800 Episodes Later: What I've Learned From the Diabetes Community

Summary

Diabetes Connections | Episode 800: What I’ve Learned from the Diabetes Community

Host: Stacey Simms
Guest/Guest Host: John “Jag” Gay
Date: July 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

This celebratory 800th episode of Diabetes Connections takes the form of an in-depth retrospective interview. Long-time host Stacey Simms is joined by her friend and fellow broadcaster John "Jag" Gay, who turns the tables and interviews Stacey about her journey, the evolution of the show, milestone moments, the diabetes community, parenting, tech breakthroughs, controversies, and more. The episode is rich with insights and personal reflections, providing both seasoned listeners and newcomers with a sense of the show’s impact and the host’s philosophy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origins & Evolution of Diabetes Connections

[04:41] Main Theme:

• Jag asks Stacey what has most surprised her about the evolution from episode 1 to episode 800.
• Stacey recounts technical challenges at launch and her initial mission: “We're gonna show people that making in person diabetes connections is the greatest thing you can do.”
• The early show emphasized personal “in-the-wild” diabetes connections, modeled after NPR’s Fresh Air.
• Simplicity has endured: “The simplicity is really the best for podcasting… a great example of something that didn’t work was years ago, I… did a segment called Shop Talk, and I ran it in every show. Nobody really cared… it wasn’t something that moved the needle in any meaningful way. And it was so much work… I didn’t repeat it.” [08:00]
• The show maintains a “journalistic eye”, prioritizing clarity, direct questioning, and audience usefulness.

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2. Personal & Parenting Challenges Across Seasons

[09:41] Notable Question from Lauren Bongiorno:

• Stacey reveals that a persistent challenge is “the balance between independence and time in range for Benny”—wanting her son to self-manage while ensuring good health [10:00].
• Newer professional challenge: managing the rapid growth and diversification of her business, especially moving into events like Mom’s Night Out—“I feel like it’s been a sprint. Moving into in person events has changed the game.” [12:18]
• Parental tension (“I want to help you with that problem, I want to fix that for you, but also knowing you have to fail… you have to do this on your own and I can support you, but I gotta keep my mouth shut sometimes”) [11:00].

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3. Breakthroughs in Diabetes Technology and Research

[13:03] Most Impactful Advances:

• Stacey identifies the three most significant breakthroughs:
  • CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) – “It went from ‘okay, now you don’t have to prick your finger’… to working with insulin pump systems. So incredible.” [14:01]
  • Stem cell/islet cell transplantation – “The idea that people could come off of using exogenous insulin… is an incredible breakthrough and I hope leads to more in the future.” [15:25]
  • Screening and prevention (Tzield) – “Just the fact that they are now typing the stages… and you were approved to use Tzield to delay the onset of type 1 diabetes… this is so new.” [16:00]

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4. Impactful & Influential Podcast Episodes

[17:15] Audience Impact:

• Stacey reflects on the impact of episodes where she held diabetes tech companies accountable with tough questions: “One of the reasons I wanted to start the show is because I have a journalism background… bringing your questions as you listen to these tech companies, CEOs and engineers has been incredibly rewarding.” [17:44]
• Memorable moment: An episode with a European device company led them to immediately commit to skin-tone inclusive product development after Stacey’s on-air question [19:30].
• On “ordinary heroes”: Shows featuring real, everyday people with relatable stories have had some of the greatest impact.

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5. Notable & Memorable Guests

[20:34] Surprises and Key Figures:

• Melissa Lee (pioneering DIY tech advocate and educator) is a recurring favorite: “I learned something from her every time she comes on the show… She’s so smart… when you look at [Steel Magnolias]… Shelby… is the only person without community. Everybody else has people around them who get them… that really stayed with me.” [22:25]
• Notable interview aspirations: “I want to talk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor… I’ve had Nick Jonas… I want to talk to Jean Smart.” [23:12]

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6. Journalism, Social Media, and Managing Expectations

[24:03] Balancing Excitement and Realism:

• Stacey expresses her frustration with diabetes social media hype: “It’s one of the things that I hate the most about diabetes social media… people get overly excited… about things that have been promised for a long time and may be coming, but they’re just not there yet.” [24:35]
• She is rigorous about vetting guests: “I’m not going to have people on to talk about stuff that is pie in the sky unless they’re willing to have a real conversation about it.” [26:38]
• Editorial philosophy draws on newsroom practices: “Is this credible? Where’s the there, there?” [27:25]
• Sometimes episodes she worries no one will care about become “super popular”, and vice versa [28:10].

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7. Controversies and Tensions within the T1D Community

[34:50] The Most Controversial Topic:

• “Low carb eating. And it’s not because there’s anything wrong with low carb eating or lower carb eating… but there are people that are so militant about doing this… I’ve been told… I’m going to kill my child. I’m a terrible mother… there are multiple ways to parent with diabetes.” [34:55]
• On new names for type 1 diabetes: “Can we drop the topic?… We can talk about type 1 without throwing people with type 2 under the bus… it really takes away our power.” [31:20]

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8. Community Support and Hope

[32:15] What Gives Most Hope:

• “The way in which the Type 1 community continues to show up for itself any hour of the day or night… people will help each other… The diabetes community continues to show up for each other is really hopeful.” [32:26]
• “When people find the community, whatever their talents are, they contribute… people find what they’re good at… and jump in and become volunteers and helpers. It sure seems like it.” [33:20]

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9. How the Podcast Changed Parenting & Advocacy

[37:34] Has Hosting Changed Her Approach?

• On advocating for Benny: “It absolutely helped me advocate and get him access to what he wanted in terms of technology.” [37:50]
• Policy: “We do not accept any medical devices for free… He’s been funny. He has never really wanted to change his technology.”
• Community connecting: “You thought you were alone. You’re not alone… I can’t cure you, but I can get you together and you guys can help each other.” [40:19]

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10. Podcasting Strategy and Industry Changes

[43:26] Why Podcasting?

• “I loved radio… It’s the most powerful medium. It’s the most personal medium.” [43:26]
• The transition was natural: “Podcasting was natural for me… I just wouldn’t share enough [in blogging]… Podcasting… to continue the newsy part that I wasn’t hearing.” [44:19]
• Tech shifts: “The worst thing for me is video. I hate video.” [46:30]
• Short-form has changed discovery: “A short video clip on Instagram can get… 25-fold more views than the podcast gets in total… but how much can you say in a minute?” [48:52]

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11. Advice to New Listeners: Where to Start

[49:28] For Newcomers:

• “Find things that are really personal to you and your experience. And I guarantee we have a guest that has talked about that… you can put in those key elements on the website search.” [50:56]

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12. Shout-outs to Organizations That Matter

[52:11] Stacey’s Top Picks:

• Children with Diabetes, Friends for Life – “It helped me learn a lot about not just the community, but the business of the community…”
• Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF) – “Their actual dedication to research… they are the reason why insurance covers devices like insulin pumps…”
• DSMA (Diabetes Social Media Advocacy) – “It was more than a diabetes conversation. It really was a movement… all of these advocates changed the online conversation… so you would [find] resources and other women who’d done it…” [54:49]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On podcasting’s impact: “The simplicity is really the best for podcasting.” [08:00]
• On parenting and letting go: “I want to help you with that problem… but I gotta keep my mouth shut sometimes. And that continues to follow me. That’s a really tough one.” [11:00]
• On diabetes community spirit: “The way in which the Type 1 community continues to show up for itself, any hour of the day or night… people will help each other.” [32:26]
• On asking hard questions: “I’m not uncomfortable saying, look, you’re very nice, but you stink at this. Can you help us out?” [17:44]
• On low carb controversy: “It’s the yelling that I don’t like... just, you know, be helpful.” [37:34]
• On podcasting and change: “Podcasting was natural for me at the time because I was such an avid podcast listener… the most powerful medium.” [43:26]

