Meet the local embryologist taking over TikTok

Embryologist Alease Daniel wants to talk about sperm, eggs and reproductive health. And she has attracted millions of views on TikTok for her explanations of everything from how IVF transfers work to how frozen embryos are stored.

Daniel, an embryologist at Atlantic Reproductive Health in Raleigh, attracted 3 million views on one video about common sperm misconceptions. More than 4 million people have viewed her video about abnormal things that happen during your monthly cycle that should be followed up on with a doctor.

"I'm an embryologist. I work with embryos, eggs, sperm, creating essentially these five day old babies that we are then transferring to patients to help them create or grow their families," Daniel said in a recent interview. "This really wasn't a field that I thought I would get into. I had no idea this was even a field."

Daniel was studying genetics at North Carolina State University when she discovered the field of reproductive health and medicine. She was attracted to the industry because she wanted to help educate people about topics that aren't widely discussed like in-vitro fertilization.

After interning with Atlantic Reproductive and getting hired to work in their lab, Daniel got the idea to start explaining what she does as an embryologist via her Instagram account.

"I felt like our patients and just any infertility patients in general, there is this lack of information about what happens in the lab. The lab is so mysterious," Daniel said. "And I really wanted to have a place where I could educate people, because there are so many couples and individuals that are going through this and you have all this information up to egg retrieval, and then it's like...we let them go and, and, and we don't know what a hundred percent happens back there."

Daniel's younger siblings encouraged her to start a TikTok account in February. The move quickly got her 125,000 followers on the social media platform.

"I've just found such a great community there with reproductive endocrinologists, other patients, other embryologists," Daniel said. "Patients will come up to me and be like, 'Hey, you look familiar. I think I saw you on TikTok.'"

Daniel said she hopes to offer transparency and give patients more information about their treatment.

"The more you understand about your treatment, the more in control you feel. And that's a big thing with infertility, a lot of it feels very out of control and things that you can't really do to fix it, but having that knowledge gives you a little bit more peace of mind about the whole process," Daniel said.

Daniel said she also wants to encourage people to be their own health advocates. It is part of the reason why she posted a video about periods.

"A lot of these issues like endometriosis and PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome) and endometriosis are things that go undiagnosed for years and years, because either the person thinks that those things are normal because they've been told as a kid, 'Oh, your period's a little heavy. That's normal.' or they're going to their OB for a yearly checkup and their OB is like, 'It's just a little heavy. It's fine. When really it's not okay," Daniel said. "You need to advocate for yourself. Dig a little deeper, ask for an ultrasound, ask for some blood work, because endometriosis takes an average of eight years to diagnose and that is absolutely ridiculous."

Daniel said the videos like one that delved into sperm misconceptions was a peek into the lack of sex education out there.

"The amount of people that commented on my video saying, 'Oh, I thought sperm died in the air.' And I'm like, 'nope,'" Daniel said. "That sort of education is something I've tried to focus on. Fertility education, but also just general sex education because it's lacking for sure."

You can follow Alease Daniel on TikTok @aleasetheembryologist.