Dr. Leo Damasco and Phoebe Gutierrez welcome Dr. Mona Amin, as they discuss the power of pediatric telemedicine, bridging gaps in care, parent coaching, and how social media helped Dr. Mona build an authentic platform that reaches families nationwide.
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In this episode of Telemedicine Talks, Dr. Leo Damasco sits down with Dr. Mona Amin, as she shares her journey from burned-out in-person practice to leading clinical strategy at Poppins, where they combine on-demand medical care with parent and sleep coaching.
The conversation explores the unique value of pediatric telemedicine, especially for reassurance, triage, and accessible care, while emphasizing quality medicine over “customer service” care. They also dive into Dr. Mona’s experience building a massive social media following, overcoming mental health challenges, the importance of authenticity, and how physicians can use social platforms effectively.
Top 3 Takeaways:
ABOUT THE SHOW
Telemedicine Talks explores the evolving world of digital health, helping physicians navigate new opportunities, regulatory challenges, and career transitions in telemedicine.
About the Guest
Dr. Mona Amin is a board-certified pediatrician, founder of PedsDocTalk, social media educator, and Chief Medical Officer of Poppins, a pediatric telehealth platform. She is passionate about making healthcare more accessible, combining medical care with parent coaching, and empowering families through clear, reassuring guidance.
Connect with Dr. Mona Amin:
Instagram: @pedsdoctalk
Poppins: heypoppins.com
About the Hosts:
[00:00:00]
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Telemedicine Talks. as always, we have your host, Phoebe Gutierrez, and myself Leo Damasco. Today I am super excited, super, super stoked to have our guest on. for those that don't recognize her already, this is Dr. Mona Amin. She's a board-certified pediatrician, the founder of PedsDocTalk, and now the chief medical officer of Poppins, a pediatric telehealth platform that is redefining how families access care for their children.
Now, gosh I was telling Phoebe and told you, Dr. Mona, before this, you're gonna have to stop me from, like, fangirling out because I have been following you and your socials, especially your Instagram, for forever.
I love
it. Um, you are You are one of the major voices for pediatric care, if not the major voice in pediatric care in the social medias, Instagram space.
Thank you for being on. We are super stoked to have you.
I am equally stoked. I love going on [00:01:00] podcasts, and when I found out it was a fellow clinician, I was so excited, and I actually didn't know you were a pediatrician before you just told me that, and I was like, "Absolutely." I tend to go on more podcasts that are more, mom-focused, parenting-focused.
Yeah, yeah. And I just love when we can reach other professionals, clinical professionals. it's so exciting to be here, so thank you.
No, It's my pleasure. Really, following you, and especially with what's going on with everything right now- Yeah ... with, the laws, the rules, the administration, and, you know, you have been vocal about that.
I've put tons of hearts, exclamation points, forwards, all of the above on your posts. But today let's talk about, kind of what you're doing now in telemedicine. Yeah. This is telemedicine talks, right? I forget how many months ago on your channel you mentioned that you were starting a new journey, right?
And this new journey was in telemedicine, and actually I got super excited. I was like, "Oh, man, "... this is how we get her on." and you are now the chief medical officer of Poppins, this, pediatric telehealth [00:02:00] platform. Can you tell us more about that and what Poppins do, and really what is the problem that Poppins is trying to solve?
Wow. So yes, I made that announcement I think it was in the fall of 2025, so we're talking right now in, like, the summer of 2026. And I'd like to preface it by saying that a lot of me, like, sneaking that was me also validating the fact that this was a good choice. And I say that- because being so trained in-person clinical medicine, right? Like, in residency, telemedicine wasn't really a thing. I graduated residency in 2015. no one was doing telemedicine at that point, and so none of us at that point knew that telemedicine was a thing. And so then when I finally started working at a clinical practice, I was, burned out, exhausted.
I was like, "There has to be another way." And I was like, I could start my own practice, you know, like a direct primary care, solo practitioner. And then this opportunity, which I'm getting into about Poppins, kind of landed in my lap, [00:03:00] and I was like, do I go to telemed or do I stay in person?" And there was a lot of self-judgment that I had to break, and I think that you've probably seen that exist, and I think one of your past episodes talks about how telemedicine is still very valuable medicine.
And I think I got stuck in my head that, oh, well, you're not seeing a patient in person. You're only seeing them online. And the reason I'm bringing that up is that what we've been able to do has justified how valuable telemedicine is, especially in the pediatric space. So Poppins is a company founded by two co-founders.
