Note: The I AM GPH podcast is produced by NYU GPH’s Office of Communications and Promotion. It is designed to be heard. If you are able, we encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emphasis that may not be captured in text on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Aman Chopra: Folks, welcome back to another episode of the I Am GPH podcast. Today we have someone who did his bachelor's in nutrition science, where he dove deep into the world of personal training, wellness, nutrition. And surprisingly, after that he went and he did a master's in sociology. He developed a deep passion to help members of the black community. He believes in equal portrayal of such communities and wants to be a representative to create discourse over such issues such as criminalization, mass incarceration, poverty, which are all public health crises in and of themselves. And now he's here at NYUGPH, pursuing a master's in public health here with us at GPH. We're glad to have you here, Leroy Akoto, and so excited to learn about your journey. Welcome to the I Am GPH podcast.
Leroy Akoto: Thank you for having me, I'm excited to be here.
Aman Chopra: So, I mean, I gotta ask you, you know, it's rare. We have a nutrition program here at GPH that I hear about and I've spoken to some people from that. You started your journey in nutrition and you were a personal trainer, probably making people lift a lot of weights, run, they probably wanted to like run away from you as well. What was that whole journey like? How did your interest in fitness start, and in the beginning, before we get to how you got where you are right now?
Leroy Akoto: Yeah, so my journey and my interest with fitness began with the fact that, so I played football in middle school and high school. So growing up it was a lot of weight lifting, a lot of, you know, meat and potatoes and all that sort of stuff. I was also like a heavier, I was a heavier person growing up, especially in high school. And my weight fluctuated, was like either 250 pounds in solid muscle, 250 pounds of sort of sloppy, 190 pounds and thin. You know, just a lot of fluctuation, a lot of back and forth with my health, with body image and confidence and all that sort of stuff. So when I got to college, I made the decision right there and then, it's like I'm gonna focus only on like, you know, being healthy, being active, eating, and all of that sort of stuff. And I also get into college, I didn't know what I wanted to major in, so it was between like, you know, journalism or psychology. It was like the two majors that people picked before they really figure out what they want to do. So I stuck with psychology for a semester, and then I switched to biology, and then I made the decision to switch to nutrition, 'cause I was like, I'm good at nutrition, I don't really have aspirations to be a doctor. So I wasn't on the pre-med route. And a lot of the bio classes I had already taken, also you take with nutrition, so it was a really smooth transition. So all the prerequisite classes, the orgo-chem, the inorganic chemistry, physics, all that sort of stuff I had already taken. So by my junior year of college, of undergrad, I was just taking all nutrition courses, macronutrient, micronutrient, nutrition, biochemistry, dietetic courses, physiology, stuff like that. So it started off with, again, just my own personal journey, trying to be healthy and stuff, and then deciding I to really help other people become more healthy, so.
Aman Chopra: What was that world like? What was it like working with other people? It starts with your own health, like you mentioned 250 muscle, 250 sloppy, 190, all over the place, and then you figured it out for yourself. What is it like working with other people in that industry?
Leroy Akoto: For me, working with people directly, I enjoyed it. And it was, for me, it's a field where like if you're going to get into it and you're getting into it for like, you know, the right reasons, not like the Instagram followers or like the hundreds of thousands of dollars and the sponsorships and supplements. If you're gonna get into that field for like, you know, the right reasons of helping people be more healthy, you have to be very empathetic. So for me it was, it was just very, very enjoyable because I got to learn a lot about other people. You know, literally just got to learn about other people, and learning about other people is then what allows you to help them achieve their goals. I worked a lot with the general population. So it was a lot of nine to five working individuals, you know, 45 years old and above and all that sort of stuff. They just wanted to move, you know, they didn't care about fitting into a dress or fitting into like, you know, looking good on the beach with like six-pack abs. They wanted to just be able to move and age gracefully. And a lot of them grew up in a time when there was a lot of misconception about nutrition. Is it sugar that we're afraid of? Is it fat that we're afraid of, you know, how much should we be eating, what should we be eating? All that sort of stuff. So for me it was actually very inspirational. They really inspired me. You know, they say I inspired them, but I was really inspired by them, just like seeing like the excitement in their face when they're like, "Leroy, I wasn't able to do, you know, a pushup, you know, five months ago, and now I can do 20, you know, I could walk up the stairs without losing my breath," you know, all of that sort of stuff. So in that sense it was very inspirational. But again, it was personal training as well. So there was the business side of it, there was a sales, all of that kind of stuff that, you know, I just wanted to help people. But you know, overcharging them to the point where like they're unable to afford the services and everything, like that's what really took the passion out of it for me.
