Episode 5 - From Solo Practice to Purpose-Driven Leader:
The Evolution of Dr. Lina Kim

Join host Aaron Burnett as he sits down with Dr. Lina Kim, founder and CEO of Floss Boss Mobile Dentistry, to talk about transforming dental care through accessibility, innovation, and compassion. From building two thriving dental practices to launching Washington’s first for-profit mobile dental clinic, Lina shares how she turned crisis into opportunity—redefining what it means to serve her community while balancing motherhood, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

Note, this podcast features real entrepreneurs sharing real challenges and solutions. No pitches, no sales - just honest conversations about the moments that shape successful businesses.

Aaron: So tell me your story. Tell me the story of. Your journey into dentistry and how you created Floss Boss. 

Lina: It starts back in 1999. I was a undergrad at University of Washington and then I pursued dental school at the UW Middle School, so I've been like a nine year. Husky huge cheerleader for the Huskies.

And then I did a residency, so it's a hospital-based residency where we rotate through Harborview and Seattle Children's Hospital, the VA and hospital dentistry. So, at the meetup Medical Center, I think it was there that I built my confidence in my dental skills and communication. My strength was definitely children.

My director at Odessa Brown affiliated with Seattle Children's, he hired me, so I did part-time public health, and then I did part-time group practice. I hadn't owned my own office yet, but I was just trying to develop, my own dental identity as a dentist, 

Aaron: Right

Lina: And that's how I came into the public sector is treating a lot of the diverse populations, different immigrants, really understanding the cultures and the backgrounds behind every different country of patients that came through.

Clinic, but we never discriminated. We did the, our standard treatment in terms of education. There were translation services at Odessa Brown, which was very helpful. But oftentimes they would bring their whole families because they didn't have a sitter or the parents didn't have the capabilities to leave their kids at home.

So, it's like their whole tribe. So, there were always bench seating areas for the kids while the other kids got. Their treatment done. And so, I saw the challenges of coming to a dental appointment for this type of community. And so, I started to develop my interest in continuing public health.

So, I did that since I graduated residency. And then in 2007 I bought my own practice from a retiring dentist. And I knew nothing about business because they didn't teach us that in dental school. 

Aaron: Sure. 

Lina: And I had to learn on the job writing checks to employees. I had three at the time. And then the recession hit the next year in 2008.

Got really slow, but that was the time there was an opportunity that came available in Magnolia. And I started another practice from scratch. Mind you, I had a nine-month-old when I bought my first practice, and then a year later I decided to open another practice. Then I had my second child.  I was a very busy working mom.

And having the staff and then learning the business, but then now starting a business from scratch posed many challenges as well. 

Aaron: Yeah. 

Lina: But it was a perfect time to purchase and develop. Back then, construction costs were a lot lower. 

Aaron: It's such an entrepreneur's mindset. Middle of an economic downturn.

That's right, the perfect timing. 

Lina: You look at the timing. Even though my life in itself was challenging, I thought, you have to seize the opportunity when it comes.  I decided to do that and I grew my practice with zero patients. That office started in 2010, 15 years later, I have about 2,500 patients in that office and I outgrew my lower, my first office, my Laurel horse office.

 I was doing both of those. Plus I was raising two kids with my family, and then I was doing public health at Odessa Brown in conjunction to all of that.  I was wearing many different hats, but I enjoyed it. I had many study clubs that I joined, and these are dental study clubs.  we would meet in a group, like a EO forum.

We would talk about cases. So all we did was like delve into clinical cases that happened. And then in 2018, I actually went through a personal crisis before that, prior to that, and then the pandemic hit. When the pandemic hit. I needed a positive outlet and I'm a runner and I run every day and I.

As an entrepreneur, we're very robot minded. We have our set schedule and we have the checklists that we have to check off, and mine is just running three miles every day. But that didn't really help with what I was going through, so I needed to channel this type of energy to something positive.

That was when I attended the EO chapter retreat in Bend, Oregon. And one of the speakers he shared with us, he said, instead of riding the wave, you ought to be ahead of the wave. And in that sense, I thought like, how can that apply to dentistry? For me, applying that to dentistry meant how do I make it more accessible to individuals to bring dentistry to them.

