March 13, 2024 • 39 mins
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Our guest this week, Angeza Mohammed, is a testament to the power of aligning one's passions with their profession. Follow her strategic yet dynamic career path and learn how mentally and physically envisioning her ideal life, strategic networking, and taking risks led to her creating The Consulting Nest and How did you learn to do that?, The Successful Candidate.
You’ll Learn
- How Angeza was first introduced to public health
- Why Angeza pivoted from her dreams of becoming a doctor to public health
- Angeza’s career journey and how she was able to move closer to her dream job by taking risks, strategic networking, and envisioning her next steps
- Figuring out what you want from a career, knowing your worth, and not letting fear hold you back from change
- What The Consulting Nest is and how it connects organizations to individuals offering their skills
Today’s Guest
Angeza Mohammed is the CEO and Founder of How did you learn to do that?, The Successful Candidate and The Consulting Nest Inc.
With over 10 years of professional experience, Angeza brings a unique and strategic approach to creating the career you want, feeling fulfilled and knowing how to take the next step in your growth!
Angeza’s career has taken her through and into all aspects of the health care system in British Columbia, Canada and it all began before she even graduated from her undergrad, all thanks to her unique strategy which has been instrumental to her success!
Angeza’s purpose in life is to share and inspire you to create the life that you wish existed for yourself. In addition to her successful healthcare career, Angeza coaches recent graduates and professionals to help them discover what fulfills them, how to align that with their career and how to take action every single day towards creating the life they always wish existed for themselves!
Angeza’s biggest piece of advice to you is to always remember that investing in yourself has the ability to catalyze your life from ordinary to extraordinary.
Resources
- Connect with Angeza on LinkedIn
- Learn more about How did you learn to do that?, The Successful Candidate and The Consulting Nest
Join The Public Health Career Club: A global membership community where public health professionals connect, learn, and support each other in building meaningful and impactful careers.
Go from feeling confused, alone and overwhelmed, to feeling confident and in control of your life and career!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's no other person that has the same
sequence of events that havecreated who you are and how you
look at the world.
So just knowing that andknowing that because of that,
you have something to offer tothe world, and it could be
something that you're doingright now, it could be something
that you don't know you'regoing to be doing very soon, but
tapping into that potential andjust always taking the risk,
(00:21):
because it's always more rewardwhen you take the risk right.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to PH Spotlight, a community for you
to build your public healthcareer with.
Join us weekly right here, andI'll be here too.
Your host, sujani Siva from PHSpot.
Hey, anjesa, and welcome to thePH Spot podcast.
Long Overdue to have you hereand we went like 40 minutes of
(00:54):
just chit chatting before werealized that we should start
recording this podcast episode,so welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I think I tell people whenever I have a guest like
where we've met and like, Ithink recently, in the past year
or two, everyone I've met hasbeen on LinkedIn.
I think it's been such a greatplace to just meet people, get
to know them, collaborate ondifferent projects.
So Anjesa and I met on LinkedIn.
We connected, I think more thana year ago or so, and have been
(01:24):
able to keep in touch and seeeach other not only grow in our
work but also grow in ourfamilies, which is being super
fun.
One of the favorite questions Ihave whenever I bring on guests
who have a public healthbackground is kind of how they
discovered public health and,like, what's their earliest
memory of just finding out whatthis field is.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I think that that's sort ofalways a journey for people to
get into public health.
But I definitely, when Istarted university I was after
high school took a year becauseI wasn't sure where I wanted to
go or what I wanted to do.
My first semester I dabbled in.
You know, should I do businessor should I do med school?
(02:08):
Med school always, I think Ihad talked about.
I had always wanted to be apediatrician.
That was what sort of my I toldmy family and when I started to
dabble into it, I realized that,like you know, I really, really
loved the sciences and I reallyloved, specifically, biology
labs.
I was like this is awesome, Ilove seeing what I'm learning in
(02:31):
practice.
And so when I was looking at myuniversity programs, I found
one that said Bachelor ofScience and Health Sciences and
I didn't quite understand whatthat meant, but I was like, oh,
it sounds like, sounds cool.
So I enrolled in that programand I and I started doing that
program and it was.
It was public health, but itwas called health sciences and I
(02:54):
didn't know public health asaround at that time.
But once I started getting intothe work and I was, you know,
learning about it.
I was doing that programbecause it met all the
prerequisites for med school.
Okay, you just have like 12courses before I go to med
school, and that was the programthat already made you do those
12 courses, so it wasn'tanything.
(03:14):
In addition, and it was inthird year, I sat down in a
course called socialdeterminants of health.
I didn't know what it meant.
It was so new, such a newconcept to me and at the same
time I was starting to questionmedical school.
I was a part of a medicalfraternity, a pre-med fraternity
, so there was basicallyeveryone at the school, at the
(03:35):
university, that wanted to go tomed school and we were doing
info sessions with physiciansand other people and making
those decisions.
And I met a woman who was aradiologist and her and I
started chatting on the side atone of these events and she
asked me a question.
She said do you want to have afamily?
I said yes, I like I want fivekids.
That was the goal and I havetwo now and I think I'm done.
(03:58):
I can aspire to five, but Ithink I'm done at two.
But she said she asked me thatquestion and I kind of was like
okay, like I said yes, and shesaid then you need to really
think about what life you wantand what kind of life you want
and how you want your life tolook.
(04:18):
And she said I love being aradiologist.
She said it's the mostrewarding thing that I've ever
done and it's my dream.
It's been my dream.
And she said but when I had mytwo kids, she said I couldn't be
with my kids at the same timeof being a resident, a radiology
resident, and I had to be atthe back and call of the
hospital and you know, justputting in those hours, getting
(04:40):
those experiences, because it'svery hands on and the learning
is when you're present.
She said so I had my kids withmy in-laws majority of the time.
And she said she goes.
At this time she goes.
I'm about 15 years into mycareer, I have a stable career,
I have stable hours, she goes,everything sort of settled down.
And so she said now I'm at theplace where I can be with my
(05:02):
kids and do my job and she goes.
But when I go to hang out withmy kids, they say to me oh, you
know, actually we'd rather go tograndma's house, you know.
And she said I realize I don'tfeel that bond, I don't feel
like I'm going to be able to dothat.
And so she just shared thatwith me.
Because she said just reallydig deep and think about your
future and what you want yourfuture to look like, and it's
(05:24):
definitely doable.
She goes.
I know a lot of people thathave had kids, had been a doctor
and it's been fine.
She goes.
But in my experience, this iswhat I struggle with.
That was the same day that Istarted this new course and I
sat down and I was like sofascinated I was so fascinated
that our health, our education,where we came from, where we
live, our social safety, now thecountry, what the country has,
(05:48):
all these things impact ourhealth so deeply.
And it was in that course thatyou know within that week that I
was like this is what I love todo, like this part of it.
This is what I want to do isimpact health in a broader way.
And then that was when Idecided like okay, whatever this
career is in socialdeterminants of health, this is
what I'm doing.
(06:09):
If that means I'm going to go tomed school and be a public
health physician, I'll do that.
If that means I'm just going tobe a public health practitioner
and not go to med school, I'lldo that.
But whatever the path is, I'lljust sort of follow it
intuitively.
And so that's really how Ifound public health is.
Just through that course andthat conversation, there's a
different way.
We could enter health care andhealth without being a physician
(06:33):
and going to med school.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, I think when we learn about the social
determinants of health and Ifound, at least you know, years
back and I think you and Iprobably went and got our
undergrad around the same timethere weren't a lot of
bachelor's level education inpublic health, and so I remember
too kind of epi and some ofthose courses were available for
(06:55):
third and fourth year, and youalmost wonder like, oh, I wish I
had this opportunity to learnabout social determinants of
health earlier on, and sometimes, you know, I even think it
should be like part of the highschool curriculum because it's
so foundational to just all ofthe sciences that I hope we get
to a point where, you know, I'mseeing more and more bachelors
(07:17):
level public health programs,which is amazing.
But I hope it gets kind ofintegrated into even our high
school curriculum because it'sjust so foundational to
everything we do.
Right, when you were explaining, you know where you're born,
where you live, the like, accessof all the things that is
needed for you to live your lifeis just so foundational to
(07:39):
everything we do that itwouldn't hurt to know all of
that early on and then, letalone have people you know
choose a career in that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I think I was the third cohortof students going through that
bachelor's program.
It was so very new and funnystory is that I didn't know.