Aman Chopra: You mentioned, I see why you left it and I'm excited to hear of how you got into sociology in a second. There was this part you mentioned about misunderstandings of sugars and misunderstandings that people might have about the health and fitness space. When people ask you what are some misunderstandings or misconceptions, what are the first few that come to your mind?
Leroy Akoto: First is calorie counting. So for me there's so many different ways that people go about calorie counting, but I put it just into two categories. There's the, "I'm eating healthy so I can eat whatever I want and I can eat like however much of it I want." And then there's the 1,200 calories and no more type, you know, so pretty much starving yourself. And then there's the, again, I'm eating, you know, the healthy foods and so I can eat whatever I want and all that sort of stuff. And in that, you know, then comes like the understanding of what is actually a diet. You know, so diet is literally like, you know, the foods we eat to make up, you know, like the way we get our energy, the way we get our nutrition and stuff like that as opposed to like the actual fad diets of like low calorie, low fat, and all of that sort of stuff. So really when you say, oh, how's your diet and all that sort of stuff, we're not asking how many calories have you counted today. It's like, you know, what consists of your eating? Is it fruits, is it vegetables, is it, you know, protein? Is it animal-based protein, plant-based protein, nuts, legumes, all of that sort of stuff. So throughout my time, and like my time with nutrition and all that stuff didn't just end with my stint with personal training. I worked for Noom, the health company Noom for four years. And that's where I really worked to help people like rework their understanding of eating and of diet and all that sort of stuff. A lot of people will be like, "I was on this diet for three years and it didn't work 'cause I gained the weight back." And it's like, usually these fad diets call for you to cut out certain foods. So like you lost a lot of weight because you didn't eat like any fats for three years. Your body needs fat, you know. You lost a lot of weight 'cause you didn't eat carbohydrates for however many months or years, your body needs carbohydrates. So what happens when you start reintroducing these foods, these micronutrients back into your eating, back into your lifestyle, you know, it's gonna cause you to, you know, gain the weight again. It's not that the diet didn't work, it's just that diets don't work. You know, you have to actually change your lifestyle. I know it sounds corny when people are like, it's not a choice, it's a lifestyle, you know, that dude's a lifestyle, but like, it really is, like you have to like learn and you have to do it for yourself. You have to learn what you want to apply, what you want to change and all that sort of stuff. I know my body type, my body type is lean and muscular if I like, you know, focus more on like more of a caloric deficit, but like I'm intentional about it. I'm not just like starving myself to like fit into, you know, a pair of pants for like, you know, the summer and then go back to whatever I'm eating later on. For other people it's, you know, slow, steady, complete balanced diet. 30% of every single thing, they don't even have to work out. They just know that if they reduce some of this or like if they include some of this, then they'll get the results that they're looking for and stuff. You can't, you know, get on social media and say, "Oh, so and so did this, so I'm gonna follow this and then I'm gonna get the same results." You know, because it won't work. You can definitely look to other people and the successes that other people have had and use that as a form of guidance, and then you start applying what works for you into your journey, into your lifestyle. You just start following it in that sense, so.
Aman Chopra: I mean, you're very well informed, and what most people don't know is you did this a long, long, long time ago, and now you have done 1,000 things after that. So how did that transition into the world of sociology happen for you?
