S7E9 - Dr. Jeanne Retief
This week’s guest is Dr. Jeanne Retief, founder of FIGGI. FIGGI a community created out of career change and wanting to share with others and be a support system, and self-care products.
Dr. Retief earned a PhD in Human Rights and Criminal Law. And ran a Human Rights consultancy in South Africa for 13 years. After moving to her current location in Portugal, things changed for her, in more ways than one, including a diagnosis with panic disorder and founding a new company. Having already earned a PhD, she even went back to school to learn about cosmetic chemistry!
In this chat we talk about:
Getting diagnosed with panic disorder
Managing mental health
Career change
FIGGI the community and skincare line she founded
The FIGGI blog and podcast
Rooibos
TW: abuse
Note from Rabiah (Host):
I took a bit of a break. And it is almost too appropriate that my first episode back is this one given the openness around mental health that Dr. Retief brought to the conversation. Why did I take a break? Overwhelm. And other things. I would say it was a choice but it was a necessity. For those listening for the first time, thank you for being here. And to those who checked in because they didn’t hear a new episode in a while or those who are back after time passed, thank you too! There are over 100 more episodes in the backlog with fantastic guests and more to come!
Rabiah (London) and Dr. Retief (Portugal) chat about being ok and not ok and how both are ok!
Transcript
[00:00:00]
Rabiah Coon: This is More Than Work, the podcast reminding you that your self-worth is made up of more than your job title. Each week I'll talk to a guest about how they discovered that for themselves. You'll hear about what they did, what they're doing, and who they are. I'm your host, Rabiah. I work in IT, perform standup comedy, write, volunteer, and of course, podcast.
Thank you for listening. Here we go.
All right. Welcome back to More Than Work everyone. So today my guest is Dr. Jeanne Retief and she is the founder and director of FIGGI, which we're gonna find out what that is, but also how she ended up being the founder there. So, thanks for being on Jeanne.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, I'm excited to get to talk to you and we've already had kind of a nice conversation beforehand, but we're not gonna let people know what we talked about. But [00:01:00] first of all, where am I talking to you from today?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: I am in Portugal. I'm South African, but I live in Portugal.
Rabiah Coon: Nice. Yeah. And so just to clear things up, for anyone wondering, I'm American, but live in the UK and did not do a, I don't do a good British accent, so I just stick with this one
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah. It suits you
Rabiah Coon: How long have you been living in Portugal?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Only three years.
Rabiah Coon: Oh, wow. Yeah. So, oh, just right before the pandemic then, or?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: We actually arrived I think five days before everything closed down.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. That's crazy. I, I moved here. Well, I moved here a month before, but I moved into my flat a day before lockdown. It was crazy.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Okay.
Rabiah Coon: You're just like, well, I'm in a flat now, so I better like it, you know? I hope I made the right decision.
So I guess first let's just say what, what is FIGGI just in general? Maybe we can get into details later once we kind of get talked through your path there. But first of all, just so people know what FIGGI is, what, what do you describe it as?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah. FIGGI is a [00:02:00] community, really, I, and I hope a growing community that I created after I changed careers and it was built on my own past traumas and my own shame and guilt for being diagnosed with a panic disorder and seeing how that translated to other professional women that I dealt with. So I wanted to create a space where it was okay not to be okay, and there's no, like, how to advise and constantly telling you to be positive and that it's actually your fault.
It's just, just to be somewhere where other peoples identify as. You know, life sucking sometimes and that's okay. So that's really what FIGGI is all about for us all to just come together and just be a support system for each other. And then I offer some products to help with your kind of self-care journey.
Rabiah Coon: Okay, cool. Awesome. And so what did you transition from, what career did you transition from into [00:03:00] this?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: My PhD is in International Human Rights and Criminal Law, and I built a human rights consultancy, which I operated for 13 years. And when I moved to Portugal, I. The idea was for me to also bring the consultancy into like a Europe space because my husband had already expanded his business to different countries and it just didn't work out that way.
