Bootcamps & Accelerators for Founders featuring Tamara Lambert M. Eng

Tamara Lambert started a Podcast Highlighting Women in STEM, with a focus on women start-ups called Uplift HERstory.
She is a biomedical engineer with a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Emory University and a Master’s degree in Bioengineering from UIUC. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in biomedical engineering, a joint degree between Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. 

As a teenager, Tamara was inspired to pursue a bioengineering degree after witnessing several of her family members suffer from chronic health conditions. A series of events strengthened Tamara’s resolve to develop technology for limited resource communities, including witnessing the health care challenges faced by low-income individuals while on mission trips to Nicaragua and India, as well as having both of her parents pass away due to preventable and treatable illnesses. 

Her awards include: 
*Inducted into Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society in 2019
*Author on 7 peer-reviewed publications including one first author publication
*Won several Micro grants
 *Tech Female Founders Award, the Hatchery Incubator Summer and Fall Award
*NIA Start-Up Challenge Finalist
*Nucleate Semi-Finalist
*Accepted into All Raise, Georgia Tech's Start-Up Launch

Tamara is passionate about expanding access to quality healthcare technology and supporting minority and female founders in the STEM fields.

Uplift HERstory, a platform to uplift the voices of women in STEM, creating a space for women to share their journeys and to be their authentic selves. We are hosted on Spotify and Anchor.

Anchor: https://anchor.fm/tamara-lambert
Instagram and Tiktok: @uplift_herstory
YouTube: Uplift HERstory
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/28NaxGZcl6gGLpB5V1yLxi

If you have any feedback for us or episode ideas, feel free to message us on Instagram or email us at uplift.herstory.gmail.com.

Transcript

00:04.25
wearabletakeover
Welcome back to season 2 of wearable takeover podcast show I am your host lakeishia Greenwa also known as kotel and I'm super excited to bring to you one of the most fascinating wearable. Innovators researchers that is going to change how we detect disease that's going to change how we care for our loved ones and it's gonna change how we are seen in the world. Do you want to know who that is hold on. Let me tell you all about it first. I have the soon to be Dr Tamara Lambert and she's a biomedical engineer with a master's degree in public health from emory university. And a master's degree in bioengineering from UI uc she is currently pursuing her doctorate in biomedical engineering a joint degree between Georgia Institute of technology and Emory University as a teenager tomorrow was inspired to pursue a bioengineering degree. After witnessing several of her family members suffer from chronic health conditions a series of events strengthen tomorrow's resolve to develop technology for limited resource communities including witnessing the health care challenges faced by low-income individuals while on mission trips to Nicaragua and India.

01:33.10
wearabletakeover
As well as having both of her parents pass away due to preventable and treatable illnesses tomorrow is passionate about expanding access to quality healthcare technology and supporting minority and female founders in the stem fields coming to you all the way from Atlanta Georgia. Come on folks help me I'm virtually welcoming the soon to be Dr Tamara Lambert tomorrow how are you doing I'm I'm so excited to have you here and and folks I have to tell you if you found this podcast or if you came to know.

01:58.71
Tamara Lambert
Doing great. Thank you so much Lokesia for inviting me.

02:11.67
wearabletakeover
Wearable tech ventures as a result of hearing tomorrow on her podcast I Want to make sure that you show her some love make sure that you're sharing this episode as well as sharing her profile and helping her because she is doing the work of uplifting uplifting women. Uplifting Stem uplift in our communities and so tomorrow I you know I gotta ask you here in your bio. We. We learned about some of the personal challenges that you face and even heartbreak related to your parents passing away and as well as seeing other communities that. Um, you know are suffering from disparities. But I got to ask what brings you joy.

02:59.16
Tamara Lambert
Well I would say the thing that brings me the most joy is knowing that my life is having an impact because everything that I do I want to center it around um being the best person that I can helping to uplift people because as you mentioned I face. Um, personal challenges and if I could make someone's life just a little bit better by the things that I've faced then I think that you know that means the world to me.

03:23.60
wearabletakeover
I love it. So we have our own version of Princess Shuri right here guys? Okay, so if you're familiar with a black panther and how Princess Sheri is doing her stuff. Okay, so I'm saying that because. You know I don't know the percentages. Maybe maybe you could help us out with that tomorrow and I probably you have did a little bit more research on the percentages of women overall that graduate from biomedical engineering or they have that biomedical engineering background and then even how the percentages change to those that actually pursue a ph d. And so okay, folks, let's just look at this from a bigger picture when we look at this on a global scale. We know that the United States need some work in the stem field but we knew even break it down and go into biomedical engineering I know the numbers and the representation has to be dismal. So. Tomorrow why don't you give us an idea of number one. What is a biomedical engineer break it down for our people. What do they do Um, and then is it absolutely necessary to go for a ph d or go for a master's. Ah, help enlighten our community so that so that we have that baseline understanding.

04:34.92
Tamara Lambert
So Biomedical Engineering is a pretty broad field. There are many things that you can do in it. Um, for example, you could do machine learning. You can do ai and which is what I'm currently involved in um, you can do maybe microluidics you can do diagnostics you can do gene editing. Um, so they're a broader rate of things that you can do if you're interested in therapeutics. That's another avenue that you can go down. Um even developing organs and that's what some people are doing so you can do almost anything that you want to do in biomedical engineering. And so definitely, um, if that if you're interested in health and developing technology. Um for healthcare that is something that I definitely recommend that you consider do. You need a ph d well it depends on what you'd like to do. So if you would like to go into academia. Well yes, you need a ph d. And I've seen a few professor. It's very few professors with just masters but you would probably want to get a ph d um, but in terms of like if you want to develop your own company I've seen people bachelors do that? Um, so you don't necessarily need to have your own company like um, your ah pitchy to develop your own company. But you definitely want to have the passion there. Um, and so I'd say that um regardless of what you choose or what path you choose to go down I would say the most important thing that you have to have is passion and drive that will keep you in.

