 Recently, we hosted our first ever pop-up in New York City. We've been dreaming of this since the day we opened our YouTube channel so it was so surreal to see it actually happening. Our pop-up was in collaboration with the Ibrea Foundation. Maybe you remember them from our United Nations vlog where we spoke at their Peace in the Brain conference. They work with the United Nations to provide brain education to underserved communities around the world affected by violence and trauma. We met up with Isabel Pastor Guzman, the program director for the Ibrea Foundation, to discuss event details. We met up with her in Harlem at the Harlem Brain Center, where we would host the pop-up event and it's where the Ibrea Foundation teaches brain education to the local community. The center has a nice, clean, spacious place with plenty of room to stretch and meditate. If you're ever in the Harlem area and need a comfortable place to connect with yourself and meditate, be sure to check it out on your trip. First things first, we had to spread the word to locals about our event. So we went around in a mad dash to local coffee shops and stores to stick our pop-up posters. Here are some photos from the places we got to. Side notes, we were so busy running around that we got pictures instead of videos. Sorry. It was crazy trying to get our brains accustomed to the fast-paced lifestyle of New York City since, you know, we were coming from good ol' country, Arizona. We wanted to make this event about spreading our message of raising mental health awareness for youth and for gathering funds to support the Ibrea Foundation's projects. To spread mental health awareness, we opened our Take Back Your Brain exhibit for the first time at the pop-up. In it, we featured nine people's pictures and stories, including ours, from all over the country of how we overcame loneliness, depression, and anxiety when we were in our teens. We found that regardless of age and where they came from, everyone at some point faced these mental health issues when they were younger. Our goal for this exhibit was for it to be a showcase of people's stories of coming out with loneliness, depression, and anxiety. This depression and anxiety are mental health issues that so many people struggle with silently in the dark, not knowing where to turn to or feeling too much shame to talk about. When we shame something that is so commonly experienced, it creates more separation, judgment, and isolation amongst ourselves, and that is exactly the opposite of what we need to do to heal together. Another part of our exhibit featured an interactive wall where people could write positive messages on sticky notes and leave them on the wall. The way it worked was people could write a positive message, leave it on the wall, and take one that really resonated with them. You leave one and take one. It was meant to be like exchanging notes of encouragement with others so you can feel that you're not ever truly alone. All good things for mental health. Even though it was cold and drizzling in Harlem the day of the pop-up, many people still came to check us out and support the event. We had a great time mingling and eating delicious Spanish tapas with an awesome DJ who kept the vibes on point. Isabelle from the Ibrea Foundation led some brain-based meditations and exercises for everyone there. We got to share about Brain Education TV's mission to raise mental health awareness for youth, which is always special for us to talk about the work that we are so grateful to be doing. Lots of great companies donated foods or raffle prizes to the Ibrea Foundation for the event, and all proceeds went to the Ibrea Foundation for their work with helping women and children in Harlem with Brain Education. We had donations from the New York Jets, New York Philharmonic, City Winery, Skinspa New York, and Insomnia Cookies. And we even had some other awesome, experience-based raffle prize donations by Grapp Studios for a lesson on how to graffiti with an artist in Brooklyn, and the stalemate art soiree who donated a wine and paint session. All in all, our first-ever pop-up was a success. We are grateful to everyone who came out to support in-person and in spirit. Look out for more videos to come of our future pop-up events. Maybe we'll even swing by your town. Let us know if you work with a school and you'd like for us to bring holistic tools to help your students overcome mental health issues of loneliness, depression, and anxiety. See you in another video!