Millionaire Brain: What the Wealthy Have in Common | Candy Calderón

Feb 11

This week, Victoria Jenn shares a clip from her annual #SecureTheBigBag & Wellness Summit. Meet wellness expert Candy Calderón as she delivers a powerful keynote on brain health and cognitive wellness from a Latina perspective. In this eye-opening talk, Candy shares personal stories of burnout, discusses why brain health matters especially for communities of color, and provides practical strategies to optimize your brain function.

Learn why being wealthy isn't just about money - it's about maintaining your health to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Discover simple brain exercises, nutrition tips, and lifestyle changes that can help prevent cognitive decline at any age. As Candy says, "Our genetics can be the pistol, but our lifestyle is the trigger."

Featured in Forbes and recognized at the White House for her work on brain health, Candy brings her expertise to the Banking on Cultura community with actionable advice for entrepreneurs and professionals who want to protect their most valuable asset - their brain.

Key Topics:

Signs of cognitive decline you might be missing
The connection between gut health and brain function
Simple daily exercises to boost brain power
Why sleep quality matters for brain health
The role of nutrition in cognitive wellness

Full Transcript:

I am super pumped for many many reasons. One, because I get to see so many faces um that I already know from my community here in New York, but also I have the opportunity to continue to support my sister Victoria who has done such an amazing job, hasn't she? Let's give her a round of applause. Like, she has done such an amazing job creating this space for us to thrive, right? And when we have the conversation of securing the bag, making money, making sure that we are creating our legacy, we cannot forget about our well-being. Because in order for us to follow our most audacious goals, our vehicle of life, which is our body, needs to be on its aame, right? For in order for us to be able to do that. And we're going to discuss about it real quick. Uh for those of you who don't know me, my name is Kandandy Calderon. I am a wellness expert and a brain health professional and I take it very seriously the work that I do because especially in our Latino community and communities of color, we are not talking enough about brain health. We are talking a lot and I love the discourse that is happening on regards to mental health. But we cannot have thriving mental health if our brain the actual organ is not working properly. Right? Especially when we are in positions of leadership, when we are when we have again those audacious goals, when we have those dreams, we need to rely on our most important organ, arguably the most important organ, which is our brain. And that's what I'm here for. I'm here today for your breakthrough. I'm here to pour into you and to teach you maybe some some of the strategies that maybe you don't know but we can start implementing. So I'm giving you things that you can walk away with today and start implementing and you will say wow like was that easy and wow do I feel the difference? So that's what I'm here for. I'm here for your breakthrough and to give you the strategies so you can optimize your brain and really start embracing your full potential, your brain's full potential. I have some slides prepared here, but this is not a monologue. This is more like a conversation. So, if you have any questions, just let me know. Anyways, at the end of this keynote, we'll have a few minutes in case you have any questions for me. I am here today to share this not from a peak because that will be very easy and not as the expert but because I've been in the deep valleys I've been I've gone through deep deep depressions um several many of them I sacrificed so much to be where I am today and in that process I realized that I was not walking my talk. I was talking about well-being. I was creating a ripple effect in my community. But in the process, I was already sacrificing that same thing, right? My own well-being, the grind, um sacrificing my sleep, my mental health, even my relationships, my marriage suffer because I was so invested in that dream of making it. I need to make it whatever it costs. And maybe it's uh you know, I'm a daughter of immigrants and I'm I'm also an immigrant. I'm Dominican. Where's my Dominicans in here? Yes. So, uh I think that that created that sense of I need to make it whatever it takes, right? If I have to leave the skin on the floor, I'll do it. But then I realized over the years that it wasn't worth it. I was not only losing myself, it literally broke me. It broke me down. When I tell you that there were days that I couldn't even wake up from my own bed, not only because I didn't have the energy, but because my brain was giving up on me. And that's why it's so important this conversation because people think about cognitive decline like it needs to happen when we're older. And I'm here to tell you that for us millennials, you know that we we think we're invisible. Millennials in here, right? We think we're invisible. Like, I'm still too young. It can happen. It can happen to any of us. So, I want you to close your eyes and I want you to picture a person experiencing cognitive decline. I want you to imagine a person with dementia or a person with Alzheimer's. And I want to know what that evokes for you.