06:03.63
wearabletakeover
I love it and and thank you for breaking that down for our listeners and also for those that may be viewing this on our Youtube channel at a later date and and so I think that's so important and you said 2 key words at the very beginning you said machine learning and you said ai. And I know just from conversations especially over the holidays tomorrow people in our community were saying oh my I'm scared of ai I don't know what to do with that and I was like listen listen do not be afraid you better learn this now learn this now. So with advice. Um, one can you break down what is machine learning and what is ai for our folks that are listening if you can like in a general context and also explain why it is important from what you know why is it important that they have some sort of understanding. Ah, of those particular concepts.

07:00.86
Tamara Lambert
So machine learning. Ah basically I guess a more simple definition is to essentially teach the machine to learn so you can use certain types of techniques to basically train the machine how to for example, classify um, certain things. Um, if you look at Facebook and Facebook uses Ai you know a lot of the things we use a lot of things we use today. Use Ai smartphones our computers. Um, so many things that we are using today. Um use Ai but we don't necessarily think about it are no like you know that we're using it and so it's not necessarily. Something that we need to be afraid of but I definitely say that it is something that we should learn about especially in the black community because um, you've probably heard of you know the fourth industrial revolution and basically how um this is basically ai is going to become more and more prominent in our society. And I think this is a way that um african americans and people of color can actually build well so if you learn more about Ai you learn more about how it works. Um there. There's free resources online. You can go to Youtube um, you can go to Google of course. Um and I definitely encourage people to learn more about it because I think that. Many times in the african american communities. We lag behind um in terms of building wealth in terms of education. But I think that this is a new avenue where um, we can actually generate generational wealth and so I definitely encourage people to learn more about it.

08:31.54
wearabletakeover
I love it so you just told him a a couple of things you said that keyword wealth wealth building people do not be afraid run towards the light and then we also have access to free education and training via our text remixed. Platform so that's virtual and also in 2023, it's gonna be in- person so we have a hybrid scenario there and so that's important. So thank you for sharing that information and you know what you know a lot of people they were post on on their social. You know I was just talking about this or I was just thinking about this and all of a sudden I saw I add. So is that an example of you know ml and Ai at at work.

09:13.78
Tamara Lambert
Yeah, and so I'd say that it's probably more of like deep learning. But yeah, basically um, whatever you say or your bone is able to pick up on the words that you're saying and whatever you're typing in and the Ai is basically I'm taking a account of that and um, kind of like. Classifying you in a sense like what ads would work best for you. What would you be most interested in and so yeah, um, it's everywhere. Um, but it's nothing to be afraid of I'd say um, learning about it would help to actually I'd say lower that fair and. Teach you how to make it work for you.

09:50.46
wearabletakeover
You know that's so important because you said learning about it will will help to eliminate that fear and I think that correlates to our community as well when it comes to health. Um I don't know if you remember this movie back in the day but it was soul food and. You know Mama Big Mama was like you know the center figure and they had the 3 daughters that um you know Terry and ah can't remember Melynda or whatever and the younger one and they were so different but Mama was the center of everything and there was a scene where. Um, the mother during a holiday or maybe she was cooking for Sunday dinner and she had burned herself and they were like mommy a diabetes and she was like I'm not worried about this I could take care of this what you know these remedies or whatnot. But but it it that scene helped to amplify the fear of especially people of color. With going to the doctor and getting medical treatment and learning more how to take care of themselves right? And so as a result what we've seen is that ah many of health disparities have exacerbate it in our community and so you're in a premier position by. Learning these things that you're learning in school and being able to apply them in research settings to help our communities so that so that hopefully we can change the status of you know our numbers as far as heart disease and diabetes et cetera.

11:18.98
wearabletakeover
Through some of the technologies that you are creating I'll share this really quickly I was at church and there was the speaker that came in and he was gonna do some healing and and he said how many of you if you've been if your doctor told you that you have high blood pressure come to the front. And I want to say a good third of the people in a congregation came to the front and some majority congregational people of color and this was at multiple locations. So with that being said tomorrow that fear where where do you think that fear came from. And and you know is that the same fear that's correlating to technology because what I have found is that so many people say I don't understand I'm staying away for that and it it could be so detrimental to us when we look at are we gonna live then are we gonna be able to maintain in society and create well where did that. Fear come from what are some tools or suggestions that you have that practical that our listeners can take one today to begin to get over that fear.

12:26.20
Tamara Lambert
Um, so I'd say the fear of the health care system. Um I'd say honestly it came from the health care system and the things that we've seen and we are aware of the tuskegee experiments. We're aware of other types of experimentation like for example.

12:33.12
wearabletakeover
Yes.

12:42.20
Tamara Lambert
Um J Marion Sims who tested on black women when it came to um, testing out um, different types of gynecological measures. Um, and so to be honest, a lot of this fear does come from historical trauma and I don't think we can neglect that. Um, and I do think that if it was properly addressed then we wouldn't have you know these same issues. But unfortunately um, it has not been. Um so I can't say that it's not you know, justifiable in that sense. However I would say one of the best ways is to educate yourself. Unlike how to um, take care of yourself. Um, one of the things that you can do is like something that I like to do is well and it depends on how comfortable you are with this but you know reading the research articles listening to various doctors. You don't have to get just one opinion and you can go to various doctors. Um, using yeah, the online resources because there's so much online that is free. Um, of course you don't want to make medical medical decisions solely based off on what you hear in ly but definitely taking the time to like kind of understand what is heart disease what is diabetes and things like that. Um. Thing that I personally do myself is like being intentional about you know, caring for yourself and caring for your body. You know, um, looking into how can I eat healthier. How can I exercise even though I am you know, very busy. You have to remember that hey um I might be um.

