When a freak accident ended her performing career, Lala Ziemski turned pain into purpose—pivoting from the stage to the kitchen, and eventually building The Firefly, a boutique hotel and restaurant in Panama. Now a private chef in New York City and host of the podcast Put It In My Mouth, Lala joins Dr. Lauren Umstattd for an open conversation about resilience, creativity, and redefining success. They discuss how hospitality principles can transform any business (even medicine), finding alignment after chaos, and why balance—not perfection—is the ultimate luxury.

Host: Dr. Lauren Umstattd

Connect with Lauren: @lauren_umstattd_md

Guest: Lala Ziemski

Connect with Lala: @ohheylala & @thefireflybocasdeltoro

Presented by: The Hippocratic Collective

0:00 – Meet Lala Ziemski: performer turned chef, hotelier, and podcast host

1:00 – From the Mickey Mouse Club dreams to musical theater life

2:40 – The freak accident that changed everything

4:00 – Learning to start over: from injury to imposter syndrome

5:00 – The restaurant that sparked a new passion

7:00 – Building a hotel and restaurant in Panama

8:30 – The grit it takes to open your own business

9:30 – Lessons in resilience and the power of saying “yes” before you’re ready

10:50 – How simplicity became her food philosophy

11:40 – Working for yourself and learning to let go

14:00 – Moving to NYC and reinventing again during the pandemic

17:00 – Finding alignment and creating her own rhythm

18:10 – The importance of autonomy and mental health

19:25 – How Unreasonable Hospitality changed her approach to service

22:00 – Making guests feel seen: small gestures that matter

23:40 – Inside her podcast Put It In My Mouth — Bourdain meets Sex and the City

24:45 – Food, pleasure, and rejecting diet culture

26:30 – Turning setbacks into creative control

29:00 – Building a show that finally clicked

30:00 – Which Sex and the City character is she most like?

31:00 – Dating in New York at 47 — and loving her independence

33:00 – What makes a perfect first date (and why it’s about thoughtfulness)

35:30 – On self-trust, journaling, and slowing down

38:30 – Flipping the script: Lala interviews Dr. Lauren on facelifts & filler

46:45 – The deep-plane facelift debate explained

49:40 – Medical tourism, brow lifts & the “Forever 35 Face”

54:00 – Why the neck is the ultimate giveaway

56:00 – Wrapping up with travel, food, and the art of balance

58:30 – Final reflections and where to find Lala online

Dr. Lily Nguyen’s path to medicine didn’t begin in a classroom - it began at the bedside.

After five years as a nurse, she made the rare leap from nursing to medical school and is now completing her residency in radiology. In this episode of Fem MD, Dr. Nguyen reflects on how her nursing background shaped her clinical intuition, her empathy, and her definition of “success.” We talk about identity shifts, impostor feelings, and the quiet power of taking the long way around. Dr. Nguyen shares how she learned to stop comparing timelines and start honoring her own, proving that purpose doesn’t expire and that every detour brings you closer to where you’re meant to be.

Host: Dr. Lauren Umstattd

Connect with Lauren: @lauren_umstattd_md

Guest: Dr. Lily Nguyen

Connect with Lily: @nursemdlily

Presented by: The Hippocratic Collective

What does it take to survive — and actually thrive — as a surgeon when the system keeps asking you to show up like a machine?

In this episode of Fem MD, host Dr. Lauren Umstattd talks with Dr. Mel Thacker — double-boarded ENT, lifestyle medicine specialist, and surgeon-coach — about the “dark surgeon psyche,” the ways training teaches us to disconnect from our bodies and feelings, and how to come back to being a whole person.

Mel pulls back the curtain on perfectionism, trauma responses in training, and the dopamine-seeking habits that help us numb out. Whether you’re in the OR, the clinic, or parenting after a 24-hour call, this episode offers humane, practical steps to feel less alone and more like yourself again.

Host: Dr. Lauren Umstattd

Connect with Lauren: @lauren_umstattd_md

Guest: Dr. Mel Thacker

Connect with Mel: https://www.melthackercoaching.com/

Presented by: The Hippocratic Collective

What does it really take to be happy? In this episode of Fem, MD, host Lauren talks with happiness coach Dannie De Novo, who shares her powerful journey from years of depression and anxiety to building a life rooted in true joy. Dannie opens up about breaking free from destructive cycles, challenging the idea that happiness is out of reach, and finding the courage to face yourself honestly.