I didn't know who designed theprogram, but it was this person
named Dr Michael Hayes, and whenI went to go do my master's of
public health, I went to adifferent university in BC and
(08:08):
he had designed the master's ofpublic health and so I repeated
my master's degree, but in avery condensed two years, I mean
, I did phenomenal, I just wentcopy paste, you know.
So yeah, it was such a new, newspace at that time and this is
only like a decade ago.
It's not like that long ago.
That, like the same persondesigned both programs in one
(08:32):
province.
At that time I was like, wow,this is so wild.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Such a small world in public health.
I think that's what you realize, especially you know in Canada.
We're both in Canada and Ithink a lot of the players in
public health you'll eventuallylike bump into them at some
point of your career.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Okay, so then I saw that you started a master's
program in public health, kindof almost immediately after you
graduated with yourundergraduates, so it sounds
like you chose to go, you know,down that path rather than
medical school.
What was the reason for thatdecision for you?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I think it was a conversation I had with that
physician and just like that, inclaim of that, I really wanted
to be a mom and I wanted to be avery present mom.
So my family were refugees fromAfghanistan and so I was born
in Afghanistan and it was abouta year when my family had to
flood like overnight, like Ididn't think we had like a crazy
(09:31):
story.
But then I interviewed mygrandparents for one of my
undergrad projects in publichealth it was around what they
think of healthcare in Canada asimmigrants and they told me the
whole story and it was a crazystory of how they just had to
pack up overnight, you know, paypeople to cross them over to
the border into Pakistan, andthen a year later we had an
(09:54):
uncle.
My grandma had a brother inCanada, in a small town called
Chatham in Ontario and hesponsored all of our families
and we were like, wow, people,wow, he sponsored all of us and
we lived in Chatham for threeyears or four years before my
grandparents were like this istoo cold.
We moved to Vancouver.
But yeah, it was one of thosecrazy stories.
(10:16):
And so growing up I remember myparents valued work Like I've
talked about this before on myLinkedIn, but my parents work
was like if they were working,that's the way to go.
And even to this day, my dad'slike if you take a year off of
work, you're so behind work likeyou're so behind in the
Canadian culture and to me Ialways, growing up, was like why
are my parents at theseperformances?
(10:38):
Why are my parents chaperoningfield trips?
Why are my parents dropping meoff and picking me up?
At one point I remember my momarranged for a taxi company to
pick us up by sister and I atelementary school to drive us to
our grandparents' house becauseshe was working and my dad was
working.
So I remember from a young agejust feeling like when I become
a mom I'm going to be there forall these moments because my
(10:58):
parents are lovely and I lovethem, but like they valued work
over, you know, being presentand they still do that to this
day, and that's.
I feel, like part of theimmigrant journey and the story,
and so for me that conversationreally dug deep.
For me because I'm okay.
Like if I go mad school, likeI'm fully in and I'm fully
(11:18):
committing and I have mypersonality.
Type is that when I commit tosomething, I don't just like
half commit, I have to go all inand I want to be president, do
it all.
So just knowing that, knowingthat that was not going to be
for me, that's why I decided,like just to go straight into
the master's program right away.
Like I think I took a summersemester and we had a two week
(11:39):
semester break.
Yeah, at the end of that twoweeks I was starting the
master's program.
Like I did not take a break atall, I just wanted to like do it
and get it over with and juststart a career.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, that's awesome.
And then what happened aftergraduation?
Were you able to figure out,like, where you wanted to start
your public health career, like,did those ideas start to come
together for you, or did youalready have that kind of mapped
out before starting the MPHprogram, or was that something
that kind of developedthroughout?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Well, I was really lucky in the sense that when I
finished the last semester of myundergrad, I started already
applying for jobs and puttingfeelers out and I was realizing
that the market was really tough.
At that time.
There was not a lot of publichealth jobs.
And the public health team waslike six people for a whole
provincial health authority, andso I started just thinking,
(12:30):
like you know, what could I do?
And I got a job with kids'health phone and I was working
with them and it was aroundchildren's mental health which
was an area I was reallypassionate about.
And at that same time I thoughtto myself you know what if I
just go in as like anadministrative staff and then
see if I could change courseafterwards?
So I started doing someresearch online and I found
(12:51):
someone that was kind of built atemporary pool of people to do
various jobs across theauthority.
So I connected with her and Iwent from like a full-time,
secure, stable job to like shegave me a one-week assignment,
like she's actually extended tothree weeks by the end of like
(13:11):
the offer.
But she's like, yeah, come workfor three weeks.
And I said, well, what if Idon't have work after three
weeks?
She's like you're just gonnahave to jump in with two feet
and figure it out.
And I was like, oh my gosh,like that's so scary to me,
right and so right as I'mfinishing my degree, I jumped
ship and I went to take thisthree week assignment and I was
(13:32):
lucky enough that in that threeweek assignment, you know, I met
so many people and I connectedwith so many people and I really
put out feelers and I gotpeople to take me as person
named Andrew, who was mydirector.
He's still like I'm stilltalking with him.
He was such an amazing soul.
He and I connected.
He's like yeah, why don't youcome and be my assistant for a
(13:53):
month?
And I said, okay.
So he went in and I was hisassistant for a month and he was
the director of population ofpublic health and he said I have
a little bit of funding, I'mgoing to create a job for you
and I want you to stay workingwith me.
So he created a projectcoordinator position and I got
to work with him and I got to dothat while I was doing my
master's degree and he said tome I'm going to support you
(14:16):
doing your master's degree, doyour courses during work hours
I'm okay with that Do yourpracticum project here, do your
thesis project here and createinitiatives that we could work
with.
So it was really like I feellike he was like my guardian
angel, because he really helpedme out.
So I was lucky enough that Igot to do my master's degree
(14:36):
while working full time.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
That's incredible.
What was the role that you weredoing at Kids Help Online?
Because you said that was apermanent job.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I was a coordinator so I was working with them for
all their initiatives, sogetting community involvement,
working with the schools.
There was a couple fundraisinginitiatives they had that I
worked with them.
Fund development really justgetting the word out about,
because Kids Help Online isbased out in Toronto.
Now they're huge right, butwhen.
(15:06):
I started a decade ago, theywere very heavily in Toronto and
Ontario and in the West theyweren't as well known, and so
they were just sort of startingto establish that knowledge base
.
Now they're just such a greatorganization and I such an
affinity to them and the workthat they're doing, what they're
doing for kids, is just sospecial.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
That story is incredible, you know, for you,
for taking that leap and reallytrusting your instinct, all on
the motivation of really joiningthat Organization that you
wanted to be a part of, right,I'm sure a lot of people kind of
go through that Mental block oflike, should I let go of this
like stable income, to trysomething out for three weeks,
(15:51):
or one week when you started,and then potentially going to
three weeks and then, yeah, andseeing where that goes, what do
you, what do you think helpedyou with that?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I think it was just having very clear direction,
like I had a very Direction ofwhat I wanted to do, where I
wanted to go.
I knew the masters program waspending, like I knew was
starting soon.
I knew I had to do a thesis andI had to do a practicum project
, which meant like I wouldalready have to leave this job
and I didn't know if I had thesupport to leave the job for
(16:20):
three months to Do my work formy master's degree.
So, honestly, it was just likesomething I just did on the whim
, because I was.
I'm just gonna do this and seewhat happened, you know, and
yeah, and it was definitely ahuge risk for me, but it really
worked out.
I'm so grateful for it.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Awesome.
A few episodes ago I wastalking to Tasha and we were
talking about taking bold stepsin your career and then she told
me about dropping into likecommunity health fairs just to
see if she could meetIndividuals who actually worked
in the like the department.
Right, the health fairs weren'tmeant to be career fairs, they
(16:58):
were meant for the communitybecause they were doing all
these programming.
But she just like showed up andthen was bold to ask them for
an email or a phone number andthen I think she said for three
or six months just emailed thethe person in order to like then
eventually land a Career or ajob with them and then
eventually built up her likealmost a decade career there.
So you know, this also remindsme of that conversation where
(17:22):
you sometimes can benefit whenyou take those bold steps, and
then I think it's probably youthen like being really active in
that three week opportunity tosee, like what else you could
find for yourself there.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, no, that's amazing.
Yeah, and sometimes you have todo those creative things, you
have to do those creativeapproaches and yeah, and really
just putting yourself out thereand that sort of reminds me of
like, like, how I got intoconsulting is still through that
project coordinator job.
One of my tasks was we had,like I said, six as team of six.
We had six project managers andthey were hiring consultants
(17:59):
all the time, and so one of myjobs was to work with the
project manager and theconsultant, get all the
onboarding documents, get allthe procurement documents in
place and submit it for a PO, sohire the consultants.
