I'm Maura Aronsmeli, and this is The Anxious Achiever.

We look at stories from business leaders who have dealt with anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges,

how they fell down, how they pick themselves up, and how they hope workplaces can change in the future.

People often tell me, you're so candid and honest, how do you do it?

And I say, well, you know, my privilege allows me to be candid about my depression and anxiety.

I'm a well-off heterosexual white woman with two Ivy League degrees.

Not only that, I grew up in a culture where therapy was literally part of the fabric of my family's life.

And not only that, I'm a woman.

It's easy for me to be open about my crazy,

but it's not enough for someone like me to be candid. Part of the goal of this show is to remove some of the stigma that comes with all of this. And in many communities, and in our culture writ

large, that's much harder to do.

Last season, we spoke to Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett and Nillifer Merchant about something

called the anxiety of the only, the stress of being the only woman, the only person of

color, the only person with a disability in an office, and the strain that comes attached to that,

and how that strain is multiplied when you're feeling anxious or depressed.

For men of color, to be open and honest about their mental health issues can be even harder.

Today's guest is trying to tackle that problem.

Jason Rosario is the founder and creative director of a company called

The Lives of Men that has the mission of tackling toxic masculinity and challenging the myths around what it means to be a black or Latino men.

All of these issues are tied up with mental health, with an ability to be open about feelings and struggles, and with ideas about what it means

to be a man and to overcome struggle.

I think the one thing that I've learned doing this work is that men are probably the most sensitive creatures on the planet.

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