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Closing Reflections

Stacey expresses deep gratitude for the community:
“The secret is letting other people share what they’re all about… bringing all of these voices, and hoping that anybody listening feels less alone, feels a little bit more hopeful, feels a little bit understood. With diabetes, that’s really what it’s all about. So 800 episodes of that I’m really proud of.” [57:35]

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Episode Flow & Key Timestamps

• Opening, context, and Jag introduction: 00:08 – 04:41
• Reflections on episode 1 and show evolution: 04:41 – 09:41
• Personal/parenting challenges: 09:41 – 13:03
• Breakthroughs in diabetes tech and research: 13:03 – 17:15
• Impactful episodes and guest surprises: 17:15 – 23:06
• Show aspirations, journalism, and managing expectations: 23:06 – 28:32
• Community, controversies, and low carb debate: 28:32 – 37:34
• Effect on advocacy and connecting families: 37:34 – 43:26
• Why podcasting, and changing podcast landscape: 43:26 – 50:56
• Advice for new listeners: 50:56 – 52:11
• Community organizations and closing remarks: 52:11 – End

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For Listeners—Key Takeaways

• Stacey prioritizes tough questions, honest conversations, and advocating for community needs.
• The diabetes community’s willingness to help, share, and empower others is a continual source of hope.
• The podcast’s foundation is real stories, real people, and keeping it simple—no jargon, hype, or empty promises.
• Diabetes Connections remains a touchstone for both news and togetherness in the T1D world.

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For more stories, search the episode archive by your device, interest, or challenge at the Diabetes Connections website.

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“Cheers to all of you for listening, for participating, for coming on the show, for sharing it… for being part of this incredible community.” – Stacey Simms [57:35]

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to a different kind of episode of Diabetes Connections. I'm your host, Stacey Sims. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. I am celebrating episode 800 of the podcast. Yay. And to mark that, I thought it would be fun, like I said, to do a different kind of episode, so. So I have brought in a friend and colleague to help me with this show. I want to introduce you to John Gay, goes by Jag. That's what I'll call him.

[B]

Jag.

[A]

Welcome to Diabetes Connections. Before I hand you the reins, it's good to see you. How are you?

[B]

Thank you, my friend. And what an honor it is to be here. Congratulations on 800 episodes. You know, I work with a lot of podcasters, and 800 episodes is no small feat, so congratulations.

[A]

Thank you. Thank you. I think it's bananas sometimes. Quick bit of background. JAG does not have a diabetes connection

[B]

other than you and a son and

[A]

some professionals, but thankfully, I'm glad for you for that. But we, as they say in our circles, we're friends from school. We both went to Syracuse University at different times, but we are very active in the incredible alumni association for the student radio station wjpz. And. And so JAG and I connected over the years because we were very early into podcasting. The students wanted to know more. So we did some presentations, we went back for some reunions, and we really got to know each other. And he helped me in many ways professionally. And now why don't you just talk a little bit about what you do because you work with folks in the diabetes community.

[B]

Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to mention that. So I edit the podcast for the association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists, ADC ES out of Chicago. One of my early clients was introduced to me by you, Stacy. That is Melissa Joy Dobbins. She has the Sound Bites podcast. She's also a certified diabetes educator. And I've done some work for. I'm going to look at my wall because I got them on my wall. The Dietitian Connection podcast out of Australia. Oh, nice. So I've worked with several diabetes podcasts, but I also work with financial advisors, other nonprofits, and business owners who want to launch a podcast, audio or video, or improve their podcast. And I'll either co host it like I am with you now, I'll sit in on the recording as a live producer, or I'll just have them record themselves. And they send it to me, and I edit it and send it back to them. So, like you, I'm a former radio person, and this podcasting was a natural transition of my skillset when I got into it back in 2018.

[A]

Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. And you will get to. We'll get to me, I promise. But you also produced and hosted what I think people should definitely check out. Outside of Diabetes, which is the WJPZ, you know, the 50th podcast that you did, you interviewed so many great alums from Syracuse. There's so many fantastic broadcasters. So you might just want to check that out and hear some interesting stories.

[B]

Well, thank you for the plug. It's called WJPZ at 50. We did 110 interviews, I think by the time we were over. Not 800, but.

[A]

All right, deep breath. Yeah, 800 is a lot. So I'm gonna turn the reins over to you. We've got some questions that folks sent in. Thank you so much for doing that, but, you know, the floor is yours. Where do you want to go with this one?

[B]

Well, thank you. I've got some questions that, like you said, they've come in from others, and some that we've worked on or I've worked on that you haven't seen yet, so. And I have to ask you, by the way, I'm always way more nervous as a guest than a host. Is that true for you? No.

[A]

Oh, my God. Being a guest on somebody else's podcast, the easiest thing in the world.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Because I don't have to do a lot of prep. I know me. I know my story. You know, it's. Unless we're talking about something completely different, I suppose. But I. You know, I don't feel like I'm in the same. You know, there's. The control is different, so the pressure's off, and I feel like I'm just a guest in your living room now. That's how I tell people you're a guest in somebody else's house.

[B]

Before we start, since you were kind enough to plug my podcast, are we allowed to plug your other podcast here?

[A]

Oh, sure.

[B]

That I've worked on with Stacy and her husband Slade. It's called Sticks Together. It's about couples who golf together, and it is a fun podcast. And if you want a little comedic relief after some serious topic like diabetes, Sticks Together is the name of the podcast.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Yeah, it's fun.

[A]

It is a lot of fun to do.

[B]

I don't golf, and I enjoy the podcast.

[A]

Oh, very cool. We'll have to get you out there and your Wife.

[B]

Yes, absolutely. Okay, so first question, I'm just gonna go deep with you right away here, so you might have to think about this before you answer. 800 episodes again, we said it's an incredible achievement. When you think back to episode one, what surprises you the most about how the show has evolved?

[A]

Well, quick story about episode one. I was very excited to start the podcast. And if you remember back in the olden days of podcasting, there was quite a lag between in 2015 when you taped your first episode, when you sent it off to what was then itunes, you know, waiting to get approval. So I'm pretty sure I launched in late May, but we weren't anywhere that people really knew to find us until the middle of June. So that's the first thing that stood out, was late. So big lag time. There were a lot of approvals. I'm pretty sure Spotify was not a thing yet. Pandora videos to YouTube were kind of there, but it was very limited. My first guest was Christelle Marshana Prigliano, which might be a familiar name to many of you listening. She was a very OG blogger. I believe she has the first diabetes podcast to her credit, way back in 2005 or 2006. She didn't continue it for a very long period of time, but what I really remember about that episode is that I welcomed her to the show and I immediately spilled my drink, whether it was coffee or water, all over my keyboard. All over. I was on my. I was on a dresser. I wasn't even on a desk at that time because I was trying to find the right height for my microphone. Like, it was a mess. And, you know, thankfully, she laughed, I laughed, took a deep breath, we restarted, and we moved on. So that was memorable. But the other funny thing is I started the show as Diabetes Connections, and sometimes I wish I'd called it like the diabetes news show, because that's kind of what we've grown into. But at the time, I thought, we're gonna show people that making in person diabetes connections is the greatest thing you can do. And Christelle was hosting the Diabetes Unconference. You know, this is also a boy memento of its time. Unconferences were everywhere where there was no real agenda. You showed up, you voted on it. So I wanted her to talk about these connections. So you hear me in those early episodes trying to ask people, like, what's the best thing you got out of meeting someone in person? Or tell me about a connection you made in the wild and things like that. And then Quickly exhausted being able to do that for every interview. But that's the biggest thing that stands out to me. That and making a mess.

