We were lucky to catch up with Tierra Ledet recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Tierra, thank you so much for joining us today. There are so many topics we could discuss, but perhaps one of the most relevant is empathy because it’s at the core of great leadership and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your empathy?
Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and watched them frequently welcome others into their home. I specifically recall my grandmother welcoming family friends, extended family, and even family members’ coworkers to get a home cooked meal. She treated each person like her family despite not having much but she knew the power of family and togetherness.
I believe that generosity extend to each generation. When I was in third grade, I remember we would receive the student handbook along with other papers that our teachers would give us to take home and have our parents fill out. There were a few sheets that my mom would always throw in the trash even though the teacher encouraged us to return all the paperwork. I told my mom in fear that I would get into trouble at school and asked why she threw the papers away. She explained to me that the papers were for free and reduced lunch which I did not qualify for because my parents were over the income limit and could afford to pay for my school lunch. I cannot recall what I specifically said, but I do remember my mother telling me that I was blessed and fortunate to be able to afford to pay for my school lunch as there were so many kids who did not have food to eat every meal of the day or they could be homeless. I even remember her mentioning that we should always be grateful for the ability to pay for our needs and even wants as we could easily be homeless if something unfortunate happened like one of them losing their job.
I distinctly remember that moment all the time especially when I pass by, meet and interact with people who are less fortunate and vulnerable. That moment was probably the greatest thing my parents taught me and sparked the deep empathy I feel and have for other people.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a licensed mental health professional in Texas by training and trade that specializes in assessment, education, and advocacy. I started my career working in assessment and clinical diagnostic intervention in Neurology to help identify a person’s cognitive and daily functioning difficulties after disease onset. Through my work, I would get asked a lot of questions about different diseases or illnesses they were diagnosed with or were concerned about. The same thing would also happen in the community when I would meet someone and explain to them what my career entailed. It made me realize that people had serious concerns about their mental or overall brain health out of fear of developing a mental health or neurodegenerative disease, which inspired me to start my company Mentalli.
I started my company with the goal of it being something that I did part-time or as a side project that I would mainly do later in my life or career full-time. However, since founding my company in 2019, it garnered a lot of international and national attention which was not expected since I did not do any outbound marketing and I only planned to serve the local community within Houston and my hometown of Port Arthur, TX. The level of interest really was led by the community seeking out evidence-based health information that is communicated well from an authentic and genuine source.
Since the company’s inception, we have provided seminars, webinars, and workshops for companies, groups, and organizations who would like us to come and talk about various brain and mental health topics. We are still accepting requests for services this year. You can contact us by completing this form on our site https://www.mentalli.org/connect or emailing us at our customer service email, [email protected]. I encourage people to reach out especially if they believe our services could be of benefit to their company or organization.
Starting this year, I will be focusing more on expanding my company by launching an e-learning platform where adults can pay for individual courses or subscribe to have access to focused learning journeys to learn more about mental or brain health and related topics. The first learning journey will be launched in Q2 around April or May 2023 focusing on caregivers, which I have personally designed and created. I created it based on the work I have done professionally with caregivers and personally as a caregiver of family members who were diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease or chronic illnesses later in life. We will also be partnering with other licensed mental health professionals who have expertise in other areas like parenting and grief and loss to host and create courses, learning journeys, and other learning opportunities for people who are interested in those topics. Within the next few years, our goal is to expand the e-learning platform to include learning and support opportunities for adolescents and teens as we know they are also experiencing difficulties with mental health. Each course will also have a built-in support group so that people can connect with others who may be having similar difficulties or struggles and receive support from their peers.
Mentalli is different and special from many of the other businesses and companies that are emerging who focus on mental health for a few reasons. We are beyond a mental health crisis, which only became worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. More people than ever need mental health services or are experiencing brain health issues than ever. We also have extreme shortages of providers of all types across the industry. Providers are also leaving the field at extremely high rates due to the level of moral injury, secondary trauma, and burnout. More people are choosing not to pursue higher education due to cost and poor return on their investment since you need an advanced degree to become a mental health provider. Most of the companies that are emerging are trying to connect providers that remain in the field with people seeking services; however, most of those providers have high and unsustainable caseloads due to the large need. Therefore, they either work severely burned out increasing the likelihood of possible errors or harm to patients or they leave the field too.