13:59.10
wearabletakeover
Here here.

14:13.15
Tamara Lambert
Taking out some time to exercise or eat healthier. But then at the same time that saves me a lot more down the line and from developing heart disease and diabetes. That's a lot more expensive right? And so I'd say definitely um, taking that time to um, just learn how to care for yourself.

14:17.78
wearabletakeover
Here he.

14:31.38
Tamara Lambert
Um, and I'm sorry I forgot this second question.

14:31.87
wearabletakeover
Yeah, yeah, you yeah and you hit the nail right on the head learning how to care for ourselves take those time but then also that fear of technology right? because we've seen the fear in Health care and I hear it quite often even from educated folks.

14:39.10
Tamara Lambert
Write this bit.

14:47.50
wearabletakeover
That may not be in tech innovation. There's There's a tremendous fear about technology.

14:52.42
Tamara Lambert
Yeah, and I would say definitely um, just reading about it I think that educating yourself. Definitely you know helps the Lord the fair um I would say that of course is up to you What you choose to use. You know you don't have to but I would.

15:05.90
wearabletakeover
Are.

15:10.25
Tamara Lambert
Take the time to talk to people that you might be you know more comfortable with talking to like for example and there's you Likekea. There's me I'm open to talking to people about certain things and you know my honest viewpoint on it. Um I think that one of the things that would help um for both of us as technologists is to talk about the good. Also talk about you know the things that are not so good and things that we need to consider and because I think that if we um as techologists would be honest and say hey and the reality is there are some limitations here. Our technology. There are some things that um.

15:31.36
wearabletakeover
This.

15:46.87
Tamara Lambert
Need to keep in mind to make sure that our technology is ethical and you know equitable access and you know not bias or discrimination discriminating against people. Um I think that that would definitely help to eliminate some of that fear as well.

16:00.17
wearabletakeover
I Love the way you said that tomorrow and that's one of the notions that we've developed here at wearable tech ventures for any of the startups that we're working with especially those that are developed out of our ecosystem in the future is to have that ethical stance. And one of the things that we're looking for in the ecosystem as ah, we get a lot of emails. We get a lot I mean a lot of emails from founders around the world and often we want to know who is owning that data that your device is collecting. How was that impacting the user.

16:28.63
Tamara Lambert
I.

16:34.22
wearabletakeover
And for those of you that are listening. First of all, let me give you kudos for tuning into this episode. Maybe even relistening to it and sharing it because it's so important that we have proper representation in healthcare and technology. Especially what that's why tomorrow is so important right. Um, developing these products that are going to help you live and thrive because when there's a different mindset when you have someone at the table that understands the historical context when you have someone at the table that can hold other developers accountable as it relates to ethics. This is why you need to support the work that we're doing because we're making sure we are at the table where historically we were never at the table and this really impacts you especially because as there are more devices being developed coming onto the market. Impacting those with heart disease. You know my my dad has a pacemaker right? All of that is data. These things are changing on a daily basis anyone with diabetes. You're going to see the wearable patches on their arms. Um, and we think about the Nfl devices that are being developed. You know for the players. And those are just you know some some other examples. But I mean it's even impacting the way that you engage with watching streaming or engaging in gaming. This is why our ecosystem wearable tech ventures is incredibly important because we're making sure we're at the table innovating responsibly right.

18:05.90
wearabletakeover
But making sure we're keeping in context, you know why we're doing it. Um, what is important but then also developing that generational wealth this this is why we are here. This is it so tomorrow What is your hope for the future as it relates to the adoption. And the development of technology and I know that that's a really broad question um laying out on you and and coming from your particular vein but you see your world is different on a day-to-day basis than than most of our viewers and our listeners and so knowing what you know knowing what you See. What is your hope for the future as it relates to that adoption of technology.

18:46.98
Tamara Lambert
Well I feel like my hope is grounded and kind of been my experiences like hoping that technology would now be equitable would be accessible to those like even those in limited resource communities. My hope is that when we develop these technologies. It's not that um people outside of the development are on the outside but we're working with them and we're there at like every step of the process. Ah my hope is that um you know it's not you know another form of.

19:14.87
wearabletakeover
And hence.

19:25.26
Tamara Lambert
Colonialization you know because we we've had had those issues when it comes to technology when it comes to um this developing medicine in general has had those issues and my hope is that when we have you know more people who are know black and Hispanic and of all different types of backgrounds.

19:25.41
wearabletakeover
You hit.

19:33.58
wearabletakeover
Here.

19:45.17
Tamara Lambert
Um, we can come from it like we can come at it with that cultural perspective and that sensitivity that honestly has been lacking and so that's kind of my hope that we'll have more equitable more responsible and more fair access and distribution to technology.

20:01.94
wearabletakeover
I love it and it's so beautiful because those of us in this space and so mind you folks we are literally building this. We're literally making history by developing this ecosystem and developing these networks and so that's that's one of the beauties of where we'll take ventures is that you have folks like Tamara. That are coming together with folks like myself and coming together with our corporate advisors and then also coming up with our the children the and the youth that are coming through our ah talent pipeline development right from our youth camps and even novices that are coming together for tech remix and. Bringing all the minds together and this is like 1 of those unique experiences where we're saying we want to hear what you think and how can we get everybody to work together versus having people in silos developing things without having the input from those that it may impact. Um, you know those that may be creating in silos and not having the perspective of a creative or a banker or investor et cetera right? So that's that's something that we're developing here and for those of you that. Are you know, just tuning in or maybe you're like oh man this is getting good. Let me get your let me get my popcorn because I want to hear more about this discussion I have to tell you the story about how Tamara and I actually met so ta tomorrow let me tell you she's she's making history folks. She is one of the inaugural graduates.