Leroy Akoto: Yeah, so like I mentioned earlier, I just knew that I wasn't gonna go to med school and I was just sitting with a nutrition degree, and I was like, and this was at the time, so graduating in 2016, you know, we know who was president from 2016 to 2020. And for me it wasn't really just the presidency, it was just like the overall discourse that was happening on social media, on the news, the people I'm speaking with. A lot of, like I mentioned, a lot of the population I worked with, they were older, they were older white individuals that were, you know, pretty disconnected from, you know, the struggles of, you know, a lot of minorities and all of that sort of stuff. And then for me, I just realized, like I'm pretty passionate about a lot of these things. I'm very passionate, I'm not gonna hop on social media and get into a debate with somebody, but just for me specifically, I'm really passionate about it, and I just kept asking myself, like what can I do? You know, what can I do to like, you know, help sort of like generate change in society? How can I like, you know, inspire other people? How can I make it so that, you know, younger kids that look like me, younger kids that, you know, look like other, you know, minorities and marginalized groups and stuff like that can, you know, not only grow up like in a better world but grow up with like the inspiration and the idea that like, yeah, we're gonna continue to generate change, you know, as we get older and all that sort of stuff, not just be complacent with where we are. So I started looking into so many different ways I can get into it. Do I go to law school? Do I study mental health and become a psychologist? You know, what can I do? And sociology stuck out to me 'cause it's like a very, very, very interdisciplinary study. You can do so many things with sociology, there's like eight main branches of sociology that a lot of people focus on when you go into the field and stuff like that. And sociology in general, it's literally just, it's the study of society. It's a social science that studies society, that observes society in so many different ways. So once you get into the field, then you have to figure out, what study of society do you want to engage in? And I engage in social stratification. Why is it that we are stratified the way we are in society, in our communities? What determines or how is stratification determined or how is stratification applied and all of that sort of stuff. So just wanted to do more, wanted to get more out of life and then hopefully inspire others to get more out of life is what led me to sociology, this like very, very big interdisciplinary study. And then once I got into sociology, focusing on stratification and focusing on social deviance is what, you know, led me to my focus here with GPH.
Aman Chopra: Alright, we'll have to take a step back from that one. So what is social stratification and all these things you mentioned, how can you simplify that?
Leroy Akoto: Yes, of course. So social stratification in the simplest terms is literally just how society is divided, like the word stratified is just divided. So by class, by culture, by race and ethnicity and demographic as well, income, all that sort of stuff. Like how are we, you know, divided and dispersed, you know, throughout society, but how do we also have this division within a society and then still also exist in one society and all that sort of stuff.
Aman Chopra: Understood. Were there any experiences in your personal training journey that kind of coincided with the sociology part of things before? Or was it just that I find interest in this and the presidency is led by this person and I've realized that there's an interest in this and I want to just, you completely switched directions. Was there some connective tissue with the previous career that you had?
Leroy Akoto: No, not with nutrition or anything like that. But when I was in high school, my junior year, I took a sociology course, and my junior year of high school, my sociology teacher, she was awesome. We sort of like stay in touch again, you know. Now and then today she's always congratulating me on things. We share the same birthday, so we wish each other a happy birthday as well. But yeah, I was very intrigued by sociology, but again, it was only for like one semester, and then nothing throughout college, you know, stuck with sociology, and you know, a lot of people scoff at, you know, the idea of sociology or the sociology degree. So the interest was there, but like the accessibility to like really study it and stuff like that sort of like went out the door. Once I got to undergrad I was more, you know, science-focused, what can I study to get a job and all that sort of stuff. So yeah, once I just realized, you know, nutrition as a main focus and the fact that I'm not going to med school, like what am I gonna do next? I, you know, went back with sociology, and I was like, let me really try to solidify myself in this field.
Aman Chopra: We've asked this question before, I'd like to hear your interpretation of it. What is sociology? Like, how can you simply describe what sociology is? It seems like you said there's these eight pillars, and you can describe a lot along the lines. How would you describe sociology?
Leroy Akoto: The study of society, point blank.
Aman Chopra: Bam, easy-peasy.
Leroy Akoto: Yeah, yeah.
Aman Chopra: So the study of society for you is what led you into your path of getting a MPH here, and you're at NYU now, so were there any pivotal moments that that said, "Okay, this is the study of society and I have a degree in this right now and I want to go into public health." Where did that connect come in for you?
Leroy Akoto: Yeah, the fact that I couldn't get a job with sociology. You know, it's good for writing papers and it's good to be able to like, you know, sort of like recite theory or sort of explain different forms of theory and all of that sort of stuff, but in terms of the actual work that comes with it, a lot of it you have to like sort of like stay within the academic realm, which is fine. I do intend to stay in the academic realm, but there was almost virtually zero networking when I was completing my degree, mainly because it was COVID. So like the second half I had to complete online and stuff like that. And the other part was just, you know, the job market isn't just, they're not looking for sociologists, you know, they're looking for people who have a master's in social work, or masters in, you know, public health or registered nurses, or you know, therapists and all that sort of stuff. So I moved to New York in 2022, and I was working at a charter school, and working at a charter school is where that, you know, really helped me experience what I had already studied with, you know, social deviance, and you know, minority youth and exclusionary disciplines like suspension, expulsion, all that sort of stuff. I was working at this charter school, and everything that I studied that I said I want to try to fix, I found myself being a part of, you know?