[B]

Got it. Got it. And as far as the show evolving, what would you say surprised you about how it's evolved over 800 episodes?

[A]

You know, it's not that different from what we started with. And I do laugh at myself because I say we. It's me. I mean, I do have a wonderful editor who everybody hears me talk about at the end of every show. And, you know, John has helped me up and down. Other John, not me.

[B]

Other John.

[A]

I'm sorry. John Buchanis from Audio Onyx Illusions. So he's been there since 2016. I had an intern in the beginning. I've never actually. I can edit. I do not like to edit the show. I feel like that's a different skill set. When I say we, it's like the royal we, but in terms of evolving.

[B]

I want to steal that.

[A]

Yeah, it's a good one because, I mean, you know, it is a team with me and the listeners, too. Along the way, I've tried a lot of different things that I think might be appealing. And. And what I've learned is that the simplicity is really the best for podcasting. I do not have a big team and a big budget to do a lot of razzle dazzle and a lot of stuff with, you know, that that makes a lot of moving parts and takes a long time to assemble. So a great example of something that didn't work was years ago, I went to the Friends for Life conference, which happens every year in July in Orlando, and I interviewed every vendor at the conference floor. There are more now, but I did interview everybody that would talk to me. Some of the big pharmaceutical companies won't just talk to you from the conference floor, but I did all the new little products, all the mom and pop shops. I did a segment called Shop Talk, and I ran it in every show. Nobody really cared. I don't know. It seemed fine, but it wasn't something that moved the needle in any meaningful way. And it was so much work to do that I didn't repeat it. So, long story short, I think the simplicity of the show has really stood the test of time. I did model this off of Fresh Air on npr.

[B]

Not a bad thing to model off of.

[A]

Yeah, right. Long Running was one of the first podcasts I ever downloaded, and we continue to do that. Just trying to do these interviews with more of a journalistic eye.

[B]

Okay, I promise I'm gonna get to More straightforward questions. But there's one other deep one I wanna get to off the bat because it came in from. And I believe I'm getting the pronunciation. Lauren Bongiorno from Risely Health. Am I getting that right?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

Okay. Looking across the different chapters of your life, what is a challenge that has followed you from one season to the next? And it's a challenge that's brand new to this season. Lauren would like to know. Huh.

[A]

I think. Okay. So not specifically talking about podcasting for a minute because I know some of this is diabetes and diabetes parenting. Yeah. I think that the biggest challenge that does not go away, and I kind of thought I did as a parent, is that balance between. And in the past I would have said like independence and time and range for Benny. Right. You want to give him all the independence that he can so he grows up and he accepts diabetes and he takes care of it himself. But you also want him to have good health. And you know, an 11 year old isn't always going to make the best decisions at a sleepover about how to treat a low or how to bolus for pizza and things like that. So it was always a balance. But I think when you dial that back, it's also just parenting, you know, And I still struggle with wanting my children are adults. 21 for Benny, 24 for Leah. And I still do struggle with, I want to help you with that problem, I want to fix that for you, but also knowing you have to fail, you have to learn for yourself, you have to do this on your own and I can support you, but I gotta keep my mouth shut sometimes. And that continues to follow me. That's a really tough one.

[B]

Well, you mentioned Leah there too. And I think that's something every parent struggles with, is when do you help versus when do you let the child make a mistake and learn from it? Right.

[A]

The worst. Why don't they just listen to me? I mean, I can just tell them how to fix everything. It is. It's very difficult and. Right. Leah's kind of like the secret child. She doesn't like me to talk about her on social media. She's fine with me talking about her on the podcast, but a lot of people forget that I do have a daughter who's older than Penny.

[B]

So what's the challenge new to this season for you, Stacy?

[A]

Well, and then this one I'm going to answer a little bit more professionally and that is how busy we are. Great. I started this show basically to have a part time job. I had left my Full time radio position. My husband was working full time and traveling a ton. And I had two kids in middle school and elementary school. So I started the podcast thinking that this is gonna be 20 to 25 hours a week, which it was, and it was perfect. But then, you know, writing a couple of books. And then in 2022, I started planning mom's night out, and we pulled the trigger on that in January of 2023, and I feel like it's been a sprint. Moving into in person events has changed the game in terms of what this business is all about. It's changed the frequency of the podcasts. This year I changed. I was doing six episodes a month. Now we're doing four episodes a month. And that's much more tenable for me. I'm just busier. And it's been a real learning experience to try to balance what parts of the company need attention at any given moment and what parts of Stacy need attention at any given moment.

[B]

Sure. Yeah.

[A]

So that's been a very new challenge that I haven't had since I was working full time. I mean, I left my full time job at the end of 2020. Wait, at the end of 2012?

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

So that's forever ago.

[A]

It's been a ride.

[B]

Okay, let's go into some tech specific questions. What is in the 800 episode History of the podcast? And there's probably many, but if you had to pick one, what's the biggest breakthrough you've covered that genuinely changed people's lives?

[A]

Ooh. Oh, my gosh. Okay. All right, I'm gonna give. I'm gonna give three answers.

[B]

I thought that might happen.

[A]

We're going to go through them. Okay, so the three answers are cgm, stem cell or islet cell transplantation. And I'm going to use the brand name Tzield. But when we talk about it, we're really going to talk about screening and prevention. Okay, so back to cgm. When Benny was, I'm going to say, nine years old, he got his first cgm, you know, continuous glucose monitor. I know as you listen, you know what I'm talking about. Kind of explain, Jack, you know what I'm talking about. You do that episode. You do that podcast.