So, I thought of all my patients that come from all over down south to Snohomish County and they are stuck in traffic and they have to take off a whole half day of work to get to my office. And how frustrating is that to come in late? They're frustrated. My staff is waiting to go home, I tell them we, we still are going to see them 'cause I can understand their frustration.

I recognize that time is like the most valuable resource and if I can limit the amount of time that they have to spend to take off work or sit in traffic. Then I've solved the problem and that problem was bringing dental services to them. The whole model of that came about with that spark of that one idea and with that one idea and the pandemic I didn't have investors.

I kind, I invest in myself and my education and this time I invested in, outrigging a Narv bus basically to house everything that I wanted in a clinic, but it's on wheels now. So, I had to use my relationships with bankers that I had in Rogue. As an entrepreneur, we have to develop these types of relationships, professional and business. And I tapped into that, and I was able to not only secure a loan, but have them believe in my model. 

Aaron: Yeah.

Lina: It was the very first one in Washington State. They have a lot of nonprofit models. This was the first one to be a for-profit. My greater mission, because I said I want positive impact, is we want to give back to the community once a month.

And do nonprofit work with this vehicle. That was my mission. So anybody that comes on our team they know our three components of the Floss Boss mobile vehicle is convenience, compassion, and community. We want to really make it ultra convenient whether you have private insurance or you don't compassionately just delivering dental care and bridging the disparity of healthcare.

And also not in a non-judgmental way educating everyone. Whether they're insured or uninsured. And then really the community aspect is what came about where we deliver community service dentistry to patients of, in all different backgrounds. And that became my trifecta model as Floss Boss Mobile evolved.

The trifecta model is like Floss Boss is at the core, which is where we go to corporations and we do corporate dentistry. And we've focused first on larger size corporations. But we've found the challenges of reaching an HR directive with the larger corporations. We pivoted as we do as entrepreneurs.

We pivoted and we went to midsize and midsize work. Better for us and we were able to collaborate with their HR directors and work with them on sending out packets to their employees and getting their employees set up so that they could actually utilize their insurance. Most of these companies say that about 40, 30 to 40% do not have the insurance, but they do not use the insurance.

And because it's inconvenient. So they thought what do you charge? And I was like, we don't charge anything. We just charge the insurance, the patients, because the model is preventative dental care. So we do checkups, x-rays we give them a baseline of where they're at and we treatment plan things for them.

We do offer intraoral scanning, which we can make a night guard. We can make a liner tray. We do whitening in the mobile vehicle. If they needed further treatment or care, I have a huge UW alumni network. So wherever we're at, if our two offices are too far away for the individual, then we refer them back to one of my alumni colleagues from UW Dental School.

Aaron: That's amazing. 

Lina: It works out really well if they're in the nonprofit sector and then they need to be referred, we refer them back to either the dental school or we refer to n the neighbor clinics surrounding. 

Aaron: So, is the mobile clinic in operation every weekday? 

Lina: It’s operating about five times a month. Typically depending on the need or the contracts. We're out there, but usually we have our set nonprofit days already set ahead of time. And during the pandemic, I predicted and my bankers predicted that the interest rates were going to go up. 

Aaron: Yeah. 

Lina: And back then I got the best rate possible, so I decided to purchase one more vehicle ahead of time, projecting that this would be of best value, even though I might be able.

Walking loan bomb. But it's one of those things where it's a risk. We're taking a risk and I was taking a risk. The bank was taking a risk on me. 

Aaron: Yeah. 

Lina: We were all unsure, but they felt confident in me and confident in my history of my practices that they were gonna back me up for both vehicles.

So that's when I. Did purchase both. And one of them we've turned into using for the nonprofit sector and then SBOs Cares. And then the other one is for our corporations. Both are equally equipped, but we do get some sponsorship and some funding for supplies. Yeah. And so that's what we use to stock our nonprofit vehicle.

Aaron: When did you launch the mobile services? 

Lina: The mobile services were launched in 2022. 

Aaron: Okay. So, just as we came out of lockdown? 

Lina: That's right. That's right. And when 

Aaron: a lot of people hadn't been to the dentist. 

Lina: Yes. And back then they said over 30% of the population in the US had not seen a dentist since the pandemic.

I didn't want to be in competition with other dentists. A lot of them raised eyebrows and they thought what is she doing? She's just trying to take business. That wasn't the model at all. And the model was, let's get everyone back to a good baseline, reeducate them on oral hygiene habits because a lot of people actually surprisingly forgot the proper techniques.