Aman Chopra: For those that don't know, what is a charter school?
Leroy Akoto: A charter school is basically a school that someone's like, "Hey, I have a lot of money, let me just build this academic institution." So it's different from public schools and it's different from private schools, it's its own entity. They can create their own curriculum. They can, like they're funded, they have like, you know, different stakeholders that can fund them. The individuals that start, you know, charter schools, they're usually like billion, millionaires. Some are billionaires, so they fund the schools, they create like their own rules, how they want to insert, you know, academics into certain children of the children who decide to go there and all that sort of stuff. LeBron James started a charter school, the I Promise School, you know, so yeah, it's separate from public schools and private schools, do their own thing.
Aman Chopra: And then that's how you saw those things that were so evident to you before you even came to New York and started working at a charter school, you started noticing it over there.
Leroy Akoto: Yeah, like honestly, I thought I was gonna work for like the department of education or something, and I was like, this is the best I can do. but I got this charter school gig, so I worked there. I just again was seeing like the disconnect between like the faculty, the people who are designing the programs and the curriculum, and you know, the children, all that sort of stuff, so yeah.
Aman Chopra: So was the master's in public health over here the missing piece of the puzzle for you? Is that what you felt would take you to the next level that you were looking for?
Leroy Akoto: I think so, yeah, I definitely think so. Because of the fact that my focus, again, like you know, with like criminalization and incarceration and just like mental health, I want to address it on a more macro level, not a micro level. So like, you know, if I was this passionate, I could've gone to law school, I could've, you know, focused on psychology. But my thing is I'm focusing on policy and how decisions are made that impact whole communities, you know, and within those whole communities, like specific individuals and stuff like that. Just like, there's certain things that aren't addressed until like it's time to address it. Like for me, I say incarceration, criminalization, those are public health crises, you know, not the, oh, the individuals who are, you know, incarcerated or locked up, they suffer from this mental health illness or they struggle with, you know, this physical health illness, like heart conditions and stuff like that. We tend to focus on those aspects as public health, you know, issues, but it's like, the incarceration itself is a public health issue. The policing practices itself is a public health issue. So yeah, public health I would say is the missing piece.
Aman Chopra: Did you know that before you came to NYU that these are public health issues? Or did it surprise you that, "Oh, I need a, where was that?" What was that surprise moment for you?
Leroy Akoto: So the surprise moment was when I was like, oh, sweet, there are other people who are thinking the way I'm thinking. When I was studying this was sociology, you know, with my final paper writing about exclusionary disciplines and like the rate of suspensions and expulsions of black youth, especially black male youth and all of that sort of stuff. My thing was, why aren't we looking at it from like a larger scale? Like we're looking at it from individual, from the individual level. We're looking at it from like the school, you know, level, like each individual school around the country. And it's like, why aren't we looking at it on like, you know, a larger scale and everything. And then I come here and I'm like, you know, I'm speaking to professors, you know, I'm listening to students speak, I'm looking, I'm like all over the website, I have like 30 tabs, 30 different NYU tabs of like the different types of focuses I can have and everything. And policy, you know, was the one that like really helped around everything out, you know, like how do we address an issue? How do we bring about a policy to create the change that we want to make? You know, who do we speak to? Who do we involve learning in our policy class? We even have to involve the people who might completely oppose, you know, our way of thinking or the things that we want to change, you know, all that sort of stuff, so yeah.
Aman Chopra: I'm loving this. So you've come here, and now is there a pivotal moment, like you have made these big switches, right, in your careers where, "Oh, I used to do this and then I went to charter school and now I'm at NYU doing a GPH." What's happening for you now? What is a pivotal moment that's happened for you at NYU?
Leroy Akoto: Meeting the people that I've met, some of my classmates, and then also my professors, Dr. Silver. Meeting Dr. Silver was, I would say, the most pivotal moment. I would say she's the closest thing to my teacher from my junior year of high school where I'm just like, you know, she gets me, like she has so many other things going on. She has so many other students that, you know, that she works with, that she focuses on, and her own overall concentration with, you know, public health and all that sort of stuff. But whenever I speak to her, she's like, "I know what you're talking about."
Aman Chopra: Wow, wow.
Leroy Akoto: So, yeah.
Aman Chopra: You got your high school moment here at NYU since you came here?
Leroy Akoto: I guess so, yes, yeah.
