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The Rotary Spark Podcast
Welcome to our dedicated podcast for Rotary International's District 5750, designed to connect our community through the power of personal storytelling. Each episode celebrates the unique journeys of our fellow Rotarians and community members, highlighting their individual experiences, motivations, and the profound impact of their service and contributions.
Join us as we dive into heartfelt discussions with individuals from all walks of life, sharing stories that inspire and foster connection.
The Rotary Spark Podcast
#0029 - Lori Ferrera
What happens when a healthcare worker trades restraints for paintbrushes? Lori Ferreira takes us through her remarkable journey from the intensity of bedside nursing to the creative world of TikTok influencing in this candid conversation about career evolution and finding joy.
Lori doesn't hold back when describing the realities of nursing life - from the disturbing sight of patients in five-point restraints to treating wounds so severe you could see bone. These stark experiences, invisible to most of us but routine for healthcare workers, shaped her perspective on both gratitude and burnout. Her advice to new nurses cuts through typical career guidance: "Don't wait until you're completely burnt out, because then you're going to be bitter and not going to give the best care." This wisdom applies far beyond healthcare.
The conversation shifts dramatically as Lori explains her pivot to TikTok influencing and live shopping. Her impulsive Black Friday purchase of a course on social commerce has blossomed into a creative second career that taps into her passion for painting and connecting with others. Lori's insights into this emerging marketplace reveal why it's becoming the next frontier for digital entrepreneurs.
We wrap with a fascinating detour into the science of de-extinction and the recently created dire wolves, combining Lori's healthcare background with her curiosity about these technological breakthroughs. From hospital rooms to social media studios to prehistoric predators, this episode traverses unexpected territory while delivering practical wisdom about career transitions, creative renewal, and the courage to change direction when burnout threatens.
Ready to explore your own creative pivots? Listen now and discover how one healthcare worker found her spark beyond the hospital walls.
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Welcome to the Rotary Spark podcast. Today with me is my guest, Lori Ferreira. How are you doing today, Lori?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great, Brian. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:My pleasure. Thanks for coming on. So we've been friends for a while. I'd like to just dive right in and get your take on what inspired you to become a nurse field or she was.
Speaker 2:She was retired now. She was an ultrasound tech for 14 years and she had always said you know, you know, with medical you will always have a job. There will always be a need for people, there's always hours to work and really that was proven during COVID. I would say I still have worked. Basically job security is why I did it.
Speaker 1:Are there any things that you were exposed to that anyone in the general public would be surprised about within that profession?
Speaker 2:surprised about within that profession. I think the public the most part is aware, but they would be surprised seeing it in person. So I think there's a difference between seeing or hearing about, yeah, like a psychotic person and then actually seeing them. You know, in five point restraints. I got used to seeing that, but I feel like if it was seen for someone who isn't used to it, it would be disturbing to them. So somebody who is has a vest on that's strapped to the bed, their wrists and and ankles are completely or tied down. That's not something that we see every day. You don't even you don't even see that on the news, or so you hear about it.
Speaker 2:But actually witnessing these things is disturbing and I think they go beyond just basic patient cares. Obviously, like feces and urine is kind of gross, but the wounds some people have, especially the older people, develop what they call pressure sores from not moving and when the patients are not turned or they're also very emaciated on certain points of the body, the skin will break down and to the point where, if it's really bad, where if it's really bad, you can see bone and I've seen wounds big enough for me to fit two hands and and that's not really talked about as much, but I would say like that things like that are like a lot more disturbing or surprising than, uh, yes, passing medications and you know doctors and family members, so those things that you know are maybe like medical dramas. I don't watch them. They might go over that stuff, but yeah, that's not the stereotype, typical things. I don't know if that answer it.
Speaker 1:It does, I'm imagining a. Disney rendition of what you just talked about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, was it too dark.
Speaker 1:No, that's okay, no, it's good to get exposed to the you know elements of truth. Did your perspective tied to our species change at all after being a nurse? Did it give you a deeper level of understanding? If it did, like you know what? What opinions were developed from your experiences?
