Public Health Culture

This is it! The last episode of the Public Health Culture Podcast! In this episode, you will hear about my journey as a Podcaster and what led me to this decision. I also share other Public Health Podcasts that I enjoy.

I started a nonprofit called, the Association of Black Researchers (ABR). The mission of the Association of Black Researchers is to cultivate, highlight, advance, and advocate for a multidisciplinary community of Black researchers through the following objectives:

• Increase knowledge in all areas of research.
• Amplify the voice of the Black Researcher.
• Improve research collaboration and networking.
• Increase professional development opportunities.
• Support Black researchers in leadership positions.
• Create a multidisciplinary community for Black Researchers.

The Association of Black Researchers is committed to mentoring and equipping multidisciplinary researchers with professional development, scholarly experiences, and collaborative opportunities to advance in the field by providing the following services:

• Monthly professional development opportunities
• Quarterly networking sessions
• Quarterly journal and book clubs
• Annual Research Conference
• Monthly Newsletters and email blasts with internal and external opportunities
• Membership and Community Organization Directory

You don't have to navigate the research journey alone. Join a community to help you through it! Membership will open in Fall 2021! Join the email list (www.blackresearchers.org) to stay updated with everything ABR.

Connect with the Association of Black Researchers:

• Website: www.blackresearchers.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/blackresearchers
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/blkresearcher

Other Public Health Podcasts:

Working Mama Collective: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/working-mama-collective/id1548230816

The Flow: https://www.bloodstreammedia.com/flow

Not a Health Guru: https://www.listennotes.com/da/podcasts/not-a-health-guru-not-a-health-guru-Fh4PNkof830/

The Public Health Millennial: https://thephmillennial.com/podcast/

Public Health Epidemiology Careers: https://www.drchhuntley.com/podcast 

Dr. Zenobia Bryant has a PhD in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from Walden University. She also has a BS degree in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology from Emory University. Dr. Bryant is passionate about mental health, adolescent health, the health of young black women, financial health, and the barriers and structural racism that hinder fulfillment in these areas. 

She is the founder and CEO of Black Health Black Wealth, LLC that envisions optimal wellness and true health equity for young black and brown women. Her organization disseminates mental health, public health, and financial health stories and information to black and brown women with the hope of giving voice to the issues they face, improving wellbeing, and empowering them. She believes that black mental health, black physical health, and black financial health is wealth! 

Black Health Black Wealth also offers customized and expert consulting to nonprofit and for-profit organizations related to the following topics: 1) identifying gaps in the quality of care for minorities, 2) Black mental health care, 3) Black maternal health, 4) racial inequality, 5) diversity, equity, and inclusion, and 6) Black health equity. She specializes in helping organizations with literature reviews, survey development, data analysis, baseline analysis, reviewing and analyzing current programs and policies, developing strategies to improve current programs and policies, and presenting findings and opinions. 

In This Episode We Cover:

• Her public health journey
• Why she started Black Health Black Wealth, LLC and how she came up with the name
• The services that Black Health Black Wealth offers and her goal of empowering organizations to achieve excellence by delivering programs, products, and services that eliminate health disparities and remove health inequities
• Her priority population of young black and brown women who are interested in connecting with their personal identity and straying from societal or religious labels
• Importance of self-care and self-advocacy
• Breaking generational cycles and curses
• Her “Rise-up” affirmations initiative that explores a new affirmation each month to help women truly overcome struggles and negativity
• Her upcoming book club, “Knowledge is Power” (happening on June 26th 11am-1pm EST), that will empower participants through discussion by identifying self-care, self-expression, and self-advocacy strategies. Registration includes:
  • The book club pick mailed to your place of residence (continental US only)
  • One 2-hour online Zoom session that consists of instruction, interactive discussion, workbook activities, feedback and Q+A
  • A self-guided workbook to use in the Zoom session
  • The option to attend a 30-minute bonus one-on-one session with Dr. Zenobia Bryant to share work and discuss any discoveries or progress following the book club discussion

Register for the Book Club:

https://blackhealthblackwealth.org/knowledge-is-power-book-club/p/transcendent-kingdom 

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

You are never finished learning. Always be willing to educate yourself, seek information, and explore new topics. Always keep your target community at the focus. Listen to their needs and wishes.

