The dad was the instigator, drawing attention to my nails and prompting laughter from his teenage sons—without knowing the reason behind them.

Brenda noticed it immediately: a father pointing, sons laughing.

I can’t help but wonder if their reaction would have been different had they known this was intentional—a marketing ploy to spark conversation and awareness for Parkinson’s Disease. It’s part of my mission to raise $50,000 while training for the Augusta Ironman 70.3.

In that sense, the social experiment worked. It revealed how quickly people judge without understanding the “why.” And yes, I could just as easily judge their reasons—but that’s not the point.

YOU DO YOU. Let people live their lives.

I’m reminded every day that I have Parkinson’s Disease—like this morning, when my right foot and toes moved on their own under the stress of exercise.

I showed up to swim at the YMCA but forgot my goggles, so I got on the bike instead.

One word for red is determination—and I am determined to fight.

Below are two amazing replies that I got on LinkedIn from Ryan Conklin:

This lands. The judgment without context, the assumptions people make in a split second, it’s everywhere. And what you’re doing, turning that judgment into awareness, takes courage most people won’t understand until they’ve lived something that can’t be hidden.

What strikes me isn’t just the nails or the stares. It’s your willingness to be visible with something people will misread. Most of us spend our lives avoiding being misunderstood, me included. You’re leaning into it as a teaching moment, one I needed as I move toward my own year of owning my voice and building a new relationship with shame.

The line ‘YOU DO YOU. Let people live their lives’ is exactly it. The judgment says more about them than you. And the fact that you’re training for an Ironman 70.3 while your body is literally fighting you every day? That’s not just determination. That’s choosing to show up fully alive in a body that doesn’t make it easy.

Grateful you’re using this to raise awareness. The social experiment worked—not because they laughed, but because now we’re talking about it. That’s how change happens.”

May this conversation reach all the way back to those children that were taught judgement over curiosity in the moment.

And May it reach the adults before that next opportunity they face to teach hate over modeling love, curiosity and connection.