Episode 1 : Welcome!

Dr. Sophia:
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Dr. Sophia Podcast. I'm an ObGyn practicing for over 15 years in my native New York City, and I love to help women learn about their bodies, empower them, and embrace themselves. On this podcast, we will talk openly and with heart about all things affecting women from pregnancy, menopause periods, sexual health, and so much more. So welcome to episode one of the Dr. Sophia podcast. Here we go.

Touseef Mirza:
Here we go.

Dr.Sophia:
All right, so again, I am Dr. Sophia and I happen to be here with my friend Touseef Mirza.

Touseef Mirza:
Hi everyone. I'll tell you a little bit more about myself in a little bit.

Dr. Sophia:
So we are doing episode one as an intro to how this all began, and how we ended up here.

Touseef Mirza:
Yes. The origin story. It doesn't happen overnight.

Dr. Sophia:
It definitely did not happen overnight. This all started back in 2018. When I met Touseef, I had this idea of wanting to be maybe a personality or just to have a bigger influence in women's health.

Touseef Mirza:
So where did that start? When did you realize that you wanted to share your knowledge more than your patients?

Dr. Sophia:
Okay. You know, I love my patients. I love the one-on-one with my patients, and it made me think that whenever I had a patient who had whatever was going on, a problem with her period or what have you, I realized that she wasn't the only one. And there were so many women out there who probably had the same questions or the same concerns, and maybe we're not getting the answers in a way that felt comfortable, or that they could feel like someone was really listening. And I thought I could really offer that because it was what I was doing every day with my patients anyway.

Touseef Mirza:
So you wanted to offer that to more people?

Dr. Sophia:
I wanted to be able to offer that to more people and on a bigger scale, I just felt like the one-on-one is amazing. However, I also feel like there's such a broader audience of people who need the same exact service. And really the service is just educating. A lot of times it's just explaining things. It's a matter of allowing women to think in a very vulnerable way about what's going on with them, and the explanation in a manner that is not a matter of fact, but rather just friendly, honest, easy to understand, and relatable.

Touseef Mirza:
I mean, having known you for a few years now I think that's really what's really awesome when you do talk about health and women's bodies and all that is, is just talking about it in sort of really normal terms. And also just being very caring about it. I feel like you understand me and other people because you're just very empathetic and that's something you don't hear all the time. Sometimes we even have knowledge, but it can feel complicated and it's almost like people are not really understanding fully what I'm really going through.

Dr. Sophia:
I know for me, I just didn't want things to feel so sterile. I just didn't want, when I know, even in my office, I like the feeling of every patient feels like my sister. Every patient feels like my friend. Or somebody in my family, someone that I know personally. I mean, yes, I do end up knowing them in a very intimate way, but it's the relatability, it's the feeling like I feel close to you and I care. Wholeheartedly about what happens to you, not just whether or not your pap smear is positive or negative.

Touseef Mirza:
I'll talk a little bit about myself. So in 2018, Sophia, from a common friend of ours was introduced to me. And at that point, I was doing personal branding. So I'm in personal purpose, personal branding marketing. I teach at NYU, at New York University, personal purpose, and personal branding. Sophia came and we wanted to try to figure out how could we have Sophia be more present out into the world and helping more people, including this podcast. So my role in this podcast moving forward is really just going to be asking different types of questions, looking at the questions that we're receiving from the audience, and being that voice. And also just having a little chit-chat going because we're good friends is also going a little bit deeper in different areas. So that's how I'm going to be involved.

Dr. Sophia:
And thank God

Touseef Mirza:
You know, I love doing this with you. I'm sure people are wondering then, that was 2018 and we are in 2023. So why did it take this long to actually get to the point where now you're ready?

Dr. Sophia:
Well, let's start here. I still don't know if I'm ready. We're doing it.

Touseef Mirza:
That is true. But what stopped you in 2018? Did you feel that you weren't sure if you wanted to, I mean, you know, all your stuff, but it's a question of being shy. Is it because you just didn't know how to go about it? Like what, what do you think held you back?

Dr. Sophia:
I have finally become a lot more confident in the concept of what I also take away from this process. And the joy that I get from being able to do this exact thing.

Touseef Mirza:
That's one of the awesome things when you get older. You just start to not care about what other people think and you just do what you need to do. Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

Dr. Sophia:
Sure, my background. So I am a first-generation Haitian American. I grew up in New York City. My parents really instilled in me the concept of education, though they did not push me to become a doctor. I was fortunate enough to have doctors in my family. So I think the modeling or the concept of role model is really important because that's the first place that I saw a doctor as, or becoming a doctor as a real career, as a real option. And so since I was 11, I knew that I wanted to become a doctor

Touseef Mirza:
Who was the role model?

Dr. Sophia:
I have an uncle who's a pediatrician and an aunt who was a podiatrist, but really more so like a family practitioner actually. They're the ones who influenced me the most.

Touseef Mirza:
Okay. And then, did you want it to be in, did you know you wanted to be in ObGyn?

Dr. Sophia:
So the obgyn track of it. I mean at 11 years old and throughout high school, I was a little bit of a nerd. So the initial thought was, oh, I'm gonna go into radiation oncology, you know, something very brainy, something, where I could help with, you know, solving cancer. Like how do I come up with cancer treatments? And, you know, I felt like I needed to do something really big. And, let me tell you what I do now is exceptionally big but the thought process or the concept of becoming an obgyn happened after I had my first son, going through the process of pregnancy.

