Conversations with Katherine Lizardo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine Lizardo

Hi Katherine, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started my mental health journey unexpectedly – while sitting in my college professor’s office, crying uncontrollably. I visited her office hours to talk about my upcoming paper. Then, like a torrential rainstorm, my eyes suddenly filled with gushing tears. I couldn’t breathe. I wept and wailed while trying to get a word out to say, “I…don’t….know…what’s…happening…to…me!” My embarrassment was telling me to run away from her office quickly. But I could hardly move. I felt completely out of control of my body and mind!

But despite my panic, I saw her kind eyes. I can still vividly see her compassionate face looking at me 25 years ago. She said, smiling gently, “I think you have severe depression.”

I didn’t know what “depression” meant at the time. Having been born and raised in the Philippines and immigrating to the US when I was 16, we never used the word “depression” in my family. I don’t even know its translation in Tagalog, my native language.

My professor suggested I visit the free counseling service on campus. That was my only option since I didn’t have health insurance then. The waitlist was long though, and I couldn’t receive regular treatment. There wasn’t enough resources for mental health on campus.

Not until after I graduated college from UCLA and had my first job with health insurance did I finally have the means to seek proper mental health treatment. That was two years later from my breakdown with my professor.

I’m grateful that my first psychiatrist was well-informed about Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). That was in 2001 when most doctors either didn’t know much about ADHD or were skeptical about diagnosing it.

When he diagnosed me with ADHD – another term I wasn’t familiar with at the time – he changed my life for the better. He prescribed me ADHD stimulants, and we had weekly one-hour therapy sessions. I’ve been in therapy once a week and have been taking ADHD medication for over 20 years since then!

That’s how my mental health journey started – with my compassionate UCLA professor and my gifted psychiatrist. Without them, I would not have been able to begin my ADHD journey feeling supported and capable of reaching my full potential.

I then married my high school sweetheart, attended and completed law school in two years instead of the typical three years, graduated magna cum laude, became a published author in Law Review, worked for a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge, passed the Bar exam, worked at law firms, and eventually started my law firm in California and Texas. I’ve been practicing law for over 19 years.

In June of last year, I founded my mission-driven company, ADHD Life Simplified. Our mission: to support Moms with ADHD in embracing their ADHD – without shame, stigma, and judgment – so they can find peace and confidence.

As an extension of our mission, I recently created the ADHD Simplifiers Community. It’s an online community for ADHD Moms and families, as well as ADHD supporters. It’s a safe space for members to be who they are without fear of judgment or being shamed. It’s a supportive environment with like-minded people who understand what we are all going through as neurodivergents.

ADHD Simplifiers is the beginning of making my vision come true – to help create a heart-centered, culturally sensitive, and safe world for ADHD Moms, kids, and families to navigate and celebrate their neurodiversity free of shame, stigma, and judgment.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My journey took a lot of years, tears, and fears. While I’ve been successfully practicing law for 19 years, I have a burning passion for making a more significant impact on the world. At first, I didn’t know how or what I was meant to do.

Then, using Deepak Chopra’s term, synchrodestiny stepped in. First, I had unexpected opportunities that led me to become a Professional Speaker on mental health issues.

For example, my regular media appearances on Law & Crime Trial Network as a legal analyst allowed me to reach our inquisitive global audience, curious about my ability to be a lawyer with my ADHD. I received messages from our viewers in other countries asking how I became a lawyer despite my ADHD. I also landed a TEDx Talk about embracing ADHD. As you’ll see from my Talk, which is available to watch on TEDx’s official YouTube channel, it’s the first time I’ve shared my ADHD journey publicly.

From there, my mission-driven company, ADHD Life Simplified, took a life of its own! My plan was to grow my law firm in Texas after my family and I relocated. But little did I know another humbling plan was in store for me.

Now, as a thriving ADHD Mom of two young boys (ages 13 and 4), I support ADHD Moms and their families feel seen, safe, and supported. This mission is personal because my eldest son and I have ADHD. We have a loving and supportive neurodivergent family. I want other struggling families to know that it IS possible, and I can show them how.

And here are two easy and fast ways they can start embracing their ADHD if they’re open to a different perspective.

Firstly, they can access my FREE, updated information, tips, and tools across my social media platforms with our handle @ADHDLifeSimplified. Many who can’t afford healthcare have phones, so I meet them where they are through social media.