Yeah. I would spend a lot of time going over that, going over why one tooth loss costs $4,000 and it's very preventable if you actually utilize the preventative services. That model came about, and I emphasized it, that once we get them on a baseline and they're aware and bringing awareness of their own oral care, they become proactive.

And then they go see like maybe a dentist that's closer, or if they move, they have a great start to the oral care. It's almost like a restart or a refresh. 

Aaron: Yeah. That's very smart. How many patients have you seen through the mobile clinics? 

Lina: Typically in one given day, we can see up to 22 patients a day.

And that's based on like predictable cleanings and x-rays. Checkups. Granted if they have more questions or they have, longer appointment times that are needed. Then we'll usually use, if there's a cancellation during the day, then we'll have them come back from their workplace and we'll see them for further treatment.

Aaron: Sure, yeah. You mentioned culture and the implications of culture on dentistry, which is something I'd never considered. How does culture heritage, maybe in family traditions show up in dental care and what you need to do to make. Train your staff or adjust your practices 

Lina: in both the private and the nonprofit sector.

I can speak a little bit Within the nonprofit sector we've gone to utopia, which is a lgbtq plus community of Asian Samoans. On the outer appearance, they can show that, they care about like, how they're portrayed outside, but inside is they're struggling, like health wise, medical.

Dental. And that was interesting to make sure that we use the correct pronouns. And then really learn like what like transgender really meant. Does it mean like everyone gets surgery? Does it mean you change your voice? Does it mean you take medications? There's such a huge realm of like different types and different.

Personalities that we were able to learn about while we were cleaning your teeth. So it was in a non-invasive kind of environment for them, non-judgmental. And they were really open to sharing what my team came out of, that it's wow, that they have so much great energy. There's so nice.

They just, it was just sad to hear that they were often judged going outside to like a private dental office. They interviewed us before we even went there because they wanted to make sure that we were safe and we were not going be judgmental on their care. That was interesting to see.

But also we noticed that they had a lot of like bone loss and high blood pressure. We collaborated with American Heart Association, that was at this community clinic and right after their appointment, we usually take blood pressure at their appointment. Right after we sent them into the clinic to, take a look at their blood pressure and see if they need medication. So it was like a holistic approach. The other organization that we've also gone to is the real escape of the sex trade. And then those are sex trafficking victims where they are really nervous. Anxiety, depression you have all of that.

But they preferred female providers. Even my whole staff, I had to just take only female providers and we'd made sure that we didn't over, overstaff our vehicle or take too many of their patients at one time. So it wasn't too stimulating, it was very invasive for them to even get a cleaning.

Some of them we had to take 10 steps back and just let them know that they are in control and they can ask us to stop whenever they wanted to. And then proceed if they wanted to or if they didn't and it was too much for them, then we would come back and see them in a different visit. So it was, it really challenged us to listen to them, and listen to their needs and wants and really communicate that.

And also just slow it down quite a bit for them. 

Aaron: How have those experiences informed your practices and care in your offices? 

Lina: My team in my offices are the same team that I take on my mobile vehicles. In my offices they the neighborhoods are very affluent neighborhoods, so they are educated in their own dental care.

They are educated in their insurance, but they oftentimes also do forget about like basics of hygiene. So, we still re reiterate that and we go over that. The compassion is always there, regardless of if they look like they wanna get up out of the chair after five minutes of sitting in the chair.

Aaron: Yeah. 

Lina: We recognize that they're busy having had the patients at these other clinics. Understanding where that individual is coming from. It's almost like you customize the care, on my mobile vehicles and in my offices to the patient. 

Aaron: Going to the dentist is, for most people, not something that they look forward to.

It's anticipated to be an unpleasant experience. It sometimes isn't unpleasant sometimes. But I'm curious what led you to dentistry. 

Because I would assume that as a patient, you probably had similar experiences before you became a dentist. So what created this passion for dentistry in you?

Lina: I started in high school actually. I took a magnet program in Portland. And they had health occupations. For three years my starting my freshman year, I knew I wanted to go into healthcare. We delivered community service, we learned medical terminology. We went to nursing homes. And then in our last year they offered an opportunity to just focus on dental, like dental assisting.

