42:36

I've dabbled do I want to create a Kimi?

Taylor: 00:42:39

Nah, I liked that y'all are doing it.

Taylor: 00:42:41

They all, y'all got it down.

Taylor: 00:42:43

But it's definitely one of those things that you wrestle with.

Taylor: 00:42:45

Cause you're just like, oh, it's one more thing.

Taylor: 00:42:47

But at the same time, it's this is so unique to my experience.

Taylor: 00:42:50

Like I'd rather be involved with that then the melting pot

Taylor: 00:42:54

that is, these bigger platforms.

Taylor: 00:42:56

So how can non-diabetics support what you guys are doing?

Taylor: 00:43:01

I know like you being nine, nine diabetic, you're working there.

Taylor: 00:43:04

That's great.

Taylor: 00:43:05

But you know, if you don't necessarily want to join the app, but you want to

Taylor: 00:43:09

support what it's for what can people do in order to help you guys out?

Taylor C: 00:43:13

So that's a great question.

Taylor C: 00:43:14

One of the cool things is that some of the content that we posted in

Taylor C: 00:43:16

the app, we also post on our social.

Taylor C: 00:43:18

So for example, we'll post recipes or we'll post some

Taylor C: 00:43:20

sort of type of information or resources on our social platforms.

Taylor C: 00:43:25

So educating yourself, even like reading through those sometimes we'll also

Taylor C: 00:43:30

link to other sources, checking those out sharing content from the diabetes

Taylor C: 00:43:35

app, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all that stuff, like gets the word out.

Taylor C: 00:43:38

But I think the more that you scroll and you read through, even if you

Taylor C: 00:43:41

don't want to download the app there's definitely chunks of information

Taylor C: 00:43:44

that you can get just from looking through our social platforms.

Taylor C: 00:43:47

And if you're completely new or have no idea, like even what the

Taylor C: 00:43:51

difference between type one type two is let's not even get into three

Taylor C: 00:43:54

C cause you'll be able to learn that just going through our posts.

Taylor: 00:43:58

Gotcha.

Taylor: 00:43:59

So what's one piece of advice that you would give to any diabetic who might be

Taylor: 00:44:05

struggling to connect with the community.

Taylor: 00:44:08

Now obviously join the app and see for yourself.

Taylor: 00:44:11

But I know sometimes when you're walking into something that's, there's

Taylor: 00:44:15

so many people and perspectives, it can be hard to engage.

Taylor: 00:44:19

So what would be something that you would share with someone as is

Taylor: 00:44:21

they're trying to get comfortable with dipping their toe if you will.

Taylor C: 00:44:25

Yeah, for sure.

Taylor C: 00:44:26

The biggest piece of advice that I could say is that just take it day by day.

Taylor C: 00:44:31

You don't need to jump on and be superwoman or Superman.

Taylor C: 00:44:34

Like that is not the expectation.

Taylor C: 00:44:36

And I know a lot of people put a lot of pressure on themselves

Taylor C: 00:44:40

to, to be a certain way.

Taylor C: 00:44:41

And like I'll always say it's definitely okay.

Taylor C: 00:44:43

Not to be okay.

Taylor C: 00:44:44

And if you're not comfortable right away then do not post, you don't have to.

Taylor C: 00:44:47

I think take a peek at some of the groups that are available, scroll through

Taylor C: 00:44:50

some of the posts, read the comments.

Taylor C: 00:44:52

If you're personally not that kind of person that wants to post, like then

Taylor C: 00:44:56

maybe you use the app more of like how people use Reddit, just to read

Taylor C: 00:44:59

things, get information, look through the articles, look to the resources,

Taylor C: 00:45:02

how you use it as totally up to you.

Taylor C: 00:45:04

I would say that once you got a good vibe and feel for, what groups are there

Taylor C: 00:45:09

and what types of content people are posting even, like I said, just going

Taylor C: 00:45:12

on there and hopping on and interacting with somebody like, Hey, I'm new here

Taylor C: 00:45:17

post or making your own never seen.