[B]

I would have guessed CGM for the answer to this question, actually. So, yes. Okay,

[A]

so I want to say that the adoption rate in pediatrics when Benny was nine back in 2013 was like 15%. I just read a study on this not too long ago. It's 80% for pediatrics with type one and it went from, okay, now you don't have to prick your finger. And we can see this and we can see trends, and we can, you know, prevent lows possibly if we pay attention. It went from that to working with insulin pump systems. So incredible. Having automated devices, you know, semi automated. Let's not get too crazy. We don't have any truly closed loops on the commercial level, but having the possibility of a completely closed loop around the corner is absolutely incredible. So I'll say cgm, and that's obviously. That was a very brief answer. We could talk about it for four hours. I'm putting that to the side. Stem cell, islet cell transplantation. There's actually a really big controversy going on right now in the diabetes community about is this secure? Are people not happy about it enough? Are people too happy about it? I'm not going to talk about any of that. I'm just going to say this is absolutely incredible. Will it scale? I don't know. Will anybody afford it? I don't know. But the idea that people could come off of using exogenous insulin because of this kind of transplantation is an incredible breakthrough and I hope leads to more in the future. And we have been talking about this for a very long time. In fact, I tell the story all the time. I was the emcee of the local JDRF now breakthrough T1D golf tournament before Benny was diagnosed. And I remember specifically one of the families had one of those hats that said, got milk, but it said got eyelets. And it was all about islet stem cell. I think it was just islet cell at the time. Transplantation. This is like 2002, so been around for a long time. But I'm very hopeful about that. And certainly more companies are getting involved, so I guess that's more of a future thing. But prevention paired with screening is definitely the biggest change we've seen in the last three years. Just the fact that they are now typing the stages. Excuse me, staging how you develop Type one. There's a stage one before, you know, you've got, like, a certain amount of antibodies. Stage two. This is a terrible explanation. I need to have these facts in front of me. But now we have stage one, stage two, Stage three. Stage two was where, until very recently, you were approved to use Tzield to delay the onset of type 1 diabetes. Just got approval for stage 3, which is when you are newly diagnosed with type 1 but using insulin. So this is what we think of, like, the regular diagnosis. It was too late to start using Tzield. For that, but now it's been approved. So now they're talking about stage four diabetes because they have to differentiate in some way. That's people who've used insulin, but it's too. Boy, this is a complicated answer. We've done a bunch of episodes on this stuff, but stage four to finish that thought, I just want to get it out there because it's so new. But it is just semantics. It's people who have lived with type one long enough that they're using insulin, which is like a day you're diagnosed. They immediately give you insulin, but you're living with it too long to start on Tzield. So I'd say those three together.

[B]

Let's get into some podcast specific stuff. This one just came in through the Facebook live that we're doing right now. Came in from Stephen Woodward. What episode or episodes do you remember having the greatest impact on the diabetes community? Is there an episode you can think of that you were like, wow, this really accomplished something.

[A]

Oh my gosh, Stephen, you stumped her. I've got to think about that. That's a great question. You know, let me do what I usually do. I'll give you some inside baseball here. I will talk until I think of the answer.

[B]

I've known you a long time, Stacey.

[A]

That's how my brain works. I think that I'll give you more of a broad answer first. One of the reasons I started the show is because I would hear some other podcasters who I think did a great job, had great anecdotes, really good personal stories, but they would have on tech companies in particular, and they wouldn't ask them the questions that I knew I wanted to hear. What's wrong with that adhesive? Why does it bother people's skin so much? When are you going to make this thing that can talk to this thing? If the DIY community can do it, why can't you do it? Why won't you give me a push notification through the follow up? Dexcom One of the reasons I wanted to start the show is because I have a journalism background. I know how to ask questions. I. I'm not uncomfortable saying, look, you're very nice, but you stink at this. Can you help us out? So I will say that bringing your questions as you listen to these tech companies, CEOs and engineers has been incredibly rewarding because we really have done certain things. It's been fantastic to move the needle a little bit here and there. One of my favorite episodes. And again, you wonder, does any of this Change anything. We were talking to a company. I don't think this ever came to the United States. And he was like, you know, it was in the Netherlands or somewhere in Europe. And they were talking about the color of the patch of their device and how it was really great. It was super. Like, it was skin tone, more skin tone than anybody else, and it wasn't white. And I'm like, well, you're coming to the United States. You got any brown? You got any black? You got any? They were like. Like, they hadn't thought about that at all.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Because they were so European based and so specifically Scandinavian based. And he on the show was like, we're on it. Like, that's gotta be Remyed immediately. We're taking care of that. We have not, you know, blah, blah, blah. So that was funny.

[B]

That's a great story. Yeah.

[A]

I don't know, again that the product ever, ever came to it. So I'm gonna. Great question. I'm gonna let my brain think about it because one of the things I do worry about and I think about this when I'm booking guests, it's like, does this matter? You know, when we're talking about, you know, motivational stories. And it's very important for people to see, like, professional athletes who can do this and, you know, people on Broadway and high jobs and they climbed Mount Everest and they ran 27 marathons. Like, it's really important. But to me, raising my son, I love you, Benny. He was never gonna do any of that. Right? I mean, he might have dreams of being a professional baseball player, but I knew he wasn't gonna do that. So I wanted to see the people that were living real lives and having real impact on themselves and their families. Like, and we're doing it with type 1 diabetes, but I think that's a really good question. I'm going to mull that over.

[B]

I love that. So we're talking about guests now. Is there a guest that really surprised you that comes to mind?

[A]

Yeah. I mean, gosh. One of my favorite people to talk to in the diabetes community is Melissa Lee. She now works at Omnipod, but she was very, very instrumental in the DIY community. And my show was coming out in 2015, right at this. I don't want to say the peak, but at a very big wave of DIY stuff. This is when people really starting to, quote, unquote, hack into their insulin. Pumps. You know, they were doing things that they weren't seeing done commercially, and they really wanted to, you know, like, I talked about these aid systems. These folks were doing that well before they were commercially available. And there are people doing, you know, closed loop stuff now. So Melissa, I believe, was the first part of. She and her husband, part of the first couple to follow each other. You know, she. He followed her on a DIY system. And I only say she surprised me because I learned something from her every time she comes on the show. We did a whole episode about how to choose an insulin pump back in the day. It's called, like, can I just get the pink one? You know, and she's got such great advice about that, how to do it, what questions to ask. We did an episode with her and some other folks about Steel Magnolias, about that movie. And, you know, boy, I've talked to so many people. But this really. This quote from her just stayed with me. She says, when you look at that movie, which I'm sure you're all familiar with, but the main character has type 1 diabetes. Her mother doesn't want her to have a baby. It's too dangerous. She has the baby, Ultimately she dies. And it is based on a true story. It is true of the time when this happened. You know, it is very scary and terrifying to look at, I think, for a lot of people. But it's thankfully not something that I can't say would never happen in present day, but it's much more rare, certainly. But Melissa pointed out that Shelby, the woman with Type one in that movie, is the only person without community. Everybody else has people around them who get them, who understand them. There's no type one community in that movie for Shelby. She's all alone. And that really stayed with me. And I thought, gosh, she's so smart, Melissa, to notice and think of these things. You know, there have been other people. Like, I talked to Victor Garber, who's a celebrity. You know, he's in a lot of movies. And I've talked to a lot of athletes and, you know, other folks that are, you know, on television and here and there. But I will say it's like the ordinary people who give you those stories that really kind of make the biggest difference to me.

[B]

You mentioned athletes and actors. Is there a guest you're still chasing that we can manifest right now?

[A]

All right, I have. I want to talk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, right, Lives with Type one. I've requested that time and time again. I don't know, maybe we'll get there. We'll see. I've had Nick Jonas on the show, but not as a real guest. Somebody made him available on, like, a webinar and you could submit questions. And I submitted, like, five questions, and four of them were for, like, you know, have you ever considered using your platform to talk more about access and affordability? And then one of them was like, what did your mom think? And of course they answered that one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And Jean Smart. I want to talk to Jean Smart. She lives with Type one. She's fantastic actress, and boy, you know, I'm a big fan of hacks. I was a big fan of Watchmen when they did it on tv. She's so great. So I would love to talk to her. So, yeah, manifest that for me. Jay, get on the horn.