And it was through that that Istarted to look at, like, what
people did, what they wereconsulting and how they actually
delivered their work.
(18:20):
So it's so heavily and soclosely with them and the impact
that consultants were making onprojects or an organization.
And it was from like thatinside that I was like, oh, this
is such an interesting career.
And in my conversations withconsultants I would ask those
questions like I know I'm hiringyou, could you tell me a little
bit about how'd you get intoconsulting?
(18:41):
What do you do?
Why did you decide to do this?
Why not doing something elseand and just learning more about
them and their journey andreally what got them into
consulting, and that's reallythe how the seeds got planted
For me to join and become aconsultant as well.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I think every Story you're sharing here with me,
like each phase of your life, itsounds like you're somebody
who's like always forward,thinking about like where you
want to take your career and thethe steps that you're taking
Presently is in alignment withthat, and I don't know if you,
if you've done thatintentionally all your life, and
(19:20):
it sounds like you have,because I think you you
mentioned that a little bit, butyeah, it's a really smart way
of doing things and I Isometimes talk about like
strategic networking andessentially like what you are
doing is okay.
I know I would enjoy consultingat some point in my life, so
let me start talking to theconsultant so they could give me
that guidance, right?
So, yeah, I don't know if youhave anything more to add to
(19:43):
that.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, it's, it's.
I appreciate you saying thatbecause I don't know it's.
It's a weird story I share, sosome people don't believe it.
It's because it's unbelievable.
But I have a mentor and acouple years ago he asked me
this question like what's thevision, like, picture your life?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
when you.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Accomplish what you want.
And for some reason there'sthis been this image in my head
since I was really young and itwas me in a garden of like a big
backyard and there's a tableand two chairs and I sit there
and I have my coffee everymorning and then I'm looking out
and I see my house and I see mykids running around and I see
(20:24):
this garden and sometimes welike plant in the garden, but
this is just like this image Ihad and I invite people to come
have coffee with me.
I do meetings there, interviews, whatever it is, but like I
just I'm always at this table,this chair, underneath the
willow tree in this garden.
And shortly after I shared thatvision with him, I went on
Facebook and you know how theysay they listen to you.
(20:46):
So that exact image showed upfrom this artist who does
puzzles and she takes thesepictures and she creates these
puzzles and I literally lookedat that and I was like, oh my
gosh, am I dreaming right now oris this for real?
Of course I bought the puzzle Icannot do puzzles for life for
(21:07):
me but I finished that onewithin a day and I framed it and
it sits in my office and I lookat it every day because that's
the image that I have had,that's sort of my North Star.
When you say I make decisions,it's really to create that life
for myself where I could do thatand for me.
I remember finishing university,finishing a master's degree and
(21:30):
being like oh no, I have to getup at 8am every day, or 7am,
and go to work.
I have to do that over and overand over, and I'm not one that
likes repetitive work.
I like risk, I like things thatchange all the time.
So that's been something that Ialways knew I didn't want to do
, that.
I don't want to do the 9 to 5every day.
(21:51):
I wanted flexibility to just docrazy things and take my family
and go live somewhere else for ayear, if I wanted to Just more
flexibility in my time hasreally been my compass in life
and just this image.
So, yeah, everything that I dodo, everything that I do build
even though it's taking awayfrom that image and maybe taking
(22:13):
more time than it should frommy family it's all for that goal
of building that image.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I really like that and I don't know how long it
took for you to dream up thatimage in your head.
I feel like I have a version ofan image in my head, but it
still hasn't become as clear asyou are explaining yours, and I
think for any of our listenerswho are like, oh man, where's my
image?
I think it can take a littlebit of time, right, but you have
(22:40):
to keep asking yourself what isit that I want for myself, what
is the career I'm trying tobuild for myself?
And I like to think about it aslike what is that like dream
public health career?
And I like to think about it asseparate from just a job that
you're looking for, right, adream job versus a dream life
and career, which I think areconnected, regardless of what we
(23:01):
say.
They're so intertwined andespecially in public health, I
think we get into it becausethere's this like passion to
serve the communities that weare part of, and creating that
image for yourself, or the lifethat you want to build, can take
some time, but you have to keepthinking about it and then
eventually you think it'll cometo be like the image that you're
(23:24):
explaining here.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, exactly yeah.
You just need to keep diggingdeeper, you need to get better
here.
There's definitely moments intime where I'm like there's
things that creep in and I'mlike, oh, that would be a cool
career, that would be cool.
I'm like going up the corporateladder, that's really cool.
And I actually had thisconversation with my husband
recently.
With my day job, I work inoverdose.
(23:46):
I lead some of the initiativesaround overdose, the overdose
crisis and responding to it, andthere was recently in BC there
was an article that came outaround safer, prescribed
alternatives and I was a part ofthe team that created that
pilot project just before I wenton that leave and I said to my
husband I was like this is likethe part that's so cool that
(24:07):
feeds into the ego of like I wasa part of that team.
Look at it, look at it, it's onthe news, that's so cool, like
Bonnie Henry's talking about itand I said but when you branch
off into consulting, you don'tnecessarily get that.
Or you branch off intoentrepreneurship, you don't
necessarily get that.
You lose a sense of identityand you lose a sense of like who
(24:27):
am I?
you know, like who am I?
I'm not.
I don't know if it's title, Idon't have this, I don't know if
that and I, when I said to him,I was like that sometimes is
like a fear that holds me backin maintaining my job and not
quitting, of course, other thanfinances, because I started to
keep my job, but.
But there's those sort ofthings that creep in and cloud
(24:47):
image for you.
But it just takes a lot ofself-reflecting and a lot of
like digging deep.
And that's why I bought thepuzzle in this image, cause I
was like if it's right in frontof me, like I'll always see it
and I'll always remember it andit's not going to get clouded as
as if it's just in my head.
So, if you have an image, Iwould recommend just drawing it
out even if it doesn't lookpretty, writing it down.
(25:08):
But there's moments in timewhere, like, we get the image,
it like seems clear and then itgoes back to being blurry.
It's like if focus is in andthen you lose focus, right.
So yeah, that's what I wouldrecommend for people, because
yeah, it's those images thatwill really drive you forward in
your questions and also I feelreally fortunate that I've had
certain people come into my life, that I've come across, that
(25:30):
have said certain things thathave always stuck with me that
have been very clear, and onestory that I'll share is that is
one of the risks I tookactually after that project
coordinator job was I jumpedinto risk management and I do
not know risk management.
I don't know nothing about riskmanagement, but I took on this
new role and I spent threemonths and, just like learned as
(25:52):
much as I could about it and itwas around healthcare and I
realized it's not too far offpublic health, because it's all
about prevention and promotingfrom a risk perspective for the
health authority.
But in that I met someone thatwas the CEO of our cancer agency
at one point and he was a vicepresident too and he had just
trained someone.
And he said he's like, thisperson that I just trained has
(26:15):
the same job title as me and hegoes the writing is on the wall
that I'm being let go.
It's just nobody's told me yet.
But he had been there for over27 years and he was a physician.
He took all the administrativeroles.
Anytime they needed someone tojump into a role as an interim,
he did it.
He had dedicated his life tothe organization and that sort
(26:35):
of was his like wake up call oflike I spent all these years,
sacrificed everything to be hereFor this place and this is how
I'm being thanked at the end.
And he looked at me and he goesone of the biggest risks in
life is taking the risk of notbeing true to yourself or not
doing what you want because youwant to please a company or an
(26:59):
organization like an entity.
And he said that was like arisk he took and something that
he at that point he was sayinghe regretted because there were
some things along the way thathe wanted to do but he never
jumped in because he was tooscared and he also didn't want
to let down the company.
So that's something that alwayssticks with me, because I'm,
like I always worry about losingwhat I want.
(27:20):
You know, being almost like apeople pleaser, like making sure
that I do things for thebetterment of the company,
versus I'm doing something thatI want to do, and so him sharing
that with me was, you know,another thing that like really
changed my perspective of whatis it that I want to do.
Do I want to have loyalty?
Do I want to, like sacrifice mypersonal time, my family time,
(27:43):
for a company or for anorganization that?
You know?
I always say this to people.
But you know, if you were, youknow, god forbid, if you were to
die tomorrow, your job isposted and a new person is going
to take your job, but yourfamily is going to miss you,
your friends are going to missyou, your dreams are going to be
left unfulfilled, you know andso it's scary.
(28:04):
And it's scary taking risks,especially in my entrepreneur
world, like building myconsulting business or building
the successful candidate and theconsulting nest.
