Welcome back Essential & Empowered listeners!! Thank you all for your support as I have taken a break on podcasting as I have welcomed my first baby boy into this world.

Cherishing all of the little moments with him have been a dream and being a mother has been absolutely indescriable! With time being so precious, in today's episode, I am sharing with you all--what you CAN expect from me moving forward and what you CAN'T expect from me.

I started this podcast one year ago and with the new changes in my life as a mom, I want to be able to serve those listening and this community with full intention and attention, putting energy in the things that bring joy and spark passion.

LASTLY, at the end of the episode, I am calling my shot on something special I have in store for you for 2022!! Hope you enjoy and THANK you for listening and please drop a review and share on IG!!

Follow me @Jaennika.James

Welcome to the Essential & Empowered Podcast with Jaennika James! I am a wife, a new mom, a young woman in healthcare with a passion for addressing long-term healthcare access all while binge-watching Bravo TV!

This podcast features advice, inspiration and stories from the everyday and extraordinary women in healthcare administration who are figuring out and leveling up in all things work-life boundaries, career transitions, motherhood and just straight life!

From personal life stories to passionate and raw conversations, this show will provide you with the inspiration, community and drive you need to show up as the amazing woman leader in healthcare administration that you are!

In honor of October, being Breast Cancer Awareness month, it was super fitting and very special to me to be able to interview one of my best friends of 13 years--Angela Sweat-- on her diagnosis of breast cancer three years ago.

Angela was diagnosed with breast cancer at 27 years old and through her experience, she is now changing her 7-year career as a Registered Dietitian to now becoming a Registered Nurse. She is living proof that you are never stuck where you land in your career and that you CAN make changes based on your life experiences. In today's episode Angela shares:

• Her career as a Registered Dietitian
• The day she was diagnosed with breast cancer
• Ways she coped with breast cancer treatments
• Her experience from being a provider to a patient
• Advice on how to properly check your boobs
• The motivation to change careers from RD to RN

BONUS: Because we were also married literally one month apart, we ended the episode with some fun and light hearted online dating advice.

Hope you all enjoy this episode and gives you some inspiration as we wrap up Breast Cancer Awareness month! Thank you all for listening!!

Follow Angela on IG @Pangelina

As always you can follow me @Jaennika.James

If you are just finishing graduate school in your MBA, MPH, MHA and still unsure of where you want to go and have minimal experience, then a healthcare fellowship may be the next best step for you.

In this episode, I share briefly and very high-level:

• What a healthcare fellowship is
• What benefits you gain as an administrative fellow
• What my experience as a healthcare hospital operations fellow was

It was this fellowship that completely changed my career trajectory from becoming a direct clinical provider to now a healthcare administrative leader.

The EXACT fellowship that I was in, is currently accepting applications. For more information feel free to drop into my DMs and I'm happy to share more!

Follow or DM me @Jaennika.James

Today's episode is JAM PACKED! Consider it a dual healthcare administration podcast episode with Yolanda Gonzalez, MPH. We both reflect on our journeys as healthcare fellows to now healthcare leaders at two large medical centers from the east coast to the west coast!

Yolanda Gonzalez, MPH is the Administrative Director over Pediatric Surgery and Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a Texas native who took the leap of faith to traverse to the snows of Boston and lead Pediatric teams with such passion, grace, beauty and confidence!

We candidly discuss:

• Our choices for pursuing an MPH--how that helps us in the way we lead
• Our healthcare fellowship experiences
• Managing the day to day and multiple "hats" as a women healthcare leader
• Ways to find your boundaries in the high-demand setting
• Honest advice on how to navigate a very traditional healthcare field as a young woman of color

To learn more about Yolanda follow her below and subscribe to her Healthcare Leadership Mindset podcast, where she shares more stories and journeys of other healthcare leaders in her network!