Speaker 2:I really just like. I mean, you realize that health is really important and I can be treated horribly by somebody like one of the patients, but at the end of the day I get to, I get to walk home or I got I got to leave and go home to my family and and go back to my life there where I am completely in like capable of taking care of myself.
Speaker 1:So I guess some gratitude I would I got from those experiences Any tips?
Speaker 2:for someone new getting into health care? That's a good question. So while I was at my last job, there was a student I would be. The students from different nursing schools in the area would come to you know, get their bedside practice. And because nursing school was very stressful and probably the worst time of my life which is actually a blessing, in fact, that's the worst part of my life. It was like some type of schooling, but it was very difficult um tips, uh.
Speaker 2:So most likely, once you get out of school majority of people do grads will work in a hospital and that, in my opinion and also that could be a popular opinion as well the hospital is probably the most stressful place to work in this field and I would suggest to them find a unit, that or type of nursing so that could be like the operating room, pediatrics, the ICU. I have experience in telemetry to the ICU. I have experience in telemetry, but my tip would be find what you're most interested in and like go for it immediately. Or, if you're unsure, start in a unit that I did, which would be like a step down unit. So basically, it's not somebody who's sick enough to be in ICU, it's just a level below that, get you know a year of experience and then, and then kind of figure it out from there and because most likely the type of unit I was on you're going to be, you're going to be exhausted, like after a one shift, especially to definitely after you do three shifts in a row.
Speaker 2:You have to be very mindful of burnout. So get your experience in and figure out what you want to do, because I think, uh, doing what I did, what I kind of did the same type of nursing for five years, I got to a point where I had enough. And when you feel burnt out and you're you're ready to go, or like, actually don't wait till you are to completely burnt out, because then you're going to be bitter and then you're not going to give the best care that you can. So figure out what you like and when it's not working for you, move on.
Speaker 1:That's good advice. Yeah, no, and kudos to you and any of the other healthcare providers out there. Sick people are a pain in the ass. So thanks for thanks for fighting the good fight. Tell us a little bit about the transition. So now you're kind of pivoting to getting back into your art and playing around with the idea of doing TikTok influencing Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. So I, because I got burnt out working in the hospital, because I got burnt out working in the hospital, I grew a very for a course that teaches people how to do TikTok live stream. So it's basically live shopping on the app TikTok. And, funny enough, I saw that day after Thanksgiving so it's Black Friday and I was like kind of still hung over from the day before and I was like tired. It was like 10 o'clock at night. I was like, but much realizing like this is what I've been looking for and I impulse purchased this course and it was not cheap.
Speaker 2:And yeah, uh, I'm still a part of this community group and I'm still learning how to, you know, do the live stream part of TikTok and like how to make viral videos. And it's been fun and actually I feel ties more into what has given gives me joy, which is creativity. So, yes, I do have one of my hobbies was acrylic painting. I haven't really done too much because I'm in the process of trying to build a new career, but, yeah, I'm still in the very beginning stages of picking products, coming up with video ideas, writing little scripts and making the best videos I can, especially the first three to five seconds and then that's really what's going to determine if your videos go viral, because, like, the attention span of people is like two seconds.
Speaker 2:Yeah it really is.
Speaker 1:Well, I love that you changed from the maintenance of creation to creating your own stuff that inspires people, that, um, that are, that are either taken care of by others or taking care of themselves.
Speaker 2:And it's a nice break from the first first gig I had.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, um yeah, going from restraints to paint brushes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, going from restraints to paint brushes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all right, cool. Well, I look forward to seeing more of that, and we'll have your link in your contributor section and closely tied to the show notes as well. Closely tied to the show notes as well. Uh, let's see. So. So what's next? Are there any projects, any painting projects? Any, uh, any tick tock events coming up soon.
Speaker 2:Projects. Uh, I should be planning my wedding, but I haven't really done much of that and engaged, um, when, when is that planned for? Right now, I'm just saying sometime next year.