I mean, the African based part of it is still alive and thriving, but the European part didn't pick up and COVID hit and everything around human rights is donation and sponsorship based. So. Yeah, I went through a really bad time. I call it "the breaking".
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Before you got to the breaking though, what brought you into, cause that's a huge space, that's a huge area, human rights. And I talked to someone recently who, I don't know what order of the episodes will be up. Probably this will be [00:04:00] after that one, someone who founded an organization, like a school in, in Southern Africa, cuz she grew up there and then she was in the States and went back and did that.
But she ended up like kind of leaving it in their hands eventually, you know, like helped them build the educational aspect and some business aspects and stuff. And now it's in their hands. But there's also this whole thing of like, because of AIDS. in the, in the case of the organization she founded because of AIDS, there were a lot of kids who became the head of household and things like that. And so that just kind of, to me, it was such such a difficult thing to put my head around in the sense that like looking at the problems in the US are so different, right? And where I came from. And so with you looking at human rights and looking at the continent of Africa and whatever parts of Africa you're focused on, that had to be a huge undertaking just to even be involved in that at all, right?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah, I mean, it really was my baby [00:05:00] because I. I was sexually abused by my grandfather for a number of years when I was a child, and again, by a trusted relative when I was a young adult. So I think that led me into the space of wanting to do that. But even before, these things had occurred. I always knew I wanted to be in an industry of some kind where I could serve.
And when I was in law school and all my friends were like vying for all these big internships at these big companies, I never wanted that. I wanted to send my CV to Legal Aid. I wanted to work at Legal Aid. I ended up working at Legal Aid for a number of years. So I, I always wanted to do that. And when I got into this space it was really challenging because there's so much bureaucracy getting into like the human rights engine.
So I decided to do it myself, and [00:06:00] people were like, you're crazy. This is never gonna work. This is the stupidest idea ever. And it actually did so well. And it is, I mean, I worked with global partners. We built so many projects and programs in Africa, so it really was my baby. I, I put so much into that, like everything I had.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. So I mean, it sounds like it and yeah, that kind of work and you know, you're serving for sure cuz you're, that's, that's what the purpose of the firm is. So then, then you basically moved to Portugal and then the breaking happens. Is that the order of things?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah. I was diagnosed in 2015 with panic disorder, which I severely mismanaged because I didn't want to accept that
Rabiah Coon: hmm.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: something that happened to me. So I just continued working, like at the grueling pace I was with that line of work, I was traveling a lot and you don't stay in amazing places and you know, so, and you work a lot of hours.
Then when I moved [00:07:00] here everything kind of changed because my husband brought his business here and everything went so well and was already kind of set up and the plan was for me to do the same and it didn't work out that way for me and I was really kind of devastated because I had spent so much of my life identifying myself with this role, and I built myself up and I built my consultancy up.
So I went from being Dr. Jeanne Marie Retief, who attended like the President's inauguration and declaring whether the elections are free or fair and things like that on such a podium to being just Jeanne, Hope's wife, and to kind of find your balance after that and your worth, if this is what you had tied your worth to, was just a really painful experience.
And at the same time, my mismanaged panic disorder had reached a complete breaking [00:08:00] point. I was having. Constant panic attacks, like constant recurring panic attacks. I hadn't dealt with my own trauma that was coming up for me. So I really just had to get to a point where I was gonna ask myself, am I, you know, why am I fighting this?
Because it's, it's not working. So am I gonna keep fighting and keep putting everything I have into it and know that something is not right, or am I gonna change things around?
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's almost, I don't know it's kind of like I'm just assessing it live, you know, listening. But did you, do you feel like perhaps your business and everything was like an armor, so you didn't have to, you always had the purpose was always to help others and always to manage everything for others that you never had to like let all the other stuff come in a way, right? I mean...