[B]

Sounds good. All right, let's go a little bit further under the hood here when you're putting the show together and coming up with topics. And we talked about some of these amazing breakthroughs a few minutes ago. Stace, how do you balance reporting these exciting breakthroughs but also managing expectations for families?

[A]

I love this question. I think it's very difficult. It's one of if, like a little soapbox issue. It's one of the things that I hate the most about diabetes social media.

[B]

Sure. Or social media in general, really.

[A]

But diabetes social media is amazing because it does really connect people. It brings people together in a way that we can't. We just can't do in person. Type 1 diabetes is not common. So many people don't know anybody in their town. They don't have access to a meetup. Right. They're not really going to have these conversations. They see their endo a couple of times a year if they're lucky. So the good part of diabetes social media is it really makes you feel like you're in the club, which you are. But I think people get very overly excited, especially when you see somebody who is newer diagnosed or their child is newer diagnosed, and I'm going to say newer diagnosed, like four years, three to four years. They're getting very excited over things that we all know aren't going to happen, or they're getting very excited over things that have been around, that have been promised for a long time and may be coming, but they're just not there yet. So it's very difficult. Like every year after ada, you know, somebody's talking about ada, scientific sessions, a big conference that happens in June. We get all these reports. Look at this amazing, you know, blood glucose monitor that needs no blood. Right. You're just going to slap it on your wrist and go about your day, and it's going to flawlessly predict your blood sugar and blah, blah, blah. And you know, it's like. No, it's not. It is not. I actually think those devices are coming, the non invasive glucose monitors, but I think there are ways away and until you see a clinical trial, they're never going to be used to dose insulin. So that's pretty frustrating. And I mean, just managing expectations. I feel like I both look at the world through rose colored glasses, but I'm also like serious dream killer. You know, we really got to get to the bottom of is this happening? When can it happen? You know, there's, there's just. I don't know, I don't want to get too specific with examples because I don't want to single anybody out. Maybe I will as we go on, but I just feel like part of it is not having everybody on the show.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, I'm not going to do interviews with people that I think are, well, not only snake oil salesmen, because we definitely have some of that. I get pitches for that every day. But I'm not going to have people on to talk about stuff that is pie in the sky unless they're willing to have a real conversation about it. So how do you decide what's worth

[B]

covering versus what's just noise? Just you relying on your experience in the space and the professionals you've spoke to over the years.

[A]

Yeah, that's a great way to put it. You know, in journalism, in all the newsrooms I was ever in, we had editors and, you know, I don't know if they exist anymore, but we had editors, we had teams, and you know, there are questions that you ask. Right. Is this of interest to my audience? You know, if it is, you're probably gonna get on the show. Is this credible?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Is this something that we could talk about for more than five minutes? Like, where's the. There, there. Some of this stuff is, you know, very easily done. That's one of the reasons why I started the in the News episodes because I'll get a press release from a company and they're like, we now work with this CGM. Okay, that's really great. But that's not a 20, 30 minute interview unless you're willing to comment on all this other stuff. And I usually will send them an email that says, great. I'd also like to talk about this upcoming software you talked about in your investor meeting, this controversy that I know that you want to weigh in on this FDA letter that you got. And if they say no, that's an Easy decision, sure. So it is my gut. It's what my listeners want to. I will often ask, you know, what do you want to hear about? And I will. I will get a lot of feedback. So we go from there. But I think it's pretty much gut. I will tell you that my gut fails me sometimes on what I think will get a big response. Sometimes I feel like, okay, we have to do this episode. Nobody may be interested in it, but I think it's important. And just for the record, I want to do a show, and sometimes those episodes are super popular, and then I'll do one where I'm like, oh, everybody wants to hear from this guy. This is going to be great. You know, nothing happens. It's funny.

[B]

It happens a lot in podcasting, too, in general. I think this episode's gonna be a home run, and it's a fly out to the shortstop. Anyway, Raquel from Type 1 together wants to know, as a fellow podcaster, some topics can feel really repetitive. What is one topic, diabetes related or. Not that you would be happy, Stacy, Never discussing again?

[A]

That's a great question. Okay, these are both going to be very unpopular answers. I have two. Okay. Yeah, okay. So this is really. This is not a real answer, but I will use this to get this message out. I am never going to get Dexcom to say the things that you want to hear about Dexcom. When I ask for questions for Jake Leach or anybody from Dexcom, everybody tells me that they want to complain about the G7. They want to complain about how it doesn't work. They have issues, they have problems. Really. We will continue to ask because this is really important. We want to pin them down. We want to make sure that they hear our concerns. But you've heard him on the show. He's never going to say what you want to hear. Let's just put it that way. But I'm glad he keeps coming on. I'm glad that he continues to answer my questions and your questions, because guess what? A lot of CEOs will not come on the podcast, which is kind of funny to think about, but they just won't do it. So I want to say that I never want to talk about that again because it's really important. We have to keep going with it, and we have to make sure these products are safe and good for people with diabetes. But I would be really happy. You know, maybe one day he'll just be like, mea culpa, you know, and then people will be happy. And he did that. But the Real answer. The real answer is, can we drop the topic of giving type 1 diabetes a new name? Okay? This is something that people get very upset about usually, and I was one of them. When you have a child with type 1 diabetes and people start making snide remarks like, I bet you gave him too much sugar. Or like, oh, why didn't. You're like, no, no, no, I didn't do this. We have this type of diabetes. Those bad, fat, lazy people caused the other type of diabetes. Don't lump me in with them. And when you say it that way, like, you realize how horrible this is, because the more we learn about type 2 diabetes, we realize, like, people say lifestyle choices, right? We realize the genetic component. They think now that you probably have type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, which then causes the weight gain. So, like, it's all backwards. But anyway, we can talk about type 1 diabetes without throwing people with type 2 under the bus. And I also feel like if we change the name, it's just another way that we're showing that the diabetes community is bifurcated or trifurcated or just so mixed up and separate in a way that really takes away our power. I will Never forget, in 2015, I was at a conference when an activist from the days, the really bad old days of aids, when nobody wanted to talk about aids, nobody would touch it. Nobody would. They wouldn't give any funding, nothing. And he said what we had to do was get the numbers. We had to get enough people together to protest and demonstrate and vote. And he said, you have 30 million people with diabetes, type 1 and type 2. It's probably more now, right? Why are you not working together? Why are you letting yourselves be separate? And that really stayed with me. I thought that was really important. So I would love to drop the name. Also, guess what? It doesn't work, because nobody's thought of a good enough name. If you think of a great enough name, it'll probably catch on. I don't want to give you an idea, but, like, type 1 diabetes is about. And that's because that was abbreviated really well on social media, right, with T1D. So we'll see.

[B]

All right, Rob Howe from Diabetics doing things after 800 episodes. What's the one thing about the T1D community that gives you more hope today than when you started?