I'm not a co-founder. I'm their chief medical officer, brought on initially as a medical advisor when they first started last year in 2025 with the goal that maybe in a few years I would be their chief medical officer. As an advisor, I was looking over their clinical protocols. I had some say on who they were hiring as nurse practitioners, clinicians.
And then they said at the end of last year that, "Hey, I [00:04:00] think we need to bring you on as an official chief medical officer for reduced hours." I only work for them eight hours a week, and part of that is seeing patients, part of that is the administrative work. And- We're not so busy right now because we're still growing, so when I'm seeing patients virtually, I usually have some downtime to do the administrative work.
Mm-hmm. But the problem we're trying to fix is what I just mentioned earlier, is that I don't think people realize how valuable telehealth is, because so much of what we do in pediatrics is reassurance. So much of what we do in general pediatrics is triaging, telling the family, "Hey, I think this can wait till morning," or, "Here's some information for you now," or, "I think I need you to go to the emergency room," or, "Check back with me tomorrow."
And so what we're trying to fill is that gap for that family that is kinda at home wondering, "Do I need to go in? Do I need to do anything right now?" Rather than going online, using AI, using Google or whatever search engine, we want them to be able to communicate with the [00:05:00] clinician, who has educational background, to say, "You know what?
This is something that we can handle. We are able to prescribe medications if needed for, you know, routine things. We have the ability to check ears because we have an otoscope that all of our families can purchase that sends us remote video recordings of each ear, pristine video quality." And so what we're trying to change is not only from the medical side access for these families so that they can get information, maybe even we can help them, and if we can't, reassurance or what's the next best step for you all.
And on the other side, which I'm loving Is we also have parent coaching and sleep coaching platforms and packages, and I think we often forget that all of those things are connected, right? in the future we'd love to add feeding packages, if someone's dealing with feeding issues.
But what we're trying to do is remind parents that none of these things exist in isolation. We know that if your child is dealing with potty training issues, they [00:06:00] may be stool withholding. So then we have our medical team communicate and say, "Hey, you know what? We can prescribe or consider maybe softening the poop with Dulcolax or MiraLAX," because we don't want them to be in pain when they're stool withholding, because it hurts them.
And so the ability for us to create a platform where parents can come, get their questions answered from the medical side, but also if they want something more elevated with their child's behavior or their sleep, has been such a blessing. And being the one who helps figure out how we can integrate it so the nurse practitioner or clinician is not fully responsible for all the plans and the coaching that comes with the longer time suck of parent coaching and sleep coaching, because it's a lot of back and forth.
It's been so cool to see how we can build that, and our families are so happy. Any time I'm on, every single parent is like, "Wow, I can't believe, one, that I get to talk to Dr. Mona," and I was like, "Awesome." And, like, 'cause they don't know who they're getting when they message in- Right ... because we just take shifts.
And they're like, "Are you serious?" And I'm like, "It's me." They're [00:07:00] like, "It's not a bot?" I'm like, "No, no, no. I'm here." Because it's a text-based platform right now.
Yeah.
And it's so funny, and they do a little bit of fangirling. And then I'm like, "I'm here for you. Like, tell me," and then I help them.
And the messages of, "Thank you so much. You just made me lose less sleep. You just made me- Mm-hmm ... feel more confident" ... is why I just wanna push the amazing reality of telemedicine, and what we're trying to do with Poppins to build this all-inclusive space that we bridge a gap between in-person and not having to go to the ER or leave their house because they have a sick kid or a small kid and they don't wanna do that.
Yeah.
Well, you bring up a couple of good points. Now, you know- when I work telemedicine, I work a lot of telemedicine. I work a lot of pedes spaces, but I work a lot of adult spaces too, 'cause I'm also an ER doc and I can see adults. And really what I've found in the pediatric space as we say it all the time, especially in training, right? Kids are not small adults, right? Yeah. And A lot of that translates in [00:08:00] telemedicine, right? there's a lot of trust, there's a lot of use in the adult telemedicine side. But when it goes down to the pediatric side, and you kind of, alluded to it earlier, people have a lot more reservations.
And when I say people, not just the patients, but the physicians themselves, right? And as a telemedicine platform, it's like you're an extension of the PCP. So how are you gonna convince not only your patients that, hey, this is a valid way to do it, but also the PCPs, the pediatricians that are out there that now the patients are going back to and saying, "Hey, you know, I talked to this pediatric telehealth provider."
How are you gonna convince them that you're also valuable too?
I love this. And, you know, there's two areas that we're always focusing on. There's the patient/parent-focused advocacy- Mm-hmm ... and making them understand that this is a valuable thing, which like you said, is the easier part of the two.