Our company focuses on providing education that people would receive in therapy, providing resources, and simple interventions they would be encouraged to try by their therapist or provider. While we are not providing direct care services, our goal is inform and educate as many people as possible in order to provide people with resiliency factors, help the number of individuals with milder stressors resolve the issues or concerns they have and prevent those issues from getting worse where they absolutely need to seek services due to worsening mental health and stress. Every person that does not have the proper education and resources to help themselves engage in positive coping skills ultimately increases the chance that they will need services for a mental or brain health issue, concern, or reason at a later time in the future. If we can stop that cycle or push the time to seek services back, we can help alleviate some of the factors that have caused the mental health crisis we are currently in.
I believe in the power of knowledge and connection and truly know that Mentalli can help cultivate products and services that will be transformative for people, their families, and overall communities.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
One important quality that has absolutely been impactful in my journey has been perseverance. I believe any entrepreneur or small business owner will tell you that perseverance can mean the difference in accomplishing goals, your dream, and the overall mission of your company. Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride and it takes a lot of hard work to achieve profitability and continue to remain profitable. One way you can improve perseverance is getting used to the word ‘no’. One resource I frequently share is Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang who coined the term Rejection Therapy. So many people are afraid of ‘no’ but you’ve heard it from your parents and other loved ones when you wanted “that thing” and nothing horrible happened! Most of the time, you regrouped and tried again from a different angle. Business is no different! Try again and again and again. Also, remember to keep your eyes on the prize. Your mission is yours. There will be plenty of doubters including those closest to you, but also so many supporters. It’s hard but if you truly believe in yourself, the mission, and those on the journey with you, then you will get the outcome you desire.
Another important skill or quality is willingness to learn or becoming a life-long learner. In the beginning, it is highly likely that you will need to do everything in your business from strategic planning, financial planning, marketing, innovation (R&D, development of the product or providing a service), etc. I think this is important for any entrepreneur to understand all the components of business and what happens within your business so when you hire employees or partner with freelancers, you know what to expect and know what is going on. There are so many business owners and CEOs who have no idea what is going on under their direction which creates greater liability. It can also make you under-appreciate the employees you hire because you do not understand how critical of a role they may or may not play. This is one of the main reasons we see the great resignation where employers care more about the money and profits instead of the people who bring vitality and excellence to the company. One way to develop the skill of being a life-long learner is to continually seek out knowledge in some form whether that is reading, listening to podcasts or audiobooks, seeking out mentorship, advice, or networking. You can also pursue the traditional route of getting an education in business, but that is not always needed to start a business.
Lastly, I believe authenticity and integrity are critically important. While the two things are not the same, they can be easily intertwined. One of the things that will happen whether in business or life more generally is becoming distracted from the mission or purpose which will derail everything you set out to do. One thing that is very rampant in business, especially within the rising mental health technology and start-up space is chasing the dollar at the detriment of fulfilling the mission. Many of the companies that have emerged were created for a good purpose, but many times for ulterior motives. Many mental health providers can tell you that we are trained to uphold very high ethical and moral standards that were designed to supersede the law. Unfortunately there are many companies out there who see the need for mental health services and the possible profitability of it and that’s all they care about. Some of those companies are so focused on the profits and money that it has become detrimental to the end-consumer and even their own employees, which in many cases further exacerbates the problem since people will refrain from seeking care or providers will continue to burnout and leave the field more rapidly. Like I mentioned above, stay true to the mission. It does not mean you cannot pivot or expand into new ventures as a business; but, it is important to remain true to the mission and those you serve. Otherwise, you may risk everything including losing consumers, profits, and the business altogether. If you work towards the mission and do it well, the money will find you.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
One of our initiatives in 2023 is to also launch our Community Partnership Program where we partner with companies and organizations to further our mission of providing high-quality, evidence based education on brain and mental health to the broader community with the goal of reducing or delaying the onset of disease or illness. Through this program, our goal is to reach vulnerable and marginalized communities and directly provide educational opportunities to learn more about brain and mental health and provide them with actionable steps, tools, and resources to help them improve their quality of life and overall health.
If companies or organizations are interested, they can reach out to us at our customer service email, [email protected], and mention the Community Partnership Program.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mentalli.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mentalliorg/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MentalliOrg
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mentalli/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mentalliorg
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mentalliorg
- Other: Coloring Books: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Mentalli/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AMentalli
Image Credits
Personal photo of me: Andrew Fontenot