Speaker 1:Okay, 2026.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but who knows at this point, because I've really just been trying to focus on Besides like the TikTok thing, like house projects, and you know, we, since we might both be my partner, might both be changing careers as well, so maybe we might want to like rent our, rent out the house, so trying to get it as the way as French, or friendly or the way we want it as possible, like organized. I guess my dad's been helping out a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's great with those projects.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and um, I do have a one thing to say about this. This whole tiktok thing um sales, essentially it's what it is. It's a sales job, it's just through it's, or it's like sales social media marketing. I believe it's like nursing it's not going to go away and it's just another skill to have, like in my wheelhouse. Like nursing is that I have that like a solid gig. That's probably not going to go away. It'll change, but essentially nurses will always need health care, right, and you know the. You know the society we live in with capitalism. Like sales is not going anywhere away anytime soon and apparently, um, live stream shop shopping is supposed to be really big, since it's already really big in China. I don't know about the current climate, like how much that will affect it, but people want convenience and people are already like swiping on TikTok, looking for an escape. I'm actually finding myself going on Amazon less and I feel like TikTok is trying to be the next Amazon as far as like shopping and free shipping and all that.
Speaker 1:I'm looking up some of it.
Speaker 1:It's not going away all that I'm looking up some. It's not going away. I'm looking up the stats right now in 2023, global sales uh 15.5 billion, marking a 250 increase from uh 200. Uh 2022. And then sales are projected to reach 17.5 billion by the end of 2024. So that's outdated, obviously, because it's already 2025, but just a rough estimate.
Speaker 1:And 37% of Americans under 60 have made purchases on TikTok shops, averaging 12 purchases per year at approximately $59 each. So it looks like it's becoming more and more common. And I was also looking at some stats tied to platform specific usage. The average TikTok user spends 31, close to 32 hours. So 31 hours and 47 minutes, equating to roughly one hour per day on TikTok. And then YouTube is roughly 55 minutes a day, with teenagers being more active. So 16 to 24, three hours daily on social media and then 55 to 64. So the old guard they're doing about an hour and 46 minutes per day. So that's crazy. And the Philippines about three hours and 45 minutes on average, trailing behind US two hours and 14 minutes. I know that's a little bit disorganized, just kind of spitting out random facts. It's just interesting to see the changes, the fact that you're you that you maybe jumped on during during a spike like that. I mean, because those are, those are drastic increases. That's really cool.
Speaker 1:Personally, I haven't purchased anything on tiktok. I think my interest in tiktok has always been, um, not necessarily like a genuine interest. I think if I ever go go to the platform outside of platform curiosity, then that'll be better. I feel like starting off, uh, because I feel like I have to on t on TikTok is probably in the same way that some people obligate themselves to use Facebook but don't really want to be there. So I just haven't really found my in yet. But I see the benefit because it kind of it feels like more of a compilation of all of the other platforms, kind of integrated into one kind of integrated into one.
Speaker 2:I wasn't on TikTok until I joined this group. It's this course. I was on Instagram and Facebook. Yeah, it's fun. I see why all the kids are addicted to it.
Speaker 1:That's where Gen Z's at. Yeah, do you think that they're gonna stay there for a while? Do you think that they're going on any other platforms?
Speaker 2:I think there's a new platform I haven't I haven't used it, but called Spotlight, but I think it's currently targeting the beauty influencers, or health and wellness, which makes sense because that's a huge industry. Anything health and wellness and beauty that's always like billions and billions of dollars that's always like billions and billions of dollars.
Speaker 1:I'm looking, it's yeah, the TikTok numbers are starting to go up. Snapchat's there, instagram's still being used, and then the gaming community's still bound to Discord, which makes sense. And then I think that there was a recent resurgence that I read about, uh, of them kind of going back and experiencing the minimalist nature of tumblr. So there's been kind of like a vintage resurgence of tumblr, um, and then it'll be interesting to see what, uh, gen alpha is doing. Um, I mean, they're only a maximum of 13 now, so they're just getting to the point.