Oh, absolutely it is. and then there's the aspect of getting clinicians on board. So obviously, with the growth of the company and getting more [00:09:00] funding to be able to reach out to clinicians, I am trying to normalize telemedicine. And also, you know, when we speak to families, and when we speak to parents and speak to, obviously, clinicians, reminding them that we're not a replacement.
And so I give the example. Right now, we are starting to start a program with Give Kids The World. Give Kids The World is almost like a Ronald McDonald charity or like a Make A Wish foundation in Orlando, that when the families come to Disney World, these are chronic medical condition patients, right?
Mm-hmm. So these are children who are coming with their families, and It's them, it's their siblings who may not have any medical issues. We are offering our services when they're staying at this resort or wherever they're at for a discounted rate that they can get access to our clinicians if they need it.
And what we're doing there is we're being able to be that bridge between them and their clinician who may be back in Ohio- Yeah ... who may not be able to pick up the phone, and we always make it clear that we will not take over the medical care. And that's actually very important to me, because I think you can relate to this.
Like, [00:10:00] imagine if you're seeing an asthmatic in office, and you are the one managing their asthma, and then some woman on a telehealth visit all of a sudden changes their whole regimen and starts prescribing all these things. I wouldn't like that as a clinician because I- Mm-hmm ... have been managing that.
So one of the things that we've instilled is that whenever we make a change, we communicate to the family, and we send them a PDF- Mm ... of the changes that we made that we want them to take to their clinician the next time they see their doctor or clinician. And eventually, we would love to be able to send this directly.
You know, in a dream world, if we had, universal healthcare, we'd be able to, like, send everything to everybody. But we're trying to instill this so that our clinicians know that we are bridging the gap and not taking their business. And so part of our goal here is to reach out to clinics and pediatricians and, you know, getting on this show, if they don't have the capacity to take on-call, right?
They are- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm ... working 9:00 to 5:00, and they [00:11:00] don't want- Mm ... a overnight system. They want someone who is not only an RN, but actually a clinical person, right? Like an NP, PA- Yeah, yeah ... doctor, that we can say, "Hey, we can offer this service tied to you," and we wanna be able to do that around the country eventually,
And that is how we make this, like a symbiotic relationship. And when I came on and the co-founders gave me the idea- Because I practice clinical medicine at some of the biggest practices in the country, and I was burned out, I was seeing 40 to- Yeah ... 50 patients a day- Mm, yep ... I knew what worked and didn't work for me, and I also knew the autonomy that I would've wanted if I was seeing a patient.
And so everything is designed with all that in mind. How do we make this work for not only the family? How do we make this work for the clinicians working for our platform so that they actually, for the most part, are enjoying our experience and not feeling like, "I hate this job, it's so exhausting and I don't feel valued"?
And then the third part of my job is, how do we get the buy-in? And that's [00:12:00] the third phase that we're working on as we get more funding, as we start to expand, to get brochures out to those clinics and say, "Hey, if you need us, here is what we're offering. we are trying to help you. We would love to be able to give you reports."
The worst thing about telehealth is when they prescribe a medication that you know that child didn't need. Like, let's be honest, like- Yeah, yeah ... we get that. No, absolutely. You know, or they go to an urgent care, And I, kinda have to control my facial expressions.
and that is also my role, right? I train all of my staff that- Yep ... you are not to prescribe medicine just because you're being forced to. We are not customer service medicine. We are practicing quality medicine. Mm-hmm. And it is an honor that the co-founders trust me in that. I told them when I got on, like, "I am not signing on if we are going to be doing fully customer service medicine," because that's what's being lost in medical care right now.
It's either you're burnt out, you don't have enough time, or you're going to the urgent care and they're just giving you amoxicillin for a cough. And I'm like, "We are not doing that at Poppins." you will [00:13:00] know when you are a patient here that we will give you the right directions, we will give you what you need.
We will elevate you to the ER or in person to your clinician, but we can't and will not do any of that just because we wanna practice quality, and I believe it's possible. But I feel like we've kinda lost it.
I think it is too. And I think a big part of the buy-in too, with the PCPs and the clinician is that.
And what I've found too is that, when I was a general pediatrician, had my own patients, so I can relate to this. We are very protective of our patients. Yes. Rightly so, right? These are our families. These are the babies that we've seen growing up, you know, the ones that gave us cookies and all that stuff.
and I remember times where they came from an urgent care and, they did this and that. I was like, "Why the heck?" So I think that's very important and part of the problem with these telemedicine platforms is that buy-in, right? Like- ... you're not gonna be successful if you have your PCP telling you not to go there anymore, right?
Yeah.