I took that class and then it was then. I we went to the Oregon Health Sciences University and helped the pre-dental students and the dental students there, and I really developed this passion. I really believe dentistry is like an art. I love art. You're an artist, you're an engineer, and then you're a huge problem solver.

Solve these basic problems leading to like really tragic problems that occur in patients. And then you have to decide what's the best solution to this particular issue at hand. That comes with a lot of exposure and experiences, I feel and so I didn't really have a mentor in between from high school to college, but I knew I was driven to go into this field.

And I volunteered for one dentist, but that volunteer experience wasn't the greatest. I just observed, but not really anything hands on. I actually created a program and part of my trifecta model of Floss Boss is to mentor pre-dental students and high school students and dental students.

I train these pre-dental students, and I bring them on to all the community events that we hold, and I develop them not only as assistants, but they are become leaders within my organization. They know how to communicate, they have the communication skills down. They know how to problem solve and these are all things that I struggled with.

And I didn't, I was first gen healthcare. 

Aaron: Yeah. 

Lina: I didn't have anyone to ask or any dentist to be like, oh, how do you do this? Or Can I come by and watch you do this? There wasn't that availability. So, I created that availability for myself to give back to my assistants and I've.

Mentored about 70 of them now, and they all got into dental school except two that had career changes. 

Aaron: That's amazing. Yes. 

Lina: So that's a big, that's what I see as success to me, is like when I can pass my knowledge. Onto them and they can make it bigger and greater and do better than I did when I was their age.

These life skills can be taught at an early age if you have the right mentor.

Aaron: How would you say your dental practices, your clinics are different? 

Lina: I have about six dentists and two specialists. we're a multi-specialty clinic. The specialist that we have is a gum specialist. We have Dr. Pel, and then I have a prosthodontist. His name is Dr. Shevin Hasham. And then I have a general dentist that comes from Bellingham. He has his own practice, but he comes and does surgery for us because he has a passion for surgery. He did a similar type of residency program, and so we tend to keep everything in house.

I do a lot of the pediatrics and the difficult pediatrics because I've been at Odessa Brown, that was like a 22 year training residency. So I don't refer those cases out at all. And if my general practitioners don't feel confident, then they appoint them with me for difficult procedures. And then we have this culture.

I feel like our culture is what I learned to develop during the pandemic. Before, I didn't know what work culture meant. But it's this culture of trusting each other thinking about each other, working together in unison. And that is everyone works hard. But everyone enjoys in themselves and has a great time.

We typically have two events per year. I have about a 95% turnout. The team is just – they want to spend more time together. I haven't been around a lot of offices that want to do that. They usually just want to like work and then go home. But I feel like our offices are different in that way, outside or inside of the clinic.

We genuinely enjoy each other and we're very active. One of the things that I particularly believe in is physical health, which helps alleviate a lot of mental health stresses. Dentistry is very stressful – just physically and mentally. I often host or I fund a 5K, 10K and even a tri. So every year I'm like, or maybe two times a year we'll do a 10 k together as an office. And then we did our first triathlon two years ago. And we've done two in a row of these triathlons, and then we'll do like half marathons. I'm like, who wants to do a half next? And then it might be a full. Creating this and running with them and actually coming through the finish line with them.

And I see my whole team – probably have about 15 people that show up. It just builds this healthy relationship, healthy physical bodies in US because we're so intertwined in our like neck and our spine when we're sitting that it just very liberating to get out there and then see one another and cheer for one another and support each other all through just one goal of staying physically active and healthy. 

Aaron: It didn't occur to me that dentistry would be physically and mentally. Taxing, 

Lina: I think physically because you are sitting in such a microscopic area. And granted it's 

Aaron: controlled,

Lina: very controlled.

We're dealing with tongues and cheeks and muscles that are very, masses that are very strong. And like I'm having to retract with a mirror. My shoulder and my traps usually are very fatigued. After a 10-hour day, we wanna do the best that we can. It is difficult when patients might not see that and appreciate that, and maybe they had a bad day, but oftentimes we feel like sometimes it's taken out on us, but we're only trying to do our best and, this might go wrong or that might go wrong, but it's for me, I have to like really communicate this is what I see, here are the photos, and it's just a lot of communication. So then mentally it's like it's, by the end of the day I'm pretty exhausted.

So, I try to start my days off in the morning at 6:00 AM with a run to get that out of the way because in the evenings I'm usually pretty tired. 