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah, no, it definitely, I would never say or admit that like three years ago, but now I can say [00:09:00] I think it really was. And in many ways it was such a good disguise because it felt like I was dealing with it and it felt like I was like working through it on a daily basis, but I really just wasn't. I was never making time for myself, you know, to just kind of get through that.
And, even when I think back to it now, even though I was so passionate about it and it really is something I wanted to do, everything in my consultancy always felt like I was fighting. It always felt like I was fighting the bureaucracy. I was fighting the red tape. I was fighting to get things done. I was fighting to make a difference, and it hasn't been easy with FIGGI and launching this business, but doesn't matter how hard it gets, it always feels like this is where I'm meant to be. Like this is more my natural kind of space than that kind of constant space of conflict.
Rabiah Coon: When you ended up with, I guess, chronic, really chronic panic attacks, it sounds like, and this is probably something, I [00:10:00] mean, people, people do deal with. I definitely, I have anxiety I don't talk much about it on the podcast, but I've, I've done the whole thing and I'm, I'm sure you did too.
Maybe you didn't. But where I've gone to the doctor, you know, like on a Saturday evening and been like, Oh, I'm having a heart attack and then they're like, no, you're having a panic attack. And then you're just like, okay, really? Because I think I'm having, you know, when they do the whole thing, all the tests.
And did you, I mean, did you go through that kind of thing? Cause I mean, I know a few people and I've definitely done that?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah. I, I would say it took maybe like a couple of months at least for me to get diagnosed because the first time I had a panic attack I was traveling for work. I was not in a good area, and I ended up in who knows where hospital. And they actually thought that I was on drugs, so they wouldn't help me because they wanted me to tell them what I had taken, which I didn't.
After that ensued just this barrage of [00:11:00] tests, like every test known to man. And, you know, it increases the anxiety because then you think, oh, I have this, or No, I have this. And then when it all comes to an end, it's like, oh no, you have an anxiety disorder, we need to figure out which one and how to diagnose it.
\ I had such a problem accepting it because a big part of my life in my consultancy was mentoring others and helping them out of these positions. So again, it went back to my identity. I, felt like I'm such a failure and I'm such a fake because how can I be helping people with this?
And I have like an anxiety problem. That's can't be true. It has to be something else.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. So what ended up happening, I mean, when you, so you have the kind of the break and then how, I guess whatever you wanna share of that. But how, for you, how did it work to get out of that and rebuild and then, and then decide to go into what you're doing now at your business?[00:12:00]
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah. So I knew that if I had to make a change, I, I was gonna have to do something that was challenging to me because otherwise I wouldn't feel fulfilled.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: And it, but the, I mean, we are talking about a period, right? This didn't happen overnight. I went through many emotions I had. I feel so bad, but I had so many fights with my husband because he became kind of the easy target, you know, like, everything's going great for you, and it's, how come it's not the same for me?
And like, you know, so it, it was really a period that I had to do a lot of work on myself, and I was just at a point where I had no choice. I had to find a way to accept my diagnosis and live with it and make the lifestyle changes that I wanted to make. And it was during this kind of journey that I felt I cannot keep running away from this because the shame that I feel of being diagnosed [00:13:00] with this and in my old life and my consultancy not being able to say it, because you can't do that in a professional environment. You're automatically seen as less than or not as good as. Or it's just stress, you know, just do something about it like all the rest of us do.
And it's not just stress, it's, it's completely different. So I wanted to do something that gave me the freedom to own it and be at peace with it and help others like me, because I couldn't have been the only one that feels this way and that goes through this. And that's how FIGGI was born.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, well, what's interesting about the shame and then also like people who basically have completely misfired on empathy, so they say, oh yeah, I'm stressed too. Just do this or that. I, I always find it interesting that not only does do so many people go through the [00:14:00] issues with anxiety or panic disorder or whatever, but then so many people are met with those responses and it just reinforces the shame you already feel and the, you know, almost the panic you already feel like it increases it, you know?