Taylor C: 00:45:20

One of those posts have no comments or no interaction or no likes like

Taylor C: 00:45:24

everybody, like there's so many new people joining every day that like, there's

Taylor C: 00:45:28

always oh, Hey, like I'm new here too.

Taylor C: 00:45:29

Like, how are you?

Taylor C: 00:45:30

Like, where are you from?

Taylor C: 00:45:31

What type do you have?

Taylor C: 00:45:32

And all this stuff.

Taylor C: 00:45:33

And I think the scariest part is putting yourself out there.

Taylor C: 00:45:36

But once you do, I'm sure you'll find that there's people just like you going

Taylor C: 00:45:40

through so many similar things that would love to lean on you and you lean on them

Taylor C: 00:45:44

and that's what the app is all about.

Taylor: 00:45:47

Yeah, absolutely.

Taylor: 00:45:48

I am a master lurker.

Taylor: 00:45:50

And it's been just as informative to just stick.

Taylor: 00:45:54

Read and see everybody's experiences and watch the lives.

Taylor: 00:45:58

And that's something that I appreciate you don't feel pressured to engage.

Taylor: 00:46:01

And I think that's something that's really important when you're introducing,

Taylor: 00:46:05

such a new community resources that, you know, Facebook, Instagram, even tick-tock

Taylor: 00:46:11

like, there's this push that, like I have to do something or I'm not relevant.

Taylor: 00:46:15

And here's just almost like an exhale.

Taylor: 00:46:17

Like I can show, I can scroll through, I can interact or I can not, but

Taylor: 00:46:21

I'm still getting value because I'm seeing other people around me,

Taylor: 00:46:26

who know what I'm going through and I get to read their perspectives.

Taylor: 00:46:28

I think that's why I read it is also still quite strong partner.

Taylor: 00:46:33

Huge.

Taylor: 00:46:33

Redditor like, that's how he starts his day.

Taylor: 00:46:36

His that's his social media and he's not a social media guy.

Taylor: 00:46:39

And I was like, I never thought I'd see the day where you were attached to.

Taylor: 00:46:47

You got it.

Taylor: 00:46:48

Okay.

Taylor C: 00:46:49

I've had read it for four years.

Taylor C: 00:46:51

I have never posted once.

Taylor: 00:46:53

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:46:53

It's so great.

Taylor: 00:46:55

It's so great.

Taylor: 00:46:56

And I'm not gonna lie.

Taylor: 00:46:57

I'm one of those, like I actually enjoy when I can read comments on Reddit.

Taylor: 00:47:01

I don't have to sign in.

Taylor: 00:47:03

I'm just like, please don't make me sign.

Taylor: 00:47:04

I just want the response.

Taylor: 00:47:06

But yes, Reddit is like one of my favorite resources of literally ask anything,

Taylor: 00:47:10

somebody on Reddit that started the conversation and I'm pretty sure whoever,

Taylor: 00:47:16

starts those threads and they get so huge.

Taylor: 00:47:18

It probably for quick.

Taylor: 00:47:19

I was the first to ask this question and you look at it now you're welcome.

Taylor: 00:47:24

Here's information.

Taylor: 00:47:26

Reddit is deep.

Taylor: 00:47:27

Reddit is so deep, but I appreciate it.

Taylor: 00:47:29

We'll tailor it.

Taylor: 00:47:30

This has been a really eye-opening and great conversation.

Taylor: 00:47:34

And I'm so appreciative of your time and sharing your thoughts

Taylor: 00:47:37

and your perspective, to work on something and with the community

Taylor: 00:47:40

that is growing, and I don't want to.

Taylor: 00:47:43

Bad thing, but just knowing that there is a place where people who, like myself, we

Taylor: 00:47:49

didn't sign up for it, but if we're going to have it, we might as well rock with it.

Taylor: 00:47:52

Right.

Taylor: 00:47:53

And you guys are providing a space where we can all congregate and learn

Taylor: 00:47:57

from each other and find those support systems, especially after this past year.

Taylor: 00:48:02

And finding that online human connection can be just as valuable as in-person.

Taylor: 00:48:07

So my big thank you to you and all the other founders for pushing this into life.

Taylor: 00:48:13

Cause it's been a great experience so far.

