It doesn't matter how rich or poor you are: when you're sick, you want the exact same thing.
Anne Wojcicki
The reality is that the only way change comes is when you lead by example.
Genetic testing in the future is going to be seen as critical as testing your cholesterol.
I think it's important to have flexibility to work wherever is best for you. I actually encourage people to work at the cafe - or from home or wherever works best for them.
The challenge in a startup is you hit a lot of turbulence, and you want people who understand that it's just turbulence and not a crisis.
One of the best aspects of health care reform is it starts to emphasize prevention.
I spend a lot of my spare time with my family. My sisters, parents, and in-laws all live nearby.
I think being on a constraint with money makes you much more creative.
I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about genetic information and what you can and cannot learn.
If consumers were more empowered, they would take more responsibility for their health.
The FDA serves a real purpose: To protect public health.
I was brought up with a scientific outlook on life. It's the way my father deciphers the world - whether it's football, politics or hairstyles. So I don't get anxious about the future, because I was raised to believe and accept that nothing stays the same, and the best way to survive is to adapt.
I get parking tickets all the time.
The paternalism of the medical industry is insane.
I'm action-oriented.
The fact that my environment influences my life so much - and that my environment is in my control - gives me a great sense of empowerment over my health and my life.
When you try new things, you will make mistakes. That's OK.
We all want our genetic information. Why would you not want genetic information?
I had a very unusual childhood in that I grew up on the Stanford campus and I never moved.
I like company lunches because I think going out wastes valuable time; plus, a lot of good ideas come up over lunch.
FDA clearance is an important step on the path towards getting genetic information integrated with routine medical care.
I do let the kids play on devices when we eat out - it's better than being thrown out of a restaurant.
I'm at a slightly higher risk for type 2 diabetes, and my grandmother had diabetes. My hemoglobin a1c, which is one of the measures, started being a little high when I was drinking a ton of that coconut water.
Health is not sort of like a 6-month project. Health is a lifetime accumulation of behaviors.
A solid foundation in genetics is increasingly important for everyone.
As a child, I had a teacher who told me, 'Look, Anne, one person can't make a difference.'
When I graduated from college in 1996 and the Internet was taking off, I remember this feeling that there was an open range where anything could be built.
My sister learned she was a carrier for a recessive disease, Bloom syndrome, late in one of her pregnancies. I remember the panicked call and the weeks of worry as she and her husband awaited his test results; if he was also a carrier, this meant their daughter had a one in four chance of being born with the disorder.
23andMe set out to try and change healthcare - this is not an easy business. This is not a coffee shop in Austin.
One of the things is, I don't read my own press. I never watch myself.
I do believe at some point in time everyone will be genotyped at birth.
Everyone's going to die, and everyone's going to get sick at some point. But I do believe that there are choices you can make in life that will make you as healthy as possible.
I did a lot of fun things before I had kids - I traveled a lot. Now, I just really love being with my kids.
All the kids from my nursery school are still in touch.
One of the most exciting aspects of 23andMe is that we're enabling you to watch a revolution unfold live during your lifetime, and I think that the decoding of the genome, in my opinion, is the most fascinating discovery of our lifetime, and you get to be part of it.
Obesity is awesome from a Wall Street perspective. It's not just one disease - there are all sorts of related diseases to profit from.
There are a lot of people in D.C. who have never been on Twitter or Facebook and don't get what's happening.
Billions of dollars have been put into genetic research.
There's nothing worse than walking into a hospital and seeing people sick and miserable and having a horrible treatment.
It's crazy to me that in this world of electronic medical records Walmart has so much information about how we shop, but no one has that information about our health. Why can't my doctor say, 'Wow, Anne, based on your lifestyle and behavior, you're five years from being diabetic.' But I can go to Target, and they know exactly what I'm going to buy.
The pharma industry is one of the few industries that comes up every year and brags about how much worse they got - like, now it costs $2 billion to make a drug, and it was a billion 5 years ago.
Every couple of weeks, someone writes in and says, '23andMe saved my life.'
There's nothing more raw in life than when you're sick.
You can get so much value just from being genotyped.
I'm not going to change; I'm very stubborn in this way. I am what I am.
My perfect weekend is going for a walk with my family in the park. I don't think there's anything better.
You may not know your complete family history, but the reality is everyone has something, and as you get older, you start to worry about these things more. Health is not sort of like a 6-month project. Health is a lifetime accumulation of behaviors.
Big challenges are an accumulation of small challenges.
When Amazon emerged, people had these debates about whether people would put their credit cards online.
If you are somebody who has a disease, you are not complaining when someone starts to do work for you. That is your hope.