Together, they dive into the limits of relying solely on medication, the role of nutrition and mindfulness, and why rewiring your patterns of thought is key to lasting change. You’ll walk away with both inspiration and practical tools—from cultivating gratitude to practicing emotional honesty—that can help you create your own path to well-being.

This isn’t about chasing happiness. It’s about building it.

Host: Dr. Lauren Umstattd

Connect with Lauren: @lauren_umstattd_md

Guest: Dannie De Novo

Connect with Dannie: https://www.danniedenovo.com/

Presented by: The Hippocratic Collective

What if the secret to a long, fulfilling medical career isn’t doing more—but doing less?

This week on Fem MD, host Lauren sits down with Dr. Joan Chan, a Canadian family physician, coach, mom, and host of The Other Human in the Room. Joan shares her radical approach to working under maximum capacity, teaching physicians how to reclaim space, set boundaries, and prioritize joy without sacrificing patient care.

Together they explore why honoring your limits can actually make you a better doctor, how to recognize the signs that you’re over capacity, and what it looks like to say no without guilt. Joan explains the value of creative days, rest, and small acts of humanity—like a midday nap or playing her ukulele—as well as how technology like AI scribes is reshaping charting and giving time back to clinicians.

Her calm, grounded energy offers a refreshing antidote to hustle culture and a reminder that we are all human first, doctors second.

Host: Dr. Lauren Umstattd

Connect with Lauren: @lauren_umstattd_md

Guest: Joan Chan, MD

Connect with Joan: https://www.hippocratic-collective.com/members/joan-chan-md

And listen to her podcast, The Other Human in the Room

Presented by: The Hippocratic Collective

In this powerful episode of Fem MD, host Lauren Umstattd sits down with Alex Owens to share the raw, unfiltered reality of life after a breast cancer diagnosis. Alex speaks candidly about the unique grief of losing parts of oneself—physically and emotionally—captured in her poignant words: “You’re grieving your old self, you’re grieving your breasts.”

Through intimate storytelling, Alex and Lauren explore the fears, losses, and identity shifts that come with serious illness. They discuss the tension between maintaining a professional facade and navigating personal pain, the societal pressures to hide vulnerability, and the transformative role of community and connection.

This is not just a story about cancer—it’s about identity, womanhood, and the resilience that emerges in the face of life-altering change.

Host: Dr. Lauren Umstattd

Connect with Lauren: @lauren_umstattd_md

Guest: Alex Owens

Connect with Alex: @alexowenskc

Presented by: The Hippocratic Collective

In this episode of Fem MD, we explore the uncomfortable truth: love alone doesn’t make a marriage last. Dr. Lauren Umstattd opens up about the realities of partnership, drawing from her own experiences to unpack the deeper ingredients that sustain a strong marriage—kindness, respect, communication, and growth. It's a candid conversation about what happens after the honeymoon phase ends, how couples evolve through challenges, and why being intentional in your relationship matters more than romantic ideals. Whether you're married, thinking about it, or questioning what a healthy relationship looks like, this episode offers a thoughtful, grounded perspective on building a life together.

In this powerful episode of FEM MD, Dr. Lauren Umstattd sits down with Dr. Frances Mei Hardin for an unflinching conversation about the darker realities of surgical training. Frances Mei shares her personal experience navigating a medical culture where bullying, abuse, and emotional isolation are often normalized—and where “resilience” is too often code for silent suffering.

Together, they unpack the structural issues baked into the hierarchy of medicine and what it means to walk away—not as a failure, but as an act of reclaiming agency. This episode explores what happens when your identity is bound to your profession, and what’s possible when you begin to untangle that narrative.

It’s a must-listen for anyone who’s ever questioned the cost of staying silent in a broken system.

Host: Dr. Lauren Umstattd

Connect with Dr. Frances Mei Hardin

IG: @francesmei.md

Website: https://hippocratic-collective.com

Presented by: The Hippocratic Collective