Connect:

• www.blackhealthblackwealth.org 
• Book Club: https://blackhealthblackwealth.org/knowledge-is-power-book-club 
• Blog: https://blackhealthblackwealth.org/blog 
• Rise Up Affirmations: https://blackhealthblackwealth.org/rise-up-affirmations 
• Instagram: @blackhealthblackwealth

Leonore Okwara, MPH is CEO and Founder of Public Health Research Consulting, and host of the Public Health Culture Podcast. She helps researchers meet the unique needs of the community and the funders in two ways: 1) hosting community engagement in research webinars and trainings to equip researchers with strategies on building community trust in research, and 2) providing program management trainings to help researchers manage their grant-funded research studies with ease.

Joyee Washington, MS, MPH, CHES is CEO and Founder of Joyee Washington Consulting, LLC. She is a public health and education research consultant who works with communities, organizations, and institutions to help them conduct more effective research and build more impactful programs for sustainable solutions.

We are collaborating to bring an opportunity to public health students, professionals, and researchers. We are calling this a Research Roundtable, "Building community trust in research: Strategies, challenges, and lessons learned from the field."

In This Episode We Cover:

• Our own experiences and challenges working as community-engaged researchers
• How we build healthier communities, aim for prevention, strive for equity
• The importance of putting public health research into action
• Getting over your own ego as a researcher
• How it looks to overcome challenges as a community-engaged researcher
• How to equip the next researcher with tools to make their research impact a sustainable solution
• The importance of sustaining the positive impact of your research and how crucial sustainability is for the community
• The solution to building community trust in research and equipping the research community with the knowledge from other experienced researchers so that they can create more sustainable solutions in public health
• How to register for the Research Roundtable happening on May 27th at 7pm EST 
• The benefits of registering for the Research Roundtable: Receive a “toolbox” of research best practices so you don’t have to figure it out yourself, interactive discussion, convenience of virtual space, resource guide and worksheet, access to the recording, giveaways, and much more.

Register for the Research Roundtable here.

We are running a special of $37 until May 26th in honor of Lupus Awareness Month! If you don’t know, Joyee Washington has Lupus and shared her story on Instagram. Follow her to read her story!

We’re on Clubhouse! Join our club PH Research in Action. We have two wonderful discussions planned for the month of May.

• Thursday, May 13th at 7pm EST, “The Community is not your fixer-upper”
• Thursday, May 20th at 7pm EST, “You got data. Now what?”

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

Researchers, take a different perspective of your ego. You are not the community expert. 

Connect:

Leonore Okwara, MPH

CEO and Founder of Public Health Research Consulting

Website: www.publichealthresearchconsulting.com 

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: @publichealthRC

Twitter: @publichealthRC

Instagram: @publichealthculture @publichealthresearch

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leonoreokwara 

Joyee Washington, MS, MPH, CHES

CEO and Founder of Joyee Washington Consulting, LLC

Website: www.joyeewashington.com 

Email: [email protected] 

Facebook: joyeewashingtonconsulting

Instagram: @joyeewashington

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joyee-washington

Tomorrow Bowen is a senior in undergrad in socio-behavioral health with a minor in Sociology. She just applied to grad school for an MPH. She’s a researcher at heart and runs a nonprofit The S.O.U.L and hosts the podcast, Not A Health Guru. She’s most passionate about housing and homelessness but also has a focus on food policy and environmental justice.

In This Episode We Cover:

• Her public health journey so far and how she started out as a nursing major/working as CNA (certified nursing assistant) and she realized this wasn't what she wanted to do and made the shift to public health.
• Her passion in three areas: housing and homelessness, food policy, and environmental justice.
• Her personal story as to why her passion is housing and homelessness and how housing is such a big part of personal health.
• What her inspiration was to start a podcast, how she chooses what topics she covers, and how she organizes them.
• How she started her nonprofit, exploring the upstream reasons for homeless, and figuring out step-by-step how to work towards the mission.
• The ways in which she builds trust with the population she’s working with.
• Her current work looking at how COVID has affected nonprofits.
• All about her work with an EPA Superfund Site in Birmingham AL which is work very near-and-dear to her heart.
• How she works towards health equity.