And so yeah, then you kind of took control and and did your own thing. And I still see it as connected to service to others too. I mean, it definitely is, right? Because do you think that FIGGI is helping you and as much as it's helping other people at this point or?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah, it's been a cathartic experience because I share a lot on the blog and the podcast that I would've never, ever done, and it's still difficult for me sometimes when I post something I'm like, what the hell? Should I be saying this? But it's opened up almost like a pathway for me to be okay with who I am and where I am, and to be okay not to be okay.
And those that don't understand it, [00:15:00] I don't judge anybody for that. But if this is a space that you need, then this is a space that you can come to. And I just feel like I tried. Maybe you have experienced this too. When I got the diagnosis, I thought like, okay, I'm so good at making lists. I'm gonna be so good at like sorting this out and healing myself from it.
And it didn't work out that way. And the more books I read and the more things I did, I started getting so demotivated and confused because everybody seemed to have been where I was. And then this magical thing happened and all of a sudden they were cured and they've never had a panic attack again. And what happens, and which is normal, if you've been diagnosed with this disorder, is that sometimes you do have relapses. And then when you relapse, you feel so horrible because you think it's something you've done wrong or something you could have done better.
And I wanted FIGGI to be a place where, It was okay [00:16:00] not to judge yourself for it and to feel okay that it happens to all of us and it's okay.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. I mean, and I wasn't expecting maybe to talk about this now at this moment, but I'm going to because I think maybe you're a good person to talk with about it and for other people to hear, but like I, you know, you've said it's okay not to be okay. And what I personally struggle with is being okay.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah.
Rabiah Coon: It's almost that opposite statement. Like, it's okay to be okay also because I think there's that, that feeling of failure that comes when you are okay and then you're not again. And so one thing I've spent a lot of time working on is, is going, I'm okay and I'm okay with that. And I'm actually, oh, I'm happy right now and that's fine.
I don't need to do something to take that away. And I don't know, have you ever faced that kind of feeling like comfort in, in the mess in a way which, you know, I think it's good. I mean, it's good to [00:17:00] know you're not okay. But also like being okay cuz how do you handle, I guess that too in, in FIGGI, but maybe also cause I imagine people are a part of the community whether they're struggling or not, right?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah.
Rabiah Coon: And you are, but then also, I guess if you wanna answer personally, like have you had that feeling? Cause I just, I find it something that's really hard to explain to people.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah, I, I think I understand where you're coming from and I definitely have to. And I think it's been a, one of the biggest things that has helped me on my acceptance journey, is accepting the days I'm okay. Because it's always like I'm feeling like something is around the bend or I need to be scared of something else.
And that's also helped me a lot with my relapses. Like I went from having 30 bad days and one good day to having 20 good days and 10 bad days, and, and that's okay, you know? So having those moments where you're okay and you feel okay, whatever [00:18:00] okay looks like to you, I really try my best to just celebrate that.
Even for me, if okay, in that moment is surviving, that's awesome for me because that's all I can do.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, totally. I guess if someone is in, in your community and, and like, what service are you providing other than just community, but also what, what are they doing and how are people interacting?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah, so, I have a weekly blog and a weekly podcast that people can tune into or read. I have. Skincare that I created because of my panic disorder and the sensitive skin that comes with that which they can indulge in. But it's more of a place where you can rest and be you. So if you want to have your quiet space to listen to something encouraging that may I speak to you in that moment or not? The podcast is there for you. If you need to read something to lift you up, the blog is [00:19:00] there for you. There's no like, there's no active need from, from the community. It's really just for you to use as you see fit.
Rabiah Coon: And then with the skincare So tell me more about that cause had you, I mean, you weren't really involved in any kind of manufacturing cosmetics before, so how did you get into that?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Oh that was, yeah, that was a journey. I went back to school and I did my certification in cosmetic chemistry because I knew I wanted to make something that really worked for sensitive skin because I was really struggling with it a lot more than usual because of all of these panic attacks I was having.