It's scary because I sometimesthink like I'll just you know, I
just posted this on my LinkedInyesterday but like there's so
many times that I'm like this istoo hard, like to build
something, I'm just going tofold it, I'm going to quit, I'm
(28:26):
just going to maintain my job.
And like I go to work, I comehome, it's all good.
Yeah realize that.
You know I don't want to justdo that.
I want to control my hours, Iwant to control what I'm doing,
when I'm doing it, how I'm doingit.
I want to have untappedpotential in me personally, but
in my salary and how I build myskills, all that stuff, and
(28:49):
that's why I'm doing it.
It's tough, it's hard, but youknow you have to take these
risks sometimes because it isworth it in the end and,
honestly, nothing that's worthit is ever easy Like that's such
a cliche thing to say but it'svery true Nothing worth while is
easy.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Would you say that was the conversation that kind
of got you kick started intojumping into consulting, like I
know you.
You started dabbling into itand kind of taking on some of
your own projects at some point.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, definitely.
I think it was what I waslooking for and what we're
taught to look for is afull-time job, right.
And I knew I was like, okay, Iwant to be a project manager.
But these six friends of minewho were like we're, we got
really really close to that teamand I still talk to them and it
was like they were amazingpeople.
They were never going to leavetheir jobs, you know, because
there wasn't another job to goto right, and now it's probably
(29:43):
called expanded, so there's lotsof jobs, but at that time they
basically didn't have anotherrole to go to right.
There was one director role,six project managers, so the
natural progression was thedirector leaves or goes up and
then they go into one persongoes into that role.
But that wasn't going to happenand I and so I did get into
consulting because I just lookedat like if I'm not going to
(30:05):
work in public health, I can'tfind a job in public health and
this is another way that I coulddo public health work at that
time.
And when I jumped into riskmanagement, it was really
because I couldn't find anythingelse in public health and we
had a new director at that timeand she came from risk
management.
She said to me she goes, it'snot that different, and she goes
(30:27):
.
You will have such an impact inmaking a change from a risk
perspective because theinitiative that I worked on was
brand new and it was calledintegrated risk management or
enterprise risk management, butit was building a reporting
system for the entire healthauthority where we looked at
risk from a proactiveperspective.
(30:47):
But what do you envisionhappening and how can we
minimize that impact andminimize the consequences if it
did happen?
It was amazing, but I really,at the end of that, I missed,
you know, public health and Imissed being in public health.
And that's when I jumped shipto another health authority and
I did take a pay cut and a titlecut, like I went from a manager
(31:08):
and I was meeting with CEOs andexecutives to a policy analyst
role in another health authority, but it was a policy analyst in
the health equity team.
I was coming back sort of likehome to what I really wanted to
do and then moved into overdoseafter that, but it was.
It's just always just takingrisks, just doing, doing the
(31:29):
thing to do to get to where youwant, and not feeling like
you're stuck on one path, likeyou're always competitive.
You can always change, you canalways.
Nothing is ever forever.
So like if you move throughanother role and you don't like
it.
You can always go to adifferent one, you can come back
to a different, you know roleon doing the stuff you were
doing previously, but I thinkthat's a piece that people in
(31:51):
their careers always worry aboutis things that things are
permanent, and I personally feellike nothing is ever permanent.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I heard that advice early on.
It's like a lot of the steps oractions you take are often
reversible, so don't don't likeget stuck in.
Like am I making the perfectchoice right now in my career,
Right so?
I've always kind of like held onto that.
Okay, so let's talk a littlebit about what you're trying to
(32:19):
do with consulting Nest, andthen we'll also kind of link up
all the the, the websites thatpeople can check out more
information, including yourLinkedIn page, so that they can
follow along on your journey aswell.
So, yeah, I think, like talkingabout that North Star, the
vision that you have forconsulting Nest, I think it's a
good place to start.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, thank you.
And so when I startedconsulting and doing this work
I'm in addition to working fulltime I had a lot of people, like
colleagues, saying to me like,hey, could you tell me how you
do it?
Tell me, what are youconsulting?
How'd you get into it?
You helped me with theseproposals or can you help me
establish myself?
And I just naturally starteddoing that, mentoring and
coaching people that I knew, andit was in 2016, when I had this
(33:04):
, or 2017, actually, when I hadthis idea.
I was, like my sister's, anaccountant, so she was telling
me she could get little sideprojects on Upcork or Fiverr a
couple other business relatedwebsites and I thought to myself
.
I was like there's nothing forpublic health professionals,
people that are workinggovernment and healthcare and
(33:24):
nonprofits to share thatknowledge.
And we and people that work inthose industries.
They're so knowledgeable, theyhave so much to offer.
You know, it'd be cool if therewas a website or a platform
where people could post whatthey offer.
Like I'm a consultant, I, thisis what I consult in, here's
what I can offer.
You and organizations can go onthis platform and see all these
(33:48):
people and be able to connectwith them and get to know them
that they wouldn't normallyconnect with or get to know, but
also for consultants, that theycould find contracts or find
opportunities and be able toapply just like a job for
consulting opportunities moreeffectively and quickly, as
opposed to this networking and abit of an elitism around
(34:11):
consulting where only the peoplethat you know get projects or
when you're circled get projects.
And so that's what I set out tobuild in 2020.
So I had my daughter, so I putthat project on hold for a
little while, but in 2020, I waslike I'm going to do this, I'm
going to build this project.
So I built the marketplace, Ibuilt a beta version of it and I
(34:33):
brought on consultants and Iworked with the consultants,
coached them and mentioned them,and we were able to get people
matched up in projects andconsulting.
So that's what I'm continuingto do with.
The consulting nest is I wantto create a place where
professionals can learn tobecome consultants.
They can learn the ins and outsof the business.
They can learn how to doconsulting projects.
(34:53):
They can learn a lot aroundalignment and resiliency and
their mindset around consultingand that they can have a place
where they're supported, wherethey could post like here's what
I offer, here's what I can dofor you, and that organizations
that are coming on and seeingthey could connect with them
directly.
But also they could post theirprojects that consultants can
(35:15):
see and apply for and work on,and so it's a place that people
can connect and learn to beconsultants.
And I always say it's a way toaccelerate your knowledge
sharing.
That creates flexible workoptions so you can share your
knowledge and you can createflexibility for yourself.
And so that's sort of what I'mdoing with the consulting nest
(35:36):
and that's what I'm building out.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
That's awesome.
We'll be sure to link it outbecause I know there's a lot
more coming with the consultingnest and I think it's a 2.0
version, and I think I liked howyou framed it, like teaching
individuals in these kind ofdifferent areas to become
consultants.
I think that's like a big partof it as well, and then the
marketplace is going to helpconnect organizations and
(36:00):
individuals.
So best wishes on that.
I think I'll be following alongpersonally on LinkedIn and I
hope our listeners will be aswell, and I think, as we kind of
wrap this episode up, anyparting words of wisdom that you
want to offer individuals interms of really kind of like.
I think the theme I got out oftoday's conversation was like
(36:23):
paving your own path based onhow you want to build your life.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Yeah, I think, both in my own consultancy, my career
, the consulting nest and thesuccessful candidate course that
I have, the biggest thing thatI always tell people is that
it's just knowing your worth,like just knowing that what you
offer is valuable to someone, tosome organization, to some
place.
(36:47):
And I feel like sometimes wedon't know our own worth, we
don't know that what we actuallypossess is valuable and our
unique challenges and you know,what I'll share as parting words
is what I tell my daughter allthe time is that you're the only
you there is in this world,like there is no one else that
is as unique as you, that hasyour experiences, your approach
(37:08):
to life, like you're the onlyone that was born to your
parents, that was raised in yourcity, that has your name, that
went through school the way thatyou did.
Like there's no other personthat has the same sequence of
events that, if you do, you areand how you look at the world.
So just knowing that andknowing that because of that,
(37:28):
you have something to offer tothe world and it could be
something that you're doingright now.
It could be something that youdon't know you're going to be
doing very soon, but tappinginto that potential and just
always taking the risk, because,yeah, it's always more reward
when you take the risk right.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I love it.
I love it.
Thank you so much, Anjiza.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Hey, I hope you enjoyed that episode and if you
want to get the links orinformation mentioned in today's
episode, you can head over tophspotorg slash podcast and
we'll have everything there foryou.
And before you go, I want totell you about the Public Health
Career Club.
So if you've been looking for aplace to connect and build
(38:13):
meaningful relationships withother public health
professionals from all aroundthe world, you should join us in
the Public Health Career Club.