Now open your eyes. How many of you thought about an older person? By show of hands, right? We most of us think about an older person when we think about the word cognitive decline, dementia, Alzheimer's, but that's not necessarily the case because cognitive decline can come in many, many variations. And yes, we're thinking Alzheimer's, dementia, um Parkinson, paranoia, OCD. So many of us have compulsive disorders and we don't know or think that that is a symptom of cognitive decline. So there are many things that we can think about and we think wow but this is a cognitive decline illness. This is an illness. But what about if I ask a round of questions and you for your own reflection, you don't have to say yes or no, but if you want to, yes. And I tell you after that that all of those things are symptoms of cognitive decline. Okay. Have you ever lost your train of thought? Yes. Have you ever had uh issues recollecting names, phone numbers, faces? Have you ever had issues sleeping or staying asleep? Have you experienced irregular mood swings? Have you experienced out of nowhere weight gain that doesn't seem like you're not doing anything differently? Yes. Mental fatigue of what we call brain fog. Difficulty making decisions. Poor organizational skills like it's hard for us to you know manage teams or manage ourselves. Low motivation or apathy. Reduce creativity or problem solving abilities. If you experience at least three of these, those are signs of cognitive decline. And that is important to know because again, we think cognitive decline is only Alzheimer's, is only dementia, is maybe Parkinson's. And those things are also cognitive decline and we don't need to be old to be experiencing that. And this is a photo of me while I was going through one of like my worst parts of the brain fog that I was experiencing because I was clocking in maybe four, five hours of sleep per night and it was affecting the way I was showing up in the world, the way I was showing up for my business, for my community. And I knew something had to happen and change. And the results were very eyeopening. And along with uh many of you, if you're part of my community, you know that the evolution of my career into the brain health space also came from my experience with my own mom. Uh she's a breast cancer survivor. By the grace of God, she's still with us. But she suffered from something that is very common in in breast cancer survivors, which is chemobrain, which is cognitive decline as a consequence of chemotherapy. And I got so obsessed with helping her the same way I helped her um to overcome her cancer. And that's when I realized we were not having this conversation in our communities, especially for us women because women are more prone to suffer from cognitive decline related illnesses more than men. Like like if it wasn't fair enough already, you guys got it easy, right? Because we go through so many hormonal changes that men don't go through. the freaking pett menopause, menopause, like we it's too much and um the stress that we as women, how we how we internalize stress is different than men, right? So, we need to be more vigilant. So, these are some of the the things that can give you an idea or a clue that you might be experiencing cognitive decline. And you cannot have a millionaire brain, a brain that continues to help you creating the legacy that you want if you are experiencing these things right now. I realized, you guys don't laugh and I'm aging myself because this photo is yellow. So I realized that I couldn't continue to do the things that I wanted to do and create the legacy I wanted to create if I continue in the way I was walking life, giving it all for everybody and sacrificing my own well-being. And I went back to me at that age and remember how free I was, how I did things because they fulfilled my heart, because they were fun to me. And I made a promise to Candi at six years old that I will do everything in my power to honor her, to protect her, to make and create a life that she would be proud of. And I even get emotional because it's so easy to break promises to ourselves when we're grown-ups, right? But when who here have kids? Like it's so it's so hard to break promises to them, right? Why do we break promises to ourselves when we are not it's so hard to break promises to our kids? So that's why exercises, inner child exercises are so good because they're so important. I made a promise to myself at that age that I would do things differently, that I would prioritize my vehicle of life, my brain, and that everything that I did after will honor that. And I'm here to say that the way my career exploded after I started prioritizing my well-being, especially my brain and my rest, my sleep is something that I have I could have never dreamed or imagined. Started creating and keeping that promise. It's when my most audacious goals is starting to happen for me. We interrupt our program to bring you this important message. Ooh, this is really good. You should know about this. So, I don't know about you, but I've been known to procrastinate, especially when things scare the hell out of me. The fear alone would have me stuck, overwhelmed, confused, and all types of self-doubt. And don't even get me started on the imposter syndrome. Okay. Okay. After getting laid off, not once, but three times, honey. I realized that the security blanket that I made up in my head was just an excuse because I didn't really want to bet on myself. The corporate benefits that had me in that headlock, girl, huh, they