Laugh for Mito Gala – San Diego 2025
We were at the Laugh for Mito Comedy Night Gala this last Saturday in San Diego.
The BlueOakNx team – Sonya, Monica, and Sundeep – were at the event because the Mito Mom community in San Diego were having their annual gala to raise funds to support cutting-edge pediatric mitochondrial research at the UCSD Metabolic and Mitochondrial Disease Clinic.
The Mito Moms – Christina, Ashley, Megan and 15 Mito Families of San Diego – also planned to fundraise to support 10 families with a year’s supply of Mitokatlyst™ – E.
Now that it is all over, I thought about all the things I wanted to say but did not think to say in my 5-minute talk… so here goes:
We were at the Laugh for Mito Gala because …
My daughter (who is graduating with an MBA this May) has a rare mitochondrial disease.
My husband (the class clown; we met in high school) loves comedy; and, even during the toughest of days, has us cracking up laughing.
It all started at UCSD
Dr. Robert Naviaux, founder of the MItochondrial Center at the University of California at San Diego, says that the first book of medicine – for the first 5,000 years – has been all about dealing with acute injuries (fixing broken bones) and infections (from measles to malaria). The focus has been on symptoms and pathogenesis, or what makes you sick.
Today, with one in two Americans suffering at least one chronic disease, Dr. Naviaux proposes the second book of medicine, one that views the body as a system and focuses on Salugenesis, the body’s innate ability to heal itself. All the action is inside the cell, and starts with the mitochondria, which make 90% plus of the energy that fuels every biological process, including the healing process.
There are no coincidences
We were at the Gala because after showing dozens of deep tech startup founders how to scale their companies, The Monarch Mavens (that’s Sonya Pelia and I), were looking to do something more meaningful ourselves. A dietary supplement company approached us for help in scaling in the U.S.; but, we knew nothing about dietary supplements. We asked our Silicon Valley network and were introduced to Sundeep Dugar, PhD, a successful drug discovery expert.
Collectively, they began to study the molecule that would become Mitokatlyst, conducting 15 preclinical and clinical studies and publishing 64 peer-reviewed papers showing amongst other findings, that Mitokatlyst triggers biogenesis – the process by which mitochondria multiply – and more mitochondria means more energy to fuel the healing process.
We were at the Gala because we were intrigued about what Sundeep told us of his background and discoveries. Week after week, we met for hours in a cafe hearing Sundeep’s vision, learning about the pharma industry, and reading the research. One day, the light bulb went off in my head, and I realized that this discovery could help my daughter.
I started paying closer attention. We flew to India to meet a rare mitochondrial disease-related parent advocacy community. And, as Sonya says, “Our hearts cracked.” We spent months trying to poke holes into the thesis, and we were present as Sundeep walked prominent physicians and researchers through the data. As realization dawned, we saw the light bulb go off in their eyes too.
But we struggled to make sense of the situation. Were we missing something? It felt that it was too good to be true. It made no sense why someone had not already brought this to market. Until we understood: Venture capital and Wall Street play a different game and are driven by a different mission.
So we had to do this ourselves. We made the decision to create Blue Oak Nutraceuticals, Inc., a mission-driven Public Benefit Corporation in August of 2023. In October 2023, my daughter needed extra support and was the first person to start on Mitokatlyst. Twelve months later, by October 2024, her situation had resolved.
We were at the Gala because Josh, the comedian and host of Laugh for Mito called us out of the blue and connected us with Christina, a Mito Mom.
We heard inspiring stories, met devoted parents and compassionate clinicians, cracked up laughing, and left knowing that by coming together to bring Mitokatlyst™ – E to market, perhaps one more child like Christina’s could tell their very first knock knock joke.
Read more about the Gala, learn about Salugenesis – Body’s innate healing process; and watch the video – Mitochondria FAQs.