We launched the club with thevision of becoming the number
one hangout spot dedicated tobuilding and growing your dream
public health career.
And in addition to being able toconnect and build those
(38:33):
meaningful relationships withother public health
professionals, the club alsooffers other great resources for
your career growth and success,like mindset coaching, job
preparation clinics and careergrowth strategy sessions in the
form of trainings and talks, alldelivered by experts and
inspiring individuals in theseareas.
So if you want to learn more orwant to join the club, you can
(38:56):
visit our page at phspotorgslash club and we'll have all
the information there.
And you know, as a space that'sbeing intentionally curated to
bring together like mindedpublic health professionals who
are not only there to pushthemselves to become the best
versions of themselves, but alsoeach other.
And with that I can't wait tosee how this is going to have a
(39:21):
ripple effect in the world, aswe all work together to better
the health of our populationsand just have immense impact in
the world.
And I hope you'll be joining usin the Public Health Career
Club.
There's no other person that has the same
sequence of events that havecreated who you are and how you
look at the world.
So just knowing that andknowing that because of that,
you have something to offer tothe world, and it could be
something that you're doingright now, it could be something
that you don't know you'regoing to be doing very soon, but
tapping into that potential andjust always taking the risk,
(00:21):
because it's always more rewardwhen you take the risk right.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to PH Spotlight, a community for you
to build your public healthcareer with.
Join us weekly right here, andI'll be here too.
Your host, sujani Siva from PHSpot.
Hey, anjesa, and welcome to thePH Spot podcast.
Long Overdue to have you hereand we went like 40 minutes of
(00:54):
just chit chatting before werealized that we should start
recording this podcast episode,so welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I think I tell people whenever I have a guest like
where we've met and like, Ithink recently, in the past year
or two, everyone I've met hasbeen on LinkedIn.
I think it's been such a greatplace to just meet people, get
to know them, collaborate ondifferent projects.
So Anjesa and I met on LinkedIn.
We connected, I think more thana year ago or so, and have been
(01:24):
able to keep in touch and seeeach other not only grow in our
work but also grow in ourfamilies, which is being super
fun.
One of the favorite questions Ihave whenever I bring on guests
who have a public healthbackground is kind of how they
discovered public health and,like, what's their earliest
memory of just finding out whatthis field is.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I think that that's sort ofalways a journey for people to
get into public health.
But I definitely, when Istarted university I was after
high school took a year becauseI wasn't sure where I wanted to
go or what I wanted to do.
My first semester I dabbled in.
You know, should I do businessor should I do med school?
(02:08):
Med school always, I think Ihad talked about.
I had always wanted to be apediatrician.
That was what sort of my I toldmy family and when I started to
dabble into it, I realized that,like you know, I really, really
loved the sciences and I reallyloved, specifically, biology
labs.
I was like this is awesome, Ilove seeing what I'm learning in
(02:31):
practice.
And so when I was looking at myuniversity programs, I found
one that said Bachelor ofScience and Health Sciences and
I didn't quite understand whatthat meant, but I was like, oh,
it sounds like, sounds cool.
So I enrolled in that programand I and I started doing that
program and it was.
It was public health, but itwas called health sciences and I
(02:54):
didn't know public health asaround at that time.
But once I started getting intothe work and I was, you know,
learning about it.
I was doing that programbecause it met all the
prerequisites for med school.
Okay, you just have like 12courses before I go to med
school, and that was the programthat already made you do those
12 courses, so it wasn'tanything.
(03:14):
In addition, and it was inthird year, I sat down in a
course called socialdeterminants of health.
I didn't know what it meant.
It was so new, such a newconcept to me and at the same
time I was starting to questionmedical school.
I was a part of a medicalfraternity, a pre-med fraternity
, so there was basicallyeveryone at the school, at the
(03:35):
university, that wanted to go tomed school and we were doing
info sessions with physiciansand other people and making
those decisions.
And I met a woman who was aradiologist and her and I
started chatting on the side atone of these events and she
asked me a question.
She said do you want to have afamily?
I said yes, I like I want fivekids.
That was the goal and I havetwo now and I think I'm done.
(03:58):
I can aspire to five, but Ithink I'm done at two.
But she said she asked me thatquestion and I kind of was like
okay, like I said yes, and shesaid then you need to really
think about what life you wantand what kind of life you want
and how you want your life tolook.
(04:18):
And she said I love being aradiologist.
She said it's the mostrewarding thing that I've ever
done and it's my dream.
It's been my dream.
And she said but when I had mytwo kids, she said I couldn't be
with my kids at the same timeof being a resident, a radiology
resident, and I had to be atthe back and call of the
hospital and you know, justputting in those hours, getting
(04:40):
those experiences, because it'svery hands on and the learning
is when you're present.
She said so I had my kids withmy in-laws majority of the time.
And she said she goes.
At this time she goes.
I'm about 15 years into mycareer, I have a stable career,
I have stable hours, she goes,everything sort of settled down.
And so she said now I'm at theplace where I can be with my
(05:02):
kids and do my job and she goes.
But when I go to hang out withmy kids, they say to me oh, you
know, actually we'd rather go tograndma's house, you know.
And she said I realize I don'tfeel that bond, I don't feel
like I'm going to be able to dothat.
And so she just shared thatwith me.
Because she said just reallydig deep and think about your
future and what you want yourfuture to look like, and it's
(05:24):
definitely doable.
She goes.
I know a lot of people thathave had kids, had been a doctor
and it's been fine.
She goes.
But in my experience, this iswhat I struggle with.
That was the same day that Istarted this new course and I
sat down and I was like sofascinated I was so fascinated
that our health, our education,where we came from, where we
live, our social safety, now thecountry, what the country has,
(05:48):
all these things impact ourhealth so deeply.
And it was in that course thatyou know within that week that I
was like this is what I love todo, like this part of it.
This is what I want to do isimpact health in a broader way.
And then that was when Idecided like okay, whatever this
career is in socialdeterminants of health, this is
what I'm doing.
(06:09):
If that means I'm going to go tomed school and be a public
health physician, I'll do that.
If that means I'm just going tobe a public health practitioner
and not go to med school, I'lldo that.
But whatever the path is, I'lljust sort of follow it
intuitively.
And so that's really how Ifound public health is.
Just through that course andthat conversation, there's a
different way.
We could enter health care andhealth without being a physician
(06:33):
and going to med school.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, I think when we learn about the social
determinants of health and Ifound, at least you know, years
back and I think you and Iprobably went and got our
undergrad around the same timethere weren't a lot of
bachelor's level education inpublic health, and so I remember
too kind of epi and some ofthose courses were available for
(06:55):
third and fourth year, and youalmost wonder like, oh, I wish I
had this opportunity to learnabout social determinants of
health earlier on, and sometimes, you know, I even think it
should be like part of the highschool curriculum because it's
so foundational to just all ofthe sciences that I hope we get
to a point where, you know, I'mseeing more and more bachelors
(07:17):
level public health programs,which is amazing.
But I hope it gets kind ofintegrated into even our high
school curriculum because it'sjust so foundational to
everything we do.
Right, when you were explaining, you know where you're born,
where you live, the like, accessof all the things that is
needed for you to live your lifeis just so foundational to
(07:39):
everything we do that itwouldn't hurt to know all of
that early on and then, letalone have people you know
choose a career in that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I think I was the third cohortof students going through that
bachelor's program.
It was so very new and funnystory is that I didn't know.
I didn't know who designed theprogram, but it was this person
named Dr Michael Hayes, and whenI went to go do my master's of
public health, I went to adifferent university in BC and
(08:08):
he had designed the master's ofpublic health and so I repeated
my master's degree, but in avery condensed two years, I mean
, I did phenomenal, I just wentcopy paste, you know.
So yeah, it was such a new, newspace at that time and this is
only like a decade ago.
It's not like that long ago.
That, like the same persondesigned both programs in one
(08:32):
province.
At that time I was like, wow,this is so wild.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Such a small world in public health.
I think that's what you realize, especially you know in Canada.
We're both in Canada and Ithink a lot of the players in
public health you'll eventuallylike bump into them at some
point of your career.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Okay, so then I saw that you started a master's
program in public health, kindof almost immediately after you
graduated with yourundergraduates, so it sounds
like you chose to go, you know,down that path rather than
medical school.
What was the reason for thatdecision for you?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I think it was a conversation I had with that
physician and just like that, inclaim of that, I really wanted
to be a mom and I wanted to be avery present mom.
