Leading with Purpose: When Advocacy Becomes Entrepreneurship with Rijon Charne, J.D.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:00:00] Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshaping the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few. On the She Leads podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers, revenue, identity, borders, and expectations. There's no sugar coating here, just the truth told by those who are living it. I'm Adrienne Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences, gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads podcast. Hey everybody, I can't wait to welcome my next guest. Her name is Rijon Charne, and she's a fertility attorney and founder of Sunray Fertility Law, one of the fastest growing law firms in the country dedicated exclusively to reproductive law. She represents intended parents, donors, surrogates, and fertility clinics across the U.S. and internationally providing comprehensive legal support for egg, sperm and embryo donation, surrogacy agency agreements, and the handling of complex cross-border fertility matters. In addition to working with individuals, Rijon frequently partners with fertility-focused companies, both established and emerging, to help navigate the evolving legal landscape that is very complex, ensuring compliance, strengthening operational frameworks, and supporting the growth through strategic collaboration. She's also lobbied for insurance companies to cover cancer patient rights to fertility preservation and won. And she recently has been on the TEDx stage San Diego. Welcome to the She Leads podcast, Rijon.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:01:43] Hi, Adrienne. I'm so happy to be here and thank you for the wonderful introduction.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:01:46] Well, I am so impressed by you and I cannot wait for you to share all of your wisdom and goodness. I mean, I I just read a stat before speaking to you that one in six people actually suffer from infertility. And you know, since our audience is made up of women, I am sure that there are plenty of people that are listening in that this relates to. I mean, I I even know people personally that have used surrogates, that have gone through, you know, so many rounds of infertility treatments and and all of it. So, this conversation, I think, is going to be important on many different levels. But I want to I want to actually kick off because you are practicing a pretty specific niche within law. So I'd love for you to sort of give us the background and why you chose to focus your practice in this area of fertility and fertility law.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:02:44] Yeah, absolutely. So I was in law school. I was supposed to be a litigator at a big firm. It was always my dream to kind of be in court and do that, you know, set myself up for it in in law school, did moot court, the whole shebang. And then two days after graduating from law school, I was actually diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a cancer of the lymph node. I was diagnosed by complete and sheer luck. And that changed the course of my entire life. So, you know, while my friends were studying for the bar exam, I was busy studying for the chemo that I was about to take and the radiation and all the rest of that. But one of the things that, you know, came up was that I had the option or was informed to freeze my eggs. And I will say the first oncologist I went to, like when I brought up fertility, he told me, "Why bother? It's too expensive and takes too much time." The second oncologist I went to kind of told me the same thing. The first fertility doctor I went to, you know, wanted to do genetic testing on me and all this stuff. Didn't understand that like you don't have time, this, when you're a newly diagnosed cancer patient. And thankfully I landed up at MD Anderson, which is one of the best cancer hospitals in the world. It was in my backyard in Houston. And so I was very lucky to be there. And one of the cool things that MD Anderson does is they include fertility preservation as a part of your treatment plan. If you choose to go through with fertility preservation, that's completely up to you. If you choose not to go through with fertility preservation, that's up to you, too. But the amazing thing about MD Anderson, and what we're slowly starting to see in the medical world, is people talking about, hey, this is how your chemo can affect your fertility. Would you like to freeze your eggs? Do you want to be proactive about it? This is what the cost would look like. These are the organizations that can help, et cetera. And so that's kind of that was kind of the opening journey for me into the fertility world that I now practice in.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:04:03] Now, you were you were fairly young when you graduated from law school as well. How did you even, I mean, especially being diagnosed with something like that, your your mind, no matter how brilliant you are, goes into a tailspin, right? The emotions take over. How did you sort of know enough to not listen to the to the first oncologist that you went to because I'm sure that he came recommended.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:04:22] Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I was not going to freeze my eggs. The first oncologist had said to me categorically, you've got a 20% chance of infertility, so you know, why bother? And I was like, yeah, that's not, you know, that big of a a big of an issue. So, like later, two days later, I was walking around and all of a sudden that statistic hit me that I could be right, the 20% that the infertility touches. And at that point, right, all of a sudden I was like, wait one second. I don't want to be that potential statistic, right? Like, and being a lawyer, you think about the liabilities and the risks and everything that comes with that. And so, I was like, hold on, hold on. We got to pause right now and, you know, reconsider this significant decision because I was 26 when I got diagnosed, right? I didn't know anything about did I want a family, did I not? All I cared about was passing the bar. I mean, that's all I cared about, you know? So, that's kind of how that happened.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:05:20] Wow. Yeah. I mean, did you have, you know, people in your family that you were able to speak to about all of that kind of stuff? Because I know how important support is.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:05:29] Absolutely. I mean, I'm incredibly, incredibly lucky. I had the most unbelievable family support. They supported me in every way, shape, or form. And, you, we all deal with stress differently. I can actually process stress very, very well. My mom, and then I think about it later about the information that I gathered. Maybe that's, you know, part of going to law school where you're just dealing with stress on a basis, but you know, and then my mom deals with stress very differently. She's very emotional. She shuts down. She can't like process. And so it was very good because, you know, and then my dad, who's like me, very logical, he was quite overwhelmed in this scenario. But once we got together and we put all of our brains together, right, it was you've got enough support there to be like, okay, what are the next decisions and how does that work? But, you know, in regards to freezing my eggs, right, my dad couldn't really understand understand the concept in a sense of why like why was it so important like is it is it really that significant or, you know, kind of thing. And we were quoted, you know, $18,000. And like, how are how is all that going to work as well? Like there was just so many things that that came in. And I remember very clearly like breaking down, that was the point that like I broke down because to me I was like, hold on one second, this is insane. This is absolutely insane. Why am I even having this conversation of being charged $18,000 when I am, you know, a medical necessity in regards to that. And so that's when of course we applied to insurance and then well insurance denied me for not being a medical necessity according to them. And that's kind of what literally like catapulted me into the space.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:07:08] Wow. Yeah. And so how did you, you know, you obviously were going through cancer treatments and you were facing, you know, this this big question about your life and your family's life, right, for the future. How did you, you know, when was the moment that you decided that you wanted to actually do this for a living and advocate for other people and help them through a similar situation?