Aman Chopra: Has your focus evolved, and for the folks watching right now, Leroy's in his first year in 2024, Leroy will graduate next year in 2025. So you've only been here for a year right now, and has your vision evolved for what it means to go down this path, what you want to achieve? Has that changed a little bit? Has that evolved, enhanced? What do you think, how do you think of your goals right now?
Leroy Akoto: I think my goal at first was to get, you know, into public health and then just see what's out there, you know. But now that I'm here, I've sort of like solidified the areas I do wanna work in. Like I mentioned, again, I'm in the policy concentration, so whether it is working with representatives, like elected officials and stuff to try to generate change or working with like nonprofit organizations or even private organizations depending on the type of work that they do. I just, yeah, I just, you know, I wasn't sure how I was gonna apply what I was, you know, studying to like the actual work that I want to do, but so I wouldn't say my sort of like my concentration or my focus has changed. I would say it's been enhanced since getting here. It's really shed light on the multiple opportunities that are out there and how I should be or how I could be, you know, taking advantage of it and stuff.
Aman Chopra: Are there any classes that give you that perspective? Any life-changing classes you've taken so far?
Leroy Akoto: Yeah, so healthcare policy, last semester in the fall, it's half a semester course, so that's where I did meet Dr. Silver. So healthcare policy, and then right now I'm taking the actual public health policy course, and I'm also taking this criminalization and public health course. It's an elective, but it's one that it's amazing. Like I went in thinking, oh, not that I was an expert, like with criminalization or incarceration, but it's like sort of like you sign up for these classes, and you're like, I want to, you know, sort of like check my understanding, check my thinking, and see what I can take from it so I can apply it to my thinking. And nah, this professor, Dr. Dalia Heller, she has introduced a new way of looking at incarceration and criminalization for the better, for the positive. So those classes have really hit hard.
Aman Chopra: Teach us that way. What does that mean to you? Like, so someone that had been thinking about this all the time, their perspective changed. So what was that perspective? What was your perspective like and how did it change?
Leroy Akoto: Just, I mean, for me, like I knew it wasn't always black and white, but I just always sort of like felt, you know, the system was just built to, you know, police and brutalize certain groups, certain marginalized groups and everything. And Dr. Heller has, you know, helped us understand that, while we do wanna focus on different ways to change the system, different ways of addressing the system and stuff like that, there are also different ways that we can approach what we're doing. So it's not just get rid of like, you know, down with the man and tear everything down, but really, really start applying actual practices and actual approaches that will then not only change the system, but help it be sustained. So like restorative justice, for example, is a way. So looking at different forms of like, you know, bail reform and all of that, are we just gonna get rid of bail or are we going to also figure out a way to ensure that the individuals who are, you know, consistent, you know, characters in this system are left in a good, like you know, left in a good place in society once we take them out of the system and all that sort of stuff. So it was always an "and then what" type of approach that she has applied to us. 'Cause like, yeah, we addressed and we are aware of a lot of the conflicts and stuff like that, but she's also approached, she's also delivered to us an approach of like, okay, now let's figure out ways to like remedy everything that we've done and really, really, you know, take the next step towards making sure we don't come back to what we've been, you know, experiencing with the incarceration system up until this point.
Aman Chopra: Wow, not to downplay what you just mentioned, it feels like a holistic trainer in a way, right? Like kind of looking at things from different angles and approaching it holistically, and not, hey, this solves the problem, go now.
Leroy Akoto: Right, exactly, exactly, exactly.
Aman Chopra: Is there any special community you have here at NYU, your people, people you interact with, any groups you're involved in over here?
Leroy Akoto: Literally just the classmates that I have in the policy concentration. I think even though we all have different sort of like concentrations within the policy concentration, we just all love the idea of policy and public health. So we've just, you know, stuck together, bouncing ideas off of each other. So that's the community that I've really stuck with. And you know, we're all a huge mix of so many different types of people, so many different backgrounds and everything.
Aman Chopra: Before we started recording, you were talking to me, I wanna know about your next steps, right? But before we start recording, people watching so far must think that this is Leroy's area of interest. Leroy started in personal training and nutrition, went into sociology, and now is focusing on this part of public health, but you have a true screenwriter and artist inside you. I'd love to hear more about that.