Aaron: It's interesting how you can move through life, encountering people in microcosm and not taking to an into account the implications of that interaction played out 30 times throughout their day, 

Lina: Throughout the day, and then in, in these areas where now, we're also problem solving. We're like, oh, this tooth just broke or fractured. What with this time that I have with their time, can I do what's the best treatment in this situation at this time? And so there's a lot of thinking involved. 

Aaron: Yeah. 

Lina: And then there's a lot of artistry because if we do same day now we're sculpting things inside and making sure it's the right color, the hue, the whole different specialties of being an artist and an engineer and a dentist, I feel like it all comes into play for each patient. It's almost like we have to give our 100% of our thought process into this patient or 

Aaron: Sure. Repeatedly throughout the day. 

Lina: Repeatedly, yes. Yeah. Sometimes there's surprises that you don't expect. Then you have to pivot.

I really think that it's like how flexible you can be as a dentist, understand where that patient's coming from and just listen and maybe pivot the treatment plan to this. Another option for the patient, depending on finances, depending on what their wants and needs are. If they have this one tooth that's really bothering them, are you gonna treat this other tooth or are you gonna treat the tooth that they're complaining about – thinking all of that through. But I love our group practice. I used to be a solo practitioner and I used to do six days a week. But I love the group practice feel, and I think that's another thing that makes us different is we talk about the cases, so I don't have to join a study club 'cause we're talking, all of our knowledge base is shared out loud and then we all make a decision.

It's oh yeah, I think that's the appropriate, that's the best decision. It's not just one person deciding that, but it's a collective effort to refer to our specialists. It's pretty quick. It's, we do it through Slack if we need something more urgent we don't, the patient doesn't have to wait.

We look at the appointment schedule and we can see them like the next day. The other thing that also sets us apart is I do have a therapy dog, and his name is Pep. He was actually our pandemic dog that my kids begged me for, and I said “no” until I said, okay our family actually needs a therapy dog.

And so we recruited him. I had a trainer come out and train him, and he is a therapy dog for my patients that have anxiety. A lot of my patients that have anxiety, they use nitrous and I tell them – nitrous, there's a charge to nitrous, but, do you wanna try Peppa? And he'll just lay on your chest. He's free. 

Aaron: Such a good idea. 

Lina: He just sleeps and the noises don't affect him. He just remains calm and they just pet him and he's hypoallergenic. So yeah, he's it's a win-win for everybody and I can bring him to my offices and my staff just loves seeing a furry staff member roaming around. They enjoy that. It's a relief for them, but it's a relief for my patients as well. 

Aaron: Yeah. We have dogs as well, and we got a puppy, I guess just after we came out of lockdown and my daughters love the dog so much. I have one daughter who's in college. I have another who's at boarding school in New Zealand. Quite often the first thing that we get from them, either in a phone call or by a text is how are the dogs? Or send us a picture of the dogs and then it's, how are we, but first, how are the dogs? 

Lina: It's just like how the dogs greet you first. Your kids might be like in their rooms, but the dogs come out to greet. That was like the best part. Of having our dog is wow, I actually get a greeting. 

Aaron: Yeah. And the dog is cheerful. 

Lina: Yes. No matter what. Yes. Happy to see you. That's unconditional love

Aaron: That's right. 

Lina: Yes. 

Aaron: So what brought you to EO and when did you join? 

Lina: I joined EO in 2018 and one of my good friends, Alice knew her husband was in YPO.

His name is David Niu. After having some conversations, just one-on-one she thought the space that would be created in EO would best suit some of my needs and my business challenges that I was facing. So when she had mentioned it I looked into it and I thought, yeah, maybe that could help.

In addition to doing my study clubs with my dental group, oftentimes in our dental groups, we don't ever talk about finances. It's more the challenge of like, how do you fix this tooth? Or some HR issues, but nothing like in terms of oh, what was your profit like this month or last year? I needed those types of experience shares.

And I thought that they would be helpful for me to see where I stand and what I could maybe do better to grow my businesses. And so when I started, it was a brand new forum that got formed and I think it's eight years later. Three of us still remain in the same forum and we've had additions.

So for a long time I've had, I called them a band of brothers. Because really, I get their opinions on things that I might not think about in leadership, and they're just they're risk takers. And in healthcare, we're risk averse. Like we don't wanna take risks. Like we don't want to, we wanna do things that are predictable.