went out the window once my job decided that they no longer needed me. It turns out that I'll save a whole nickel if I cut your salary completely. The truth is the only security blanket guarantee is the one that you create for yourself. In other words, until you start a business, you will always be at the mercy of a company's headcount, and you will never have complete control over your time, which means you'll be renting out your thought leadership and helping build someone else's dream instead of your own. If you've been waiting for a sign, this is it. Don't you think it's time you stop playing small and tap all the way into your powers? Click on the link above or below this video to learn my three-step process, the exact three steps that I took to make the transition from corporate to entrepreneurship. And this is helpful even if you don't know what type of business to start and have only one source of income. And this is absolutely free. It is my gift to you. I want you to win. It's winning season. In fact, what's that? It smells like winning season. Okay, so tap in and I'll see you inside the training. Let's go left and right. Even included being named by Force magazine as a woman um changing millennials brains. And I don't take that lightly because that is something especially in our community that we don't see enough. and also embracing this promise is also what got me into the White House. And yes, thank you. As a Latina leader creating change in this conversation and you see me there holding a brain, this is part of the uh I always carry it with me and I give it to my clients because this is a reminder that it's not only mental health, it's brain health, especially in our community. And I don't know about you, but regardless of our political affiliations, walking in the White House like invited invited um it's such a like surreal, you know, um and as an immigrant. So, I'm here to say that keeping our promises and prioritizing our well-being and our state of mind is so important because I couldn't have achieved any of that without it. And for me, that's part of it. for you it can look totally different right and this is what I'm here for because what was your idea of a wealthy person before the world told you what wealthy is supposed to mean it revolve around money right money only money financials but I'm here to tell you being wealthy means that also you are on a healthy state that you're able to enjoy the fruits of your labor that your vehicle of life is thriving, that you can wake up every morning with that hunger to eat the world and that your brain is working properly. So that's why I wanted to change that narrative of what wealthy means because we focus it so much around money and a millionaire brain means that it's also part of that wealth that we're thinking and then that we need to prioritize. There's a quote that I like a lot that says that don't be the richest person in a graveyard. It really touched my heart because we grind so much and for what? What do we have to show for being sick and getting sick in the process just because we didn't prioritize our bodies and our brain? So don't be the richest person in the graveyard. I don't want that for you. So, we're going to change that narrative starting with your brain. Because when your brain is thriving, every other area and aspect of your well-being thrives, but if your brain is not working properly, I promise you, you can do or implement whatever practice and your body will not follow suit because your brain is your most important organ. I also wanted to bring this quotes because it's so important. It gave us perspective. The heart attack at 50 began at 20. And I'm saying this because sometimes we think we have time. But for those of us in our 30s, 40s, even 50s, the time is now to start making these changes, right? The Alzheimer's at 70 started at 40. The loss of independence, right? When we see these older people that their kids need to take care of them because they cannot do anything by themselves, started at 30. And the brain and the aging you want tomorrow begins with the action you take today. So if you want a sharp brain, a brain that is active when you're older and a brain that is sharp now, you need to start today like yesterday, right? But that is great that you're here because then I'm going to give you some of the um some of the pointers. So for the first time there's hope as many of you might have done. I felt prey of the famous DNA's testing, right? Like I wanted to know more where my heritage came, which was so silly because I know from my mom's black from my mom's side were all black and then I have some Spaniard from my dad's side, but I knew pretty well um what's my heritage. Well, I did it anyways. And 50 to 60% came from uh the Yoruba people. my heritage specifically from um uh na Nigeria. And I started researching to see if I could find anything that tie my DNA to be like more predisposed to developing cognitive decline illnesses. And while I was doing this research and going deep into that research, I found this study. This study was so so important that followed two two uh different uh groups of and communities for 20 years. One in a small community in Nigeria from the Joruba people called Ibadan and another from Indiana in Indiana police. These two communities had something in common. They both had a gene that predisposed them to uh create cognitive decline illnesses like Alzheimer's. So they followed them for 20 years. And which one you think did not develop Alzheimer's?