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

Tomorrow recommends thinking about what hits close to home for you, educating yourself on that issue and spreading information about that issue. Talking to other people in the field and networking are huge parts of addressing health equity. What you don’t know someone else does and vice versa. Get your hands dirty and get into the topic. Don’t wait until you have your degree or your podcast. If you are a person and you have a passion for something, there’s always a way to address it.

Connect:

Personal

• LinkedIn: @tomorrow-r-bowen
• Instagram: @hai_morrow 

Not A Health Guru

• Website:https://notahealthguru.wixsite.com/website
• Instagram: @notahealthguru_
• Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UC9R580AeO4FBozYof2dR5MQ
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/notahealthguru
• The podcast streams on Apple Podcasts, Anchor, Google Podcast, and via the website.

The S.O.U.L (her nonprofit)

• Website: https://thesoultribe.wixsite.com/thesoultribe
• Instagram: @thesoul.tribe
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpJ4wCCFz_gH6RJC1TIYPEg

Angela N. Frazier, MPH is the Founder of Sisters in Public Health® , speaker, mental health advocate, and author of A Kids Book About™ Suicide.” A Portland native, Angela earned her Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences and Communication from Portland State University.  She earned her MPH in Community Health from UT Health School of Public Health, and currently lives in Houston TX. She started a nonprofit called Sisters in Public Health to connect and empower all women in Public Health and to support the next generation of public health professionals.  

After losing her mom to suicide in 2016, she opened the Tami Best Emergency Shelter for survivors of domestic violence in honor of her mother. She currently serves on two boards: Ashley Jadine Foundation working to prevent suicide among teens and Bradley Angle working to create communities free of domestic violence.

In This Episode We Cover:

• How her life experiences and her passion for mental health has fueled her life and career.
• The most important thing needed to build trust.
• Her experience with grant writing.
• All about Sisters in Public Health: how it started, how it is growing, and their current scholarship and leadership opportunities
• How to best engage a group virtually
• How her work moves the needle towards health equity and inclusivity.
• Her role with Bradley Angle and her creation of the Tami Best Emergency Shelter, a domestic violence shelter in Portland OR.
• Her book, “A Kids Book About Suicide” - written for kids who have suicidal ideation and also for kids who have lost someone to suicide.  Oprah listed the “A Kids Book About” Series on her favorites 2020 list. Angela’s book is currently available for pre-order and will be released in Spring.

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

Start before you are ready! No great thought should sit in your Google drive!

Connect & Donate:

• Web: https://sistersinpublichealth.org/ https://angelanicolefrazier.com/ https://bradleyangle.org/
• Instagram: @angelanicole_f & @sistersinpublichealth
• Facebook Group: Sisters in Public Health 
• Apply for the Sisters in Public Health Scholarship: https://sistersinpublichealth.org/scholarship
• Pre-Order her “A Kids Book About Suicide” 

Kristie Hicks, MPH, CHES, CPT is a public health professional with experience in chronic disease management, health and nutrition education, and fitness. She’s the founder of Brown Girls Get Fit, a health and wellness organization for women of color and Better Balanced Health which offers online fitness training and wellness coaching services. She is the author of a peer-reviewed North Carolina Medical Journal article featuring her childhood obesity research. She is a National Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Coach, Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), and an ACE Certified Personal Trainer. She is passionate about educating individuals about personal fitness, chronic disease prevention, wellness, and healthy behavior change.

