Nicole Shanahan: The Vice Presidential Candidate On Gut Health, Infertility, The Kennedy Campaign & Making The Earth Great Again

In this episode, I sit down with Nicole Shanahan, an attorney, tech entrepreneur and vice presidential candidate for The United States, known for her groundbreaking work in health and wellness. We delve into her personal journey, from her formative years to her passion for addressing the chronic health epidemic through the lens of soil microbiome research. Nicole shares her thoughts on the idea that healthy eating is only for the affluent and offers practical steps to improve access to nutritious food for all. We discuss the societal implications of our current public health trajectory and the urgent need for change. Nicole also talks about her initiatives to enhance natural fertility and her impactful decision to leave the Democratic Party, highlighting its significance in her journey as a part of the Bobby Kennedy campaign. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in health, wellness, and societal change.

Nicole Shanahan is an attorney and tech entrepreneur in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work on behalf of honest governance, racial equality, regenerative agriculture, and children’s and maternal health has put her at the forefront of many of the country’s most urgent needs.

“Healthy planet, healthy humans” is how Nicole describes the throughline of her career, which has long been centered around people, health, and the environment. She is the founder and president of Bia-Echo Foundation, a private foundation that invests in innovative changemakers who are tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges – reproductive equality and longevity, criminal justice reform, a healthy and livable planet, and more.

Early in her career, Nicole founded and was CEO of ClearAccessIP, a patent management company utilizing AI and automation to support the innovation economy. She is a fellow at Stanford Law School’s CodeX, where she launched a multidisciplinary criminal justice reform effort with the San Francisco District Attorney Office that inspired a powerful partnership with the Stanford Computation Policy Lab (now at Harvard). Her work, particularly building innovative algorithmic tools to guide high-stakes decisions, leverages advances in data science that allows for policy impact to be studied at unprecedented scales.

Among other achievements, Nicole is the recipient of the CALI Excellence For The Future Award and Santa Clara Law School’s Young Alumni Rising Star Award. She has been recognized as a Top 50 Femtech Healthcare Influencer & Longevity Leader and a San Francisco Business Times’ 40 Under 40 leader for her work as a trailblazer running organizations at the forefront of ethics in AI and access to justice. She has long been committed to issues at the intersection of tech, law, and justice and regularly helps facilitate high-level forums with global leaders, including Stanford Law’s Future Law conference.

A few of my favorite things we cover in this episode: 

• Nicole's upbringing and how it shaped her passion for health and wellness.
• Nicole's journey into exploring the world of soil microbiome and its impact on health.
• Addressing the chronic health epidemic and its societal implications.
• Debunking the misconception that eating healthily is only for the affluent.
• Actionable steps for improving access to nutritious food.
• The potential consequences of not course correcting our current public health trajectory.
• Initiatives Nicole is involved in to enhance natural fertility.
• Nicole's decision to leave the Democratic Party and its significance in her journey to the Kennedy campaign.

Links to things we talked about in this episode: 

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Happy listening and we hope you learned a little bit more on the art of being well!

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In Health,

Dr. Will Cole