So my family were refugees fromAfghanistan and so I was born
in Afghanistan and it was abouta year when my family had to
flood like overnight, like Ididn't think we had like a crazy
(09:31):
story.
But then I interviewed mygrandparents for one of my
undergrad projects in publichealth it was around what they
think of healthcare in Canada asimmigrants and they told me the
whole story and it was a crazystory of how they just had to
pack up overnight, you know, paypeople to cross them over to
the border into Pakistan, andthen a year later we had an
(09:54):
uncle.
My grandma had a brother inCanada, in a small town called
Chatham in Ontario and hesponsored all of our families
and we were like, wow, people,wow, he sponsored all of us and
we lived in Chatham for threeyears or four years before my
grandparents were like this istoo cold.
We moved to Vancouver.
But yeah, it was one of thosecrazy stories.
(10:16):
And so growing up I remember myparents valued work Like I've
talked about this before on myLinkedIn, but my parents work
was like if they were working,that's the way to go.
And even to this day, my dad'slike if you take a year off of
work, you're so behind work likeyou're so behind in the
Canadian culture and to me Ialways, growing up, was like why
are my parents at theseperformances?
(10:38):
Why are my parents chaperoningfield trips?
Why are my parents dropping meoff and picking me up?
At one point I remember my momarranged for a taxi company to
pick us up by sister and I atelementary school to drive us to
our grandparents' house becauseshe was working and my dad was
working.
So I remember from a young agejust feeling like when I become
a mom I'm going to be there forall these moments because my
(10:58):
parents are lovely and I lovethem, but like they valued work
over, you know, being presentand they still do that to this
day, and that's.
I feel, like part of theimmigrant journey and the story,
and so for me that conversationreally dug deep.
For me because I'm okay.
Like if I go mad school, likeI'm fully in and I'm fully
(11:18):
committing and I have mypersonality.
Type is that when I commit tosomething, I don't just like
half commit, I have to go all inand I want to be president, do
it all.
So just knowing that, knowingthat that was not going to be
for me, that's why I decided,like just to go straight into
the master's program right away.
Like I think I took a summersemester and we had a two week
(11:39):
semester break.
Yeah, at the end of that twoweeks I was starting the
master's program.
Like I did not take a break atall, I just wanted to like do it
and get it over with and juststart a career.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, that's awesome.
And then what happened aftergraduation?
Were you able to figure out,like, where you wanted to start
your public health career, like,did those ideas start to come
together for you, or did youalready have that kind of mapped
out before starting the MPHprogram, or was that something
that kind of developedthroughout?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Well, I was really lucky in the sense that when I
finished the last semester of myundergrad, I started already
applying for jobs and puttingfeelers out and I was realizing
that the market was really tough.
At that time.
There was not a lot of publichealth jobs.
And the public health team waslike six people for a whole
provincial health authority, andso I started just thinking,
(12:30):
like you know, what could I do?
And I got a job with kids'health phone and I was working
with them and it was aroundchildren's mental health which
was an area I was reallypassionate about.
And at that same time I thoughtto myself you know what if I
just go in as like anadministrative staff and then
see if I could change courseafterwards?
So I started doing someresearch online and I found
(12:51):
someone that was kind of built atemporary pool of people to do
various jobs across theauthority.
So I connected with her and Iwent from like a full-time,
secure, stable job to like shegave me a one-week assignment,
like she's actually extended tothree weeks by the end of like
(13:11):
the offer.
But she's like, yeah, come workfor three weeks.
And I said, well, what if Idon't have work after three
weeks?
She's like you're just gonnahave to jump in with two feet
and figure it out.
And I was like, oh my gosh,like that's so scary to me,
right and so right as I'mfinishing my degree, I jumped
ship and I went to take thisthree week assignment and I was
(13:32):
lucky enough that in that threeweek assignment, you know, I met
so many people and I connectedwith so many people and I really
put out feelers and I gotpeople to take me as person
named Andrew, who was mydirector.
He's still like I'm stilltalking with him.
He was such an amazing soul.
He and I connected.
He's like yeah, why don't youcome and be my assistant for a
(13:53):
month?
And I said, okay.
So he went in and I was hisassistant for a month and he was
the director of population ofpublic health and he said I have
a little bit of funding, I'mgoing to create a job for you
and I want you to stay workingwith me.
So he created a projectcoordinator position and I got
to work with him and I got to dothat while I was doing my
master's degree and he said tome I'm going to support you
(14:16):
doing your master's degree, doyour courses during work hours
I'm okay with that Do yourpracticum project here, do your
thesis project here and createinitiatives that we could work
with.
So it was really like I feellike he was like my guardian
angel, because he really helpedme out.
So I was lucky enough that Igot to do my master's degree
(14:36):
while working full time.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
That's incredible.
What was the role that you weredoing at Kids Help Online?
Because you said that was apermanent job.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I was a coordinator so I was working with them for
all their initiatives, sogetting community involvement,
working with the schools.
There was a couple fundraisinginitiatives they had that I
worked with them.
Fund development really justgetting the word out about,
because Kids Help Online isbased out in Toronto.
Now they're huge right, butwhen.
(15:06):
I started a decade ago, theywere very heavily in Toronto and
Ontario and in the West theyweren't as well known, and so
they were just sort of startingto establish that knowledge base
.
Now they're just such a greatorganization and I such an
affinity to them and the workthat they're doing, what they're
doing for kids, is just sospecial.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
That story is incredible, you know, for you,
for taking that leap and reallytrusting your instinct, all on
the motivation of really joiningthat Organization that you
wanted to be a part of, right,I'm sure a lot of people kind of
go through that Mental block oflike, should I let go of this
like stable income, to trysomething out for three weeks,
(15:51):
or one week when you started,and then potentially going to
three weeks and then, yeah, andseeing where that goes, what do
you, what do you think helpedyou with that?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I think it was just having very clear direction,
like I had a very Direction ofwhat I wanted to do, where I
wanted to go.
I knew the masters program waspending, like I knew was
starting soon.
I knew I had to do a thesis andI had to do a practicum project
, which meant like I wouldalready have to leave this job
and I didn't know if I had thesupport to leave the job for
(16:20):
three months to Do my work formy master's degree.
So, honestly, it was just likesomething I just did on the whim
, because I was.
I'm just gonna do this and seewhat happened, you know, and
yeah, and it was definitely ahuge risk for me, but it really
worked out.
I'm so grateful for it.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Awesome.
A few episodes ago I wastalking to Tasha and we were
talking about taking bold stepsin your career and then she told
me about dropping into likecommunity health fairs just to
see if she could meetIndividuals who actually worked
in the like the department.
Right, the health fairs weren'tmeant to be career fairs, they
(16:58):
were meant for the communitybecause they were doing all
these programming.
But she just like showed up andthen was bold to ask them for
an email or a phone number andthen I think she said for three
or six months just emailed thethe person in order to like then
eventually land a Career or ajob with them and then
eventually built up her likealmost a decade career there.
So you know, this also remindsme of that conversation where
(17:22):
you sometimes can benefit whenyou take those bold steps, and
then I think it's probably youthen like being really active in
that three week opportunity tosee, like what else you could
find for yourself there.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, no, that's amazing.
Yeah, and sometimes you have todo those creative things, you
have to do those creativeapproaches and yeah, and really
just putting yourself out thereand that sort of reminds me of
like, like, how I got intoconsulting is still through that
project coordinator job.
One of my tasks was we had,like I said, six as team of six.
We had six project managers andthey were hiring consultants
(17:59):
all the time, and so one of myjobs was to work with the
project manager and theconsultant, get all the
onboarding documents, get allthe procurement documents in
place and submit it for a PO, sohire the consultants.
And it was through that that Istarted to look at, like, what
people did, what they wereconsulting and how they actually
delivered their work.
(18:20):
So it's so heavily and soclosely with them and the impact
that consultants were making onprojects or an organization.
And it was from like thatinside that I was like, oh, this
is such an interesting career.
And in my conversations withconsultants I would ask those
questions like I know I'm hiringyou, could you tell me a little
bit about how'd you get intoconsulting?
(18:41):
What do you do?
Why did you decide to do this?
Why not doing something elseand and just learning more about
them and their journey andreally what got them into
consulting, and that's reallythe how the seeds got planted
For me to join and become aconsultant as well.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I think every Story you're sharing here with me,
like each phase of your life, itsounds like you're somebody
who's like always forward,thinking about like where you
want to take your career and thethe steps that you're taking
Presently is in alignment withthat, and I don't know if you,
if you've done thatintentionally all your life, and
(19:20):
it sounds like you have,because I think you you
mentioned that a little bit, butyeah, it's a really smart way
of doing things and I Isometimes talk about like
strategic networking andessentially like what you are
doing is okay.