In This Episode We Cover:

• Her research on childhood obesity and how she showed correlations between health education in adolescent curriculum and health changes.
• The ways in which she engages people in healthier lifestyles. 
• Her passion about chronic disease prevention and how knowledge does not always equal behavior change.
• Her belief that showing people workouts is key to helping to engage in fitness.
• How Brown Girls Get Fit started as a hobby that she shared on social media and how it organically grew into what it is today. 
• Her inspiration for Better Balanced Health. Hint: it has to do with the pandemic and her work with the Diabetes Prevention Program.
• Her inspiration for her five pillars of health for Better Balanced Health. 
• The questions she asks her clients and how she creates individualized action plans using a whole person approach. 
• The ways she is working towards achieving health equity.

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

Kristie highly recommends that everyone be open to volunteering in their field of interest.  It is extremely important to be open to volunteering and giving of your time. There are benefits including connecting with community organizations, nonprofits, etc. 

Connect:

• Web: https://www.browngirlsgetfit.org/ &  https://www.betterbalancedhealth.com/ 
• Instagram: @browngirlsgetfit, @betterbalancedhealth
• Facebook: @browngirlsgetfit

Quisha Umemba, MPH, BSN, RN, CDCES, CHWI is a Registered Nurse with a background in Public health.  She is Founder and CEO of Umemba Health LLC, a public health consulting and education agency that provides workforce development and community health worker training. She is also the Executive Director and CEO of a nonprofit called Diversity in Diabetes. A Superwoman, she is a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, Certified Community Health Worker, a Certified Lifestyle Coach, a wife and a mother.  She lives in Austin, TX. 

In This Episode We Cover:

• Her passion for chronic disease and how it affects the quality of life and how it affects certain populations, especially communities of color.
• How her background in nursing and public health give her a unique skill set and a unique view of problem solving.
• How she found a niche serving those who serve others.
• What exactly a Community Health Worker is and why they are crucial to Public Health work in communities.
• How you can become a Community Health Worker.
• All about Umemba Health LLC and their work on providing certification, training and education to Community Health Workers.
• About Umemba Health’s CHW Instructor Certification.
• Umemba Health’s work to help organizations and health care systems utilize the skillsets of Community Health Workers.
• The Community Health Worker Virtual Summit to be held April 6-9th on the theme of “Elevating the Multidimensional Skillset.” It is for Community Health Workers, instructors, employers, networks, associations, CHES, Health Educators, and anyone in the Public Health field. See more info below.
• How the Virtual Summit will also show a different perspective on what innovation in terms of virtual engagement can look like.
• The CHW Mentor Network and the 6-week CHW Mentorship and Professional Development Program.
• All about her nonprofit Diversity in Diabetes and the People of Color Living with Diabetes Summit. They are now looking for volunteers and board members!

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

Quisha says that if it doesn’t scare the crap out of you, you are not doing what you should be doing! It takes so much guts to put on a summit, webinar, event or anything and just hoping people show up, buy tickets, and find it valuable. Do it scared.

Offer what you have to offer to people, get feedback and then continue updating and changing your offerings.  

Become a master in one thing.  Find something you love doing so much you’d do it for free and then find a way to charge for it.

About the CHW Summit:

About: Presented by Umemba Health LLC, the goal of the 2021 Virtual CHW Summit is to provide continuing education, professional development, and networking opportunities for Community Health Workers and Community Health Worker Instructors. The Virtual CHW Summit will help the CHW to sharpen skills, increase knowledge, improve competency, and deepen expertise. Held during National Community Health Worker week, April 6-9, the theme for Summit is "Elevating the Multidimensional Skillset of Community Health Workers."

When: April 6-9, 2021

Where: Virtual

Cost: Tickets are $15 before April 1st

More Info/Register Here: https://umembahealthacademy.thinkific.com/pages/chw-summit 

Connect:

• Web: https://www.umembahealth.com, https://www.diversityindiabetes.org 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quishaumemba/ 
• Email: [email protected]

Kayla Holston, MPH is a second-year medical school student at Thomas Jefferson University who also works in collaboration with a Labor and Delivery Hospital in Malawi to improve the safety and patient experience of mothers and their families. She also founded and runs a business called Melanin Med, a merch store for melanated health professionals & allies.  With a Bachelor degree in biomedical engineering and in cognitive science, she melds these fields with medicine and public health to work towards health equity.