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:07:31] Yeah. So, once I got denied by the medical insurance company, that was kind of the trigger for me. And I was like, this is insane. Like, if I'm being denied, so is everybody else. And like, how can that happen? And, you know, I landed up working with amazing organizations that were able to get me my medication. And because I was a law, you know, just graduated, I was able to get financial support from different organizations and all of that sort of stuff. But I did not feel okay that insurance was the one dictating who gets technically the right to have the option to have a family and who doesn't. Who are they to say who is medically necessary and not, right? And as my oncologist at MD Anderson told me, my reproductive endocrinologist, she told me that, you know, hey, maybe your chemo this time, right, won't affect your fertility. Maybe it is a lower chance, but if you relapse, then you become 100% infertile. And at that point, is that when, you know, the insurance company's going to deem me to be medically necessary, but at that point, it's too late because you already have chemo going through your veins and your ovaries and all of that sort of stuff. And you usually have to wait a year for it to clear out. Well, you don't have a year if you relapse. So, what happens, right? And so, I decided I was going to sue them. I didn't realize that you can't sue insurance companies really, but you can certainly lobby against them. And I made it my I made it my mission. I mean, Adrienne, I was literally come out of the egg freeze and I was, you know, high from the anesthesia and all of that sort of stuff. And I'm sitting there on the bed like crying my eyes out. And my mom is there and my fertility doctor is there who's still one of my mentors and very good friends. And I was like, "I'm going to change the space. You'll see." And she's like, "You need to calm down. You've just gone out of anesthesia." And I was like, "Yeah, but you're like, I had time to think."

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:09:20] Exactly.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:09:20] I was like, "I was put to sleep and I had time to dream."