21:32.62
wearabletakeover
Of the national institutes of health so some of you might be saying who is that and IH you saw them on Tv a lot during the pandemic. Okay, talking about the coronavirus or whatnot so she's one of the inaugural graduates of the national institutes of health the national institute on aging up. Boot camp and so this was a platform that was created and so wearable. Tech registers was a part of that advising as to you know how that should come about um to number one help to identify underrepresented researchers. Um, identify opportunities to accelerate and commercialize their ideas and then also provide additional avenues for funding and so what we know and often what you might hear or might read in headlines whether it be on social media or you know other articles is that there's a tremendous disparity. As it relates to funding and access to context that can actually help you build a fund and or wealth and so this particular avenue with the and nih and ni and I'll just refer to that for the rest of the rest of this episode that way the Nih and ni a boot camp was. That test to say can we identify some bright talent that can come up with some solutions to solve a problem and then help them develop a network that can help amplify their work and help them get funded and so Tamara was one of those graduates im super excited for her.

23:07.72
wearabletakeover
And so we're gonna learn a little bit for the rest of this episode. We're gonna learn a little bit more about her experience. What was that like and then who does she meet and what does this mean to be accepted into one of these prestigious programs. So. Tomorrow. We're gonna take it bit by bit I'm not gonna make you answer that whole thing I just said okay, but first of all, how did you come to know? Well first of all, kudos again for completing the program in the midst of you know, almost being done with your doctorate so that was a lot of work there right? So congratulations for that and she was phenomenal.

23:26.81
Tamara Lambert
Are.

23:42.97
Tamara Lambert
Um, thank you.

23:43.73
wearabletakeover
So proud to be 1 of your mentors. But how did you come to know number 1 about this particular program hosted by and NiH and I 8

23:52.31
Tamara Lambert
That is a good question I think that I just got an email one day and I saw this email and at the time I was um, a part of it p So That's idea to prototype. That's a program through create access at Jo to Tech and basically it helps us. Develop um ideas that we have into a functional working prototype and I've always been interested in business and starting my own company around biotechnology and so while I was in this program I received this email and I was thinking hey maybe this would be a good opportunity. Um, and so. That's about how I ended up finding out and applying.

24:28.74
wearabletakeover
I Love it So being connected, you know, being on an email list and that's why it's important for those of you that are listening that you sign up for the wearable Tech adventures email list because we send opportunities all the time. Okay, so I love it. Okay, so you saw this email you're like.

24:41.30
Tamara Lambert
This is a video.

24:46.15
wearabletakeover
Let me go for it and so what was that application process like for you.

24:48.78
Tamara Lambert
I Feel like it wasn't too bad and the reason why is because I kind of had a map of what I wanted to do already and I think when you have you know the plan in your head when you have that goal and when you have you know that passion like I want to do X Y and z.

24:55.33
wearabletakeover
Okay.

25:06.38
Tamara Lambert
And also being a part of I Two P I also was a part of um, another program called Venture Lab Female founders at Georgia Tech and so some of that material was already together for me and so basically it wasn't too hard to answer those questions and I had you know my co-founder go over the answers and. Yeah, That's basically what happened and I don't think I think as long as you know what you want to do I feel like the application process whether it's too bad that where you know some questions some shorter ones some longer ones. But yeah, definitely a doable application.

25:39.60
wearabletakeover
So I love it just so you say having an idea of what it is that you want to do and how you want to do it and also knowing that you know there's some variables and there could be some things that change throughout throughout the process. The other key thing I heard you say is that there was some preparation before this by being involved in some other programs and so that's a nugget.

25:43.96
Tamara Lambert
Yes.

25:53.93
Tamara Lambert
Are.

25:58.99
wearabletakeover
For those of you that are listening. This is why it is incredibly important that anytime we offer something you participate any time we refer another program to you you participate because all these things are gonna build on 1 another so that when the prime opportunity presents itself you are ready. You have. Everything that you need you have every tool sharpened so that when you come to the table and you apply you can shine right? And so with this and Nih and ni a program. The focus was on alzheimer's and dementia and developing technologies to help circumvent that and so um, can you share any.

26:25.94
Tamara Lambert
Um.

26:37.20
wearabletakeover
A little bit about your experience. Ah with Alzheimer's Dementia or why that was of interest in particular to you.

26:44.68
Tamara Lambert
So I didn't think that was interesting that that was a focus um just to um, give a little bit of ah, brought it background on on mine. My project was not quite focused on that. Ah mine was more focused on like the aging aspect and so that's kind of where my technology came in. Um.

26:56.43
wearabletakeover
This is.

27:02.11
Tamara Lambert
Ah, basically I was working on a technology for sepsis and so how and for just give some um people who are listening an idea sasis is an um, a disease that disproportionately affects the elderly and um also of course when you look at. Um, race. It also has a disproportionate effect there and so I think that's where kind of my technology came in that. Um, this definitely has an impact um disproportionately on certain populations and I think that's why um, the and I took special interest in that.

27:39.10
wearabletakeover
I'm glad that you shared that and we're not gonna go too deep into tomorrow's work because she's still developing that and so those of you that may know me personally I talk a lot about Ip and protecting my founder So I'm protecting her. Okay.

27:50.53
Tamara Lambert
Is Elizabeth.