In This Episode We Cover:

- Her experience working in collaboration with a Labor and Delivery Hospital in Malawi.

- How they engage with the physicians and patients there.

- All about her merch business Melanin Med at her passion for increasing representation of Black women and men in the health professions.

- Racism as a public health issue and how wearing a “Black Patients Matter” pin can be so powerful in the healthcare setting.

- Her goal to provide mentorship and scholarship opportunities for future Black health professionals.

- Her work promoting efficiency and improved care at a refugee women’s clinic.

- The importance of existing relationships for community collaboration.

- Her experiences as a black medical student and how this has shaped her experience and her desire to help remove barriers for other Black health professionals.

- How one of her passions is helping other Black students to move through the educational process without it being a financial burden.

- The avenues she used to get the word out about Melanin Med and engage her community.

- The two biggest ways she helps move the needle towards health equity.

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

Her advice for someone going to medical school (or school for any health profession) is to find what you love and don’t do anything else except for that.  There are so many opportunities, but if they aren’t taking you towards your goal and what you are most passionate about, they are taking away time from moving towards your passion.  

Connect:

- Web: https://www.melaninmed.com

- Instagram: @melanin_med_

- Email: [email protected]

Nkechi Michel, MPH, CHES is a Public Health Advocate and Educator for the Obesity Prevention Program, SNAP-Ed in Sacramento, CA.  Working in community health, she loves helping people and being on the ground. Her biggest passions include nutrition and environmental racism. She is the Founder of @thatpublichealthchick, her Instagram platform where she loves to share public health messages and engage with people virtually. Queenivism is her website where she has a public health merchandise line of clothing and accessories that she designed to get people sharing, thinking about and promoting public health, health equity, and activism.  

In This Episode We Cover:

- Her decision to initially go into nursing and how she quickly decided to pivot into public health.

- Her experience starting out as a peer-health educator.

- Her current position at the CA Department of Health SNAP-Ed program and her focus on obesity prevention, increasing food access, and improving the food environment overall.

- How the pandemic has shifted her work to more virtual platforms.

- The different community partners she works with and the community’s receptiveness to her public health education.

- All about her Instagram platform @thatpublichealthchick, how and what she decides to post, and her engagement with the public health community.

- What she is doing to promote and work towards health equity.

- All about her merchandise line and how it is helping spread the message and increase awareness around public health, activism, and health equity.

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

Start by taking a class. Take public health 101 and see where it takes you. Reach out to people who are already doing the work. It’s a matter of doing research, exploring, reaching out to folks already doing it, asking questions, and volunteering. See what it is that can be done in public health. Feel it out and see what impact it can really make.

Connect:

- Instagram: @thatpublichealthchick

- Website: queenivism.com

Theresa Alphonse, MPH is a Public Health Professional, Educator, and Writer. She has a public health focus on community health, health equity, working with the population who receives Medicaid, and immigrants. She is the Founder and Executive Director of What’s on Your Mind, A Nonprofit 501c3, whose mission is to normalize conversations around thoughts, emotions and feelings in communities of color. She started What’s On Your Mind five years ago because she wanted to get down to the real issues of the community. So she went out and started having conversations with people, and as it grew, so did the services, events, and offerings making big impacts in communities. What’s On Your Mind does street outreach, workshops, active listening sessions, and a podcast.  A true renaissance woman, she’s also a poet, a performer and an Airbnb host. 

In This Episode We Cover:

- What her nonprofit work focuses on: mental health, self-care, and mindfulness.

- The next new exciting chapter in What’s On Your Mind’s work.

- Her work as a Health Equity speaker and how it has evolved.

- How she created health equity committees and why they have been so successful. 

- Her key strategies for engaging with the community.

- The importance of your own self-care.

- How therapy has been a great support in her life.

Advice for Public Health Professionals:

If it’s your passion, go for it! Jump in and see what you like.

Connect:

- Website: www.woyminc.org

- Email: [email protected]

- Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter: @woyminc

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresa-alphonse-mph-94635a62/

- Podcast: https://www.woyminc.org/podcast