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:09:23] Oh my God. I love it. Wow. Wow. That yeah, that that's drive for you, you know. I mean, clearly you were put here to to help people that that needed this because I'm sure that everything that you mentioned about all the support that you got, I'm sure that it was not easy to navigate all of that. And you know, for somebody that might not be as adept at doing those things as you, a law student, you know, it's got to be incredibly overwhelming. So, you started practicing and advocating for people right away. Tell us a little bit about like how you started practicing and then when it sort of transformed into, you know, for you practicing and helping clients probably one-on-one to a business.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:10:04] Yeah, absolutely. So, I once that happened, I kind of knew that this is what I wanted to do. I really wanted to make a difference and you know, it's kind of a bit odd. This industry of law had kind of been been brought to my attention throughout law school and I had chosen to ignore those signs. You know, I I applied for law review at the time. And the first article I was asked to write on was one of the most famous like fertility cases. And I just remember writing an article on it and being like, "Oh my gosh, this is so crazy. There's no law and how do you navigate the ethics and, you know, all of this sort of stuff." And I just remember it was so cool. And I was like, "I wish that they taught this at law school." And then, you know, I was looking for funky types of law my second year. And fertility popped up. And there was a law firm in San Diego that I wanted to work at, but it was too far from law school. So I was like, I don't want to drive 45 minutes, you know, and so there were all these nuances which nobody else that I know of had been like hit with and then, you know, sometimes I think that maybe I was hit on the head with hot, you know, you must do this. Like I'm going to give you a very curable form of cancer and you know, you got to you got to take it. So I do believe that, you know, maybe I I was put here in some way, shape or form to do whatever I'm intended to do in the space, but I'm very fortunate. And so, you know, I once I we had lobbied in Texas. It was just such an incredible experience and I just knew I wanted to make a difference. But most people in this industry are solo practitioners. They're not big firms and, you know, I didn't really have a place to work. Solo practitioners weren't hiring. The bigger firm that I started my career at, you know, wasn't hiring. And I was very annoying. I emailed him probably every month, right? I really, really wanted that job and I had been working at another firm, an amazing firm, doing litigation. And the day I decided I kind of was done with the litigation aspect of things, I landed up getting a phone call from the fertility firm being like, "Hey, a position has opened. Do you want to come in?" And it was, you know, one year later and I was like, "Oh my God, absolutely. Tell me when and where?" And that's when that's kind of how I got into it. And then I worked there for a couple years and then I broke off and and and started my own practice.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:12:35] Wow. Amazing. So, where are you? Now, as far as the the business,

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:12:40] Yeah, so we've grown tremendously. We're now, you know, one of the biggest firms in the space. I have an incredible team of people filled with associates and a paralegal and assistants and, you know, they're the most incredible team. I'm very, very lucky to have them. And, you know, we're licensed nationwide. So, between me and my associate, we're licensed from coast to coast, the Iowa, from West Coast East Coast and somewhere down the middle. Um, and so it's very cool because it's a lot of different laws that you have to kind of take into account, a lot of jur different jurisdictions, a lot of different courts within those jurisdictions regarding surrogacy and all the rules that come along with that. And so it's been it's definitely been a process in regards to growing. There's definitely been growing pains of course as as everybody goes through, but you know, in each phase of the business where you grow from one person to two to three to five to six, right? Like it's it it requires something different from you in each stage.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:13:48] Yeah. And I can imagine as somebody who's so passionate about the the work that your business is doing that it can be challenging at times to balance doing the work with running the business. And I think that that's something that so many of us here that listen into this podcast, that is something that we have to contend with. How how are you sort of facing that challenge and and what does that look like? We're never done, right? So, this all a lesson. We're never done.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:14:14] Never done. You're never done. And you're always thinking if what if you're a business owner and you you want to reach certain levels and certain heights, right? You always are thinking about the next goal, the next win, the the next piece of business you can bring in, right? Like, and how that works. I mean, it's exhausting, but at the same time, right, it's I mean, I find it really fun. To me, it's really fun. It's it's absolutely exhausting. But, you know, going through each phase has challenged me in ways that I hadn't been challenged before in my career, you know, and you know, when I hired my first assistant, right? Uh, so I was doing all the legal work at that point and she was sending out the retainers and, you know, doing all the one follow-ups and all of that wonderful stuff. I was petrified to hire her because I was like, can I afford her? Right? I didn't know. And am I going to have enough work to keep her busy and what am I going to do, you know, from that perspective? And then I landed up hiring a business coach. Yeah. And I highly recommend that to anybody who's building a business because you only know what you know and you can't be good at everything, right? And you hire people who are good at the things that you're not. And then you figure out, okay, how do I balance the marketing? How do I balance the legal? How do I balance, you know, all of this sort of stuff? And he made me put together a, uh, what's it called? A capacity model. So, how much are you at capacity? How much is your assistant at capacity? Right? And I do that every time I looking at hiring and stuff like that. And the capacity model has been amazing because I realized very quickly I was working at literally 150% capacity. So I was sleeping three hours a day and all that stuff. It's not good.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:16:08] So what do you do?

