Discovering Dr. Tiffany Moon’s Journey from Medicine to Reality TV and Beyond

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1:39So check it out. Let me know what you think and stay tuned for this awesome episode. Hey, guys, welcome back to another episode of Skin Anarchy. This is your host, Becca, and I'm really, really excited to introduce you guys to our guest today because she is truly, you know, a leading figure in a lot of different avenues, I think, especially in medicine. Her background in medicine is truly impressive, and a lot of you might recognize her from the Real Housewives of Dallas. So without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to Dr. Tiffany Moon. Welcome to the show, Dr. Moon. I'm so excited to host you.

2:11Hi, thank you for having me. Yeah, I'm excited to chat. I'd love to get to know you a little bit better. If you could tell us about what got you into medicine, especially anesthesiology. I mean, I'd love to learn about your journey. Yeah, I mean, I was one of those classic wanted to be a doctor ever since I was six years old. I remember playing with my dolls. And instead of playing like house, you know, like most normal kids, I would always play doctor and I was always the doctor and then my doll would be sick or have a boo boo or have a tummy ache. And I would like do things to make the doll better.

2:45so I guess that was an early sign that I was destined for a career in medicine. And I chose anesthesia because I'm just a teeny bit OCD and like to be in control. And so it really satisfied that aspect of my personality. And also, I like to do things with my hands and have a little bit of immediate gratification. And I just felt that in some specialties of medicine, the time to seeing when the effect of what you were doing was too long. Whereas in anesthesia, there's almost this immediate gratification of the things that you do. And it just appealed to me greatly. So I just love being in the operating room.

3:27That's awesome. No, I really like what you said about the immediate gratification part. I think that with medicine, it can be a long journey in terms of just training. And then when you get there, you're like, I want to do something to fix people, you know, and do something immediate. So yeah, makes sense. So what about the Real Housewives? Like, well, how did you get involved with being on the show? And what was that? You know, how was that journey? Yeah, people are always like, what on earth were you thinking? And I was like, okay, hear me out. So I never aspired to be on reality TV. I never wanted to be famous.

4:01Like I was just minding my own business, working full time at the medical school as an attending. I had twin toddlers at home, but one of my good friends, Deandra had been on the show since I think season two. And I know that she was on it. And I had been to several events where before you go into the party, there's like this person and they make you sign this one page waiver thing saying that, you know, we're filming inside. So you could like be on TV or something. And I just would always sign it without even reading it, like whatever. And I guess the producers like saw me or took a liking to me and they kind of nudged my friend and were like, Hey, who's your friend, Tiffany?

4:43Like, what does she do? Would she want to be a housewife? And my friend told them like, Oh no, she's a doctor. She has like twin toddlers at home. Like she wants no part of this. And so it kind of just went away. And then the next year, every year they like try to recruit more people. So the next year she took me out to lunch and she was like, Hey, I know last year you said you weren't interested, but the producers pinged me again. And they really want you to just talk to them, like just have an interview. Um, no strings attached, whatever. And she's like, I think it would be really great. Cause you're really funny.

5:17You're really witty. And I think you would be great for the show. Like as a favor to me, would you just have a interview with one of the casting agents? And I was like, okay, fine. Like I'll do it for you. So long story short, you go through these rounds of interviews, basically three rounds. The first is via zoom. The second one is via zoom, but with the higher up person. And then the third one, they fly you to LA in front of a green screen. And basically like one day in 2020, I got a call that was like, we want you to join the real housewives of Dallas. And I I was like, oh crap. Cause I really think I would get it.

5:58Cause so many different people were trying out and I just knew these other Dallas women like really wanted it. I was like, meh, whatever. So, I mean, I guess my playing hard to get worked in some way. And so once I got it and it was for real, I talked to my husband about it and he was like, are you going to do it? And I was like, I kind of feel like I have to. And he was like, well, you don't have to. Like you can just tell them like, thanks, no thanks, you know? But I was like, I know, but it's like all these people wanted and it's like, seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity. And then they called me and their selling point, there were two, they said that they would work around my clinical schedule because I was still working like full time plus overnight call.