Gosh, good luck with that puzzle. that's a [00:14:00] very difficult puzzle because, again, compared to the adult doctors, pediatricians they love their families, they love their babies and, you know, it's gonna take a lot to convince them... Well, I wouldn't say give them up, but kind of that a lot of the pediatricians that I've talked to with telemedicine have that feeling,
"I'm not gonna give up my patients. I don't trust anybody else with my patients," right?
Yeah.
I do think- Yeah ... that to me, the way I kind of view it, because, like, non-clinician, non-physician, but I have had the most amazing physicians around me my whole life to where, I'm able to pick up the phone, like, you know, my son actually got kicked, by a soccer ball- couple weeks ago, and I didn't go to Kaiser.
Like, I called Leo, and I'm like, What do you do? I- it might be broken." Yeah. He goes, "Well, if his eyes are black tomorrow, then go to the ER. But today they can't really do much." and to your point, Dr. Mona, so much of pediatrics in my opinion is, like I just need the peace of mind that I'm not making like a bad decision by not taking my [00:15:00] child to the emergency room.
So it's like every single time I do have to go to the emergency room, you see it. You see parents worried and nervous, and majority of them probably don't need to be there, but they also don't have like a Dr. Damasco in their pocket, like I have. And so really, the service that you're providing to parents, I don't think it contradicts or competes with, you know, a general, pediatrics office.
I think it really complements it, and I think, again, one of the things that I've found really beautiful with telemedicine is you are actually able to kind of build the care team that you want- Yeah ... in addition to like, you know, your own insurance and how that works. But so much of navigating parenthood is this weird teeter-totter of like do I ask my pediatrician?
I mean, my kids are now all sleeping through the night, hallelujah. But you know, there is like the sleep training, and so many parents just, don't wanna make a mistake. And having something like Poppins [00:16:00] really is, in my opinion, such a game changer for not just like the medicine side, but actually making, pediatricians get to expand a little bit and, go back to the love of medicine of, like, "I'm gonna educate you, and I'm gonna kind of teach you on, these things that, you know, historically when you're doing your 15-minute visits you might not be able to cover."
And you said it beautifully that not everyone has a Dr. Leo, right? I am doctor my friends do the same thing. But, like, a lot of our families are living in that rabbit hole of, like, "Oh my gosh, what do I do? What do I do?" Like, when you messaged about the soccer ball incident, right? Like, you were obviously worried.
And because, like I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, so much of what we do is that reassurance or triage, right? And you can do that on Telemed. I didn't realize the potential until I started doing this job more. And by the way, at my old clinic during the pandemic, we all did Telemed. Like- Yep
Telemed was how we did everything. So that was where I got my, toes wet with the entire experience. And I was [00:17:00] actually surprised there too. I was like, "Wow. This is actually really useful because families don't have to leave." And, a lot of our clientele are in cities where their doctor is about 30 to30 minutes plus away, and so they're in almost medical care deserts, right?
And we have to realize that a lot of families are living in that reality, especially with the way pediatric medicine is going, right? You have either your DPC practices, which are your direct primary care docs, or you have big box medicine. A lot of the smaller mom-and-pop clinics are getting bought out by private equity Yeah
because of the cost. Yeah. And so what's going to happen? So I am very interested in that whole the landscape of healthcare, right? And what is going to happen to those families who can't afford DPC, who wanna go to the big box medicine, but we know what big box medicine is. It's 15-minute visits, super fast, hamster in a wheel- mm-hmm
'cause I practice there. So this is something that can be the in-between, that, okay- ... a family can do [00:18:00] their clinic to go get their well visits, and now we're actually starting to accept insurance, which is wonderful. I had poo-pooed the whole insurance acceptance idea, but because of it, we're gonna be able to open up to so many more families who may not be able to pay a membership fee for our monthly services, and we get reimbursed through the insurance.
And I think it's such an accessible thing, right? I love that if they're not able to go, where are they gonna go? They're gonna either spiral themselves into anxiety, or they're gonna not go, and that's gonna be worse, or they may go, and maybe they didn't need to go, which, fine, is not the worst-case scenario.
But maybe, just maybe, we can save them a visit out of their home in the middle of a snowstorm, in the middle of, like, a heat wave, and they can just be with their child in the comfort of their home. And to your point, Dr. Leo, I miss the continuity of my patients. Like, I'm not getting that on a telehealth platform because I don't do well visits, right?
But I treat these families like [00:19:00] they are my continuity families, because how it works is that when you're a patient of Poppins, you message in, and depending on who's on, we'll answer your call. So all of the clinicians start to get familiar with everyone on the platform, right? Because oh, you know, my son's Ryan.