Taylor: 00:48:14

I truly enjoy being in the app.

Taylor: 00:48:16

Before I let you go, would love to know how can people connect with

Taylor: 00:48:19

you guys, learn more, keep up with all the things that are happening

Taylor: 00:48:22

in the community and within the app.

Taylor: 00:48:24

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:48:24

Where they can, where can they find you?

Taylor C: 00:48:26

Yeah, for sure.

Taylor C: 00:48:27

So obviously we are available on both app stores iOS and

Taylor C: 00:48:31

Google play the diabetes app.

Taylor C: 00:48:33

That is where you'll find us special, cool thing that's happening as of this week.

Taylor C: 00:48:37

Mondays as a new sorry special, cool thing that's happening as of this week is every

Taylor C: 00:48:42

Monday we started this new trend on the app, whereas Mondays are for giveaways.

Taylor C: 00:48:46

So every week we're doing a giveaway to a diabetes related

Taylor C: 00:48:50

store or some sort of discount code.

Taylor C: 00:48:53

They'll let me do that again.

Taylor C: 00:48:55

Diabetes related product or store.

Taylor C: 00:48:57

So definitely keep your eyes peeled.

Taylor C: 00:48:59

All you have to do is like the post.

Taylor C: 00:49:00

I'm pretty sure.

Taylor C: 00:49:01

But that's cool.

Taylor C: 00:49:02

That's happening on the app.

Taylor C: 00:49:03

We're also on Instagram.

Taylor C: 00:49:05

We are on Facebook.

Taylor C: 00:49:06

We're on Twitter the diabetes app, easy to remember.

Taylor: 00:49:10

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:49:11

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:49:11

You guys snagged up the best handle to make it super easy.

Taylor: 00:49:17

Well again, thank you guys.

Taylor: 00:49:18

Thanks to the team.

Taylor: 00:49:20

Thanks to the community for bringing this to life.

Taylor: 00:49:22

It's exciting.

Taylor: 00:49:23

I can't wait to see what you guys do next.

Taylor: 00:49:26

Especially the live events, I think.

Taylor: 00:49:27

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:49:27

I think I'm in agreeance of the live events or one of the favorites.

Taylor: 00:49:30

Cause you can do it in the app.

Taylor: 00:49:31

I don't have to go on zoom.

Taylor: 00:49:33

I don't have to go anywhere.

Taylor: 00:49:34

Just stay right here.

Taylor: 00:49:35

So I am super excited to see you guys grow and all the cool things you come out with.

Taylor: 00:49:40

So until then, I guess I'll catch you in the app.

Taylor C: 00:49:44

Yeah.

Taylor C: 00:49:44

Well, thank you so much for having me as well.

Taylor C: 00:49:46

And for all of your kind words it means the most when it comes

Taylor C: 00:49:49

from the community and I'm happy that you are happy with the app.

Taylor C: 00:49:53

And of course, if you have any feedback, our communication is always open.

Taylor C: 00:49:57

So thank you for your time today.

Taylor: 00:50:00

Yeah.

Taylor: 00:50:00

Yeah, it was awesome.

Taylor: 00:50:02

Well, we'll catch you guys next time.

Taylor: 00:50:07

That was a great conversation.

Taylor: 00:50:09

You guys, I.

Taylor: 00:50:09

It's just really cool to know that there's so many things out there

Taylor: 00:50:13

that's for us and that the community is tinny, continuing to grow and have

Taylor: 00:50:19

all of these options and resources for everything that we have going on.

Taylor: 00:50:23

So if you are not signed up for the diabetes app, it's totally

Taylor: 00:50:28

free head to the app store, Google or apple or you can hop on the

Taylor: 00:50:33

desktop version and get involved.

Taylor: 00:50:35

And Taylor's said, still weird saying my own name, but she's pretty awesome.

Taylor: 00:50:40

You don't have to be this, extra involved person with the app.

Taylor: 00:50:44

You can treat it like Reddit, you can just read through and search for

Taylor: 00:50:48

information and find things that are super helpful for you because that's all

Taylor: 00:50:53

that it's really about is just bringing the community together and having a safe

Taylor: 00:50:57

space to talk through the things that we go through and to learn from each other's.