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:16:09] And so you know working with somebody like that who can see it from a different perspective. I mean has been incredible.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:16:15] It's so interesting too, right? So it it's this double bind where you want to do everything possible to help all of the people that that need your help and then in that process you end up harming yourself and I'm sure that that's something that is at the top of your mind go having you know gone through a health crisis you do not want to be putting your body into any you know unnecessary stress because you don't want to have any type of a health crisis ever again I I can imagine.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:16:44] Correct. No, you definitely don't. You definitely don't. But at the same time, you also don't want to like disappoint your clients, right? Right? You don't want to drop the ball on something for them, especially in an industry like mine where it is so emotionally charged and it's so personal and, you know, they really are trusting you as their attorney to really help them through one of the most like pivotal points in establishing a family, right? And that's a huge responsibility because if you drop the ball, right, then you've dropped the ball on your client which could potentially destroy them from getting the surrogacy that they wanted or getting the egg donor that they wanted or, you know, whatever it may be. And that's a that's a huge stress that I, you know, I take really close to heart because I would never want to put a client through that. I went through it, right? I know how it is. And I know how it was to navigate the fertility world on my own with, you know, at at that time there was no help. I went down a Google rabbit hole and landed up getting lucky, right? And so I try and really be as much of a sounding board and advisor to clients beyond just being an attorney 'cause I never want them to feel what I did.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:18:03] So, can you talk a little bit about the the different areas that you help people? You you mentioned surrogacy. I I'm sure that there are so many just, you know, legal requirements and documents and everything has got to be so detail-oriented. I mean, I've heard some pretty, you know, bad stories and then also egg donation. These things seem, you know, like, okay, I I can expect that I would need some legal help with that, but what are some of the other areas that you help people in this whole realm of fertility and fertility law?

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:18:37] Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, sperm donation, it's kind of similar to egg donation, you know, but putting contracts into place, a lot of people are like, "Oh, I know somebody who will donate the sperm. I know somebody who will donate their eggs and like, you know, we can just like do it and it's like not a problem." And like, no. No, that's actually not the case because you have to establish parentage rights, right? And how do you terminate somebody's parental rights and establish those parental rights for the parents, right, who are going to be using those eggs? Because, you know, in 10 years from now, right, I always say like I'm the lawyer. I have to think of the worst case scenario. And if 10 years from now, if you haven't correctly put through all the the documents and contracts and all of that stuff, what happens if that donor is unable to have children of her own? Right? And then she maybe wants those embryos or she wants to try and gain rights to that child, something along those lines. And you just never want that door to ever be opened. And the way you do that is by having really tight contracts, right, that protect parents from all of those aspects, especially in states that don't even have statutes, right? A state like California or Texas very clearly states that anybody who donates their eggs will never be considered to be the legal parent of any child born to the parent. What about states that don't have any statutes, right? What are you going to fall back on if you don't have a contract in place? So, that's really important. So, that's a big chunk. Embryo donation too, which is just so beautiful, right? It's people who have embryos created for using their own gametes or donor gametes, but they've completed their family. They have children and they don't want to destroy the embryos, so they donate them. And it's incredible because you'll see two families come together, right? You got family A who donated, who has children, and then you got family B who they're donating to, who lands up having children later, and how, you know, they become like cousins and friends and relationships. And it's I mean, it's incredible because they're sharing genetics, complete 100% share of genetics. So, it's it's it's really incredible to see that sort of stuff, you know, but then beyond the obvious, like you said, Adrienne, we do stuff like stepparent adoptions or second parent adoptions. So, take a lesbian couple for example, right? Take one of the mothers who is going to be using her egg as well as giving birth, right? Her wife, for example, will not have any parental rights to that child. She's got no genetic connection and she has, you know, she didn't give birth. So, how can she be established as the parent? So, we do a steparent or second parent depending on which state you're in and they kind of go interchangeably in a sense, but we establish legal rights for that second parent so that she has the same legal rights. So, if same sex marriage is overruled, right? And it goes back to how it was, that non-genetic parent is still considered to be the legal parent of that child. So that child can never be taken away from her, right? So that's really important and something I love to do.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:21:49] Yeah. I mean, I I you know, it's like I can't even imagine some of these scenarios that could happen, especially given, you know, anybody listening, I think you know my position, but you know, given this current administration, anything could happen, right? And so in order to make sure that families remain intact even when you know, not everybody stays married forever, right? And you just don't want to add any layer of, you know, complication or or anything like that that would cause any strife. So it's really a beautiful thing that you're you're doing. You know, I I wanted to bring up that terrible tragedy that happened in Palm Springs last month. You know, there's there's definitely I think some controversy around, you know, fertility and and fertility clinics and everything and it's it's so heartbreaking. And I don't I don't know if you saw, I just read this that there was a somebody who supplied the actual bomb materials and he was arrested just I think it was today at JFK airport. So yeah, so you know, I I thought that you might want to hear that because, you know, thank God that that we're taking all this action to just protect people. I mean here here fertility clinics are doing something that is so beautiful and not everybody perceives it like that. Do you ever run into any type of, you know, controversy or anything in in the line of work that you're doing?

