Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Antoinette Watkins. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Antoinette, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?
This is a great question, considering the diabetes industry is valued at a minimum of $49 million and has projected revenue of $73 billion by 2027, including Market Research, (is this a proper name or just overall info) which doesn’t quite match the minimum $300 billion cost, to manage this disease. Here is my understanding of the diabetic industry breakdown, and how nonprofit organizations serve underrepresented communities, who have Type1 Diabetes.
To humanize the industry, I will describe each category, as a group of guys.
Let’s start with the Insulin Guys. These are the guys who are most visible, to the general public. Through their advertising is how most corporate companies and people have heard about diabetes. These guys make the liquid that most people with diabetes need, no matter which of the seven types of diabetes one has (sorry, I don’t have the space to break them all down, but that’s why Page and Brin created google). All might not be insulin-dependent, or in simple terms, ‘life-sustaining insulin’ , like people with Type 1 Diabetes, but most need insulin to survive. And these companies make a profit off their production of this liquid gold.
Then we have the Device Guys. They make constant glucose monitor meters (CGM) pumps, etc. To make life with diabetes easier, by assisting with different ways of managing your diabetes. This includes monitoring your glucose levels from your phone or taking insulin at the tap of a button, rather than priming a needle 4-6 times a day, at every snack or meal. And like any other business, they profit off creating and selling these products to people with diabetes.
Third, we have the Philanthropic Guys, who identify as organizations, foundations, and companies, (which can have their separate breakdown, but I’ll keep it short), Most of which are focused on research, preventative care, education, and awareness of the diabetic community. And depending on how large they are, some of these guys make a good profit too, all with the essential motive to give back to the diabetic community.
Lastly, we have the Guys, who are actually living with diabetes, and ate the life source of this profiting industry. These are the patients, kids, adults, parents, and even animals. THE DIABETICS!! All, in us need insulin guys, to stay alive and well, because every time we eat or drink, we need insulin to regulate our glucose levels. We must have the device guys to make our lives less of a never-ending game of hangman, but just in real life, with numbers, because, after we eat and take insulin, we gotta make sure we didn’t overdose or under dose. And then we need the philanthropic guys, to give us hope, at whichever extent of daily support we look towards. This can be for a cure that this disease ends, an understanding of how to manage it, or a community to relate with, all of which you can get depending on which organization you look to. Oh, and we don’t make a profit. We consume because we have to. In fact, we produce a profit.
Which now leaves me actually to answer the question. “What does Corporate America get wrong in your industry?” I don’t know if I could say that corporate America gets things wrong in my industry, but more or so, that THEY DONT UNDERSTAND. Which doesn’t make them wrong, it makes them ignorant, with room to learn.
Corporate food companies and restaurants don’t understand why we need nutritional facts posted on more than just the backs of products, but also on menus so we don’t have to guesstimate each meal. Or even how corporate food organizations, could also support the underserved community of diabetics, who use their products to survive when eating a snack, or consuming food on a daily basis, by creating more campaigns that highlight how they benefit us, and less of how they don’t, because lets be real, from a nutritional standpoint, food ain’t the problem with diabetes, its ones ability to choose the right foods, and or the level that you choose them.
Same for the corporate athletic brands, Which probably don’t know that there are over a thousand diabetic athletes, dancers, and models that need to be supported and highlighted for their discipline, to maintain such skill levels with their disease.
Or even the college students and corporate workers who walk around with an invisible disability, while still keeping up with the high GPAs and over-achieving fieldwork, that’s expected normalcy, not including the daily task of managing disease and still turning that paper your boss or professor asked for by Monday, despite your blood sugars being high all day on Sunday, because you were stressed, and your emotions can affect your glucose too.
Ideally, the list could go on, but then I’d be here writing a book. The issue with corporate America is the lack of awareness of type one diabetes inclusivity. People don’t understand how much the diabetic community needs support. Mostly because they can’t physically see what we’re going through. So I decided to get personal and break it down. Now you know!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
My name is Antoinette Watkins, and I am the founder and CEO of The Diabaddie Organization, Inc. I am a Clinical Dietetics major at Florida International University and a recent exchange intern at Virginia State University. At the age of six, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, on July 24, 2006. After living with T1D for 13 years, I turned my wounds into wisdom and founded Diabaddie. This was my opportunity to return to other children, who are growing up living with Type 1 Diabetes, the opportunity to attend a diabetes camp. Using my passion for graphic design, and the help of various artists, I have created simple products, such as t-shirts that are sold to help raise funds for scholarships.
