Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Julie Fratantoni. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Julie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
I still remember the spot I was sitting at at my kitchen table. It was January of 2021 and I was working from home during the pandemic. It was my first time being interviewed on a podcast and I was so nervous. The topic was, “what is being digitally connected 24/7 doing to our brains?”
I had recently graduated with my PhD in cognitive neuroscience and was working at a university (The University of Texas at Dallas, Center for BrainHealth).
Side note: In the process of learning, first, you don’t know what you don’t know. As you start to learn more, you become aware of how much you don’t know. Being a doctoral student made me very aware of how much I don’t know. At the time, this made me greatly underestimate how much I DO know about the human brain.
The journalists who interviewed me posted the episode and tagged my personal instagram account. (This made me realize I should create a professional account.) The group was from the Netherlands and the whole podcast was in Dutch except for my interview. I shared the episode on stories and didn’t think much of it. To my surprise I had friends coming out of the woodworks that I hadn’t spoken to since middle school telling me that they listened to the episode, they learned a lot, and they were going to try the tips I had shared.
This podcast interview was pivotal in several ways.
1) It made me realize I know a lot about the brain and it lights me up to share it with others.
2) Most people do not know how their own brain works / how to keep it healthy and they are very interested in learning.
3) This event sparked the creation of my instagram account @drjuliefratantoni, where I share proactive brain health tips and break down neuroscience.
I didn’t know it at the time but this interview set me on a path to build a personal brand, develop a passion for science communication, and become a content creator.
This was the first of many stepping stones that lead me to carve my own career path.
Julie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I help people build brain healthy habits.
Your brain is the most important part of your body, but have you ever been taught how it works or how to use it? We have meal plans and workout plans – but no plan for your brain?
We are in an age of having so much knowledge at our fingertips and we know more about the brain than we ever have before. But there science isn’t always easy to understand, and there is information overload and misinformation. That’s where I come in. I make neuroscience approachable and digestible. My goal is to empower people and give them tools to create positive change to ultimately make a better world. Living a healthy life starts with your brain.
How I got here: I started out as a speech language pathologist, I enjoyed working with brain injury and stroke patients in a hospital setting. This is what first got me interested in the brain.
I pursued a PhD in cognitive neuroscience to better understand how the brain works. I was lucky to do my studies at a center that focuses on a proactive approach to brain health, and I fell in love with the idea of high performance. This was long before the days of things like the Huberman Lab podcast – so it was revolutionary that I could learn strategies to improve brain performance. I was obsessed. I’m a total wellness junkie and I’ve always loved health and fitness and optimization. Fun fact: I did my yoga teacher training at the same time I started my PhD program. I take a holistic approach when it comes to the brain.
Fast forward to the defining moment I spoke about in the last question. When I launched my instagram account I unknowingly started my Science Communication career. I was having so much fun sharing what I was learning and creating content – it was the perfect blend of creativity, science, and impact.
It’s rare to find people who can exist in both worlds. Not many scientists take the time develop public speaking skills or media skills and not many marketing/communications people deeply understand science. I’ve spent the last 4 years honing my science communication skills and this summer made the leap to work for myself!
So, what exactly do I do?
A little bit of everything: I develop programs that teach proactive lifestyle strategies that can improve brain performance. I have an online course and group coaching program coming soon! I create brain health content for social platforms. I do consulting for companies in the prevention, wellness and longevity space. I do speaking engagements and workshops. I speak about topics ranging from compassion to stress management to creativity. I also have a substack newsletter that has recently grown to over 45,000 subscribers called Better Brain.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Without a doubt having a personal brand.
When it comes to the brain and science, trust and credibility are everything. By posting consistently and authentically I built trust. I consider my account my business card. I am extremely clear about who I am and what I stand for. Anyone who comes across it can immediately get a sense of my personality and skills. Visual aesthetics also play a huge part in reinforcing consistency and building brand recognition.
Relatability is also really important. There’s a lot of mistrust of large institutions. People want a face, a real person they can connect with when it comes to health and wellness. They want to see that you walk the walk.
Providing value and thought leadership through content like newsletters on LinkedIn and having a presence on Instagram has opened up so many doors. I have attracted my ideal clients and partnerships. They literally land in my dms.
I believe this phenomenon is described well by Bruce Mau in his book MC24. He has a section titled Put Out a Pure Signal, So That the Right People Can Find You. He writes, “There are people that you cannot see right now who are looking for you and your work. […] They are listening for a very specific sound, or quality or vibration. If your signal isn’t clear they will miss it. […] Everything you do and say contributes to the signal that you put out in the world – every major project, accomplishment, creation, or statement, but also every casual action and remark. […] That’s why the signal that you put out must be as pure as possible. If your signal is fuzzy, it will be lost in the noise. […] The only signal that’s effective is the one that is completely truthful. Every compromise with the truth of what you love will cloud your signal and make it inaudible to those for who it is intended. To find the people who can nurture and empower your work, you will also need patience. […] The challenge is to sustain an honest and pure signal until it is heard by the people who are looking for you, even while you are dealing with the struggles of making a living, handling relationships, and solving life’s everyday problems. The more you work on what you love, the more strongly you build your unique personal signal.”
I consider my personal brand a megaphone to broadcast my signal so the right people can find me.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
A heart of collaboration and a mindset that 1 + 1 = 10.
I regularly reach out to people in my field who I respect and admire and invite them to collaborate. Or just have a call to hear their story, get to know them and learn from them. There doesn’t always have to be an agenda, you never know how those connections may come in handy in the future.
It’s a paradigm shift when you realize that other’s success doesn’t diminish your own ability to succeed. It’s a shift from scarcity to abundance. Everyone can get a piece of the pie, or rather, there’s enough for everyone to have their own pie.
Even if a niche is saturated, no one is you and that is your superpower. No one else will write the way you do or view the world through your lens.
That being said, the best person to compete with is yourself. So make friends with your “competitors”, cheer them on, invite them to collaborate and learn from them.
It’s energizing to work with other brilliant minds, especially when you overlap passion. It’s also an opportunity to grow and be inspired.
We can achieve so much more together than on our own.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.drjuliefratantoni.com
- Instagram: @drjuliefratantoni
- Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=julie-fratantoni-phd-29897852
- Other: Substack newsletter Better Brain: https://drjuliefratantoni.substack.com/
Image Credits
Kendrix Wesley
Bryn Gabriel
Heather Nicole
Isabella Arias