6:46And I told them and I was like, even if I wanted to do this, which honestly, I'm not sure I do. I don't think I can because like, lest I remind you, I work full time as an anesthesiologist and I take trauma call. Whereas like no offense to the other cast members of my season, but like not a single one of them had a job outside the home. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, they basically came back to me, I guess they really wanted me to do it. And they were like, we'll work around your clinical schedule. And we, we get our clinical schedules two months in advance. So like, I already know like every day next month in the month after where I'm going to be, if I'm going to be overnight or whatever.

7:25So you could make plans like, okay, yeah, we'll work around your clinical schedule. And they said, and the whole filming, the whole thing that you have to commit to is only 12 weeks. And I was like, oh, I thought it was for like half a year or something. Yeah. Like a full year or something. Yeah. And I thought that they like basically had cameras in your face, like 24 seven, but I didn't know any of this. Cause I'm not like in the reality TV world, how would I have known any of this? They said, the whole thing is 12 weeks. All you're filming is scheduled. Like for example, next Tuesday, you film from 12 to 8 PM.

7:57Then on Thursday you film from two to five. And then on Saturday there's a party. So you'll film from 5 PM to midnight. Like it's all very scheduled. And I was like, Oh, so you don't just come to my house and like set up cameras and like follow me around 24 seven. And they were like, no and I was like oh okay I guess I'll give it a try you know so I mean long story short I basically did it for a season it was not exactly what I thought it would be but suffice it to say that I'm grateful to have been given the opportunity to have done that because it really opened a lot of doors for me but at the end of the day like that's not what I want to do so I said no thank Thank you to continuing.

8:42And then shortly after that, they like put the whole thing on hiatus for Dallas. So I was like, oh, oops. I don't know if it had anything to do with me. But, you know, that was Bravo's decision. Wow. So they didn't air it or what? No, I did season five. And they asked all of us on season five to recommend new people for season six because the word on the street was they were firing half the cast. of season five. So they needed new people to film for six. So the thing that I was told, um, was like, let's just put Dallas on a hiatus and reevaluate in a few years and maybe we'll have better potential cast members.

9:23And I was like, yeah, cool with me. Didn't want to be a part of it anyway, but thank you. Yeah. Yeah. No, but you know what? I think it's so cool that you went on though, because like it's never represented like women in medicine are never represented in these shows and like i feel like there is a huge that's a huge reason why i personally like i hesitate a lot of times watching like similar shows because i never feel like i can connect with any of the cast members but like i could totally you know what i mean connect with you being on a show because you get it you know what i mean you know the life like it's hard it's a rigorous lifestyle and medicine especially you said you know you you work a lot with trauma in trauma, you know, it's just, it's a lot.

10:03So I think people, there's a whole demographic they're missing out on, you know, of women that have these like high powered careers that just can't resonate sometimes, you know, with these kinds of shows. So that's really cool that you actually did it and put that out there. I love that. Yeah, no, I'm grateful that I was given the opportunity to do it. I just don't think it's something that I wanted to do long term because it does kind of wear on you and it's pretty toxic like while you're in it yeah no I bet I mean I bet was it hard for you to like kind of relate with the other people that were oh my god yes I bet yeah like I was I literally would work so I leave for the hospital at 6 30 and then I usually get home sometime between like 4 to 5 p.m.

10:48and then they'd had this party on like a Thursday or something so I had worked that day. Then of course I had my hair and makeup team, like at my house at 5.00 waiting. I get to the party at 6.30 on time. Cause we're supposed to show up at 6.30. And then one of the other women who like, doesn't even work showed up late and she was like, Oh, sorry. I had a wardrobe malfunction. And I was like, what? I didn't even get to like, see my kids today. Like if you had given me a later call time to show up, I could have like spent 30 minutes or an hour with my kids. But basically I came home from work, like ran into the shower, came out and got ready, you know?

11:28So it was just really hard. Like some of the other women, I would be at parties and stuff and they'd be like, why are you so tired? Like, why aren't you dancing crazy and taking tequila shots with us? And I'm like, because I've worked all week, like I'm exhausted. I just want to go home and like cuddle with my children. You know, like it was just so hard to relate to some of them. it must have felt like a different world you're walking into than, you know, the medical world. But I want to talk about your entrepreneurship, because I know you have some wonderful brands that you've launched. You have both a candle brand and a wine company.