Speaker 1:Well, I guess, if you start off on your phone at two or three, you've had about 10 years in the in the oven, but I shouldn't say that, but that's OK. So, the tech oven, so to speak, and but it'll be interesting to see what their habits are, if there's a new platform that emerges or if it just kind of supplements the quality and the frequency of tick tock. But, especially with tech changing this year, I think that we're going to, we're kind of going in a new direction with hardware as well, so we'll kind of see what happens. Well, thanks for your insight, appreciate it. So let's see. Um, you'll have to tell me where your wedding's gonna be, because yeah, I want to know, but that that's not set in stone yet 2026 and then? So what? If someone's interested in doing tiktok influencing, would you have any recommendations like, uh, which course uh did you take or which course would you recommend if someone wanted to get into it?
Speaker 2:so to be into the tiktok shop program, to get accepted that you you have to have a, an account that has at least 5,000 followers, and then you can apply. I got the way I did. It was because I was completely new to TikTok. I bought the course and then, through somebody inside the course, I was able to buy an account, a tiktok account that um had followers grown organically. That's where you start. You either grow your follower or an account organically. So like, right, like posting, reposting videos that people like, and or you can just buy an account straight up and if they're those, they're like a few hundred dollars to start.
Speaker 2:So I do like the course because you're there's instructors in this course, you're able to ask questions, you need help and, like the, the course comes with videos that walk you through, like how to set up your account, how to not get your account deactivated or if you got a violation for some reason, how what you need to do with that.
Speaker 2:I mean you could also like YouTube, youtube, all that stuff, but it's it's already organized for you and pretty much everything you need to you want to know about, like most things or anything is out there. You just have to look for it. But I do like courses because they just organize the information for you and I believe that that saves you time because more likely you or most people, you go looking for the answer for something and then you get distracted by an interesting like clickbait title or an interesting thumbnail, and then you just go on this rattle when you get distracted. But, like with courses like the one I'm with and or any type of course it's you know, you log in and then the videos are one after the other and you just have to follow them and take notes and I think that's a better for me at least. It's a more structured way to learn Because it's like it's a guide basically. So I'm okay with paying for information that I could have gotten for free if it's going to save me time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that makes sense so that's what I would recommend. I would, yeah. So one of those two ways like buy a course or and join a group Ideally I've done a course is good. If it comes with a community group especially and that's probably the most valuable part is, like the other people that are in the same thing as you and we use discord Okay, discord for our group, yeah. Use discord okay, discord for our group, yeah. And I think I also bought another course that helps you specifically to make viral videos, just because, um, I was struggling and their um community uses a facebook group, but the, the one with tiktok, the one that I'm like tiktok live stream, like I, uh, I really like it the one that uses discord.
Speaker 1:Discord's fantastic. I mean I have a. I have a biased perspective because I'm a gamer and the first community that I managed, uh, during COVID, was about 300 people on a discord server, but I'm I'm a huge fan of that platform. It's, it's very flexible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because of you. That's how I know about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I don't use it as much today, but I, yeah, I feel like I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today on this podcast if it wasn't for my discord days. So, before we shift gears, would you ever consider keeping a firm foot in each area, maybe doing TikTok, nursing?
Speaker 2:Oh, like content around nursing.
Speaker 1:Or I don't know. Sales tied to tied to uh. Healthcare professionals lives easier or more enjoyable, or even more stylish to some extent.
Speaker 2:Well, I would take the opportunity to sell nursing products, so it could be scrubs. I'll try them on giving my opinion about them. Um, nursing report sheets, which is what you um you write how you um get collect the information from the previous previous shift, uh about the patients, so it helps you stay organized and um, maybe set the scopes and stuff and like I'll give my opinion about it. Okay, or yeah, I mean, I I could give like some tips, um, but I also think because, like I am, but I also think because I'm maybe a little over a month away from that life, I'm not keen on jumping right back into it. Like I'm enjoying my current vacation from the medical field and give me like another month or two the medical field, and give me like another month or two, and then I feel like I would be more interested or willing to uh talk, be involved with that again, but I just I'm not. I'm still on my break from it yeah, enjoy it, enjoy that break, so.