IG: @thehealthcareleadershipmindset

Yolanda IG: @yolanda_gonzalez11

Connect on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yolanda-gonzalez-634aa09a/

In honor of my five year anniversary in my current company, I wanted to share with you all my top 10 tips to OWN your healthcare internship. It was this internship I started five years ago that changed my entire career trajectory!

TBH I feel like these tips can also apply whether you are an intern or not. Please drop a review and let me know what you think.

Click here: Top 10 Tips to Own your Healthcare Internship

As always, feel free to connect with me @Jaennika.James

Wow, I've officially hit my 5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY in my company! Today I'm dropping a quick bonus episode on the top FIVE things I've learned in my various roles in healthcare administration during these last five years. Hope this makes you laugh and provides you some insight and/or relief on whatever you may be contemplating for yourself and your journey.

1. You don't have to be a provider to work in healthcare
2. Management isn't all rainbows and butterflies
3. Relationships, relationships, relationships
4. Take the leap and send that email
5. You'll look like a hot mess first, before you finally establish your work-life "boundaries"

Please drop a review and let me know what you think of this short episodes!

As always, I'm here to support you. Follow me and contact me on IG @Jaennika.James

Today's episode is really special to me, because I had the opportunity to speak to the Med Academy at my high school. I wanted to share and inspire the next generation of healthcare leaders/providers from my hometown that YOU CAN LIVE IN A SMALL TOWN AND HAVE BIG DREAMS!

Given the audience is geared towards my high school topics include:

• How did I find balance as a student athlete?
• How did I choose my college & major?
• How did I develop my study skills?
• What does my day to day look like?
• How growing up in a small-town helped shape my perspective in my career and who I want to serve
• How the habits you develop NOW show up in your professional career
• Also shared you DON'T have to major in Biology to work in healthcare

Hope you leave this episode feeling inspired and get to know more of the OG Jae!

Communication is one of the HARDEST skills, in my opinion, to master as a healthcare professional. Whether its verbal, written or even non-verbal there is a beautiful dance that has to be acknowledged & recognized, which takes more practice than the celebs on dancing with the stars!

In this episode, we get to hear from Diana Diaz, authentic storyteller, speaker, writer and entrepreneur. We talk all things:

• Mental Health and discovering your boundaries
• How seeking joy can lead to your next big breakthrough
• Diana's communication & speaking services for her clients
• Finding your voice and connection with others
• The top THREE communication tips she would recommend any healthcare professional

Being a good speaker or communication, doesn't mean you HAVE to be on stage. Communication is something we do EVERYDAY and so important to take note of your current style.

Press play and get yourself ready for your next speaking gig--whether its your next meeting or class presentation, patient encounter, or even an upcoming interview--these tips will help you feel more empowered to take it on!

For more information

• Follow @Dianardiaz
• Follow @ysttacademy
• Become her client: www.yourstorytotell.org

As I travel another year around the sun, I wanted to drop some inspiration for you all on COURAGE! On this episode, I have the amazing opportunity to interview Judith Martinez, Founder & CEO of InherShoes, Inc--a non-profit company dedicated around this very one question "What would you do if you were 1% more courageous?"

Whether you are just graduating from undergrad or grad school, applying for a new job in healthcare, transitioning or waiting for your acceptance into a new graduate program or even just learning to manage all these ever-changing conditions in your current role or position, this episode is for YOU!!!

We talk about:

• Judith's pathway from wanting to be a lawyer to now an entrepreneur
• Internal indicators in your pathway that can lead you to where you're meant to be vs. where you're "supposed" to be
• How to find courage in your EVERYDAY
• Inspiration that the time is NOW for us healthcare professionals and that courage is WITHIN you as a renewable resource
• Ways to get involved with the InHerShoes Movement!!

Press play and find your courage in your everyday and upcoming next season of your life!

For more information on Judith Martinez and InHerShoes Movement:

• Follow her @Jud.ithmartinez
• Follow InHerShoes Movement @inhershoesmvmt
• Get Involved at https://www.inhershoesmvmt.org