From His Darkest Moment to 50M Followers: How MDMotivator Turned Pain Into Purpose

Zachery Dereniowski (0:00)

Honestly, I think kindness is a very selfish thing.

Derek Andersen (0:02)

How so?

Zachery Dereniowski (0:02)

There's no better feeling in the world than being selfless. I say it's selfish to be selfless. It's like this feeling you get inside when you do something for somebody else, like genuinely like that you can't get from anything that you do for like your own self. Can I be honest with you?

Derek Andersen (0:16)

Yeah.

Zachery Dereniowski (0:17)

I'm not the kind person. My job or my, I guess, calling is to showcase that there's kindness and good everywhere. Black, white, old, young, rich, poor, English speaking, non-English speaking. The gentleman who helped me with my bags, recognized me from the videos, which is common, but then he pulled me aside and he said, I was going to end my life three years ago. And like your videos just like made me feel, and it gave me enough hope.

Derek Andersen (0:48)

Divot.

This episode is brought to you by Google for Startups. Welcome to Divot, where each week I interview interesting and amazing people. Make sure to like and subscribe wherever you watch or listen. Today, we're in Los Angeles, California, with Zachary Dereniowski, the creator of MDMotivator, one of the most powerful voices of kindness, human connection and mental health in the world today. Zachary started as a medical student in Sydney, Australia, shattered by the pandemic, a breakup and total isolation. Instead of finishing his degree, he quit. He moved into his parents' basement and stood outside blindfolded with a sign, choosing people over certainty. That decision went totally global. His community is given over $5 million to strangers on the street and has generated more than 40 billion impressions worldwide. He stood next to people like Post Malone, Cristiano Ronaldo, The Rock, Messi and so many more. Now with over 50 million followers and the non-profit Kindness Is Cool, Zachary challenges how we think about happiness, generosity and what it means to truly be seen by another person. It's all built with three words, kindness changes everything. Hope you enjoy the conversation. Dude, I'm so excited to be here with you.

And I have done interviews with founders of these huge companies and investors and billionaires and all sorts of amazing people. And I have to say that very few have had an impact on me like you have.

And so, to get a chance to just sit down and talk through your philosophy and where these things came from that you've created is just, I feel super privileged. This is like an incredible day for me. So I know, like we just we just officially met recently. But yeah, man, I am pumped. And you came to LA. Yes, I'm honored to make an attract to be here.

Zachery Dereniowski (2:46)

Thank you for having me here in LA, this beautiful studio that you have right over top of crypto.

Derek Andersen (2:50)

Yeah.

Zachery Dereniowski (2:51)

And just to have time to sponsor. Not not sponsored, not sponsored, but yeah, excited to be here, man.

Derek Andersen (2:57)

You live in Detroit.

Zachery Dereniowski (2:59)

I live right across from Detroit.

Derek Andersen (3:00)

How did you get there?

Zachery Dereniowski (3:02)

I live in Windsor most of my life. So there's a board. Windsor is a border city with Detroit. So I live in Canada, but grew up there. My my dad's from there. My mom's from Chicago.

Lived there most of my life. I lived living in Australia for a few years, and the last few years just traveling the world, making people hopefully happy and inspiring others to do the same.

Derek Andersen (3:21)

Yeah, tell me about ending up in Australia, because this is actually really important to your whole story.

Zachery Dereniowski (3:28)

Growing up, my entire life, my goal was always, I want to be a doctor and I want to live in Australia. Don't ask why I want to live in Australia. I always wanted to be in Australia.

Derek Andersen (3:35)

Why did you want to live in Australia?

Zachery Dereniowski (3:37)

Man, I don't know, kangaroos, the weather, the lifestyle. And it just seems so far away that it was like this like land that's just so far away. Like a mysterious kind of. Yeah, you'll never get there, but I would love to always go there. So that was my dream. And then I went to, I finally got accepted into medical school January of 2020 So I moved from Windsor, Ontario at the time to Sydney, Australia. I was living in Sydney during obviously, when I say 2020, what do you think of?

Derek Andersen (4:04)

The pandemic.

Zachery Dereniowski (4:05)