And it's just one of the most common symptoms of anxiety in any way. And then I reached out to people I knew in South Africa that supply South African rooibos extract. I don't know if you've heard of Rooibos Tea?
So there's so much scientific, so much [00:20:00] scientific proof and evidence of the anti-inflammatory properties and how it soothes your skin.
So I created a line with, with that as the main ingredient in, in all the products.
Rabiah Coon: Nice. And have you found that for you, just ha, having even a routine around skincare and stuff is helpful. Is that one of your self-care?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah, I think when I was during the breaking, it's, you know, it sounds so silly to even say it now, but when you're in the thick of it, so many super small things seem like such a mountain to climb to you and I just remember like crying one day and thinking to myself, can just one thing be okay again?
Just like any small thing, can it just be okay? And then I thought, well, skincare takes like a minute or two a day. Like start small. Don't commit to like 50 minute meditations or something at the beginning. Just do something [00:21:00] super small that you know you'll love and enjoy and indulge in. And I couldn't because I had no idea it was so difficult to find fragrance-free good products in Europe because I had just moved from South Africa. And then I decided, okay, this is what I can do. I can make something really great. And it can be a super small something that you can include in, in your self-care or something that you do for yourself.
That's not this huge commitment.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. And it's true. It's funny about just the whole thing, like when you're a kid, you know, your mom would be like, or parents would be like, wash your face, you know, wash around your ears. And then as an adult, like, I don't know, sometimes you'll get home after being out for the night and be like, oh, I just wanna go to bed.
I don't want to do it. But then, yeah, you just take, it does, it takes like a minute just to wash your face. It takes no time, but becomes a big chore. You know, and so, yeah, I can see that. And then it's interesting with the, so one of the implications then of, of the panic [00:22:00] disorder you're saying is like having sensitive skin.
And I hadn't thought about that before, but I guess there is inflammation in your body when you're having a lot of emotions too.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah. I mean, I, I'm not a psychiatrist or a doctor, but as I understand it, it is, it has to do with your cortisol levels because when you're running on that kind of high of that anxiety all the time, your corti cortisol levels are so high and that has a huge effect on your skin. And I think we forget sometimes, like our skin is our largest organ.
So it makes sense that if something is off, you're gonna feel it and you're gonna know it and you're gonna be so aware of it. And we always think anxiety or stress, oh, that's why my tummy doesn't feel good, or that's why I'm shaky, or that's why I have a migraine. But one of the first places you actually see it is your skin. Yeah.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Yeah. I have rosacea and so I'll get very like
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Probably when you, [00:23:00] yeah.
Rabiah Coon: yeah, and like feel heat and stuff. And I didn't realize like, what feels like super hot in the skin is just really like the skin just reacting to something. And so when you learn that kind of thing and learn about yourself and I think start to observe what your emotions kind of result in physiologically, it's really helpful.
Then you can kind of say, oh wait, this happened. I'm probably actually more stressed than I think about this or whatever. I need to
Dr. Jeanne Retief: And it's a great way of like kind of, you know, we always hear that you should be in tune with your body. You should listen to your body. And it's a, it's a great way to listen to your body because I think sometimes we don't listen because it's what's going on inside of us. It's not something you can like physically see, but for some reason, if you can feel, see, hear and taste, you know, it, it has a different element to it.
And I'm sure with you, if you're more anxious than usual, you probably have a lot. Not a lot, but more problems with your rosacea. So [00:24:00] something you feel, something you see, something that's you can touch, you know, and, and you know, like, ah, okay, something's going on. I need to, you know, do something about that.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, for sure. No, or I'll be like, oh, what did I eat? Oh, that I didn't realize I had that in it. I better not have that. Yeah, so it's interesting. So when you think about, cuz you mentioned that just with your husband, like you kind of basically took stuff out on him sometimes and.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Mm-hmm.
Rabiah Coon: I'm sure probably in other interpersonal relationships.