Ryan's mom is messaging in now, and, like, she messages in another day, and it's almost like becoming a family, that they trust us so much with their child, but that doesn't mean they don't trust their pediatrician. Just like you can have secure attachment with one caregiver, you can have secure attachment with another caregiver, and in this concept, two different clinicians.
But you can't do that if it's let's use the word shitty quality telemedicine. And that is what I'm trying to bring back, right? As their CMO, I am like a hawk. I'm like, any time my clinicians prescribe something or do something, I'm chart reviewing, and I'm having constructive feedback to just remind them.
and they are so in tune with that because I don't want it to become something where clinicians are like, "Oh, this Poppins family just came [00:20:00] back and did this." No, I want them to be like, "Ah, yes, a Poppins family. They did this, and that's wonderful." And that's gonna be a reality, I know it
Yeah,
you mentioned it too, the lack of continuity, but, one of the things I love about telemedicine is that you're able to reach so many more people. Yeah. And when I started telemedicine, kind of like you, should I start it? Am I giving up, what I was trained to do?
You know, it was almost like a bad word. Yeah. Am I gonna be a pill pusher, so forth and so on? But there is so much that I've gotten out of telemedicine, just the positives that instead of a patient population of maybe, like, 1,000 in my panel, now it's 20,000 and I could reach out. And I'm credentialed everywhere, so I could reach out to any part of the country-
Yeah
and I'm part of their lives. And it's kind of amazing that way, right? You know, being able to change somebody's life literally, clear across the country,
I right now- ... have seven medical licenses because we are only in seven states for the medical. Because as you know, for a business to be [00:21:00] able to go everywhere, there's obviously licensing and being able to- Mm-hmm
get into that state, and that requires funding, and so we are moving. Like, our next hope is to go to California and to get to all the states. And OMG, like, the fact that I can say that I'm licensed in Connecticut, Texas, Florida, New York, California, and right now like you said, I'm not just seeing patients in Florida.
Yeah. I see families in Texas, and that is what my dream was for a long time, right? To be able to impact through my social media channel, and now technically they can see me. And as a reminder, we are a text-based platform and we're gonna be moving to synchronous video, but right now it's asynchronous texting, and they send video and photo if they need to.
Mm-hmm. But it is just such a dream to be able to do what I'm doing on social in a personal guidance way, right? Like, everyone is always messaging me on my social, "Dr. Mona, but how do I see you? Like, how do I see you about my child's-" "... X, Y, and Z?" Yeah. And I'm like, "Well, I'm not in that state." Right. And now I'm like, "Hey, everyone.
If you're in Texas," "You may be able [00:22:00] to see me." And I've been able to help with reflux. I've been able to help with, minor things, colic questions. And the reassurance and the impact, like you said, is going just beyond four walls, is so incredible. And I equate it to what I'm able to do with social media because it feels very similar to that.
Yeah. we had one of my clients was it a couple weeks ago, and she's a, nutritionist, and very similar. She kind of started in social media, reached out to me because she's like, "Oh, I wanna expand and go into other states," because of that, right? People are reaching out to her going like, I love your philosophy on how you provide care"- Yeah
And all of that from a social media lens. And you do get to this really interesting kind of like relationship where you have people that are seeking you out, and that's the beautiful thing in my opinion. I know there's a lot of people that look at telemedicine and go like it, waters down, healthcare.
I have a complete opposite. I don't want to go to the doctor. I don't want to. I'm in California, so you know, half of us [00:23:00] here are Kaiser. I'm a Kaiser member-
Yeah ...
for my whole life. I've always had Kaiser. and to me, again, it's like giving people the ability to... you save time, you save energy.
You also get to kind of pick the physician that you want to see, which in my opinion is such an important thing in healthcare. 'Cause it's a collaborative approach to being able to have that information provided to somebody that you trust and you're gonna take their advice clearly.
you'll be in all states pretty soon. Watch, Dr. Moning. you'll be there. Oh, thank you. Well-
We're hoping ...
it's gonna be amazing. Yeah. Yeah. gosh, so much to talk about here. Really we're getting a little low on time, but
I have one question.
Go for it. Ooh,
I think one of the things that I find really interesting I've said this to Leo, I've said this to a bunch of my physician clients, is, if you're really trying to build, either your own private practice, your own telemedicine company, as a physician, to do it in a way that is not gonna cost a ton of money, the best way for patients to [00:24:00] get to know you is social media.
And, you know, you are kind of like a GOAT on social media. Let's just-
Thank you ...
call it what it is, right? The
GOAT.