27:53.70
wearabletakeover
But I wanted her to share that from from the simple example of in the market right now. There's a tremendous demand for what we call dual use technologies and so what that means is you may have developed a technology with a purpose because we're all about that here at wearable tech ventures. You may have developed it with a purpose but also you may be able to find another application for that technology. Um, or that idea that you're going to turn into technology and so I think moving forward into this new year and moving forward. Everyone needs to have that mindset. Is there more than one application is there is there more than one person is there more than one disease state that could benefit from my genius I'm going to put out there right? and so tomorrow was able to. Ah, she was able to identify an opportunity and show how it could be applied and early on in the process I challenged tomorrow. She could probably tell you I challenged her to be getting. Why is this important? How does this work. Okay, and then once she was able to explain it I was sold right. And so I think that's ah important for everyone as well. That's listening it doesn't matter how much you know you have to be able to communicate why something is important and how it can apply to something else so tomorrow based off of your experience. Um, what? What can you share.

29:21.78
wearabletakeover
As far as um, what you learned from your cohort mates and their ability to communicate or or even if you want to take it to another road you you do tell me how did you grow in your communication. By being a part of the program.

29:42.50
Tamara Lambert
I think the most one of the most important lessons that I learned is how you craft your story. Um, and really having those customer interviews and so for those who are interested in developing you know your own business. One of the most. Important things that you can do is interview a lot of people and so um to this date I would say I probably interviewed at least over fifty people at this point and I'm still working on that story right? And as you develop your product and as it changes you.

30:01.42
wearabletakeover
So yes.

30:18.20
Tamara Lambert
But you find that you need to find more stakeholders and so that's what I notice about my cohort is that you know a lot of my cohort had you know, very good stories and but it doesn't come out of nowhere. It comes out of really learning the customer really learning the Market. Um, and so that's what my encouragement would be to um, anyone who's interested in going down this route really take the time to like dig into what you want to do find out is a problem that you're trying to solve something that actually needs to be solved because interesting Interestingly enough I actually started out um with.

30:50.21
wearabletakeover
Yes.

30:55.54
Tamara Lambert
Long covered but it morphed into subsis but this was due to my customer Discovery interviews with a lot of physicians and so if you have an idea I encourage you to think of the people who would really be impacted by your solution and start talking to them.

31:09.79
wearabletakeover
I Love it. So I heard you say talk to people and continue to talk to people does this really need to be solved and does it need to be solved now that's incredibly important. So what are some.

31:16.14
Tamara Lambert
Um, yeah, as if.

31:26.29
wearabletakeover
Actionable tips you could give to somebody right now they're saying hey tomorrow I don't know how to craft a story or I don't know how to assess what a potential customer is or who that could be what are some tips you could give to our listeners so that they can refine that.

31:42.96
Tamara Lambert
I would say first you have to have clarity on what you're doing so I'd encourage everyone who if you have an idea start writing it down. Um, after you write it down. Um I definitely encourage you to list out people who you think would be affected by this. Solutions. So maybe you can think of you know potential stakeholders I'll give you an idea for mine. Ah for mine. So I work on developing a biosensor who who would I want to talk to and basically physicians who might be using it um patients who would be impacted. Um. Since we're focusing on the elderly caregivers and the hospital administrators and insurance companies. So that's an idea of how you'd want to do it think of like all the different people would be impacted and after that um maybe go on Google or start reaching out to people who you might know. Um, who might know some people who are in this area and who would be willing to talk to you and you know, um, craft an email asking them hey can I um, talk to you for 15 to 30 minutes and especially if you're a student people tend to be more willing to speak to you take the time.

32:49.52
wearabletakeover
Yes.

32:54.33
Tamara Lambert
Really of and if you need to run your email by someone and get some feedback on that definitely reach out and ask people about that and I would say um after you get those customer interviews write out the key points find the key points find the points that are most in common and then maybe you look At. Deviations as well and see how can this really fit into what I'm trying to do and also think that hey I had a solution in mind but is that solution Really what is needed or maybe the solution is something completely different from what I thought it was going to be Um, So yeah, those are you know a couple of tips. Um that I.

33:31.51
wearabletakeover
Those those were wonderful tips too by the way and so just to reiterate So you said scan the internet we we have so many tools to help you do that right? And when I say we am not just talking about our ecosystem I mean in the world. There are so many tools.

33:31.65
Tamara Lambert
Can think of off the top of my head.

33:41.90
Tamara Lambert
Um.

33:49.84
wearabletakeover
But another important thing you said is craft that email You don't have to recreate the wheel every single time you go talk to somebody so develop a system so that it makes it a little bit easier for you and then find a repository meaning somewhere where you can store this stuff. So that you can look at the data and maybe have it calculate on your Behalf. So These are some key things that anyone is going to use as you are developing your venture because often when you come and say oh I need funding people are on challenges say how do you know?? What's what's the data. How much. How much skin have you put in the game to really validate the story that you're trying to sell and what I love about this process tomorrow is that um it reiterates the notion that innovators are going to run the world. Innovators run the world and I mean that from um, a Multis sense kind. Ah um, multi complex if you will um, most standard most of your bigger companies or whatnot. They are not primed for innovation.

34:43.70
Tamara Lambert
Um, and.

35:01.67
wearabletakeover
Innovation involves a lot of Customer Discovery. It involves a lot of pivoting it involves a lot of you know trying a new process and most companies and most institutions they're really not primed for that and so that's why there's a significant demand. To identify innovators that perhaps they could bring on their team or that they can fund to do these things and therefore integrate. So It's important for anyone that is listening to take heed to the tips that she just shared because they're not going Away. You're going to need to use those. Okay, so tomorrow during the program this was virtual in a virtual setting and so you met ah with um, won't you share with our listeners who did you meet with what was your cohort comprised of and if you were able to meet anybody in person and how did it happen.