Which one? You got it. And the only difference was the lifestyle. The Yoruba people were more active. They planted their crops. They ate the fruits of their own labor. Uh had a sense of community. Went to sleep when the sun came down. woke up when the sun came up and were pretty active and natural lifestyle while the people in Indiana well I don't need to tell you processed food sugar sedentary lifestyle so these people were developing Alzheimer's at such a high rate while the Joruba people while they still had the gene they never did developed so that gave me hope because that means that our genetics can be the pistol but our lifestyle is the trigger. I'll say this again. Our genetics can be the pistol, but our lifestyle is the trigger. I'm going to give you the strategies like real quick so you can start optimizing your brain, but I want you to scan this QR code because I want to make sure that you're present for this and I can send all the takeaway guide to you directly. Okay, few more seconds. You got it? Good. Now is your time to make a change, right? Like if have you seen the Matrix movie? So now I'm giving you two options. The blue pill and the red pill. The blue pill is like everything will stay the same. You're not going to change anything and see you in 30 years and let's see how's your brain. But I'm also giving you the red pill, right? Let's disrupt. Let's change the narrative and let's start taking care of our biggest asset which is our brain now so we can have a sharp brain now and also later. How you feed your brain? It's so important what we put in our bodies but especially very intentionally. I want you to be intentional about not only processed foods but also good fats. We're so afraid of fats and our and our brain loves fats, okay? But especially fatty, the type of fatty fat that helps our neurons connect and spark in between each other. And we can find fatty fat like in fish, salmon, sardines, anchovies. Who here likes sardines? If you're Dominican, you need to like sardina, right? Salmon, good salmon. But even if you cannot if you don't eat fish either for you're allergic or maybe um conscious decision because you're vegan you can also supplement right we want omega-3s omega6 that's so important for brain development good fats I'm going to give you also some examples avocados nuts I want you to eat lots of fiber I want you to be really hydrated I want you to eat also probiotics are so important for our gut A healthy gut is a healthy brain. There's something called the gut health aes which is how they connect with each other. Um and it's so important. Who here like likes sauerkraut? I love it. Or kimchi. All of those fermented foods are full of probiotics. Just make sure that there it's not the type of sauerkraut that guys put in hot dogs when they're doing like barbecues. It needs to be raw and unpasteurized. So when you buy it, make sure that it says raw or unpasteurized. That's the one that still keeps all the probiotics that we need for good bacteria. Good bacteria is good for our gut. Okay. So, lots of fiber, leafy greens, those are the type of things that feed our brain. Now, when it comes to uh also supporting our brain, conscious movement, try at least 180 minutes per week of conscious movement. You don't have to become an athlete. And if you divide that, that is like 30 minutes three, five times a week. That's doable, right? like walking around the neighborhood, maybe in a thread meal. That's very doable. Sleep quality. Are you sleeping or are you really resting? How many hours per night are you sleeping? Are you only hitting REM, which is rapid eye movement, or are you hitting deep sleep? That is a whole conversation. And once we are connected, I'm going to make sure to also keep sending you um education around quality sleep, which is so important because it gives our brain the space to detox, regenerate, and reconsolidate memories. You cannot have a thriving brain without good sleep. Practice mindfulness and exercise your brain. And now I'm going to give you some exercises for your brain, right? Because that's what you're here for. Cross words. Who here love loves crosswords? I love it. Sudoku puzzles that that thing. How do you call it? That um Yes. Yes. Exactly. That all of these type of visual spatial logic games are excellent to exercise our brain. My grandma used to cut in the air. She was like so sharp and she always fill those uh crossovers at the back of the newspaper. Whatever I found them lying around there will be like I was like how can she know all all of this? She loved those. All of those are so important to exercise our brain. Dancing is great exercise. Yes. Especially when you're doing new steps and you're learning patterns that's creating new neurons in your brain. People think that we cannot create new neurons. That is not true. There's something called neurogenesis which means that that you know when you create new neurons in your brain which means you're getting smarter. And dancing and learning new things creates neurogenesis in your brain. learning a new language. Hello, Dualingo. Like, we love a new, you know, learning a new language. Writing with your non-dominant hand. How many here write with your right hand? Okay, I want you to try if you have pen and paper right here, write with your left hand. And those of you who are lefties, write with your right hand. It's going to be disastrous. It's going to be horrible. I promise you. And that is a great brain exercise. Why? Because when we write with our dominant hand, we do it almost by default. we don't think of. So, we're not really challenging our brain, right? And you can also brush your teeth and brush your hair with your non-dominant hand. When was the last time also that you learned a phone number by memory? We don't What is that? What What is that? I don't remember. What is that? I don't remember. Right. Um or a route without GPS. Right. Do math in your head instead with a cell phone. Right? Those are some simple exercises that you can do real quick and immediately like right now and being intentional doing them right away. But because obviously I mentioned dancing, we're going to do a dance break here, right? So stand up and we're going to put our exercise for our brains. Okay. Okay. So just feel the music. I don't want you to feel Yes. Purple skirt. Okay. Now do a trail.

Yes. To the right. To the left. Yes. Another round.

Yes. Thank you. How do you feel? Yes. I got a love. And that was just like and we got our heart pumping. We got a little dance break. also a good cardio and it's so good. It's like I you know man I I love being Latina because I have all the excuses. I have all the excuses to exercise my brain. So now I want to give you those excuses. Okay. But what I want you to remember this was like a spark notes, right? Because there's again there's no wealth, there's no business, there's nothing that will create a legacy for you if your brain is not thriving. And we want sustainability for whatever you're creating, that beautiful thing that you're creating or you're already created. I want you to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. And I want you to have a sharp and strong brain for years to come. Remember, you're not stuck with the brain you're born or the brain that you have now. There's strategies and things you can put in place so you can optimize your brain. And that's what we're here for. And I hope this conversation sparked something in you so you can be start like doing your own research. We're already connected. I'm here for you and answer any questions you might have. And I hope this was, you know, eye opening for you as well. Thank you so much for having me. Hey guys, if you enjoyed this video, I'm pretty sure you're going to love the next one. So make sure to click right here and tap in to the next episode.

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