But I know that it is very uncomfortable like, in the early days. how did you get over some of the, early social media, I don't know, cringe and starting it and just, commit and get in the groove of it all?
I think, one of the hardest things that I had to go through is realizing how social media is the worst thing you can do for your mental health. And- the irony, and I would like to tell this story, is that when I started my social media handle, I was actually at a point where I was seeing a life coach.
So a life coach, again, is not someone- Mm-hmm ... who's trained in therapy, but she was so inspirational to me. She was a yoga teacher. We were doing such great sessions on finding the meaning of life, I had really bad anger issues, anxiety. She was a blessing, and she was telling me that I need to disconnect more from my phone, and she was right.
And then I was like, "Well, I'm gonna start a social media handle," and that was literally the opposite of what you [00:25:00] should be doing- ... when you need to be more present in the world, right? Yeah. My husband would be the person who would speak the best to this, but he noticed how much it negatively impacted me because of- Mm-hmm
the trolls, the commentary- mm-hmm ... the obsession with the metrics and the performance. And to all of that, however, I think my mental health needed that to remind myself that in life, this is all gonna be important to learn. Meaning, that I'm more valuable than a metric, that I'm more valuable than other people's judgment, that I don't need to let everyone else's opinion or commentary weigh down on me.
So it took about four years of self-reflection work, therapy. I did very heavy therapy after the birth of my children, not for social media, but from just life experiences. But to be quite honest, I talked to my therapist a lot about my social media platform, and the trolls that would come, and she's like, "Mona, [00:26:00] picture those people.
Like, these people are literally just sitting behind a computer. are they important people for your life? If they're not important people, we are going to create a barrier that it just tosses to you and flows down to the ground." And by doing that, that is how I was able to keep the skin in the game, and also just remember that I know my why.
My why is not money. My why is not notoriety. My why is that I believe that I have this voice that can truly change people's lives and make them more confident parents. That why has carried with me from the moment I started PedsDocTalk, right? It was never about business. It was never about all that.
Now it has become that, and I have employees, and I have to pay them and all of that. But- Keeping the focus on the why, doing all that work to let go of the perfectionism, the people-pleasing, the, what people say about me, the discomfort of just having to talk on camera, all of that just started to fade away.
And don't [00:27:00] get me wrong, it still exists to some degree, but it doesn't consume my life. And there's two things that happen. Either people go on social media and they realize what I just realized, and they're like, "This is not for me," or they say, "Okay, I've been handed this. I believe so strongly that I can make a difference in this world through my words.
Is there ways that I can actually overcome this and better myself as just a human and work on all those things that I can let those things not affect me?" And I can honestly say, like, in 2026 compared to when I started this, I am just a much happier person because of what social media did to me. I was forced to work on all those things because it was smack dab in my face, and not only did it help me as a creator, it helped me in relationships, and as a mom, and as a partner.
And so now my husband doesn't see that anxious woman who every time a post went up and didn't perform well would be irritable.
what it was is just realizing that [00:28:00] I needed to change, and you either roll with the punches and realize that this is your reality, or you say to yourself, "It's not for me," and I'm not forcing anyone to make it for themselves, but if you can get through that, you're gonna find that it is a amazing medium to change the world.
I do feel like I'm changing the world, because when 160 countries download my podcast and people from Australia are like, "Come here for a meet and greet," I mean, that would have never happened had I never got online, and that's amazing.
Yeah.
And I wouldn't have got it. Like, I mean, I had to go through that to realize the other side of like, I can do this and I can be a better person from it, and I'm grateful for my therapist. am kinda sad that I can never share her name because of, HIPAA violations.
But this woman has really changed my life, and I'm putting this out there because if anyone's listening that is dealing with mental health stuff, anxiety, depression, perfectionism people pleasing, therapy can really help you get through that so that you can actually live a life that's not for anyone else but [00:29:00] yourself, right?
That you are aligned- Yeah ... with your purpose, and I know my purpose is to help people and to change their life, and in the context of this, to make people feel more confident. And I love that I get to do that and feel happier doing it, where I'm not consumed by all of the things that social media can be.
Yeah. so interesting. Yeah, I've struggled personally. That's why I was kind of asking, right? Like, I think people think it's easy to just kind of get out there and do the social media thing, and this year I actually am doing exactly what you did, and I was like, "I'm just gonna go.
I'm gonna be authentically myself if people don't like it." I've had a lot of growth this year. but it has also just made me happier. Yeah. So you do it when you wanna do it, and- Yes ... you know, at the end of the day, like you had said it's a slow roll, but it also kind of forces you a little bit to really dig deep and think about the things that, like you said, your why.