Secondly, they can experience belonging in a no-stigma, no-shaming, no-judgment Community of like-minded people by joining our ADHD Simplifiers Community.

As an ADHD Simplifer, I’ve been simplifying ADHD since my late diagnosis as an adult.

So for over 20 years, I’ve lived through the evolution of ADHD research, medications, and treatment. I’ve read, seen, and tried them as they got updated. I was my guinea pig!

I didn’t know anyone else with ADHD for a long time. So, I didn’t have anyone to exchange experiences with, especially with medication and treatment. I had no one to ask about ADHD tips and tools that worked for their personal experiences. I felt I was on my own, apart from my therapists, doctors, and husband.

That’s why I created our ADHD Simplifiers Community, so ADHDers don’t have to feel alone anymore with their ADHD struggles.

My Community members and I share stories and questions about our ADHD and life adventures. We have members from other states and countries, such as Ecuador, the UK, and more. I’m grateful to have such a wonderful support group! It’s a community that all of us are co-creating to fit our ADHD needs.

Our diverse and inclusive members fill me with gratitude daily! Because our Community is online, our membership has a national and global reach.

Locally, I am expanding our membership to ADHD Moms, families, and supporters from Nashville. Tennessee, like many states, is struggling to provide ADHD resources, and I’d like to provide tangible support.

The prevalence rate of ADHD in children in Tennessee has been much higher – at 13%- compared to the US in general, which is at 10%, according to the CDC.

Tennessee also has roughly 172,000 adults living with ADHD, based on its population size by the US Census and a recent study in Psychiatry Research updating the prevalence rate of adult ADHD to 3.1%.

That’s why I invite you and your Nashville readers to check out and join our online ADHD Simplifiers Community for Moms with ADHD. ADHD supporters are welcome. I aim for it to be the Number 1 safe space, no-stigma no judgment community for Moms with ADHD!

I continue to pack it with tons of curative resources, tips, and tools based on my and my members’ ADHD experiences. Since it’s new and still developing right now, it’s for $7 only.

Also for full transparency, the membership helps offset our costs and fund our mission to support ADHD Moms globally.

If you know someone who might benefit from this Community, please let them know that this supportive and creative resource is available for them!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m most proud of and known for the title “Best Mom Ever!” my two boys gave me. I adore my teenage son and my 4-year-old son.

They are the reason I can authentically call myself a “Thriving ADHD Mom.” Every day, I feel blessed to be their mother.

That’s what sets me apart from others—that embracing ADHD is not a marketing strategy but my way of life. I say it. I live it. I breathe it.

I AM a thriving ADHD Mom with compassionate and capable kids and a loving neurodivergent family. I have done it; I know what is possible. And I am willing to share everything I know without holding anything back!

As an ADHD Simplifier for two decades, I changed my perception of ADHD, my medication, treatment, and tools as ADHD research, medications, and treatment also evolved and were updated during those 20 years.

With all the ups and downs of my ADHD journey, I believe in giving all the information for free! Adults with ADHD, girls and women with ADHD, and people with ADHD from all genders, ages, and cultures – all of them must understand what information they are missing – what they need to know to embrace their neurodiversity. I didn’t do this when I was diagnosed. I want to help others not experience the same hardships I endured.

Information liberates. So, if I have helpful information, I share it!

Once ADHDers have this helpful information, if they need support implementing it, that’s where my expertise truly shines!

I am a Guide for Moms with ADHD. I support them in being accountable, finding who they are again, restoring their confidence, and practicing self-compassion so they can feel peace. I am their biggest cheerleader!

To put that into context, here are the specifics of what I specialize in.

To find FREE ADHD information, I share it on my social media platforms with the handle @ADHDLifeSimplified. I meet people where they are—on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Pinterest.

As I previously said, most people nationwide and globally waiting for their health insurance coverage or mental health treatment have phones. I use social media to bridge the gap between the long waitlist and lack of money.

Since most platforms have limited characters when sharing information, I dive deeper into my free Blog Posts on my website at www.ADHDLifeSimplified.com. That’s where I expand my thoughts about the updated research and tools I share on my social media.

My social media and Blog Posts already have tons of vital resources and tools—all for FREE! I invite your Nashville readers to check them out if they’re starting their ADHD journey.