Do you, did you over time realize, like a way of communicating how you were feeling without doing that and like maybe something that's helpful for people to, to know? Cause I think it is hard when you're not feeling well in a certain way to even communicate that. And I'm, I'm like that I'll kind of, I won't say lash out necessarily, but just kind of
almost try to push people away to reinforce what I'm feeling, instead of saying, Hey, I'm not feeling great and I don't wanna talk about it, but I just want you to know that,
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah.
Rabiah Coon: we'll have to go through this effort of pushing [00:25:00] you away, you know?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah. I have to tell you, I am so incredibly lucky because my husband has helped me through so much. He's really been, he's really saved my life in many ways, so I was really lucky that he was always open to apologies and talking about it. But what he helped me realize, and we sat down one day and he was like, okay, this, you know, this can't go on.
Let's make a list of why this is happening and kind of figure out the root cause of why you're feeling this way and what are we gonna do about it? And when we were having this conversation, I realized that I'm really, like you said, I'm, especially in that moment, I'm not good at communicating that why I'm feeling the way I'm feeling, or how I'm feeling.
I just know that I, I'm feeling really bad, you know? And the immediate cause is all I can see, even if there is something deeper. So now I always [00:26:00] just try to say, look. Something is not feeling great. I dunno how to say it and I dunno how to word it. So can you just give me a little bit of slack for like two or three days so I can just figure out what it is and how to say it and even if it's something that I should be this upset about, you know?
So can you just kind of give me some space so I can just figure it out in my mind? And he's okay with doing that and, and that helps me a lot because it helps me to not say things I regret later.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, totally. Well, it's almost like in doing that, you just create another problem and almost like another barrier to getting to what's really going on anyway. Now it's like, well now I have to deal with this issue, so I can't possibly deal with what's actually wrong, you know? And I think that's a way people do things.
This has been, this has been really cool, Jeanne, because I just kind of knew I was gonna talk to you about FIGGI and then talk to you about your skincare line, but not about [00:27:00] all the other things.
So thanks so much for sharing all that.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: it's my pleasure. I hope it helps somebody.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, I hope so too. Otherwise, like, I'll be like, you going, why did I post this? You know? So one thing I like to ask all my guests is, do you have any advice or mantra that you'd just like to share with people?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: I don't, because I honestly feel like we're all just doing our best and for me to give somebody advice, you know, I don't, I don't know their situation and I don't know how it got there. So the best kind of advice I can give is like, even if somebody looks together, we're all doing our best. So that's okay for you to just know that, you know?
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Totally. Yeah. And, and the judging a book by its cover, like the most disheveled person might be the most together and the one who's taken the most time to get ready might just have been on a facade that day, you
Dr. Jeanne Retief: yeah,
Rabiah Coon: So.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: yeah.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
[00:28:00]
Rabiah Coon: Alright, so I have a set of questions called the Fun Five, and they are just five questions I ask everybody.
Cause I think they're, they're fun. So, the first one is, what's the oldest T-shirt you have and still wear?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: I absolutely hate t-shirts, so I, I really don't have one. But if you were to ask me my oldest pajamas,
Rabiah Coon: Good.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: then I would tell you, it's like this really out washed, faded Tinkerbell t-shirt that says like, do you believe in fairies? And I absolutely do. So.
Rabiah Coon: Nice. How long do you think you've had it?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: I think I probably bought it when I was 16. 16 or 17. So 20 years.
Rabiah Coon: Oh wow. That's good though. That's a good age. And yeah, my oldest t-shirt I have to wear as pajamas. I can barely wear those pajamas anymore. It's not even appropriate for that. You know, it's just. So this, I, I started the podcast [00:29:00] during the pandemic, which is where this question was derived from, but I think this happens now.
So if every day was really Groundhogs Day, like the movie where you're just repeating the same day over and over and over, what song would you have your alarm clock set to play every morning?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: I know the song, but I, I, and I love it, but I've instantly forgotten the, who sings it, but it's dare you to move. I think it's by Switchfoot. Because
Rabiah Coon: Oh yeah,
Dr. Jeanne Retief: It's just so encouraging to me. You know, like, it just goes through all of the stages, you know? Welcome to the planet, welcome to resistance, welcome to the fallout.