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:23:25] I mean, I definitely controversy, right? I mean, just me in and of myself, right? I'm controversial, right? Because I help couples who are non-traditional, right, have babies, whether that be gay couples, lesbian couples, anybody part of the LGBTQ+ spectrum, right? Like that is automatically considered to be controversial. And, you know, I've definitely had interesting conversations about that, right? And then, you know, abortion gets brought up, right? And abortion is something that we have to contract about and draft our contracts about and that can upset some people. How can you write about abortion? How could you make it a material breach? How can you, you know, and I have to explain myself to them on how we have to do that, right? And how it's actually done and how it's worded correctly and how everybody understands what they're signing up for and all of this sort of stuff. But, you know, I'm controversial in and of myself. And so, absolutely face questions about this all the time. And you know, sometimes you can bring light to the conversation because maybe they have never understood how it was to create embryos. Maybe they don't understand the science behind that, right? And they just understand maybe with their limited knowledge what it is. So I'm I'm not ever really defensive. It's more I'm going to educate and then if I can educate, fantastic. And if I can't and you're still in your position, that's totally fine. The world works and everybody has their rights to their opinions, you know, it just the conversation will just kind of end there. But, you know, in in that aspect of things.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:25:01] Well, I love that you are using your voice that you're using your story to bring attention and to also bring so much joy to to people. We definitely more of that in the the world for 100% sure. And even, you know, you just getting out getting on the TEDx stages talking about your story. I really admire what it is that you're doing and I hope that everybody that's listening in that is looking to take their business to the next level recognizes that we all have a story to tell. And as women, we need to do these things that are bringing more attention to the to the lives that we lead and the challenges that we face. I think it's more important than ever before. And that's why I'm so, you know, in my own little way with this podcast, being able to shine the light on people that are doing really good things in the world. I just think that more women need to to to stand up and and speak out so that maybe, you know, some of the people that are are not as informed about the issues that we face that they can listen in and and be more informed. So how can people if they, I mean, one in six, right? One in six people are touched by infertility in some way, shape or form. So I'm sure that everybody's family, you know, somebody in everybody's family is suffering from this. How can people just get in touch with you, learn more information, get educated about all this? 'Cause you're a resource, an incredible resource.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:26:44] Absolutely. So, you know, I mean, that's one of the things I touch on in my TED talk. You know, all my all my girlfriends have frozen their eggs. I push them, right, through my education of why it was so important to freeze your eggs. Now, all my friends have done it and they're really grateful that they've done it, right? It's it's tough and it's it's a mental, you know, thing to kind of get through and get over, but they're all super grateful for it because, you know, some found out some fertility issues. Others are like, "Cool, I'm good." You know, and a couple others were diagnosed with cancer, but they already had their eggs frozen. And so, you know, it's just kind of like from

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:27:26] That's an insurance policy.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:27:28] Exactly. You know,