For Moms with ADHD who are ready to take it to the next level and who are willing to put in the work to reach their full potential, the ADHD Simplifiers Community is where they belong.

As members of our exclusive Community, I engage with them directly in the form they’re most comfortable with—whether through questions they post to all our members and me or by sending me a DM directly inside our Community. I respond to all of them!

It takes courage to reach out and ask for help, so when an ADHD Mom messages me, I reply and support them the best way I can. My commitment to my Community Members is to always respond to their messages. All of them!

Members also connect, collaborate, and cultivate with other Moms with ADHD. Finding like-minded people who are open about their ADHD can be hard. Finding people who won’t shame, stigmatize, and judge you can be impossible. Inside our Community, I have guardrails to ensure it is a SAFE space for all our Members to express who they are without worrying if they say too much, sound cringy, or act weird. “Weird is the side effect of being awesome,” I remind my members and family!

In full transparency, I hope the membership covers our costs since we currently rely on my savings and loans to fund our global mission of supporting ADHD Mothers. My ADHD Simplifiers Community membership is $7 per month only because it’s new and still developing. Members can cancel anytime. I continue to pack it with my curated ADHD resources and tools based on my 20-plus-year ADHD experience.

For companies, organizations, and event organizers, I welcome the opportunity to share the much-needed message of embracing ADHD without shame, stigma, and judgment as their Keynote Speaker. Being a professional speaker is rewarding because it’s not about me; it’s all about the message! So whether I’m talking to one person or a million, I focus on energizing the audience with the uplifting message they need.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
A significant risk I’m currently taking is scaling my mission-driven company, ADHD Life Simplified. It wasn’t part of my plan initially.

Early last year (2023), I planned to grow my law firm in Texas, focusing on car accident cases.

Later that same year, it’s fascinating how the message of “Embrace ADHD without shame, stigma, and judgment” evolved into my company, ADHD Life Simplified. As I mentioned earlier, it seemed to have a life of its own. It was almost as if the message was demanding to be brought to life!

As more and more Moms with ADHD and their families ask for support, and as more ADHD supporters reach out to me, I am slowly winding down my law firm to focus exclusively on this movement that’s bigger than myself.

ADHD Life Simplified, with its extension through the ADHD Simplifiers Community, is now THE PLAN!

Taking risks always involves risks for my family, not just my business.

For my family, the financial risk is substantial. Can this support my family, especially my kids’ needs? A study published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology says that the total economic burden per child with ADHD was roughly $15,000, compared to almost $3,000 per child for neurotypical families. That’s not even considering treatment expenses, which can be exponential depending on a person’s health insurance coverage, if any.

My ability to serve others depends on my ability to serve my family. Most entrepreneurs don’t talk about this reality.

Another risk I have to consider is the mental and emotional toll of serving ADHD Moms and their families who have experienced a lifetime of shaming from their own families and communities. I’m a highly sensitive person. I feel their pain as they vulnerably share their struggles with me. I cry with them. I cry at home when I think about them and what they’ve been through.

I remind myself that I can only fill their cup if my cup is filled. That’s when my 20-year experience, treatment, and medication kick in. Going to therapy once a week for over 20 years helps me process all that pain so I can transform it into supporting them instead of spiraling me into depression.

These are some of the risks I currently face.

Risks take a lot of forms. Most people only see the tangible ones. But, I have to consider tangible and intangible risks.

I view benefits the same way. Often, the intangible risks and benefits—the ones no one else can see—can weigh more than the tangible risks and benefits. I’m built this way.

With ADHD Life Simplified and my ADHD Simplifiers Community, the intangible benefits outweigh the risks exponentially.

If I could support one person with this mission, I would have reached my goal!

It only takes one Mom with ADHD to break the cycle of shame and stigma within a family and transform generational ADHD into a family legacy of connection and compassion.

I am that thriving ADHD Mom for my family; I want to pay it forward by supporting other ADHD Moms to become that for their own families.

I’m in the middle of one of the most significant risks I’m taking in my life and my family’s life! I hope you all stay tuned and join me in this fulfilling journey!

Pricing:

• $7 per month for ADHD Simplifiers Community membership

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.adhdlifesimplified.com/speakerpage
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adhdlifesimplified
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adhdlifesimplified
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ADHDLifeSimpli
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LawyerKatherineLizardo
• Other: https://www.skool.com/adhdlifesimplified/about