I know I would enjoy consultingat some point in my life, so
let me start talking to theconsultant so they could give me
that guidance, right?
So, yeah, I don't know if youhave anything more to add to
(19:43):
that.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, it's, it's.
I appreciate you saying thatbecause I don't know it's.
It's a weird story I share, sosome people don't believe it.
It's because it's unbelievable.
But I have a mentor and acouple years ago he asked me
this question like what's thevision, like, picture your life?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
when you.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Accomplish what you want.
And for some reason there'sthis been this image in my head
since I was really young and itwas me in a garden of like a big
backyard and there's a tableand two chairs and I sit there
and I have my coffee everymorning and then I'm looking out
and I see my house and I see mykids running around and I see
(20:24):
this garden and sometimes welike plant in the garden, but
this is just like this image Ihad and I invite people to come
have coffee with me.
I do meetings there, interviews, whatever it is, but like I
just I'm always at this table,this chair, underneath the
willow tree in this garden.
And shortly after I shared thatvision with him, I went on
Facebook and you know how theysay they listen to you.
(20:46):
So that exact image showed upfrom this artist who does
puzzles and she takes thesepictures and she creates these
puzzles and I literally lookedat that and I was like, oh my
gosh, am I dreaming right now oris this for real?
Of course I bought the puzzle Icannot do puzzles for life for
(21:07):
me but I finished that onewithin a day and I framed it and
it sits in my office and I lookat it every day because that's
the image that I have had,that's sort of my North Star.
When you say I make decisions,it's really to create that life
for myself where I could do thatand for me.
I remember finishing university,finishing a master's degree and
(21:30):
being like oh no, I have to getup at 8am every day, or 7am,
and go to work.
I have to do that over and overand over, and I'm not one that
likes repetitive work.
I like risk, I like things thatchange all the time.
So that's been something that Ialways knew I didn't want to do
, that.
I don't want to do the 9 to 5every day.
(21:51):
I wanted flexibility to just docrazy things and take my family
and go live somewhere else for ayear, if I wanted to Just more
flexibility in my time hasreally been my compass in life
and just this image.
So, yeah, everything that I dodo, everything that I do build
even though it's taking awayfrom that image and maybe taking
(22:13):
more time than it should frommy family it's all for that goal
of building that image.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I really like that and I don't know how long it
took for you to dream up thatimage in your head.
I feel like I have a version ofan image in my head, but it
still hasn't become as clear asyou are explaining yours, and I
think for any of our listenerswho are like, oh man, where's my
image?
I think it can take a littlebit of time, right, but you have
(22:40):
to keep asking yourself what isit that I want for myself, what
is the career I'm trying tobuild for myself?
And I like to think about it aslike what is that like dream
public health career?
And I like to think about it asseparate from just a job that
you're looking for, right, adream job versus a dream life
and career, which I think areconnected, regardless of what we
(23:01):
say.
They're so intertwined andespecially in public health, I
think we get into it becausethere's this like passion to
serve the communities that weare part of, and creating that
image for yourself, or the lifethat you want to build, can take
some time, but you have to keepthinking about it and then
eventually you think it'll cometo be like the image that you're
(23:24):
explaining here.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, exactly yeah.
You just need to keep diggingdeeper, you need to get better
here.
There's definitely moments intime where I'm like there's
things that creep in and I'mlike, oh, that would be a cool
career, that would be cool.
I'm like going up the corporateladder, that's really cool.
And I actually had thisconversation with my husband
recently.
With my day job, I work inoverdose.
(23:46):
I lead some of the initiativesaround overdose, the overdose
crisis and responding to it, andthere was recently in BC there
was an article that came outaround safer, prescribed
alternatives and I was a part ofthe team that created that
pilot project just before I wenton that leave and I said to my
husband I was like this is likethe part that's so cool that
(24:07):
feeds into the ego of like I wasa part of that team.
Look at it, look at it, it's onthe news, that's so cool, like
Bonnie Henry's talking about itand I said but when you branch
off into consulting, you don'tnecessarily get that.
Or you branch off intoentrepreneurship, you don't
necessarily get that.
You lose a sense of identityand you lose a sense of like who
(24:27):
am I?
you know, like who am I?
I'm not.
I don't know if it's title, Idon't have this, I don't know if
that and I, when I said to him,I was like that sometimes is
like a fear that holds me backin maintaining my job and not
quitting, of course, other thanfinances, because I started to
keep my job, but.
But there's those sort ofthings that creep in and cloud
(24:47):
image for you.
But it just takes a lot ofself-reflecting and a lot of
like digging deep.
And that's why I bought thepuzzle in this image, cause I
was like if it's right in frontof me, like I'll always see it
and I'll always remember it andit's not going to get clouded as
as if it's just in my head.
So, if you have an image, Iwould recommend just drawing it
out even if it doesn't lookpretty, writing it down.
(25:08):
But there's moments in timewhere, like, we get the image,
it like seems clear and then itgoes back to being blurry.
It's like if focus is in andthen you lose focus, right.
So yeah, that's what I wouldrecommend for people, because
yeah, it's those images thatwill really drive you forward in
your questions and also I feelreally fortunate that I've had
certain people come into my life, that I've come across, that
(25:30):
have said certain things thathave always stuck with me that
have been very clear, and onestory that I'll share is that is
one of the risks I tookactually after that project
coordinator job was I jumpedinto risk management and I do
not know risk management.
I don't know nothing about riskmanagement, but I took on this
new role and I spent threemonths and, just like learned as
(25:52):
much as I could about it and itwas around healthcare and I
realized it's not too far offpublic health, because it's all
about prevention and promotingfrom a risk perspective for the
health authority.
But in that I met someone thatwas the CEO of our cancer agency
at one point and he was a vicepresident too and he had just
trained someone.
And he said he's like, thisperson that I just trained has
(26:15):
the same job title as me and hegoes the writing is on the wall
that I'm being let go.
It's just nobody's told me yet.
But he had been there for over27 years and he was a physician.
He took all the administrativeroles.
Anytime they needed someone tojump into a role as an interim,
he did it.
He had dedicated his life tothe organization and that sort
(26:35):
of was his like wake up call oflike I spent all these years,
sacrificed everything to be hereFor this place and this is how
I'm being thanked at the end.
And he looked at me and he goesone of the biggest risks in
life is taking the risk of notbeing true to yourself or not
doing what you want because youwant to please a company or an
(26:59):
organization like an entity.
And he said that was like arisk he took and something that
he at that point he was sayinghe regretted because there were
some things along the way thathe wanted to do but he never
jumped in because he was tooscared and he also didn't want
to let down the company.
So that's something that alwayssticks with me, because I'm,
like I always worry about losingwhat I want.
(27:20):
You know, being almost like apeople pleaser, like making sure
that I do things for thebetterment of the company,
versus I'm doing something thatI want to do, and so him sharing
that with me was, you know,another thing that like really
changed my perspective of whatis it that I want to do.
Do I want to have loyalty?
Do I want to, like sacrifice mypersonal time, my family time,
(27:43):
for a company or for anorganization that?
You know?
I always say this to people.
But you know, if you were, youknow, god forbid, if you were to
die tomorrow, your job isposted and a new person is going
to take your job, but yourfamily is going to miss you,
your friends are going to missyou, your dreams are going to be
left unfulfilled, you know andso it's scary.
(28:04):
And it's scary taking risks,especially in my entrepreneur
world, like building myconsulting business or building
the successful candidate and theconsulting nest.
It's scary because I sometimesthink like I'll just you know, I
just posted this on my LinkedInyesterday but like there's so
many times that I'm like this istoo hard, like to build
something, I'm just going tofold it, I'm going to quit, I'm
(28:26):
just going to maintain my job.
And like I go to work, I comehome, it's all good.
Yeah realize that.
You know I don't want to justdo that.
I want to control my hours, Iwant to control what I'm doing,
when I'm doing it, how I'm doingit.
I want to have untappedpotential in me personally, but
in my salary and how I build myskills, all that stuff, and
(28:49):
that's why I'm doing it.
It's tough, it's hard, but youknow you have to take these
risks sometimes because it isworth it in the end and,
honestly, nothing that's worthit is ever easy Like that's such
a cliche thing to say but it'svery true Nothing worth while is
easy.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Would you say that was the conversation that kind
of got you kick started intojumping into consulting, like I
know you.