It just, I, I think that would be what, what it feels like if you wake up every single day. It will go from, oh, this is cool to, this is monotonous, to this is horrible.
Rabiah Coon: Yes. So it's, it's gonna just express all of it.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah,
Rabiah Coon: Cool. And then coffee or tea, or neither?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: One cup of really strong coffee in the morning [00:30:00] and then gallons of rooibos tea during the day.
Rabiah Coon: And did you, when you were in South Africa, did you drink that tea there?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's a big thing. I don't think you'd find a South African household without rooibos tea in it.
Rabiah Coon: Okay,
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Yeah,
Rabiah Coon: Nice. Do you put anything in it, honey, or anything, or just how it is?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: it depends. Like if I'm traveling, I'll drink it just like that. But if I'm home and I have all, like my stuff with me, I'll put a little bit of honey and like a few drops of lemon.
Rabiah Coon: Got it. Okay. Just curious for when I ever, when I try it. Um, Alright. Can you think of a time you like laughed so hard, you cried? Or just something that just cracks you up when you think of it?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: That scene from home alone when he puts the spider on the dude's face, like, I know it's so stupid, but I still laugh at it. It's like our Christmas movie we watch every Christmas and I still laugh so hard every single time. I [00:31:00] see that.
Rabiah Coon: it's so good. He was so cute and little and just, yeah. Oh no, that's great. I, I know I love that movie too. It was fun to like show my nieces and nephews at, at some point, you know, cause like, oh, this is the good one. And even my dad's like 84 and he'll still watch it, you know? So it's good. That's awesome.
Okay. And the last one is who inspires you right now?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Right now, I, I actually listened to a podcast yesterday with Esther Eger (Edith Eger), I think her name was. And she wrote, she's a Holocaust survivor and she wrote her first book when she was 90 about surviving and the trauma of it. And I think the book's name is The Choice. And she was talking about this book yesterday on the podcast I was listening. It was just so inspiring to me that somebody could have traveled so far in life and get to this age, and you still have so much wisdom to share and light to shine.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Wow. That's incredible. All right. I'll have to look her up. [00:32:00] Cool. Well, so Jeanne, if someone wants to find you or find FIGGI, where, where do you want them to go and where should they follow you and sign up and everything?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: I think the easiest is probably to go to the FIGGIlife.com website, so F I G G I dot com.. And there you'll find the blog, the podcast, the link to the shop if you wanna shop for skincare. And you can also follow me on Instagram at Jeanne underscore FIGGI Life (@jeanne_FIGGIlife).
Rabiah Coon: Awesome. And really, I forgot to ask you, I should have asked you, but how did you come up with that name, fIGGI too?
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Figs are my favorite fruit. So I thought I would play around with the name. And then when I was looking up the symbolism, it said that it actually represents that we are all co-creators of our universe, and we are not meant to be alone, but to stand together and lift each other up. And that was what FIGGI was to me so it was just the perfect fit.
Rabiah Coon: Perfect. Yeah. Cool. [00:33:00] All right, well thanks so much. It's been great chatting with you. Thanks for being on More Than Work.
Dr. Jeanne Retief: Oh, thank you for having me.
Rabiah Coon: Thanks for listening. You can learn more about the guest and what was talked about in the show notes. Joe Mafia created the music you're listening to. You can find him on Spotify at Joe M A F F I A. Rob Metke does all the design for which I'm so grateful you can find him online by. Searching Rob M E T K E.
Please leave a review if you like the show and get in touch if you have feedback or guest ideas. The pod is on all the social channels at at More Than Work Pod (@morethanworkpod) or at Rabiah Comedy (@RabiahComedy) on TikTok. And the website is more than work pod dot com (morethanworkpod.com). While being kind to others, don't forget to be kind to yourself.