Touseef Mirza:
At this point, you were still in medical school?

Dr. Sophia:
I had not yet entered medical school. I had actually had my first son in my last year of college. And it was a very difficult pregnancy actually. So I went through a lot of motions. The people who took care of me, the physicians who took care of me were so special. And moreover, I remember when I was delivering there was a female physician, a female resident. And I feel like that was really where the turning point happened, where I was like, oh, I have to take care of women.

Touseef Mirza:
And why was that?

Dr. Sophia:
I felt like despite having an amazing obgyn, he actually later then became a mentor to me after I had delivered. And I remember volunteering in his office and everything, but that woman physician who, you know, took care of me for a few hours, there still was something extra special about her touch. There was still something extra, you know, special about how she related to me. And I just remembered feeling that specifically when she took care of me.

Touseef Mirza:
And would you say also that the way that that physician, that woman physician engaged with you, that's something that you wanted to also give to other women?

Dr. Sophia:
I realized that it was important to have women interaction when you are in a vulnerable state. And what could be more vulnerable than giving birth? Or perhaps as I later understood things like women who have to experience something like a hysterectomy, the loss of, or maybe not the loss, but obviously the concept of taking out your womanhood, so to speak, and how emotional that can be and what does that mean? And, and being able to relate to a woman who is going through a process of a debilitating illness like fibroids that may be causing her to bleed to the point of anemia.

Touseef Mirza:
And also just, just like normal stuff, like when your period is off, that's a very vulnerable thing to talk about. Like anything from a reproductive or sexual health perspective, all of that. It doesn't even have to be big. Any small thing is difficult.

Dr. Sophia:
There you have it, any small thing is difficult. I mean, even I, myself as an obgyn at this point, still, you know, I can sometimes have a hard time saying, hey, I'm on my period, or letting my staff know if I'm a little bit crabby today.

Touseef Mirza:
This is why. We all go through that. So those are the types of things that we would talk about in this podcast, even the little things that are uncomfortable. I was talking with Sophia yesterday and she was at the, you were at the hospital?

Dr. Sophia:
I was at the hospital.

Touseef Mirza:
She was at the hospital. And, and she told me that she was about to deliver the fourth baby on her shift. And I was just like, that is insane. Like, how does one person do that? And then today, when I met you, what did you say to me?

Dr. Sophia:
Oh, I delivered eight babies in 24 hours.

Touseef Mirza:
Eight.

Dr. Sophia:
Eight babies.

Touseef Mirza:
Eight babies in 24 hours. Eight screaming babies, eight.

Dr. Sophia:
Screaming babies. They came out in all kinds of ways. I had two C-sections in there. I did the two C-sections. I had one woman who delivered in a squatting position

Touseef Mirza:
Because that was her choice?

Dr. Sophia:
Her voice, that was her choice. What we call all fours, being in all fours position. I had women who came in and delivered in 26 minutes. I had women who'd been on the labor floor for three days and delivered. So it really runs the gamut. The thing that I think cracks me up the most about what I do is, why do the babies all wanna come at 3:00 AM ?

Touseef Mirza:
So you've noticed that they come more at night? Is that a thing?

Dr. Sophia:
Obviously, the babies come when they wanna come. But it just dawned on me, I was like, why do I get so many phone calls between two and four in the morning? And I really finally, here I am, 15 years later thinking, what the heck was it? And I realized maybe it's because everybody's like kind of having a little bit of fun right before bed.

Touseef Mirza:
And that stimulates?

Dr. Sophia:
And that definitely stimulates, it can really stimulate labor.

Touseef Mirza:
Especially if you're around the time of being due.

Dr. Sophia:
Especially if you are at the end of pregnancy

Touseef Mirza:
And you just got back from there how long ago? Like just a few hours ago?

Dr.Sophia:
That's correct.

Touseef Mirza:
All right. So this is the first podcast after she's delivered eight babies. So it's going to be in the trenches like we say.

Dr. Sophia:
We are in the trenches.

Touseef Mirza:
Do you have a hope or an intention about what you would like this podcast, this journey to be? I know that's a big question, but-

Dr. Sophia:
It is a big question. But honestly, the goal, the intention, and the purpose of this podcast is to reach women that feel like they're not seen or heard. That something that I will say will trigger them in a way that helps them to understand or see themselves in an empowered way. And really embrace the things that are happening to them and lead them to want to lead healthy, happy lives. That they will feel empowered to ask more questions perhaps when they go to their doctor's visits. That they will be more graceful with themselves.

Touseef Mirza:
To give themselves grace.

Dr. Sophia:
Absolutely. To give themselves grace when they are looking in the mirror. To have a better understanding of the little things about their bodies. Why do we have cramps when we get our period? Or what are the different parts of my vulva again? Just even a little anatomy lesson can help so many and it can, you know, so that they don't feel- and quite frankly, there's no question that's a stupid question, but I get them all the time where women come in and they ask things that they're like, I know, I'm sorry, I wish I had known this. Or I wish, I could have expressed myself better. Understand that this podcast is here to give you reassurance, there are no stupid questions, you are unique and everything about you is wonderful.

Touseef Mirza:
Fantastic. So I'm looking forward to this journey as well. And if you have any questions, you can reach out to us. You can go on our website, which is Dr.Sophia, obgyn. So “Dr.Sophia” - drsophiaobgyn.com. We look forward to talking to you very soon

Dr. Sophia:
That we do. Listen in, and I hope you enjoy it. Bye-bye.