Daniella
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I was born in New York city and grew up in many places including overseas and South America. I was brought to town by Rob. Rob is a physician and had just finished his training. His dad was a physician in Miami for many years, and the idea was for Rob to let his dad have a one-year sabbatical. I had one year left of law school and was admitted for my last year to University of Miami with my degree from Columbia. It turned into forever because Rob’s father was diagnosed with cancer. We never ended up leaving. Rob took over his father’s practice, we got married, raised two children and love it here!
Dina
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Yes. A fun fact about my family, I grew up in a family restaurant called People's Barbecue - located in Overtown. The restaurant is currently undergoing renovations. My Miami is growing up in that culturally rich community, and also in a family business. It's a lot of hard work, a lot of long hours, helping grandma stock shelves in the back with spices and sauces. I used to wash dishes in the back. I used to answer phone calls. When I would come home for college in between breaks, I would help with catering orders. I liked getting to meet a lot of different people. I love our customers and their loyalty. It's fun to see them come in and they're like, 'I remember when you were three years old and you could barely say welcome.'
Wally
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There's this guy who fixes a guitars and amps over by the Falls. It's called Six String Theory and he's amazing. He just rebuilt my amp and the sound is night and day. He’s such a knowledgeable guy.
Jason
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I like to barbecue and a lot of good friends have taught me their secrets. I may get into a lot of trouble for sharing this but Ryan Rothenberg and Adam Hellman taught me about cooking ribs. The trick is to slow cook them in the oven before you do anything else. Cook them at 200 degrees or less for many hours – maybe even overnight. I can’t share exactly what their secret rub is, but it may or may not include sugar. ;)
Don
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My goal as a parent was to do the exact opposite of what my parents did. My mother was an alcoholic and kind of a drug addict. My father was an alcoholic. He worked hard, he was a truck driver. He came home and just wanted to get the day over kind of thing. My goal was never to be anything like them and to try to be involved in my children's lives as much as possible.
Toma
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I was particularly moved after reading about Brad in your newsletter. He was so inspiring. For me, as someone, like him, who suffers from these types of disorders – life long, non-curable, it was really inspiring. It has motivated me to be even more consistent with taking my turmeric tonic.
Prashant
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There's different conditions that would warrant retinal surgery. Some of the more common things are membranes that form on the back of the eye that can distort vision. Sometimes those membranes come after a patient experiences an event that causes floaters or things that move around in their vision. A common surgery that we do is called a vitrectomy, which is where we we go into the patient's eye, under anesthesia, and remove the gel inside the eye that causes the floaters. If there's a scar tissue in the back part of the eye, we can remove that scar tissue. It's very small. It's about 15 microns in thickness. It's really one of the more delicate surgeries in all of medicine. Another is retinal detachment, where you have an acute worsening or loss of vision. Typically it starts peripherally and then it works its way over to the center part of the vision. We can often fill the eye up with a gas bubble that puts the retina back into place and apply laser treatment. Over time, hopefully the patient can regain some or all of their vision.
Jay
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There are so many, but I'll tell you one brief story. It was 2017 and the Miami Hurricanes qualified for the ACC championship game in Charlotte. The first weekend of December, the band flew up to Charlotte and we we're going to perform at the big pro football stadium there against Clemson. Their band was there too of course. We wanted to bring the two college bands together and have them join to play the national anthem. We set up a rehearsal at a high school. We decided to perform for each other. The Clemson band performed their halftime show for us, and then we performed our halftime show for them. That performance was truly one of the most special, energetic, spectacular performances our band has ever given. I think it goes to show that that making music and elevating your experience is not necessarily about a packed stadium. It's just about really committing to the moment and believing in yourself and believing in the moment.
Dan
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We invested in Born Free baby bottles, which were the first BPA free baby bottles in America. BPA is a cause of cancer. In the beginning we were sued for making claims about BPA. Now, the FDA has changed the law and forbids BPA in baby bottles. So, it was a good business and we could do something good along the way.
Tora
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My husband and I went and visited the recycling and sorting plant here - which doesn't actually recycle but ships our recycling to Vietnam and poorer countries. That was really a disturbing and eye-opening experience. We just throw things out and don't think about where it goes. We're creating a toxic mess. I think we need to be more aware of what we buy and not just live in a linear way from producing things to throwing them out. We have to think - 'what is the final resting place for this? '