You started dabbling into itand kind of taking on some of
your own projects at some point.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, definitely.
I think it was what I waslooking for and what we're
taught to look for is afull-time job, right.
And I knew I was like, okay, Iwant to be a project manager.
But these six friends of minewho were like we're, we got
really really close to that teamand I still talk to them and it
was like they were amazingpeople.
They were never going to leavetheir jobs, you know, because
there wasn't another job to goto right, and now it's probably
(29:43):
called expanded, so there's lotsof jobs, but at that time they
basically didn't have anotherrole to go to right.
There was one director role,six project managers, so the
natural progression was thedirector leaves or goes up and
then they go into one persongoes into that role.
But that wasn't going to happenand I and so I did get into
consulting because I just lookedat like if I'm not going to
(30:05):
work in public health, I can'tfind a job in public health and
this is another way that I coulddo public health work at that
time.
And when I jumped into riskmanagement, it was really
because I couldn't find anythingelse in public health and we
had a new director at that timeand she came from risk
management.
She said to me she goes, it'snot that different, and she goes
(30:27):
.
You will have such an impact inmaking a change from a risk
perspective because theinitiative that I worked on was
brand new and it was calledintegrated risk management or
enterprise risk management, butit was building a reporting
system for the entire healthauthority where we looked at
risk from a proactiveperspective.
(30:47):
But what do you envisionhappening and how can we
minimize that impact andminimize the consequences if it
did happen?
It was amazing, but I really,at the end of that, I missed,
you know, public health and Imissed being in public health.
And that's when I jumped shipto another health authority and
I did take a pay cut and a titlecut, like I went from a manager
(31:08):
and I was meeting with CEOs andexecutives to a policy analyst
role in another health authority, but it was a policy analyst in
the health equity team.
I was coming back sort of likehome to what I really wanted to
do and then moved into overdoseafter that, but it was.
It's just always just takingrisks, just doing, doing the
(31:29):
thing to do to get to where youwant, and not feeling like
you're stuck on one path, likeyou're always competitive.
You can always change, you canalways.
Nothing is ever forever.
So like if you move throughanother role and you don't like
it.
You can always go to adifferent one, you can come back
to a different, you know roleon doing the stuff you were
doing previously, but I thinkthat's a piece that people in
(31:51):
their careers always worry aboutis things that things are
permanent, and I personally feellike nothing is ever permanent.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I heard that advice early on.
It's like a lot of the steps oractions you take are often
reversible, so don't don't likeget stuck in.
Like am I making the perfectchoice right now in my career,
Right so?
I've always kind of like held onto that.
Okay, so let's talk a littlebit about what you're trying to
(32:19):
do with consulting Nest, andthen we'll also kind of link up
all the the, the websites thatpeople can check out more
information, including yourLinkedIn page, so that they can
follow along on your journey aswell.
So, yeah, I think, like talkingabout that North Star, the
vision that you have forconsulting Nest, I think it's a
good place to start.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, thank you.
And so when I startedconsulting and doing this work
I'm in addition to working fulltime I had a lot of people, like
colleagues, saying to me like,hey, could you tell me how you
do it?
Tell me, what are youconsulting?
How'd you get into it?
You helped me with theseproposals or can you help me
establish myself?
And I just naturally starteddoing that, mentoring and
coaching people that I knew, andit was in 2016, when I had this
(33:04):
, or 2017, actually, when I hadthis idea.
I was, like my sister's, anaccountant, so she was telling
me she could get little sideprojects on Upcork or Fiverr a
couple other business relatedwebsites and I thought to myself
.
I was like there's nothing forpublic health professionals,
people that are workinggovernment and healthcare and
(33:24):
nonprofits to share thatknowledge.
And we and people that work inthose industries.
They're so knowledgeable, theyhave so much to offer.
You know, it'd be cool if therewas a website or a platform
where people could post whatthey offer.
Like I'm a consultant, I, thisis what I consult in, here's
what I can offer.
You and organizations can go onthis platform and see all these
(33:48):
people and be able to connectwith them and get to know them
that they wouldn't normallyconnect with or get to know, but
also for consultants, that theycould find contracts or find
opportunities and be able toapply just like a job for
consulting opportunities moreeffectively and quickly, as
opposed to this networking and abit of an elitism around
(34:11):
consulting where only the peoplethat you know get projects or
when you're circled get projects.
And so that's what I set out tobuild in 2020.
So I had my daughter, so I putthat project on hold for a
little while, but in 2020, I waslike I'm going to do this, I'm
going to build this project.
So I built the marketplace, Ibuilt a beta version of it and I
(34:33):
brought on consultants and Iworked with the consultants,
coached them and mentioned them,and we were able to get people
matched up in projects andconsulting.
So that's what I'm continuingto do with.
The consulting nest is I wantto create a place where
professionals can learn tobecome consultants.
They can learn the ins and outsof the business.
They can learn how to doconsulting projects.
(34:53):
They can learn a lot aroundalignment and resiliency and
their mindset around consultingand that they can have a place
where they're supported, wherethey could post like here's what
I offer, here's what I can dofor you, and that organizations
that are coming on and seeingthey could connect with them
directly.
But also they could post theirprojects that consultants can
(35:15):
see and apply for and work on,and so it's a place that people
can connect and learn to beconsultants.
And I always say it's a way toaccelerate your knowledge
sharing.
That creates flexible workoptions so you can share your
knowledge and you can createflexibility for yourself.
And so that's sort of what I'mdoing with the consulting nest
(35:36):
and that's what I'm building out.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
That's awesome.
We'll be sure to link it outbecause I know there's a lot
more coming with the consultingnest and I think it's a 2.0
version, and I think I liked howyou framed it, like teaching
individuals in these kind ofdifferent areas to become
consultants.
I think that's like a big partof it as well, and then the
marketplace is going to helpconnect organizations and
(36:00):
individuals.
So best wishes on that.
I think I'll be following alongpersonally on LinkedIn and I
hope our listeners will be aswell, and I think, as we kind of
wrap this episode up, anyparting words of wisdom that you
want to offer individuals interms of really kind of like.
I think the theme I got out oftoday's conversation was like
(36:23):
paving your own path based onhow you want to build your life.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Yeah, I think, both in my own consultancy, my career
, the consulting nest and thesuccessful candidate course that
I have, the biggest thing thatI always tell people is that
it's just knowing your worth,like just knowing that what you
offer is valuable to someone, tosome organization, to some
place.
(36:47):
And I feel like sometimes wedon't know our own worth, we
don't know that what we actuallypossess is valuable and our
unique challenges and you know,what I'll share as parting words
is what I tell my daughter allthe time is that you're the only
you there is in this world,like there is no one else that
is as unique as you, that hasyour experiences, your approach
(37:08):
to life, like you're the onlyone that was born to your
parents, that was raised in yourcity, that has your name, that
went through school the way thatyou did.
Like there's no other personthat has the same sequence of
events that, if you do, you areand how you look at the world.
So just knowing that andknowing that because of that,
(37:28):
you have something to offer tothe world and it could be
something that you're doingright now.
It could be something that youdon't know you're going to be
doing very soon, but tappinginto that potential and just
always taking the risk, because,yeah, it's always more reward
when you take the risk right.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I love it.
I love it.
Thank you so much, Anjiza.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Hey, I hope you enjoyed that episode and if you
want to get the links orinformation mentioned in today's
episode, you can head over tophspotorg slash podcast and
we'll have everything there foryou.
And before you go, I want totell you about the Public Health
Career Club.
So if you've been looking for aplace to connect and build
(38:13):
meaningful relationships withother public health
professionals from all aroundthe world, you should join us in
the Public Health Career Club.
We launched the club with thevision of becoming the number
one hangout spot dedicated tobuilding and growing your dream
public health career.
And in addition to being able toconnect and build those
(38:33):
meaningful relationships withother public health
professionals, the club alsooffers other great resources for
your career growth and success,like mindset coaching, job
preparation clinics and careergrowth strategy sessions in the
form of trainings and talks, alldelivered by experts and
inspiring individuals in theseareas.
So if you want to learn more orwant to join the club, you can
(38:56):
visit our page at phspotorgslash club and we'll have all
the information there.
And you know, as a space that'sbeing intentionally curated to
bring together like mindedpublic health professionals who
are not only there to pushthemselves to become the best
versions of themselves, but alsoeach other.
And with that I can't wait tosee how this is going to have a
(39:21):
ripple effect in the world, aswe all work together to better
the health of our populationsand just have immense impact in
the world.
And I hope you'll be joining usin the Public Health Career
Club.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.