And I don't know. I get all my medical education from Instagram. Hopefully from the right people ... right? If I was a Gen Z-er I'd [00:30:00] say TikTok - Yeah ... but for the life of me I refuse TikTok. so I think it's such an important platform for physicians to get on there. But again I've struggled a little bit with it in the sense of like you have a lot of physicians that are just looking at the metrics, and so they're copying each other's posts and it's kind of that whole thing.
And then you have, the authentic opinions of physicians, which to me is like we need more of that. I wanna know your opinion. I don't really care too much about the clinical research - Yeah ... and the evidence . Like, what do you think about it and what are you seeing in practice?
Which is kind of the interesting thing my whole experience with physicians is I've gotten that like behind the curtain view of like, "Well, what do you really think?" No malpractice suit coming from me. like we just wanna know-
Yeah ... you
know, what you guys are really thinking.
And again, I think it's so cool when you have like a really solid platform, and then again you get to grow into making it authentically you, 'cause really that's where it gets really cool.
And people don't see the hardest moments of anyone's platform, right? I mean, you have the [00:31:00] unicorns that have grown exponentially, and had no hiccups.
For the most part, like 99% of platforms have had periods like you're describing where you just are trying to figure out what works for your platform. In 2023, I had only grown five followers a day. Not even. Like, it was to a point where I had questioned whether I was gonna continue on the platform because we just weren't seeing growth.
Granted, I had also just had a baby. I was just not in the mental space to create because I wanna remind listeners that social media is art. You are creating your art. So you are taking something that you love, which is maybe talking about pediatric medicine or dermatology, and you are creating something visually or, a post that
speaks to you, whether it's a skit, whether it's whatever. And if you don't like doing your art form, it's gonna show, right? It's like an artist creating... I equate myself to Taylor Swift sometimes. I'm like, Taylor gets into the studio, she works hard, she creates music she loves without caring [00:32:00] what other people are gonna say, but she also has to listen to what people do like, right?
You have to do some degree of both. You work with your passion, but she knows the formula. She knows that people like this catchy beat. She knows that her followers like this sort of sing-songy like stuff. So she's taking her passion, looking at her community, and creating banger after banger, and that's the formula here, right?
It's knowing what you're good at, remembering that social media is an art form. If you are not feeling inspired, it is going to show. So if you're not feeling inspired, take the break. I think people get so bogged down, and I have to keep posting. I rather have someone post three good pieces of content a week than five to six crappy posts that you just posted because you felt you needed to stay relevant because everyone's just gonna drown that out.
They wanna see and hear the feeling, like you said, behind the information. And people connect to people. They don't connect to information Like, the reason I'm followed is that people view me, as [00:33:00] an authority figure in the space, but they follow me and connect because they think I'm relatable, which I am.
Like, I'm a mother as well. They think that I have their back, which I do, right? These are what I hear from my community, that, "I follow you because you are kind, you care about people, you're relatable, you don't talk down to me," and that is what keeps people coming. It's the way you make them feel and not what you say.
And I think a lot of people online, especially clinicians, can do a better job of creating content by remembering how are you making your consumer feel. Are you making them feel anxious? Because that's not the way to go. Or are you delivering a confident tone with actionable steps? And I refuse to go down the route of fear, and I wanna use the hantavirus outbreak.
Everyone kept asking me to speak about the hantavirus outbreak- Mm-hmm ... and I put it on my stories, I'm like, "I am not speaking about this, and I wanna explain why. One, I'm not an infectious disease expert. Two, I have never seen hantavirus in my life, so no, I [00:34:00] can't speak to the symptoms. And three, it's not to the point where I feel you all need to worry about it.
And if I'm worried about it, I will make sure you know about it." And my community knows that if you're giving people information without tangible steps, you're just creating and spreading fear. If there was a hantavirus outbreak and I needed my community to act, which meant you need to make sure if you are going on a cruise, blah blah blah, da da da, 1,000%.
But if most people don't do that, they're just stirring the media pot, which is meant to cause anxiety, and I am the antithesis. I want people to feel calm. I want people to feel, "Dr. Mona is looking at things, and she's going to tell me if I need to worry," because we are dealing with a increasing level of anxiety in parents in this generation, and I refuse to contribute to that.
And I see it happening amongst some of my peers on social. I can't tell them what to do, but we are responsible for how we communicate, and the first thing is understanding connect person to person versus speaking [00:35:00] only as an authoritarian figure
Oh, great. and your socials and your platform shows it.