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:27:29] Family insurance. Yeah.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:27:30] Exactly. And people talk to me about it all the time. They're like, "Oh, well, you know, there's no guarantee with the eggs." I'm like, "Correct. There is absolutely no guarantee. And anybody who tells you anything otherwise is lying to you. But at the same time, if you think that you ever would like to have children of your own and you don't have a significant other yet or whatever it is, right? And you're not ready to maybe be a parent on your own, right? Like why should you potentially not have the ability to potentially preserve your fertility that you may or may not use in the future, right? And so in my talk though, because it is so expensive here in America because it's not considered to be national healthcare like it is in many other countries, right? How can you kind of like be vocal about it and how can you kind of get help and where do you turn to? And you know, I always say to people, number one, if you're working at a company, right, go and speak to your HR about it. They may give you a reimbursement, a cash reimbursement. Maybe they've got fertility benefits, but if you don't know and if you don't ask, you'll never know what they have. And that could really make the world of difference to you, right? Or it could bring attention to your company and they didn't realize that they had fertility benefits before. Number one, and I'm happy to help with that, right? Some people are very overwhelmed or scared on how to do it. Like that's what I do, right? We will draft a letter for you. You can go and speak to your HR company and kind of how that would work. You know, I mean, obviously getting in touch with me regarding whether you're wanting to freeze your eggs and you want to know really great clinics or, you know, maybe you're a couple and you're married and you've created embryos, but what do we do with those embryos? Those embryos should be treated the same way as what do you do with a house? What do you do with a car? Like, you know, I don't like to use the word property because they're not property, but they are a very valuable resource. And we see unfortunately a lot of litigation or mediation around divorce and what do we do with the embryos? And a lot of clinic forms that are supposed to be guiding in this are terrible. Like I read one the other day, right? There a couple is going through a divorce and they've got embryos and I was like, well, let's see what the consent form says. And the consent form says, well, you can give those embryos to the partner if he or she wants. Who's the partner? There's no definition of partner. And you know, you use he and she and so who is the partner if it's a lesbian? Like, you know, so you see these things, you're like, great. Well, that's not going to help anybody, right? And so, in terms of anything that reproduction touches, right, I am I really am a resource. And I say to people, don't use Google. Google is terrible. It's really bad. You get a lot of people who have had really bad experiences through this and that's all they want to talk about versus the people who have had amazing experiences. Not everybody wants to disclose that, right? Either and so whether that's HR, whether that's you're wanting an egg donor, whether that's you want to understand how to even find a sperm donor, a surrogate, you know, hey, I found a surrogacy agency, but I have these thousands of pages. I don't even know where to begin. Can you help me review that? Right. That's absolutely all the stuff that we do to make your life easier.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:30:35] Beautiful. So, can you just share your your website, maybe your LinkedIn?

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:30:40] Yeah. So, on LinkedIn, I'm the only Rijon Charne, like so, you know, Charne. And then my website is the name of my firm. It's called Sunray Fertility. And, you know, that name means a lot to me. It's my dad's mom, her name was Rey. And they just said she was just like a ray of sunshine. And you know, so that that name has always been like very like precious to us. And so when I started my law firm, I named it Sunray Fertility because we try and, you know, make their journey as beautiful as a ray of sunshine. And that's kind of, you know, what where it come from. So Sunray Fertility. But yeah,

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:31:37] That is so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I'm, you know, it's it's sad that you had to go through a health crisis, but look at what you've done with that. So, that is just such a beautiful, beautiful thing. And I really appreciate all the work that you're doing for all of the people and all the families. And it's it's just been a pleasure speaking with you.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:31:58] It's been a pleasure, too. And, you know, just one last piece of advice out there because for anybody who's going through the growth pains or, you know, whatever it may be. Number one, find yourself an incredible mentor. Somebody who's proud of you, somebody who wants to propel you, somebody who wants to have your back. Because when you've got those people behind you, um, when other people try and bring you down, which they do because the more successful you become, the more of a threat you become and the scarier you become, you have people who can look at it from a non-emotional perspective of how do you push forward past that negative, you know, influence of of people who are truly threatened or competitors or whatever it may be. That's number one. And number two, one of the best piece of advice I got, which I learned a little too late, but now you know it's better late than never. Hire slow and fire fast.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:32:51] Oh yeah.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:32:53] And when your gut is telling you something is wrong, listen. It's maybe uncomfortable and it's really hard to do, but you know, the faster you can do that, the quicker you can propel forward.

HOST: Adrienne Garland [00:33:04] I love it. Well, thank you so much and we'll put all of these resources in the show notes and all of this great advice. Have a great day.

GUEST: Rijon Charne [00:33:10] Bye.

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