12:01I would love for you to tell us, you know, really what led you to creating that and what led you down the entrepreneur journey? Well, the first company, Three Moons Wine, I started with my husband like over a decade ago. And I have to say, he did most of the heavy lifting for that business. I kind of just got to shadow along, but I didn't really know what I was doing. But in many ways, I had an internship in entrepreneur-ism from him. And then the company that I started by myself was Aromesthesia Candle Company, which I started in 2020. I was making candles at the time, sort of as a hobby. And I I would always joke and say that if I could mix the oils to make the candles, then that meant that I didn't have COVID because I could still smell.

12:51So it was like a hobby that turned into a business sort of by accident. But, you know, I took some pictures with my iPhone, bought a Shopify template for like a hundred bucks online, bought the domain name from GoDaddy and was like, look, I'm an entrepreneur. and of course I didn't really have any clue what I was doing and I'll say this about having a business you know you kind of never know until you just start it like if I didn't have a product I would have never found out about supply chain and inventory management and website and SEO and all that stuff it was because I had a product that I felt passionate about and I wanted to share with other people that I was like you know what I'm just going to do this you kind of just learn by doing, which is the very antithesis of medicine in many ways, because we have, you know, a year and a half, two years of classroom teaching lab.

13:45And then we sort of, you know, pretend to start being a doctor by like taking an H and P under the wing of, you know, another med student or an intern or a resident. And then they kind of slowly push you out there. Whereas entrepreneur, you just like do it. Like there's no internship, like there's no mentoring. Like you just kind of like get pushed out of the nest and you either fly or you don't. It's so true. I often joke with people because I got my MBA thinking that, you know what, they're going to teach me how to create a business. And I swear to God, after completing it, I was like, I feel like I have learned nothing.

14:23I have no idea. Like even if I were to start right now I wouldn't even know like how to create my business you know it's it's kind of nuts that there's absolutely like almost zero training you know for being an entrepreneur so I hear you on that yeah it's wild yeah so tell us about um the summit the lead her summit I mean I'm really excited about um this because you have some amazing speakers you know on the roster and I'd love to learn about what inspired you to create this and really you know just where the vision came from? Yeah. I mean, the vision sort of came because I've been an entrepreneur for the last five years.

15:02And I kind of was like, why am I learning this in a silo and other women are building businesses and all of us are not like cross pollinating and collaborating and sharing our collective wisdom with each other. And I was like, what if I made a conference where I invited women who had different expertise areas to come and share what they know with the rest of us so that we could all go back to our lives and be better personally and professionally. And I was working with an executive coach at the time. And this was really just like a pipe dream. I was just literally talking out loud. And she was like, no, you should do it.

15:43And I was like, do what? She's like, put together the conference you were just talking about. And I was like, no, I can't possibly like, I don't know the first thing about putting together like a multi-day in-person summit. Like I was just talking, you know, you just say ideas out loud or whatever. And she's like, no, I mean, I could hear like the passion in your voice and your eyes lit up when you talked about it. And she's like, if anyone could make this happen, it would be you. And I was like, really? You think so? And she was like, yeah. So like little by little, I started contacting a few of my friends, you know, I called them, I was like, Hey, girl, I'm thinking about putting together this three day in person summit in Dallas in November.

16:24Are you free this weekend? And they're like, Yeah, it looks like my calendar is pretty open. And I'm like, Do you think you could come to Dallas and talk about topic X? You know, we have like, lawyers talking about legal pitfalls, we have communication experts, negotiators, people talking about social media and marketing and how to be comfortable and speak in front of a camera, because everyone needs to know that these days, just so many different topics. And like little by little, I started piecing the speakers together, the agenda, the breakout sessions, and then everything else just sort of formed around that.

17:00And pretty soon I was like, Oh my God, is this really happening? Like, I think it's really going to happen. Yeah, that's I mean, that's really cool. And I think that there's definitely so much knowledge, you're right, that could be shared, you know, especially today you know with everybody being on social media you know i feel like now you see not just influencers anymore i mean you obviously you have a lot of people who are influencers but you're seeing a lot of um teachers you know people who want to educate you know they're really kind of picking up their iphones and saying let's do it you know let's get it out there and the knowledge out there so i think that that's wonderful that you're you're creating a platform to share this information and the valuable experiences of so many people that have been so successful.