It's one of the most helpful platforms I've ever seen. It honestly is the platform that I go to, and it honestly pops up every day, twice a day-
Thank you ...
Dr. Mona, thank you so much for taking your time, I know you're super busy, being on our show and gracing us with your presence.
One last question we'd like to ask everybody on this. So let's go back to your intern self, day one, July 1st of intern year. Knowing what you know now, what would you tell day one intern self, anything at all from what you've learned so far?
Oh, I love this, and it's been such an honor to be on the show.
I would tell that bright-eyed, bushy-tailed girl- ... to believe in who you are and the value you have in this world beyond the metrics, beyond where you went to medical school, beyond all the other labels that we attach to ourselves. Think about who you are and what you can give to the world in your field.
And the [00:36:00] reason I say that is I knew that I had a gift. I knew that I could connect with people. But connection isn't always looked at in medicine, right? It's like, okay, see your patient, do that. Mm-hmm. I'm a really good connector. I love connecting, I love feeling. I always joke that I love when I make parents cry in my office in a good way.
Like, when they can get to the point where they can just release and say, "I just needed to cry today," I feel like I broke through with them and have now connected with them on a level that many people don't even get to connect with as a clinician ever in their life. And I think I just want my little Mona to remember that, and I was so fearful.
I thought I wouldn't get hired, I thought that I had to follow a certain path. But the beauty about medicine in 2026 is that there is so many different avenues. If you don't like something, build it or find it, because it's exists. And I was so unhappy in my clinic, and I built something, and it turned out to be good.
And it only turned out to be good because I knew my [00:37:00] why, I trusted myself, and I knew my skill set
And you gave it the time-
Yes ... To nurture ...
evolve- Yeah ... into what it is today. You're learning, you're pivoting, you're kind of figuring it out, which again, I think so often people look at where you're at today, and it's like, "Okay, I want that six months.
I'm gonna do exact... I'm gonna follow the Dr. Mona blueprint."
Yeah.
It was funny had a client reach out to me and kinda say something very similar. It was like, "Oh, I really like what she did. I need to get there in six months," as though she's been doing this for seven years. So, you know.
There's a lot. hats off to you for giving yourself time for that evolution, 'cause I think it's really important to your story and it's really important to, like, your journey.
I agree, and like I mentioned earlier, people will never understand the hard reality of any profession, any content creator,
Not just my niche, but anybody can say that there is a lot of lows before you hit the highs. You have to be able and understand how to handle failure, because that is when you're gonna actually reach a milestone. [00:38:00] And How applicable is that to being a parent and teaching our kids the same values?
I'm also a parent expert, if you wanna say that, meaning I'm always coaching people on parenting, and we have to drink the same Kool-Aid that we're spitting out to our kids. Like, if you're telling them about failure and you're living in this I can't do it, I suck mentality, your child is never gonna learn that.
And the biggest gift that I'm able to do right now is I'm modeling all of this for my two little kids. And when they see me- Yes ... fail and try again, they have seen me cry because I was upset about X, Y, and Z, and I tell them, "It's not you. It's something happened with Mommy's work. I'm gonna get back up and try again."
And they get to now see me on a TV show in the fall. They know that it takes effort and that hard work is not just something that just comes out of nowhere. It's 100% hard work and it's 100% belief in self, and that is to me the secret sauce, right?
You can't just will things into existence and manifest. You actually have to put the work in, too, and those two things combined is how things actually get done.
It's amazing
Amen to [00:39:00] that.
Well, Dr. Mona for those that don't know, you're behind the ball. How can they find you? pedsdocktalk, your social media handle. Poppins, right? Poppins Telehealth. Yes. Yeah. is there any other way? No. TV show now?
I didn't even tell you that. No. So
I can't say the name of it because I don't know when this is airing, but it's airing in September on a platform to be released. But it's gonna be accessible internationally, I can tell you that much, and it's gonna be very accessible, meaning you will not have to pay to watch it, which is very exciting.
But, follow my social handle, pedsdocktalk, to learn about that. Ah,
amazing.
It is beautiful. I'm so proud of it. I cannot wait for it. And then yes, pedsdocktalk on Instagram, any social handle you're using, and heypoppins on Instagram as well as the website is to learn what we're doing at Poppins. And I am so glad to just be connected to you both from the telehealth world and- Yes
brainstorming because, again, this is a team effort, right? To change the way we are approaching healthcare, and that's what I think we all want to do. [00:40:00]
Awesome. Yeah. Thank you so much. And as always, listeners out there, thank you for joining in. drop us a line, info@telemedicinetalks.com. Dr. Mona, super awesome to have you here.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.