Speaker 1:So, switching gears a bit Now that we're talking about a platform that pushes out a lot of viral content. We were talking earlier about the dire wolf de-extinction. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2:de-extinction. How do you feel about that? Uh, interested to learn more about it and ask all the questions. Be like you know what happens. Like I wonder, like, how long are these these new? How long, like? What's the lifespan of them? What else are they going to breed? Like the direwolves? I know there's two, I believe there's two boys and one girl, because like there's Romulus and Grimus and then there's Khaleesi. But I get, are they triplets or do they all come from the same?
Speaker 1:I think two, I think. If I'm not mistaken, I think it was Romulus and Remus were late 2024. And Khaleesi might have been 2025. I could be mistaken about that, but I think one of them was born separately.
Speaker 2:Okay, so then there's opportunity for for breeding.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, I don't. That's an interesting question, let's see Can uh yeah, be extinct.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't even know, like, if they're even planning on doing that, and I doubt that they're going to ever release them out in the wild just because they are technically an invasive species. I think that they can.
Speaker 1:I don't know if they can breed with each other, but I guess in theory they can. The data that I have here says that they can breed with other wolves, so that would kind of spoil the gene pool to some extent. But can they reproduce each other, yeah. So I don't think that they're mature enough yet but in theory, if their behavior aligned with that, they could reproduce.
Speaker 2:And there's nothing stopping them from creating more, no, and creating or bringing back other extinct species, like we were talking about with the Tasmanian tiger and dodo bird.
Speaker 1:I think it's so interesting. Have you seen the pup pictures?
Speaker 2:They're adorable photo of I think it's either calise or romulus and remus on the chair from game of thrones. I don't know if it's game of thrones, yeah, yeah, I believe it's. Uh, I think it's good. Do you see it?
Speaker 1:I'm not on the internet right now yeah, I'm showing the the two males together, and then I guess they're all in the same place now. They live on a 2,000-acre secure ecological preserve with 10 full-time staff members to give them around-the-clock care.
Speaker 2:I bet security there is pretty strong and, um, you know, but I think we're talking about this earlier.
Speaker 2:But so to bring up now, I want to know, like if they're going to be doing intellectual tests with these dire wolves, because wolves are like like a lot, uh, more intelligent than you know the dog. I don't know how, like comparing the border collie which is the most intelligent, uh, domestic dog compared to a wolf. But, um, yeah, I wonder the intellect of a dire wolf is and I wonder how secure I'm sure super secure because those wolves can be escape artists too, like they would have to, because I went to a sanctuary for wolf dog hybrids and I think they just had regular wolves as well, they had to. So, like the bottom of a fence in their enclosure, like another, I think, like another six feet, the fence went down like below the ground because those things dig and they, if any one of those like wolves or wolf, wolf dog hybrids escaped it was known by, like the staff like okay, if they escape and they get out into, um, you know, society they were, they were dead.
Speaker 1:I would say that if any of these escaped, they would track them down immediately. I don't know what would happen if they would be captured or killed, but they I mean there's no, yeah, they definitely have trackers in them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as I was saying, I think microchips.
Speaker 1:I would say, they probably have. I'd guess that they have internal and external GPS tracking, um if, that if?
Speaker 1:that's a possibility. Internally, you would have chips and then you would. It's funny that, like these wolves are, are being treated better than probably most kids in in uh in public schools. Um, that's funny, but uh, yeah, I don't know. Maybe there there's more hope for the wolves. Uh, well, cool. I'm excited to see uh, all of the other animals that are brought back and all of the scientific advances that come with this. So, laurie, thank you so much. I look forward to chatting with you again and thank you to all of our listeners for enjoying this episode. Please continue to listen, subscribe, donate, do whatever you'd like to support this podcast so it continues with more content. Thanks for listening everyone, and have a great weekend, thank you.