In the first couple of months, after Diabaddie was launched, fundraising took off. Even before becoming a 501c3, I received my first donation in February 2020. Almost immediately, I was able to find a scholarship recipient, a young man, in Tampa, FL, but unfortunately, due to the Covid pandemic, we were unable to follow through on his attendance. Moving forward in June 2020, despite the challenges of the pandemic, that summer we virtually sent a six-year-old, newly diagnosed young lady, from California to a diabetes camp. Continuing on to the next year, we were not able to send any children to camp, although we did celebrate the official start of our 501c3 status in 2021! Lastly, this past July 2022, we held our first basketball fundraising tournament, and to help raise scholarships, for participants at the Chris Dudley Basketball Camp for children with T1D, hosted in Vernonia, The basketball tournament was our way of getting the general community involved with the diabetes community through sports, while still connecting back with our community in the end. This project took a lot of work and I’d like to give a special thank you to the following people who helped us make it possible. Special Thank you to the following Organizations and Individuals who’ve helped us so far. I encourage those reading to check them out as well!
Boss Records LLC
Wawa Gas Station
Diversity In Diabetes
Publix Supermarket
GoodMoney Counting Kit
Dicks Sporting Goods
Hustle Team Dreamers CO.
Chosen Ones NFT
Never Stop Being Creative LLC
Nefeffect Digital Creator
Rotate RVA
Self Dreams LLC
Troi Madison Graphics
7:52 Productions
Branding By AS
Rivers of Life Church Ministries
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn the concept that “You have to be the first to do it.” For the past two years since I started my business, I’ll admit I’ve been rushing my ideas out of fear and enthusiasm. I wanted the satisfaction of being able to say, “I did it,” or “I started that,” and the assurance of never having my ideas taken from me or carried out without my input. In my eagerness, I produced many great ideas, such as starting my own business, starting new programs, and organizing events, among others. But in my enthusiasm to be the first to complete them, I committed many errors, and soon found myself burdened with the responsibility of fixing them because they weren’t done correctly. Which regrettably left me unable to participate in many fresh offers. But I believe in God’s timing and am eager to grow from my experiences to seize better possibilities in the future. In time I learned that the key is not necessarily that you have to the first. It’s just lovely to be. The lesson of doing it and doing it first, isn’t wrong, but the unlearning portion for me was correcting my understanding of what “doing it” really means. The truth of the lesson I learned is that you don’t have to be the first to do it. But If you’re going to be the first, you need to be the first to do it correctly. So that you can easily go back and do it again!
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Diabaddie started with no intention of it being as far as it is today. Originally I just wanted to open the door to provide scholarships for children with T1D to go to diabetes camp and that’s it. My only intention was to return the favor that had been given to me since diagnosed at 6 years old, an opportunity to go camping, learn how to manage my disease, and make new friends. Although over the past 3 years, it has grown tremendously with my passions and experiences. Being a college student with Diabetes, and transitioning from a teenager to an adult with a chronic disease I quickly learned about the lack of diversity and functional support for those who live with type one. There are many milestones to speak on, as we are constantly growing to be better every day, but there are two I’m very proud of, which are becoming a 501c3 in 2021 during my junior year of college, and breaking into the sports industry to open the eyes of this audience supporting athletes with T1D. These are big milestones because many do not understand the sleepless nights of effort that was put into both of those actions, and while the work is just starting, the work it took to get there is nothing short of tediousness and trials. There were many times I wanted to give up, but I always reminded myself of my intentions to open a different source of support to the community of diabetics that I don’t see often. And that’s it’s exactly what I’ve done and will continue to do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.diabaddie.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diabaddieorg/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/diabaddieorg/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antoinette-watkins-3236861b1_this-summer-i-had-the-pleasure-of-interning-activity-6965667792570171392-oEpz?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/diabaddieorg
- Other:
Image Credits
Photo 1: Founder standing with first scholarship candidate in Tampa, FL 2019 Photo 2: Founder at FAMU with the student for Diabetes Awareness in Tallahassee, FL 2019 Photo 3: Founder with second scholarship recipient for virtual Diabetes Camp in Los Angeles, CA 2021 Photos 4-6: The Diabaddie Organizations Hoops For Shots fundraiser and Basketball tournament captured by Kyren Clemons aka Unlultured University Photography. Richmond VA 2022 Photos 7-8: Moments from The Chris Dudley Basketball Camp for children with Diabetes in Vernonia, Oregon 2o22