35:56.48
Tamara Lambert
So Basically I was I was pretty surprised when I um joined the cohort because I was thinking that it would just be made of a bunch of students. Um, but the reality of the cohort is I think I might have been the only student so there were like people who already started their own company and there were physicians. Pharmacists and people who were a lot for professors people who were a lot further along in their care than I was and but at the same time that was helpful for me from like a mentorship aspect because of course when people have you know more experience than you You can get you know more feedback and so. It was really interesting to meet all these people who I felt like and honestly somewhat intimidating as well to meet people that you know are just so so far advanced but yet I feel like I wasn't really treated differently. Um I was you know I felt like I was welcomed into the cohort.

36:38.65
wearabletakeover
The.

36:54.25
Tamara Lambert
Um, as able to you know interact and I feel like I really had a great experience. Um, the mentorship um in the community I feel like are invaluable and that's something that actually I forgot to say earlier but I encourage everyone who's listening to find a mentorship community or just find a community of innovators as well because. So encouraging just to see everyone. It actually keeps you um on track to um to have people that you are working long to have you know those deadlines. Um, so that you don't fall behind and you commit and you do what you say? you're going to do.

37:16.15
wearabletakeover
Yeah.

37:29.20
Tamara Lambert
Um, so definitely try to find that community of accountability in that community where um, you all, you're not necessarily doing doing the same thing but you all have the same you know vision of wanting to change the world through innovation. Um, so yeah I enjoyed you know meeting. People from the and I age and meeting people who are you know, very well respected in their fields. You know scientists people in public health and I I I would say I'd say I can't trade that experience for anything and i. I don't think that I'd be nearly as far along today if I wasn't a part of it in any startup challenge. So for those of you who are interested um in you know, aging or innovation or anything along those lines I definitely would recommend that for you I'd say 1 thing. Last thing would be that we did have an in-person component so there was a boot camp where I got to meet everyone and I think that that definitely helped to you know solidify you know the bonds that were already being created via Zoom and so yeah, it was honestly it was a great experience.

38:33.69
wearabletakeover
And and it was all paid for right by? Yes, it was paid for so people let me tell you something if you might have imposter syndrome or you might be saying that's not for me, you heard what she just said there are people that have been in their careers physicians or whatnot.

38:37.40
Tamara Lambert
Yes.

38:51.79
wearabletakeover
That apply to this program and so never ever I never want you to approach them to saying you don't belong. You don't matter your perspective matters your ideas matter and it's needed at the table because often there is not representation. And so here she was walking into this virtual and also physical room eventually where she's like oh my gosh there is no one like me from the perspective of still being in school but you know here these folks have been in their careers for years but guess what they embraced her. She made the cut and now she has this amazing community. So the ability to take risk the ability to take risk and to be open and to be a continual learner is so important along this journey. We should never reach a ceiling where we know everything. That's why we promote consistent learning in this ecosystem. That's why we promote consistent collaboration because the more that we communicate the more that we collaborate the more that we're learning the better we will be and the. Better the products and services we will bring to the forefront to solve our challenges right? So what was it like walking into that room like were you guys were you in Maryland or were you in Boston when you guys met and then and then what happened there and who else did you meet because I know there were some investors.

40:24.36
Tamara Lambert
Yeah, so um, it was so was in Boston um, and yeah when I walked in again, it was kind of like you know you see people online. It is. It's a little bit different. Um you know in person but at the same time I feel like I just kind of kind of slipped into the flow.

40:32.67
wearabletakeover
A.

40:41.40
Tamara Lambert
You know because it again. It's just like you kind of building those bonds already and then like when you talk to people. It just makes it more real. Um, and so I don't feel like again I don't feel like I was treated you know differently or if you know you don't belong here. They're just like kind of like at that. End of it. It's just like we are all 1 big family now because we went through similar experience. Um, we you know of course had our ups and our downs but we all made it through the end and we all have you know now we're set up with having our pitch deck. We have.

41:01.40
wearabletakeover
He asked.

41:14.21
Tamara Lambert
Um, people who are still willing to mentor us of Christ have akeia who have still being mentored by um, really, it's just like you build those bonds that you would not build anywhere else and so yeah, even though it might have felt a little bit weird at first honestly, it. It was fine after you know, maybe a couple minutes so it definitely wasn't too bad. Um.

41:34.67
wearabletakeover
I Love it I Love it I'm so excited about your future and I'm gonna get you back to that other point there because there are so many opportunities and doors that open as it as it relates to being in those settings where you're building relationships and we're we're opening.

41:41.55
Tamara Lambert
Um, boy.

41:53.24
wearabletakeover
Some new doors and some relationships for tomorrow as well and I consider her one of our resident experts our resident experts on Disease detected I would tell it our our other founder ambassadors that um, but I'd also like to know tomorrow from your perspective here. You are building out your.

42:02.52
Tamara Lambert
Um, and so.

42:11.35
wearabletakeover
Your product idea Now you have a cohort of some of this I say some of the smartest people on are all together in in a room right? Um, but what also did you learn about the the pitch and the investment process.

42:30.94
Tamara Lambert
So I'd say that um I guess for me, it's a aspect that I wasn't as focused on given that I'm not so early in the process. Um, However, I do think that one of the most important things to learn is that. It's really about your story and you have to learn what's important to investors and it depends on what investor you're talking to and is this investor more.. There's some that are more science focused because they have more of a science background some have more of a business focus and really just want to know about the money right.

42:52.35
wearabletakeover
And then.

43:03.60
Tamara Lambert
And how much return are they going to get on their investment and so you have to learn like what type of investor and I talking to and learn how to craft your story for that investor and also um, of course be it transparent about where you are um in the process. Um, so you know is this investor someone who's right for me because of course you don't want to waste their time or your time right? So you want to know? Okay, where is this the person the right person to talk to you or perhaps maybe I need to talk to someone else who might be able to help me along the right track. So definitely learn about your investor learn about who you're reaching out to and then that will help you to craft. Um your outreach to them and also I think the last thing that I learned is um when it comes to invest might eat and it's at the time where you really ah need to find people to invest in your product. Probably want to reach out to maybe and I was given this ballpark number about 100 investors because you might and heck get a response back from most of the mic I think the number is about maybe 10 percent and so you want to have reach out far and wide and because you never know who you're goingnna get are here back from.

44:11.97
wearabletakeover
Absolutely and in my book. Shameless Plug rejection to reward I talk about that process of hearing those nose and hitting those walls but like Tamaa just said she validated it. It's a part of the process so you have to spread your net. But the beauty is especially if you're in wearables and there's different segments of wearables if you spread your net in our community and with our affiliated resources more than likely you'll have a stronger and a better response versus if you're trying to go out willy nillly and talking to an investor that knows nothing. About these spaces or you know biomedical engineering or biosensors et Cetera. So That's incredibly important know your audience know who you're talking to and one of the things that I told tomorrow and and I think this is important and and tomorrow you could share your experience on how you pivot it to this point or it's should say evolved. This point of sharing your story folks for those of you that are listening at the end of the day remember people are human people are human and they will zonk out in a heartbeat because human things are happening life is. Happening or as some people have to say in life can be life and life is life and so what are some tips that you have to really garner the attention of that listener that investor that advocate because even if someone may not give you money.

45:42.11
wearabletakeover
They might become an advocate and open other doors for you.

45:46.93
Tamara Lambert
Yeah I would say the main thing that I learned about this is really refining your story making it something that is relatable. So I've noticed that um, a lot of my cohort might tell a personal story about. Why they got into this you know it might be related to themselves or their their family members. Um, you might be able to let's say from your customer Discovery Interviews Craft a story that um, really relates to what you've learned from your customers and so that's kind of the route that I went. Although I didn't know anyone personally who had sepsis because I learned so much from the customer Discovery interviews as able to craft a story that um was relatable to the experience of the customers. So this all goes back to really knowing the voice of your customer and I I can't really emphasize that Um, ah enough because. If your customer doesn't feel like they can relate to you then they're not going to buy into your product.

46:46.42
wearabletakeover
You know I and and I gotta share some of your accolades right now tomorrow so we're gonna put the book a little bit more on you versus the process. You just completed and again kudos for your most recent accomplishments and I'm so excited to see how you continue to add to that community. And what you bring to the marketplace but folks if you've doubted anything that we have discussed to this point, let me just pull out a little bit of a historical fact. So tomorrow. Do I have this correct you were inducted into tal beta pie engineering honors society. And 2019 is that correct. Okay, and then you will author on 7 peer reviewed publications including one first author publication is that correct. Okay, let's let's talk about that. Why is that so important. So for some folks that might be a new age.

47:22.10
Tamara Lambert
Yes.

47:40.93
wearabletakeover
I Like to call them a new age techie right? They might not be tremendously familiar with the whole publication in our authoring process tell them why that is so significant I know why I'm super excited but I want you to tell them why that is so important.

47:56.47
Tamara Lambert
I would say that this is really important and the reason why it's because when it comes to peer Review. You have to go through a process where um, your peers basically give you a whole lot of feedback on what you've written right? So It's not just you know you just putting anything out there and. Your peers basically give you um, a lot of feedback and tell you whether or not this is really a valid scientific finding and so you might go through for me I I went through 4 people. But um, this could vary depending on the Journal. Um, but this is important because um in the scientific Community. We. We build by having that feedback from each other you know and um, we build from having that those critiques as well and so one of the reasons why you want to go through this process is because um, you don't you don't want to go based off of your own you know biases because if you're publishing a paper. You know you might think yeah, it's the best thing in world because you work on it right? But now you have not only just yourself. But other people who are reading it and letting you know okay is this really? um, something that is publishable something that would really um, bring a. Valid scientific contribution.

49:09.21
wearabletakeover
And folks so I used to work in the pharmaceutical industry and often we were pulling out medical journals and articles to validate. Why a particular physician or hospital system needed to use. Um, the particular therapeutic that we were offering for their patients and so this is important for our community whereable take ventures specifically because as we are developing these products and bringing them to the market. Um, we might need a tag here tomorrow to say. Right? Well you know what else can we do to make sure that this is validated as we as we bring it here so you have someone that has that expertise in there. Okay so let me brag on her a little bit more. She's also won several micro grants for her startup and so she won a spring and and a summer award at the program at Georgia Tech she's a part of the georgia tech female founders. Oh she she even won an award from the georgia tech female founders and that's a big deal folks because I don't know if you know like from an engineering perspective georgia tech is like Crim de la crim. Okay, and I know this because I used to hang out with a lot of engineers. They would study and I would sleep. But I knew georgia tech but a premier institution and there's actually um georgia tech has a unique history with wearable technology. Actually 1 of their professors. There.

50:38.50
wearabletakeover
Um, develop one of the patents for some of the fashion tech like the smart shirts or whatnot so that came out of georgia tech. There's also another georgia tech founder that's in the Qualcomm wearables ecosystem that we support this out of georgia tech so folks like don't sleep on tomorrow. Okay, we we got the real deal right here.

50:53.16
Tamara Lambert
9

50:57.18
wearabletakeover
So In addition, she just you know completed the and ni startup challenge. She was a finalist a nucleate semifinalists accepted into all raise Georgia Tech startup launch and she is the host and founder of a podcast focusing on women and stem. Um, and also those that women that are creating startups and it's called Uplift her story. Okay, so let's let's talk a little bit about your podcast because I want to make sure that our listeners understand. Need to go here to to that platform uplift her story or her Story. Her story right? We want them to go there and listen to all the amazing people that you bring to the forefront. So So I know that this brings you joy So tell them a little bit more about that platform.

51:51.36
Tamara Lambert
So I started this platform Um, kind of off of my own experiences. Um in stem and for those of us who are you know minority woman in Stem we know that we face unique challenges and um it can. It can be difficult to be honest.

52:02.13
wearabletakeover
Move.

52:08.67
Tamara Lambert
Um, and so I know that many times minority women are marginalized and Undervalued. Um in stem and I've had many of those experiences myself and so the idea for me is to really bring woman especially minority woman to the forefront. So people can know about all the awesome work that we do and also really to encourage younger women. Um, who are coming up that you know you can do this too. You know you might face certain challenges but and there are other women who have come before you who have faced them who have successfully overcome them.

52:34.00
wearabletakeover
Yes.

52:44.66
Tamara Lambert
And I wanted to show them. You know what you can be. You know if as long as you push through and you make it through it. You can do it too and so that's really the idea behind what I created.

52:56.87
wearabletakeover
I Love it move over Princess Jury We have our own tomorrow lambert. Okay so tomorrow with you being in school. Um, so how how are your episodes being released. Is there a delay released or or is it continuous. You know how can people find your podcast.

53:12.99
Tamara Lambert
So right now and we have um, episodes posted to Spotify and anchor and so we have about 9 episodes there at this time and we did take some hiatus and because we um, both are in school right now and but we're trying to you know, be. You know regroup and think about how you want to do it moving forward. But and we do have also we have um Instagram um, you can find us at uplift her story you can email us at upliftdot her story. Um, and you also have a Tiktok and Youtube um uplift underscore her story. Um, so yeah, we are on ah multiple platforms and we really just want to promote women. Um who are doing wonderful things in the stem field. So yeah, definitely take a listen and share it with those who I'd say especially for a woman minority woman who need encouragement.

54:05.42
wearabletakeover
I Love it and so let me just give a little cheat code to educators that may be out there listening and we'll be incorporating some of tomorrow's episodes into some of our summer curriculum If you're developing a lesson plan and if you're trying to discuss them go to tomorrow's platform and. Share that episode with your students. It is so important and it helps you save on cost until you can afford to fly her out to come and speak okay because you will pay all right. The folks on our platform you you will invest. That's what we do out here but in the interim we want you to.

54:39.53
Tamara Lambert
Um, this this is.

54:43.54
wearabletakeover
We want to to digest the content that is there because the women are absolutely phenomenal and as a result of tomorrow's work. She has influenced so many people 1 of our other founder ambassadors actually heard about what she was doing and he's doing amazing things and now he's in our fold and. Let me tell you he he made sure he'd knocked down the door because we had actually closed the door on a founder ambassadors that we were accepted for a year he's like wait a minute I gotta be here I gotta be here I gotta be here and so we like come on in here. We like we like that ambition but you'll hear more from him but probably the next one or 2 episodes.

55:16.73
Tamara Lambert
Um.

55:20.35
wearabletakeover
But I love it. So again, you said us on Spotify is on anchor and then where can people connect with you tomorrow.

55:30.37
Tamara Lambert
Um, so you can they can connect with me and uplift your story so you can dm me um, at uplift her story. Um, you can email me at uplift at her story at gmail.com and so I probably say those are probably the best ways to do it.

55:44.18
wearabletakeover
I Love it and then when she finally gets done with this program. We're gonna go on tour I'm putting it in the atmosphere I am so inspired by you as a person I'm inspired by your focus.

55:48.40
Tamara Lambert
A.

56:02.41
wearabletakeover
Your passion your accountability and responsibility to the community and I can't wait to see what comes to the forefront for our listeners to use on a daily basis or you know something that their family members can use. Because tomorrow exists because Tamara is here so tomorrow before we close. Do you have any special words or words of wisdom or insights that you want to share with our listeners and viewers.

56:35.28
Tamara Lambert
Well I'd say and this might be cliche but the most important thing that I would say is to never give up right because there's so many challenges that you'll face especially as you know female founder um a minority female founder and I think ah. At the other side of it. Those difficult experiences will are what make you unique, but also will is what is going to make you last because I think that people who are untried and when these difficulties come and they will come in Business. It's easier to fold. But I wouldn't say that those challenges mean that you shouldn't be there I think that's all the more reason why you should be there because your experience will you know take you through to the end.

57:26.54
wearabletakeover
I love it all right? Nothing nothing comes to fruition that is really good without a little bit of friction and that friction is only Goingnna make you stronger as your shedding skin sheddding perspectives getting stronger and learning how to um. Really really be a sharpshhoer in whatever it is that you're bringing to the market so tomorrow. Thank you so much for being a guest here folks make sure you connect with her your action items make sure you share this episode make sure you download her episodes with our podcast and surety tells you it's on. So. Spotify and anchor and then again, let's continue to amplify the work that she already has out there. Make sure you stay tuned in for our closing announcements and we will see you at something hopefully soon presented by wearbotechbentntures.org if you just you know click on the button. Let us know.

58:21.42
Tamara Lambert
Are.

58:21.73
wearabletakeover
See you later.