So it really pushed me outta my shell of thinking outside the box by talking to my four mates. And I thought they're doing this. I think I can try this out and open my mind to different venues and collaborations and relationships instead of just sticking to like the one way that I've been taught in school.

I already had my two businesses, but then when I joined EO, when we had that retreat, that's when they were in full support. When I shared with them the idea, and I love the fact that, everything's prefaced around confidentiality, going over your bottom five, top 5% in personal business and family, I think was very helpful for me at the time. And everybody goes and gets to know each other on a deeper level. So monthly when we meet, we keep up with each other, but we also have our own chat group so people are sharing like photos and things of their family. So I feel like I know their family because they've shared so much, even though I haven't seen their family. 

Aaron: Right. 

Lina: But then they share photos and I know the individual of my four mates better in that sense of who they are as a leader in their businesses and who they are as a parent and who they are, like just as a husband or wife. Just sharing those and the collective thoughts of things. And then when there's an emergent issue at hand. They're ready to get on a Zoom call or a phone call - just like that to help you. So I feel like the support is like unreal. I always appreciate them and yeah, I'm there for them just as much as they are for me. 

Aaron: How has EO changed you? 

Lina: EO has changed me to be more independent and become a risk taker.

Signing those loan documents. I wasn't sure because my office is shut down. 

And I thought,

Aaron: That was really brave. I didn't realize it was still during shutdown. It was bold.

Lina: It was very bold. So like my form mates called me ballsy. They're like, you're taking this huge risk, but good for you. And they were just encouraging me you'll do just fine. You've done fine in your practices. They were my backbone is I don't know about this. And but I started to believe in myself and they gave me the confidence to sign those documents.

And then I got invited to pitch my idea to the UW Business School through Key Bank and they had a pitch contest. And I remember they set aside time for me in forum to pitch to them the same presentation. We talked about dentistry, like how everyone has, that's the number one fear for many. My number one fear was public speaking.

I thought I needed help, and I needed their comments on my pitch and how I can improve it. And they were there for me. They called me right before the pitch I remember. And so I think that support has really changed, like who I am and who I enjoy being around and learning from. When I go to these chapter retreats or chapter events, I meet so many people outside of my forum that I connect with in these relationships are very tangible because these relationships within my forum, even I become clients or they become clients. So it's almost like a great resourcing network for me to have such a diverse crew of different CEOs and entrepreneurs in all different industries. So that's been life changing to be around that and then be motivated by that and then share the same excitement in my own forum. All of us, all eight of us have like double businesses. Like we're running two different types of businesses. It's actually very cool and intriguing to see what everyone's doing. I think it's like very forward thinking, but it's also risk-taking involved.

It's also, everyone's juggling family, but they're also trying to, they're doing these side hustles as well. 

Aaron: I'm curious if you were to think back to. When you joined EO compared to now, can you remember your inner monologue when you joined EO and how has it changed now? 

Lina: Yeah, so when I first started, I was, I wouldn't call myself an introvert back then, but I was going through a divorce or I had gone through a divorce.

I was still just trying to make it as a single mom and then do these businesses, and so I initially thought, I don't have four or five hours to give once a month. That's a lot for me. It was just such a commitment level. But then, when I look back now and how I've evolved as a person and in terms of not just in our forum and like the chapter retreats, but the extra learning that we get. I know every summer they have the jumpstart programs and I've joined. Every year for the last three years, they just recently had one on AI kickstart. And parenting, I feel like it's almost like listening to a podcast, but it's focused on EO. And so I learned so much from those resources and just listening and it's so nice that I don't have to like, go to a retreat to do that.

And I can listen right via Zoom on my time. While I am in between things or even on my off time. EO has helped me grow as a leader just by all the different resources that it's had. I also went to global EO this past spring. I met so many people from all different countries and just the hosts in Korea, they were so nice to share with us. I'm Korean-American, but I don't know so much about Korean culture. They were showcasing all of like Korean culture and what they do. And then I was sitting next to EO Australia. They were just so warm and welcoming and got to really get to know them. And they're like, come visit anytime.

And I have like friends outside of the Seattle US area. That I can rely on or rely on and be social media friends with. And so that's why it genuinely has been like very nice in, in terms of connecting and networking. And then just hearing how others are doing businesses in different countries – it's very insightful. 