[A]

I think that the way in which the Type 1 community continues to show up for itself any hour of the day or night. And this is in my local group, but it happens all over the country, all over the world. You can raise your hand and say, I need such and so device. I need an infusion set. I need a Dexcom. I'm out of insulin. Or I'm the grandma and my daughter is out of town, and my granddaughter needs a sight change, and I don't know how to do it, or I'm freaking out or can someone help me? People will help each other. I've met. It's less now because, well, my son is older, but also I think insulin. We're getting a little better with insulin affordability. But I've met dozens of people at gas stations with a brown paper bag in my hand. Here's your supplies that you needed. Here's the insulin. I can share. You know, especially there's an adult group in Charlotte, and I think adults have a harder time with insurance than children. You know, there are reasons for that, but it's just. That's very difficult. So I've. I've helped at a lot of. And personally helped, but also connected, you know, to the help a lot of parents with adult children. And I just think the way that the diabetes community continues to show up for each other is really hopeful. It's been fantastic. I'm not sure it's grown. You know, I think that's a constant, but it gives me so much hope. And I also think what happens is there's something unique about diabetes because it is so relentless, and it is isolating that for the most part, when people find the community, whatever their talents are, they contribute. Like, you know, talk into a microphone that's a talent engineer, and make a DIY loop. You know, I love friendship bracelets. Someone might say, so I'm gonna make 40 of them and bring them to a conference. Like, it doesn't have to be some kind of crazy big talent, but people find what they're good at and what they can help with, and, like, more than half of them jump in and become volunteers and helpers. And, I mean, I just made up that number 50%, but it sure seems like it. People are just amazing.

[B]

That's awesome. I feel like we could drop the mic right there and stop. We do have other questions I want to get to, because that would have been a great place to end on Stace. We'll do a bit of a 180 here. This is Dan Kendall from Health Podcast Network. What is, in your opinion, the most controversial topic in the T1D community? In other words, what one topic triggers the strongest emotions and reactions?

[A]

This is an easy one for me. Okay.

[B]

Because he gave him multiple choice. But I'll let you. I'll give you a fill in the blank.

[A]

No, it's easy for me. It's low carb, low carb eating. And it's not because there's anything wrong with low carb eating or lower carb eating or no carb or whatever. But I will tell you, there is no topic that if I bring it up, and I do not bring it up anymore a little bit on the show, if somebody wants to, you know, somebody brings it to me, but I won't touch it on social media because there are people that are so militant about doing this that they. They just want to yell at you for not doing it. And I don't understand that. I really don't. I've been told, you know, I'm going to kill my child. I'm a terrible mother. You know, it's just. It's. To me, there are multiple ways to parent with diabetes, and there are a lot of ways to eat healthy with diabetes. Now, I think there's this weird assumption among some of the low carb people, and I think they're full of crap. But this is what they say, which is like, well, you know, you're all eating donuts for breakfast and, you know, milkshakes in the afternoon and look at the standard American diet. Like, yeah, the standard American diet is pretty crappy. You know, let's not kid ourselves. But most people, when a child is diagnosed with type one, the first thing they do is look carefully at their diet and try to figure out, like, where can we moderate? Where can we make healthier choices? You usually meet with a dietician. So our healthy choices didn't mean eliminating carbs. It meant looking at food a little differently and trying to figure out what was what. I love the idea. A lot of my friends who are adults with type 1 try not to eat a meal that's over 30 carbs. Great guideline, but they're not yelling at me if I do order French fries with my Caesar salad. Thank you very much. It's the yelling. It's the yelling that I don't like. I had one woman in my local Facebook group who was like, showing us every day that she was making Froot Loops for her kid. Like, she was baking the Fruit Loops. She was molding them and doing. And my response to her was like, that's amazing. If this is how you want to spend your time, this is rewarding to you. Great. Don't come at me. I'm not doing that. I mean, we're not eating Fruit Loops, my child. I mean, my. I don't know what they eat now, but trust me, growing up, we never had junk cereal because my mother never gave me junk cereal. And then I used to go on sleepovers and be like, I want those Cocoa Krispies.

[B]

Oh, my goodness. All the Cocoa Krispies. Because it turns the milk chocolate. Yes, the best.

[A]

But we were never allowed to have that at home. So, you know, we try. But, yeah, low carb. Because it makes people very emotional. You're hitting them in the guilt, you know, you're hitting them, you know, in a very sensitive and vulnerable place. And you don't have to be mean about it. Just, you know, be helpful.

[B]

That's fair. Okay. So talking about parenting, your book, the World's Worst Diabetes Mom. Gotta give that a plug. Has hosting the podcast and everything you've learned over 800 episodes changed the way you advocate for your family, whether that's Benny or just the family in general.

[A]

Wow. Has it changed how I advocate? Maybe a little bit. I started the podcast when Benny was almost 11. And so I would say that it's funny to think about, like, some of the most, like, strident advocating I had to do for him was before that was putting him back in preschool after his diagnosis, sending him to kindergarten when I was freaking out, sending him to camp when they'd never had a kid with Type one before, that kind of thing. But I do think that it. As I'm thinking about it, it absolutely helped me advocate and get him access to what he wanted in terms of technology. So I had a rule when I started the show, and I do have a medical disclaimer page somewhere on the website. I'll just say right now, everybody's a sponsor because they all come to Mom's Night Out. So everyone's a sponsor now. It's not like just the ads that you hear. But I had a rule, which was Benny chooses the devices that he uses, and we do not accept any medical devices for free. I didn't want to ever get in a situation where he woke up one morning and said, I don't want to use that. And I say, you have to, because mommy made a brand deal. Like, that's not cool. So we pay for everything that he uses. And he's been funny. He has never really wanted to change his technology. I'm like, I can get you anything. We can get a trial run of whatever you want, right? And he's like, no, I'm good. I just want to stay with what I want. But in terms of advocating, because I've known that technology, certain types of technology are coming out, like control IQ with his tandem pump. I was able to really educate myself about that when it came out. GLP1S is probably the best example of that. Oh, sure, yeah. Benny is very open about this boy. He's overdue coming back on the podcast, but last year he's talked about starting on Tirzepatide, and it's not approved for people with type 1. But because of the things I learned on the podcast, and I hope things that are, you know, they are publicly available on the podcast, we were able to figure out with his endocrinologist how to not only get it prescribed, but get it covered by his insurance. And he's doing really well with that. So it definitely has helped me advocate. It's also, you know, it's given me access to so many people that I never would have met, and I can call them up and say, you know, not for the show necessarily, but can you help me with this, or. And I've done this a lot, too. You know, a good example is I talked to a mom last year of a child with type one who has down syndrome.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

I'd never heard of that. I never talked to anybody like that. And I asked her after the show, like, you know, I'm gonna hear from other families. Can I connect you? And she said, sure. And we connected them. I heard from five other families. Maybe that answers the super early question, right? About what? Is there an impact. Is there a show that had an impact? That is one. I mean, those kind of. That didn't occur to me at the time, but those kind of shows where you find somebody who's got what you think is unique and a set of circumstances, and then, you know, you hear from 10 other people. We've talked to people who are allergic to insulin, which is an unbelievable thing to me. They have type 1 diabetes. We've connected those folks together, right? So that kind of stuff, diabetes connections, it's all coming full circle. But that's my favorite thing in the world to do is to. You thought you were alone. You're not alone. I'm not a medical person. I can't cure you. I can't prescribe anything for you, But I can get you together and you guys can help each other. It's been incredibly rewarding.