17:44How can people participate in the summit? Can we watch online or is it going to be broadcasting? It's less than a month away. When I imagined this, when I was talking to my coach about it, I always imagined it to be all in person because I think a lot of the value that you get of going to these kinds of conferences is the networking that you get. Because the women who are in the room have, in essence, self-selected themselves as people who are go-getters and want to level up and are in a collaborative framework, right? Because the people who aren't in that mindset simply don't come, right? So they're already self-selected, which I love.

18:26And I think a lot of the value comes from being in the room with other powerful women and just having these side conversations or, you know, I heard you talk about XYZ during your talk, or how did you do that? Do you have a good copywriter you can put me in touch with or who made your website? It looks really amazing. Could you share the name of the person? Just, I don't know, just that kind of thing. And so the reason I never like planned for a virtual component was because if you're just watching the lectures from your living room and your pajamas on your laptop, like it's not the same experience.

19:01But I got a lot of feedback from people that it's too hard to travel because they have a baby. You know, they have another schedule commitment, or the cost is prohibitive, which I do want to be sensitive to. So we're tinkering with the idea of maybe doing a virtual component. But truth be told, it's not the robust experience that I had imagined in my head yeah that makes sense that makes sense if you go like if you're personally there yeah you're right you get to network and really get experience it fully so that makes a lot of sense oh i'm excited about it sounds wonderful so i mean it's a wonderful opportunity for anyone listening that you know really wants to learn more and network with such amazing individuals i mean definitely you guys sign up if you haven't already but i would love to actually like expand on that a little bit you know in terms of this whole piece about women's empowerment right because i think it's something one it's not talked about enough personally speaking i i know i don't see it nearly enough as i would love to on social media or any of the platforms that we usually engage in as just normal people day to day you know so what are your thoughts around this you know do you think that women's empowerment is on the up and up or like i mean what do you think we could do um on a broader scale to really amplify the message and get it out there more i I think that's a great question.

20:23You know, sometimes people don't even understand what women's empowerment is. Or people are like, oh, I'm a feminist. I support women. So many years, like the patriarchy and our society sort of making things easy for men. And I'm not like a man hater by any means. Because I think sometimes people look at these like women's empowerment things and they're like, oh, they're going to get together and like talk about how much they hate men. I'm like, no, this is not the case at all. I think what we can do really as women is to help each other instead of having this sort of competition or, you know, why should I help you?

21:01Because when I was starting, no one helped me kind of mentality. I think, you know, the secret sauce here is to uplift each other because men, again, they compete with one another, but really they're bros and they help each other out. You don't have this kind of like backstabbing, bickering kind of thing that you see with women. Like that's kind of specific to women, I will say. And every time that I have helped another woman out, whether it was personally by a recommendation for a nanny or a housekeeper or something or professionally, it has paid me back in dividends. Because women remember who lent them a hand when they were down or needed help.

21:46And you shouldn't do things with the expectation that it's going to be repaid, but almost always it is repaid, sometimes just in gratitude, sometimes just in friendship, sometimes just in the community of women in the tribe that you build around you, knowing that you have these fellow sisters to call upon if you get into a rough patch, which as an entrepreneur, you for sure will be in a rough patch, like guaranteed. so it's just nice to be able to have a community of women who you know have got your back absolutely I couldn't agree more I mean I think I think you said that so beautifully and I mean I really believe that we are you know we see a lot of this this backstabbing just not wanting to help like it is there you know especially like we're both in medicine I mean I'm sure you've seen it you know in the when you're in any kind of a competitive field whether that's entrepreneurship leadership or you know medical field or you know whatever law you will see a lot of it you know women just I don't know what the hesitation is I've never been able to wrap my head around it like why do why do we try to pull each other down I mean I just don't get it I can't remember I mean I haven't really had a lot of women mentors I've spoken about this on the show you know more uh like in the past few years we've spoken about this where like looking back there weren't a lot of women you know that were around that could mentor me personally I remember as a student or like as a resident you know I just didn't have anybody that I could look up to and say hey you know you're somebody I can really kind of learn from not just my skill set but then also the other things that come with being a woman you know especially in the professional realm so I think it's it's a huge huge conversation that needs to be kind of projected out there a lot more, you know, in terms of why it's like this.

