5SR - July 27, 2023

Hitha on coral reefs, the power of spit, and Mira Jacob's wisdom

Author

Hitha Palepu
July 27, 2023

Today’s curator is the founder of #5SmartReads, Hitha Palepu. She’s a consummate multihyphenate - CEO of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals, author of WE’RE SPEAKING: The Life Lessons of Kamala Harris and How to Pack: Travel Smart for Any Trip, and professional speaker. Hitha is an unabashed fan of Taco Bell, Philadelphia sports teams & F1, romance novels, and is a mediocre crafter. She lives in NYC with her husband and two sons.

This post from Dr. Seema Yasmin stopped me in my tracks. And then had me furiously Googling “Clause 9 UK Nationality and Borders Act” to learn more.

It’s as bad as Seema wrote. And it's tragically aligned with the UK’s longtime eroding citizenship rights (which usually target their non-white citizens or residents).

“Ansari notes that, because deprivation orders cannot be used against individuals with one citizenship, the law has a disproportionate impact on non-white citizens, who are more likely to have connections to other countries. “By enabling the Home Secretary to strip someone of their citizenship simply because he or she believes it is ‘not conducive to the public good’ for them to be British, parliament has given the government unprecedented power to act as judge, jury and executioner without adequate safeguards on the use of that power,” he says.”

And if you think it won’t happen outside of the United Kingdom, think again. The 45th President has made ending birthright citizenship a central part of his campaign, with support from his party (Matt Gaetz introduced a bill to end that policy in the House this week, though it’s likely to fail).

That it’s being considered in the first place, and part of one of our parties’ platform so publicly, is scary.

Anyone else here a Mira Jacob fangirl? And has anyone else been inducted in this fan club because of Lupita?

It’s a yes and yes for me.

If you haven’t read Good Talk yet, you’ll want to immediately after reading this interview with Jacob. It’s smart and funny and raw and beautiful - just like the book’s author.

You may come to Cup of Jo’s Beauty Routine series for unexpected beauty tips, but you’ll this interview with some stellar parenting advice and a new perspective on the world - and how you look at yourself.

I also feel the need to dig out my sequined pieces from my closet and wear them because I simply have them.

The color of a coral reef matters - both for the health of those organisms, and for the ecosystem and the coastline it sits on. And, well, the health of this planet.

And right now, the reefs in the Florida Keys are alarmingly bleached (the higher temperature of the water has the coral expelling the algae that usually live inside the coral and act as a food source), with more bleaching expected.

Coral reefs act as a natural buffer to protect sea habitats and coastlines from hurricanes and tropical storms. The health of our reefs directly impact how much - or little - damage from a storm. That these reefs are bleached weeks ahead of hurricane season is likely to keep me up tonight (along with space junk and the state of the electric grid).

Marine biologists are hard at work on this issue - breeding coral that can withstand higher temperatures, using shade covers and underwater fans to cool the water for restoring bleached coral, and even music.

Are you following Catherine? You should be.

She’s a fellow multi-hyphenate (a marketing leader in tech, a wife & mother, and one of the most thoughtful content creators I’ve come across), and I value the way she’s so intentional about the content she shares on her website and Instagram while also protecting her peace and boundaries.

Her interview series is one of my favorites to peruse, as they introduce me to folks I otherwise wouldn’t have come across myself and are filled with so much wisdom.

Gavriella Schuster is one of those leaders - an executive at Microsoft-turned-impact consultancy owner who built her career while being a present parent.

The whole interview is full of wisdom, but I especially value Schuster’s detail in how she negotiated and managed part-time work (when it was the rarest of exceptions in a huge enterprise):

“…during that period of working part-time I learned the importance of prioritizing and managing my time effectively. For instance, people often ask for things to be done by the next week, but they rarely mean it literally. When I pushed back and proposed a more realistic timeline, they were usually open to it. I also learned to inquire about their dependencies and find alternative ways to fulfill their needs. It became evident that nobody truly needed something by a specific time; they were usually flexible as long as I delivered within a reasonable timeframe. Additionally, I discovered that if I were essential to a meeting, people would reschedule it to accommodate my availability. I didn’t have to go through complex arrangements to attend if it was a larger meeting. This knowledge was crucial for me as I reestablished my work routine upon returning full-time.”

- Gavriella Schuster

This is a HUGE deal.

Right now, the only way to definitively diagnose endometriosis is through surgery (which is expensive, requires time off or flexibility with work, and can take a while to schedule).

Ziwig’s Endotest is a saliva test that measures levels of endometriosis-specific biomarkers in that sample, with results delivered in a week. The diagnostic leverages both AI and next generation sequencing, and it’s exciting to see these latest technologies be applied in the non-invasive diagnostic space - and in underresearched areas like women’s health.

A US launch hasn’t been announced by Ziwig (the French-based company that developed the test), but given Endotest’s approval in EMA (European Medicines Agency) countries, I hope to see them file for authorization in the US sometime in 2024.

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