Taylor: 00:51:03

Be sure to go and follow, download the app, sign up on the desktop version.

Taylor: 00:51:09

If you don't want another application on your phone, check them out on what

Taylor: 00:51:13

Instagram, Facebook Twitter, Tik, TOK, all the things their tic toxin

Taylor: 00:51:18

rails are pretty awesome actually.

Taylor: 00:51:19

So definitely check those out.

Taylor: 00:51:21

But yeah, make sure you go support them, even if you're not diabetic.

Taylor: 00:51:24

That interaction of just a simple follow really helps companies like

Taylor: 00:51:28

this continue to be seen by others who can really benefit from it.

Taylor: 00:51:32

Speaking of likes and follows, you can follow the show,

Taylor: 00:51:36

Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Taylor: 00:51:38

If you want to watch the video version of the show, I would love

Taylor: 00:51:42

for you to stare at my face or not.

Taylor: 00:51:45

If you just want to listen.

Taylor: 00:51:46

And if that's okay, I'm on.

Taylor: 00:51:49

Other podcast platforms, apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Stitcher.

Taylor: 00:51:57

There's a long list of podcasts, listening options.

Taylor: 00:52:02

It's crazy.

Taylor: 00:52:03

But yeah, please feel free to support the show, follow the

Taylor: 00:52:06

show on all of those spaces.

Taylor: 00:52:08

And if you have 60 seconds to spare, I would really appreciate it.

Taylor: 00:52:15

If you head over to apple podcasts and leave a rating or review or

Taylor: 00:52:19

both, or you can also head to pod chaser.com, that is a more centralized

Taylor: 00:52:25

platform where you don't have to have an apple account to LIBOR review.

Taylor: 00:52:28

I would love if you would share your feedback about the show, are there things

Taylor: 00:52:32

that you like that you don't like trust me, you won't hurt my feelings and let

Taylor: 00:52:36

me know what you want to hear next or who you want to see next or hear next

Taylor: 00:52:40

because the more that I can be plugged in and engaged to what you guys want here.

Taylor: 00:52:46

The more that I can help.

Taylor: 00:52:48

And of course, by following the show on Instagram, by leaving a rating on

Taylor: 00:52:52

apple podcast or on pod chaser.com, it helps others to find the show.

Taylor: 00:52:58

And I want to make sure that I'm doing all that I can to be another resource

Taylor: 00:53:02

for diabetics and non-diabetics alive.

Taylor: 00:53:05

Like not a life, I don't words, but anyways, that would really help me out.

Taylor: 00:53:10

It's free.

Taylor: 00:53:11

It takes less than five minutes to do.

Taylor: 00:53:14

Like I said, 60 seconds, just to say three stars, four stars or five stars.

Taylor: 00:53:19

I hope I'm not a one-star show.

Taylor: 00:53:20

If you're going to leave me one star, at least tell me why.

Taylor: 00:53:24

Just tell me why, so I can do better.

Taylor: 00:53:26

And of course, if you leave a.

Taylor: 00:53:30

Leave her Instagram handle.

Taylor: 00:53:31

Let me know.

Taylor: 00:53:32

So I can thank you personally, because I truly do appreciate everybody who takes

Taylor: 00:53:37

the time to comment to or to rate things.

Taylor: 00:53:40

And I understand you have so many things asking for your time.

Taylor: 00:53:43

So I want to make sure I can thank you myself.

Taylor: 00:53:45

So until then, guys, you already know every Tuesday and Thursday,

Taylor: 00:53:50

you can find myself or myself and a friend and this season is on a roll.

Taylor: 00:53:55

I'm excited.

Taylor: 00:53:57

There's so many great things that I want to talk about with you guys.

Taylor: 00:54:00

And so many great guests, just like Taylor and the diabetes at

Taylor: 00:54:05

team that are coming onto the show.

Taylor: 00:54:07

My hope is that afterwards you'll feel good about knowing the different types

Taylor: 00:54:11

of tonics resources and non-profits that you can get involved with too.

Taylor: 00:54:18

So until then, we'll catch you guys next week.