Lina: I forgot to mention though, yes. That one of my my first corporations that believed in me were the Seattle Seahawks. 

Aaron: Tell me about that. 

Lina: The mid-sized corporations when we were knocking on doors, the opportunity came about to talk with the director of player engagement.

He thought the idea was phenomenal because it was a private practice Yeah. Coming to them. And they're very strict on their schedules and in terms of being able to get out on a day off to go find a dentist and then go get their checkups done. And so, they thought that this model of they provided the space for me, which they provided right under the flagpole in the VMAC – right across the gym. Very easy for their players to access. And then a lot of their players come from out of state, so it just made it easier for them to come get their teeth cleaned and checked up.

Aaron: Yeah, 

Lina: The model worked and we've been there for three years now. Recently. My most memorable experience in that vehicle at the VMAC was the GM – John Snyder came up to me and gave me a big hug and said, “Thank you for providing these services and coming to us. We really appreciate it. It's been great working with you guys.” 

To me that was very enriching and I thought, if they believe in us, there's all these other corporations that will eventually follow. And recently we landed Nintendo as a contract in Redmond. Our next contract that we're working on is Olympic Heritage, which is DSHS run company.

It's an inpatient mental health facility. It's a for-profit, however, we're working with challenging patients. Safety might be posed as a hazard. And so that was one of the things that I emphasized with the director. My number one priority safety for my staff, 

Lina: So they are working to have security on board when we're treating our, their patients. And then they're working with having someone sitting next to the inpatient while they're on our vehicle. And we had to learn like what we're expecting, because this is our very first time tapping into that community, which will be very rewarding, very challenging, but very promising. And they're so happy that we're willing to work with them on that because they just lack gentle care in general. 

Aaron: Sure. The logistics I'm sure of getting anyone to a dental appointment outside the facility. 

Lina: Oh, it’s very challenging.

Aaron: Yeah. One of the things I'm curious about coming back to the Seahawks is. Did they fit in the chairs? 

Lina: They did, yes, and I made sure of that. Yeah. Before I purchased the equipment, I said, can a 450-pound linebacker make it in this chair? They're like, 450 is a max, without breaking down. Good. Okay. 

Aaron: From kids to Seahawks linebackers. 

Lina: Exactly. And everything in between. 

Aaron: What do you want people to know about you? 

Lina: That do I wear many hats. And I think I'm a dentist, I'm a bus driver. I'm a mom, I'm a mentor. I serve as a public health dentist and then I train residents.

And I have many hats I wear, but I think it comes from the trauma that I've experienced and the resiliency that got built upon it, and then the perseverance. So I feel like those traits is what defines me and who I am today. And I am a very fast problem solver. I think very quickly in my role in my forum. They will never have me give up this role as like I do all the thinking for them when we have our evening events in terms of ordering, in terms of where we're going. They're just, they don't have to think and they love it. And so I naturally play that role in my offices 'cause I feel like I'm an event planner. 

Aaron: Yeah. 

Lina: I plan all these events, but I do that in my, for my own forum. And I feel like that's my special trait. And I love staying active. If there's a EO event where we're running a half marathon or a full or what, those are things that intrigue me and will entice me to attend.

We also had a, an official actually running group at all of our chapter retreats. I dunno if you know about it, Aaron, but it's with Andy Lou and it's with Russell Benaroya. I happened to come down an elevator one morning, gonna go on my daily run, and they were already going running. Same elevator.

We're like, you guys are doing the same thing that I'm doing. They're like, yeah, come join us. I'm like I'm not sure because your pace might be different. Russell's an ultra marathoner, and so I'm like I'm okay. But they're like embracing me. They're like, it's okay. We just go at any pace. 

Aaron: Yeah.

Lina: So it was nice and our group formed and then it grew, and so every year we grab people that want to like. Enjoy themselves on an evening out, but the next morning go at it with a nice run. That's fantastic. 

Aaron: Yeah. Russell is an ultra marathoner and Andy is usually one of the last people to go to sleep.

Lina: That's right. Yes. So they called me. I am like the female version of Andy. Really, because I'm one of the last people to go to sleep, but also the first to wake up, and then get my run in. 

Aaron: That's impressive. This has been a lot of fun. 

Lina: Yeah. It's been a great conversation. Thank you. I loved it.