Leroy Akoto: Ah, yeah, so yeah, I love writing. Writing is the form of art that I feel like, well, lemme backtrack, not just writing, storytelling. So like, you know, I love, you know, telling stories and everything. So near the end of my senior year of undergrad, I just started journaling, journaling my thoughts, journaling my experiences, my struggles with mental health, sort of just like my understanding of what mental health is or like, why did I struggle for like, you know, from 15 up until now, why do I feel better now? And all that sort of stuff. So I started journaling that and I was like, let me just turn this into a story. Let me see what I can do, make it a story, 'cause I know I'm not the only one that struggles with it. I know I'm not the only one that looks like me that struggles with it. And that is very big for me, making sure that there is, I'll say it like this and I don't really care if it's controversial or not, society is not very empathetic to black men. You know, we're not really empathetic to black men, even black men who aren't, you know, so I guess like, sort of like committing crime or like being policed. We just always find a way to bash black men, athletes, you know, musical artists, you know, we just always find a way to, you know, it seems like we're always looking for a negative light to shine on black men. So I take issue to that, but not in the sense of trying to get into arguments with everyone on Instagram and social media and whatnot. My question is, what can we do to change it? And perception is huge. So when you look at shows and movies and you see a bunch of black men just waving guns or, you know, dealing drugs, or like, even when they're the athlete, they have this sort of like cocky, unattractive arrogance to them and all that sort of stuff. My thing is, why are they being written that way? Is this, you know, is this how society sees black men so that they're portrayed that way in films and movies? Is this how films and movies portray us, therefore that's how society sees us? And I was like, no, there's more to us. There's more to our story. I love Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman. I love all of 'em, but it seems like they're like the only ones that continue to be in movies. So my thing is like, what. so if you're a black man, you have to wait till you qualify for AARP before you can be, you know, in a show or movie and be put into sort of like that heroic role or like that empathetic role? So my writing, especially when it comes to mental health, specifically focuses on the way black men have sort of like been neglected, the lack of empathy that we've been shown and all of that. But moving forward, I have so many other stories, like sci-fi stories that don't really focus on mental health or race. It's just for everyone to like, you know, really enjoy. But yeah, the screenplay that I'm working on right now is specifically on my struggles with mental health. And because I'm an anime nerd, I turned it into like a sci-fi fantasy sort of, you know, I put a sci-fi fantasy spin to it where I struggled with the idea for a little bit, 'cause I don't like to romanticize these types of things. I don't like to like, you know, look at it like, oh, trauma is now my strength. It's like, no, like you're traumatized 'cause you're traumatized. You know, let's not, you know, glorify the trauma. But that is one sort of like spin I did put to it was that the fact that a lot of the individuals in the story have superpowers, their superpowers came from some form of trauma that they've already overcome. So now they're utilizing their powers to help, you know, make the world a better place and all that sort of stuff.
Aman Chopra: I love to see that creative side integrating with what you're doing at school over here as well and with all the goals that have developed so far. So let's ask this final question, what's next? You have one more year left 'til you graduate, probably when this podcast, you're watching this podcast two years later, you must have already made that screenplay of yours that comes to life and it must be doing great. But what's next for Leroy at the point you're at halfway through your journey at GPH?
Leroy Akoto: Yeah, so I'm starting an internship this summer working with Correctional Associations of New York. So they are funded by the state. They observe, you know, the conditions of jails and prisons, you know, throughout the state of New York. And the focus is, you know, to help improve the conditions, make it a more habitable environment for the incarcerated populations, help assess, you know, the access to healthcare and like the quality of healthcare that they have access to, and then there's much more. But you know, that's the brief overview of what CANY does. So I'm gonna be working with them this summer and just continuing that sort of work down the line. With the screenplay that I was telling you about, I wrote a short to help sort of like promote the screenplay, and it's also like a scene from my screenplay. I'm gonna try to like start casting and filming for that this summer. And then, you know, just being a nerd, academics, you know, focus on staying on top of that, trying to be financially responsible because I am currently unemployed. So by choice, by choice, but you know, I want to make sure that I stay responsible in that sense. And yeah, just, you know, enjoying my, you know, last year of my 20s.
Aman Chopra: I love it. Folks, that's another multifaceted student we have over here, integrating arts, sciences, the future of public health. Leroy, thanks for being on this episode.
Leroy Akoto: Yeah, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it, it was a great time.
Aman Chopra: That was awesome. All right folks, like, subscribe, anything that you'd like to see on the next episode, any questions you have for Leroy, we'll put all the info in the description, shoot a comment, and we'll see you in the next episode. Take care, everyone.