23:34I agree. I mean, I lacked a strong female mentor to all throughout medical school and residency. Like, yeah, there were women in my field, but no one that I like really looked up to where I identified them as someone who excelled professionally, but also personally and whom I wanted to emulate, you know, growing up. A lot of my mentors were men just because they happened to be, or they were doing research projects that I joined. And so they happen to be my mentors. But I think there is a scarcity of strong female mentors in many fields, not just medicine, but probably finance, law, business as well.

24:12And that's another reason I created the summit. Because here, if you come, I guarantee you can probably find a mentor more easily than out in the wild who is willing to take you under their wing and sort of show you the ropes a little bit. Absolutely. No, I love it. I love what you're doing. And I, I think that it's so, so well thought out that you're creating something that is a place that people can come and actually learn, you know, because I think a lot of times there's a lot of young women, especially young, you know, professionals that reach out to us, like on our podcast, they'll reach out if we have a great guest on, you know, asking more questions.

24:49And it always crosses my mind. I'm like, I feel like there needs to be a place where you can go and you can like a conference, you know, you can really learn, ask questions, you know, listen to people speak and, and just kind of contemplate, you know, where do you want to end up in your life? So I think it's just so needed. And I love that you're doing it. So truly hats off to you for creating such a powerful space. Oh, thank you. Yeah. You know, I think to round things out, I'd love to learn, you know, about your favorite, maybe skincare products and beauty products, because we are a beauty podcast, after all.

25:19So I know we haven't talked about skincare at all, your listeners are like, what the heck? No, no, we cover a lot of topics here, but I mean, you know, you're, you're very, you know, inspiring individual. And I wanted to make sure that we talked to you about a lot of these wonderful initiatives you're a part of, but I'd love to learn about your favorite picks. Oh my gosh. I love skincare. We could do a whole nother hour. I always double cleanse though. I use the Elemis cleansing balm, the Marine collagen line. And then I use a, another cleanser on top of that. because on my days that I wear makeup, you know, it's a lot to get off.

25:55And I just don't think one cleanse gets everything off. I love a good serum. So right now I'm using this one by Timeline. It's made with a compound called mitopure, which helps in a cellular process called mitophagy. This is where it's going to get real nerdy. And it's basically, you know, helping your mitochondria out and only certain people who have a gut, um, bacteria can make mitopure if they eat pomegranate seeds. It's like the weirdest thing in the world. I don't know how I even know. I just, I just interviewed timeline. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I've been using their serum for, I want to say since April.

26:31So like six months now, and I don't know, I think it's really good. Like when I travel and I can only bring like one or two skincare things instead of like my usual seven or eight products, like I bring the timeline serum. And then always, as your listeners know, like lots of SPF, because I always say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And I'm like, you know, if you have all these sun spots, age damage, and you're doing all this retinol, laser, whatever. And I'm like, I mean, I just stay out of the sun as much as I can. Now, I don't know what my vitamin D level is. I take oral supplementation, but like I have driving gloves when I walk my dogs, I wear this extra large brim hat.

27:14Like my neighbors probably think I'm crazy, but I don't care because my face stays out of the sun at all times. Yeah. No, that's cool though. I like, I like those picks a lot. I really liked that you brought up the timeline, especially because they're really, really innovating this longevity space a lot. So great picks. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Dr. Moon, this has been so much fun. And I've learned, I've loved learning from you and learning from everything that you've accomplished thus far in your career. It's really inspiring. And I cannot wait to see, you know, all the wonderful things that come from Lead Her Summit.

27:49So if anyone's tuning in and you guys are looking for a wonderful conference to attend and really, you know, kind of network and learn more. I mean, I really, really recommend you sign up and yeah, let us know if you've already signed up. But thank you so much, Dr. Moon. It's been wonderful. Thank you for having me. Hey guys, so I hope you loved that episode. Please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform. We are available on so many different platforms, so wherever it is that you're tuning in, just go hit subscribe. You will be immediately notified when we publish new episodes.