[B]

You mentioned GLP1s. I've got to ask you this. Because they're so pervasive in our culture now and have made differences for a lot of people's Lives, because they kind of came out of the diabetes community. Does the community have. I don't know if this is the right way to phrase this, and if it isn't, I apologize. But, like, a little bit of a sense of pride, like, hey, this is something that was started for us, and look at the difference we're making in general.

[A]

What a great question. I actually thought you were saying just the community of beef with people taking it. I'm like, yes, we do.

[B]

You can answer both of them if you'd like.

[A]

Like, yeah, because, you know, and maybe we should have put GLP1s in with that first question or that earlier question, too, about big changes that we've seen. You know, I kind of forgot about that. We were talking about it because we're such. At the early point of it. But, yeah, it was developed for people with diabetes, and they noticed all this weight loss. And I don't know if you remember, but about two years ago, there was a huge shortage.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Of GLP1s, and it was terrible because people could get him for weight loss, but they couldn't get him for diabetes. Now, yeah, weight loss, obesity is a condition that needs to be treated for a lot of people. But we're talking about, like, you know, Upper west side moms wanting to lose 10 pounds that were getting this stuff. And I don't say that lightly. It truly was people looking for cosmetic weight loss that were getting ahead of people with type 2 diabetes. Luckily, that seems to have stopped. But what a great question. I'm going to kind of quietly ask around about that. I don't know. I think most people who are taking this with for diabetes are kind of happy that it's more accessible and more affordable now because the market is so big for it, which is a big problem, especially with Type one.

[B]

And I'm glad that shortage is not a thing like it was a couple of years ago. But I could list off the people in my life that are on one that have had significant weight loss and have gotten much healthier because of it. And I'm glad that there's enough to go around, obviously, for the people who need it for diabetes reasons.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. All right, we'll see what happens with the next one with ratatouchide, but that's another story.

[B]

All right, I have to include this one because it comes from Facebook. It comes from a gentleman named Slade.

[A]

Oh, no.

[B]

When you started podcasting was very young. What made you choose podcasting to move your message?

[A]

Okay, so Slade's my husband. You all know that and he must be watching on Facebook, which makes me very weirded out. Why did I choose podcasting? Okay, so I loved radio as you do, Jack. I thought I was going to be a TV reporter and stay in TV forever and ever, but I moved into radio and spent a decade doing a morning show and just absolutely loved it. I think it's the most powerful medium. It's the most personal medium. It's very intimate, and it's just a fantastic way as a listener to, you know, to connect and learn and as a broadcaster to. To get your message out. And podcasting was natural for me at the time because I was such an avid podcast listener. You know, I used to listen to podcasts back in the day when you had to download them to your ipod,

[B]

where the name came from. Yep.

[A]

Yeah. And I. I just loved them. And I felt like diabetes connections. I had blogged for several years, and I was an okay blogger, but the problem with my blog was I was the worst mommy blogger because I don't think it's appropriate to share a lot about my kids.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

You know, I do regret not changing their names online. I should have done that, but I just wouldn't share enough. And I was surrounded by diabetes mom bloggers who were posting late night juice box pictures and, you know, kids having distress. And I just. Not for me. So podcasting. The idea came to me to do, like I said at the beginning, like more of a connections show, but also to continue the newsy part that I wasn't hearing. And I wanted more type 1 diabetes news because I wanted to learn from it. You know, I had a kid who was about to become a teenager, and I was terrified of the teenage years with type 1. You can hear that in all those early episodes. I'm terrified, and I'm asking about it every five seconds. And so it was kind of selfish, too, of like, well, what can I learn and what can I get out of this? But I also knew it was something that there was a need for, and it was so easy. I went on Chris Snyder's podcast Just Talking. He now works at Tidepool. He doesn't do that podcast anymore, which was a great podcast. But I went on his show and we had a great time. And then at the very end, I was like, well, I'm thinking about doing my own podcast. And we talked offline for an hour, and he sent me all the information about how to start a podcast, which back in the day was much more laborious.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

But still super easy, really comparatively much easier than what I Thought it was going to be. And once I figured out all the technical stuff, I was off and running.

[B]

Very cool. So I asked you earlier about changing in terms of the format and the content of the show. Podcasting is a bit of a selfish question on my part, but so much has changed in the tech world of podcasting, even since I've been in it, since 2018, the last, you know, eight years or so. What has remained constant for you and how have you navigated whether to make adjustments when, you know, you've got all this noise coming all around in the

[A]

podcasting world, you know, I think it's really easy to say the worst thing for me is video. I hate video. I hate it. I think one of the reasons I do hate it, I'll be really honest here, is I come from television news, so I'm used to having my hair done up and lipstick on and, you know, looking great and, you know, my fuchsia little suit that I had on.

[B]

I think you look great right now.

[A]

Oh, go on. But. But you know, what we expect from people, how they look has completely changed. You know, you can be much more casual online and on video, but I always hear that voice in the back of my head like, you don't, you know, you're not really ready. And also, as a woman, it is a little bit more difficult. So I do like to throw on my big glasses and my headphones just to be like, ha, ha, this is what I look like today. I've kind of got a mask on. But, boy, the video is hard because that's, to me, not how podcasting started out. It was supposed to be very easy, very accessible, and long format. And so what you have now is, is this thirst. And I don't even mean from people, but for the algorithm, right, you have to do short format video clips or unless you're a celebrity, and even then, nobody's gonna find you. The algorithm doesn't like you. It's not gonna give you any attention. So technically speaking, we're on Riverside, which can be a little iffy, but is to me the easiest platform I have found to do video. It helps you with editing. It's really. I'm not trying to do a commercial here for them. I don't get paid, but it helps.

[B]

I have a referral link. You can put that in the show notes. I'm a big Riverside fan too.

[A]

Jag gets paid. Go with him. But it's one of these situations where you either you do. I can say, I don't want to do It. And that's fine. But, you know, a short video clip on Instagram can get, I don't know, 25 fold more views than the podcast episode gets in total. And we do really well on this show. So it is kind of kooky to me that that happens because I haven't said anything. You know, how much can you say in a minute, how much information can you really give somebody? And I'm in it for the information. I don't, you know, I'm not really in it for. I don't sell that social media stuff. I mean, I maybe. I don't know, maybe I probably should, but I don't. So I want people to come to the show and listen. I don't know if that answered your question, but.

[B]

Well, no. And it's an industry thing now that one of the biggest drivers of podcast discovery is shorts and reels and those short. That short form content. And there are some folks who will only consume your shorts and reels and consider that they interact with your content. And hey, yeah, I watch that podcast, all 90 seconds of it.

[A]

I'm happy for them. Hey, keep watching, like share and subscribe.

[B]

Smash that subscribe button.

[A]

But it's hard. It is hard to know that there's so much more nuance and information and stuff that you really could benefit from that the, you know, the algorithm will not show people just because it's not quick enough.

[B]

Okay, well, something that we often lose track of as podcasters as we get 2, 3, 4, 800 episodes deep in the show, is that I know you've got. There's an old radio saying that I'm sure you know called hug your p ones, which is really like, your primary listeners, really give them love. But the beauty of a podcast is somebody might discover your show in summer of 2026 and start at episode 798 or whatever it is. But if there's somebody who's new to your show, what do you want them to get out of it?

