Heme Consults: For Women of Color in Hematology

To give life to the people around you, you need to have life in you. But if you are working on projects that drain life out of you, you will not have much to give. Let go of the things that drain you so that you have life to pour out into those around you.

There is so much more to us, beyond our medical careers, and we've got to start to apply our power in those areas of our lives so that those parts can get strong. It's time to use your power to begin to strengthen the other areas of your life that need strengthening. Look forward to the future and discover your legacy.

If you're gonna play, make up your own game. Make up your own rules and set the prize as you - a better version of the self you started with. Play a game where at the end you are a supercharged, super-accelerated version of the you.

When you are in competition with other people, you can never win. The only competition that doesn't hurt you is the competition you do against yourself. When you measure yourself against the person you want to be. It's the only competition that doesn't hurt you because it's sustainable

Choose who you become; because out of who you are flows what you do. Therefore, first choose who you become and then decide what actions make sense for the kind of person you have chosen to be. When you choose who you become, there are things you stop tolerating and voices you stop listening to. When you choose who you become, you get to make a contribution to this world that defines your greatness. Choose who you become.

The presence of blood is a sign that someone has experienced pain or has, at a minimum, been made uncomfortable. It is a sign of sacrifice. You are here in hematology because someone paid the price for you to be here. In turn, you pay the price so that someone else can benefit from your being here. And when you pay the price, make sure you pay it in a space where it counts.

You are not a woman of color until you leave your safe spaces enter into the spaces where people look at you funny. Until you occupy the spaces where people ask you if you are in the right place; where they double and triple check your credentials. You become a woman of color when you say, "challenge accepted" and use your color superpower for good.

You decide who you become. You may have people slap labels on you; but they don't have the final say. You do. You may not know who you are yet. And it's OK because you are in transition. Transition is a beautiful space where you emerge to uncover what will become your powerful contribution in hematology.

To create life, you need to come closer to discover the truth of a person’s inner potential. Discovering the truth takes time, effort, and sacrifice. But it also allows you to see this person as a unique individual. It will cause you to recognize the truth that there is not one box that fits this person. Give people space to become the truth of who they want to become. Create life by looking to the truth of their inner potential.

To recover your true narrative, take control of the sound in your environment. Silence every negative sound over your life. Amplify the sound of truth until it drowns out all other sound.