[A]

Wow. You know, it's funny, I say, and I'm sure some of my longtime listeners get annoyed, but I do that opening for almost every show where I say we educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin, because we do get new people all the time, and I want to make sure they understand what they're in for, you know, in a little bit of a shorthanded way. It's an interesting question because a lot of podcasts in this space are teaching people how to do stuff or they purport to Teach. So they want to say like, okay, here's your. When you get diagnosed, listen to these five episodes because you'll learn how to pre bolus and you'll learn how to do injections better and which pump to use and whether or not that's appropriate for someone who's medical or non medical on a podcast, that's another conversation. But because my show is so news focused, it's interesting to tell people where to start. So I say, what device are you using? What device are you interested in? Start on that most latest episode of that device because we're going to talk about what's coming next. If you use tandem, find the latest tandem episode. We're going to talk about what's in the pipeline. Are you a Dexcom person? Same thing. Abbott. You know, whatever. We go down the list, all the episodes that we've done. Do you have a child who's interested in sports? Do you have a child who's interested in the arts? Do you have, you know, are you an adult with type one who's curious about running an Ironman? Running. Well, you don't run an ironman, but completing an ironman. Right. Do you want to hear from an Olympian? Find things that are really personal to you and your experience. And I guarantee we have a guest that has talked about that. Or are you, you know, does your kid love American Ninja Warrior? I think I've talked to four of them. Right. You know, it's, it's that kind of thing. So I would say, what are, what are your main interests? We have a very robust search. You have to go to the website to do that big search. You can probably poke around on Spotify and Apple and all the other players to find it. But we do have a very robust search on the website and you can put in those key elements. We also have categories. So you can say, I'm only interested in athletes and artists. Those will come up.

[B]

Love it. All right. This year you started asking your guests to name a diabetes organization that means a lot to them or if they wanted to do a shout out for the listeners. Give me an organization or a group that you want to shout out that maybe has meant a lot to you.

[A]

So every guest says the same thing, which is like, oh, there's too many, there's too many.

[B]

And you're about to say that too.

[A]

I'm going to say that too. But I'm going to say, I'm going to say 3. I'm going to cheat again. Okay, so in order haha is from love them to adore them is Children with Diabetes, Friends for Life. This is the conference that I talked about earlier. I've gone to this for many, many years. And one of the reasons I'm so fond of it is because it was the first thing I used to blog for Animus, which was a pump company that is no longer around. They were fantastic. And they sent me to this conference with Benny to gather video and do a lot of stuff for them and write about them. And it was like the first time somebody ever did that for me. I did not have the podcast yet. I was still blogging. And this whole world opened up to me of this was a conference where amazing people went and spoke. And in the years since I've been asked to speak there, I go back every year and it's just led me. It's helped me in a shorthanded way. It's helped me learn a lot about not just the community, but the business of the community, if that's fair to say.

[B]

Okay, yeah.

[A]

Because I am running a business here, and that has really, really helped me. I've had some incredible meetings there. I've had made some connections there that opened a lot of doors, and I learned a lot about events from them as well. Then I'll say breakthrough T1D, which used to be JDRF. I was on the board of JDRF here in Charlotte for six years after Benny was first diagnosed. And I think that what I love about them is not just their meetups and their summits, but their actual dedication to research. I mean, people don't really know this about Breakthrough, but they are the reason why insurance covers devices like insulin pumps. They are the reason we have things like Dplezumab, which is tzield, because they invested early. And I do think they get a little bit of flack because they're not that good at the warm, huggy stuff anymore. They don't do a lot of meetups and outreach, kind of depending chapter to chapter, not because they don't want to, but because of structural changes. It's a long story. I do think Breakthrough, if you're listening, you do a terrible job of telling your own story. I know you started a podcast recently. Here's my advice. Don't give us any more community nicey nicey voices. We have a million of those. You can pepper them in as needed. Give us the breakthroughs, give us the research, tell us what you're using our money for every single week. And I think people would eat that up with a spoon. And it's not available anywhere else.

[B]

So I love that. And I'll shout them out as well, because I know you met my cousin Jason at one of your events in Boston, and he does a lot of work with them because his son Matty is T1D. And so they've raised a lot of money through their annual fundraisers and a lot of work they've done. So shout out to Jason and Stacy and Maddie and David and Steven.

[A]

That's awesome. Yeah, they're great. And it's important. Right. But we want to know, what are you doing? And I know you're doing a ton, so just tell us more about it. And then the last one is very near and dear to my heart. It's no longer around. Let's say it's in suspension. I'm not going to say it's gone forever. It's dsma. Dsma. Diabetes Social Media Advocacy. Back in the glory days of Twitter, when Twitter was fun and we were all young when Twitter was Twitter. Right, Right. That's right. Shareice Shockley, who also had an amazing blog and is an incredible diabetes advocate, started this. And it was more than a diabetes conversation. It really was a movement. But I loved the conversation. Every Wednesday night, we would have a Twitter chat using the hashtag dsma, and she would ask questions and. Or sometimes someone else would lead it. And, you know, you could respond with gifts, you could respond with whatever, but it was just. I just remember. And Benny played baseball, and Wednesday nights were a mess, and I was always trying to run home or. So I wouldn't be on my phone, like at the field, you know, too much. But I always wanted to. Yeah. Or driving. Come on now. But I always wanted to be part of dsma, and that was incredible. It was also a way that they changed the online footprint of diabetes, because it's so hard to think about this, but, like, back in the day, you would Google diabetes and all you would come up with were horror stories. You're gonna die young, you're gonna go blind. You're never gonna have children, you know? And so with DSMA and other efforts, all of these advocates change the online conversation. So you would Google, like, can I get pregnant with type 1? And you would find resources and other women who'd done it, and you'd find books and, you know, what, should I feed my kid? And you'd get like, well, low carb is an option, but. But so is lower carb. And have you tried this moderation thing? And what about that? And here's a better recipe in a nice way. So they really changed the conversation online around diabetes, which is an incredible thing. But I just loved those conversations. They were so meaningful to me. They helped me so much, and they really influenced the way that I raised Benny with Type one. I think they're a big reason why I was able to kind of not panic as much as I might have otherwise.

[B]

There's true value in that. There is true value in what you have done for the community through 800 episodes. Stacey Sims, is there anything you wanted to touch on that I have not asked you about?

[A]

No. I mean, gosh, there's so much more to say, but luckily I get to say it all over again next week.

[B]

So,

[A]

no, it's just been incredible.

[B]

Well, Stacy, as your friend, as your colleague, and as someone who appreciates what you do for the community, but also from the podcasting piece of it as well, 800 episodes is really quite an amazing feat. So on behalf of your listeners, I will just say congratulations.

[A]

Thank you. I really appreciate it. And one of the things I do love about the show as well, you know, I'm here every week. Like I said, I can talk more next week if I want to, but really, the secret is letting other people share what they're all about. Bringing all of these voices and hoping that anybody listening feels less alone, feels a little bit more hopeful, feels a little bit understood. With diabetes, that's really what it's all about. So 800 episodes of that I'm really proud of. And I don't know how much longer it's going to continue. I didn't plan on this when we started out in 2015, but cheers to all of you for listening, for participating, for coming on the show, for sharing it know, just for being part of this incredible community. It's an amazing thing.

[B]

We'll leave it there. Thanks so much, Stacey.

[A]

Thanks, Jack. What a treat to have you here. Thanks for your help. Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Sims Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged.