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Today's episode features Dr. Charlotte Huntley, a public health entrepreneur and leader. We peel back the layers of her dynamic journey from a liberal arts and microbiology background to an influential career in epidemiology and entrepreneurship. Our dialogue uncovers her dive into the pharmaceutical industry and how the entrepreneurial flame was kindled within her. As we pivot towards the impact of her work during a global pandemic, Dr. Huntley delves into the importance of communication in public health and the gratification of specializing her consulting services to aid BIPOC organizations. Join us as we draw inspiration from Dr. Huntley's narrative, illustrating the power of readiness for opportunities and the joy of a career intertwined with core values.
You’ll Learn
- Dr. Huntley’s work in microbiology and healthcare and her pivot into epidemiology and community health
- Global health and the pharmaceutical industry
- Dr. Huntley’s start in podcasting and how it grew into a thriving business
- COVID’s impact on Dr. Huntley’s new company and how it has evolved since then to primarily serve BIPOC communities
- Glance into the making of Dr. Huntley’s upcoming book on public health entrepreneurship
Today’s Guest
Dr. Charlotte Hughes Huntley, MPH is a public health entrepreneur and recognized leader in the public health industry. She has over 20 years of experience as an accomplished epidemiologist, microbiologist, consultant, and podcaster. Dr. Huntley is the CEO at DrCHHuntley, LLC, a public health and epidemiology consulting firm supporting large nonprofit organizations and government agencies that serve black, indigenous, and people of color commonly referred to as BIPOC communities. Her team is often invited to support tribal organizations and are always humbled and honored to serve. Through another arm of her business, Dr. Huntley and her team also provide resources and support to public health entrepreneurs.
Resources
- Connect with Dr. Huntley on LinkedIn
- Learn more about DrCHHuntley Consulting and listen to the Public Health Epidemiology Conversations podcast
- Learn more about Public Health Entrepreneurs, the Mastermind program, and listen to the Public Health Entrepreneurs podcast
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
After doing it I realized, oh, it's not really
moving away from this to gethere.
It was all of it, it was both,and so then at that point I just
continued to kind of explorewith a different lens, realizing
that, like everything happensfor a reason.
So all of what we've gonethrough and experienced, even if
it's not a health-relatedbackground, it can be connected
(00:22):
to what we do in public health.
It serves a purpose if it's nomore than a perspective that we
bring.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
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 fromPHSpot.
Hello and welcome to the PHSpotpodcast.
Dr Huntley, I'm so excited todo this and to learn about your
(00:54):
journey because I think I knowbits and pieces of it.
I've chatted with you when Iwas on your podcast, I've
learned from you and I thinkthis is a unique opportunity for
me to hear about your publichealth journey.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Oh, I'm excited to be here.
I think it's been a while thatwe've talked about this and we
get distracted and then it'slike, wait, why haven't we done
this yet?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I have a few people like that, where it's like I've
chatted with them, I've knownthem for years and years, and
then when I look back at peopleI want to have on the show, I go
whoa, I did not not have thisperson there.
So you are one of those peopleand I'm glad we're doing it
right now because I know youhave lots of exciting things
happening in 2024.
So maybe you know it was meantfor me and you to chat in this
(01:38):
year.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
That's right.
That's right.
Well, I'm always happy to chatwith you.
Very excited to be your guest.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Awesome.
So when I was kind of preparingfor the call, I think your
background in terms of like youreducation surprised me a little
bit.
I don't know, you know,sometimes you just kind of
assume I kind of know where thisperson's like education was in
or how they started off in thisjourney.
But I saw that you have aliberal arts degree and then you
had actually started off inmicrobiology.
So you know, when you thinkback to I don't know, however
far back you want to go, whenwas it you think that you knew
(02:15):
that like such a career inpublic health existed and that
perhaps it was something thatyou wanted to explore?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, it's one of my favorite questions to ask on my
podcast.
I love this question when it'sdirected my way because, you
know, my story is one of thosewhere I didn't start out knowing
that public health was even athing, that was even an option.
Early on, I was focused onhealth care because that's what
I knew.
I knew I was interested inhealth topics.
(02:44):
I knew I cared a lot aboutpeople, especially my family.
That we were losing a lot offamily members from preventable
conditions, like you know, tooearly, from complications of
unmanaged diabetes, for example.
We didn't talk a lot about.
I think we had like a healthconscious family in general, but
I just felt like there was somuch more.
(03:05):
So I just thought, you know,health was the direction to go.
I had a little brother went tomedical school, so I just was
like, okay, that's direction,that makes sense.
It actually wasn't until I wastrying to make a decision on
which direction to go in termsof grad school that I discovered
public health.
So I had already worked inhealthcare for at least 10, 12
(03:28):
years at that point and then Irealized, oh, public health is a
thing, oh, and then when Irealized it was population
focused and prevention.
Then it was a huge aha momentbecause that was a perfect fit
for me.
That was really what I wantedall along.
I just didn't know that I couldactually choose this direction
(03:49):
as a career path I get reallyexcited to like now there's
public health undergraduatedegree programs that didn't
exist when I was in college andas an option.
So it's exciting how we'veprogressed because I really wish
I didn't have to go the longway to get here.
But I think it also served mewell because that background in
(04:12):
that time in healthcare andinfectious disease and that's
all I knew infectious disease asa career focus served me well
as this foundation to pivot intopublic health.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So were you like 10 years as a microbiologist, when
you kind of like got to a pointin your career thinking about
your next steps, that you'relike sitting on the computer and
trying to figure out okay,where should I go for grad
school?
Is that how, like, youdiscovered public health?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
It was much more janky than that, you know,
starting as pre-med, and then Igot introduced to microbiology.
Almost immediately.
I started working part-time inthe microbiology lab of a
hospital that was close to myuniversity at the time and it
was like love at first sight.
I loved being in that lab and Idid a lot of work supporting in
(04:58):
that lab.
And then I actually paused, Igot married and we started a
family.
I actually paused, I gotmarried and we started a family.
So part-time here and there Idid work as like lab assisting
or phlebotomy, always in, youknow, anytime I could get to the
lab.
But in the labs and thehospitals you can only go so far
(05:18):
without the credentials to dothat extra work.
So I did that around navigatingfamily and all those things.
So when I was married 10 years,had three kids, worked those
jobs around, and then when Idivorced and I was suddenly a
single mom and I needed to tieup these loose ends, then it was
(05:39):
like, oh, I've got to makesomething happen here and that
was completing those credentials.
To become a medical laboratorytechnologist and to specifically
work in the microbiologydiagnostic area made sense.
There was a shortage, there's astraight line to that so I
could get these credentials andthen I could immediately go to
that work and that's what Ineeded at that time.
(05:59):
So for me that was likelow-hanging fruit and I went
that direction.
And then, after working therefor a while and I love the work
I was just like, well, how do Ireally increase?
And that comes with moreeducation or extra credentials.
I kind of got to a point whereI realized, in order to really
escalate, I need to go get agraduate degree.
And some of my mentors andcolleagues had an MPH.
(06:23):
So whereas our supervisor andlab directors were saying, well,
if you get your MBA, you canmove into a hospital
administration along with yourbackground, my mentors and
colleagues in the lab that weremore senior, they had this MPH
and they were, you know, doingthis research, while still it
was a very large hospital system.
So they were in the healthcaresystem working, doing diagnostic
(06:45):
microbiology, but they werealso doing research.
And that was when I firstdiscovered public health, but it
was still.
I didn't get the full impact ofit.
I saw it through their lens ofhow they were.
You could think of it as a lotof surveillance.
So they were isolating to getsuper, super techie here, but
the area of like fungus.
They were like one personspecialized in that, so they
(07:05):
would isolate samples and thenbe able to send those off.
It was a part of surveillanceand a part of that aspect's
contribution to research.
There was another one thatfocused on special isolates from
pneumococcal growth, and sothey would, you know, send their
special isolates off to anotherresearch team.
So I was thinking, oh, this isreally interesting.
(07:27):
But I discovered a positionwhere I could do this diagnostic
work within our state publichealth lab and that's what
really triggered.
I realized oh, populationhealth.
Now I'm not looking at onepatient at a time.
but this is the impact ofpopulations.
So it was really that kind ofeye-opening moment and that need
to pivot in my career.
(07:48):
And then I discovered it thatway and it was perfect because I
was able to do the work andcomplete my master's at the same
time.
So it was already, you know,moving into that positioning.
So it was really, it wasperfect alignment for me,
because every course I took wasexciting, because I was doing
that work.
Yeah, it's still working inmicrobiology, but focused on
(08:10):
populations.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Did you at any point think like this pivot is going
to mean that I need to developnew skills?
Or, you know, I might have tostart from like a junior level
position because, you know,going from a wet lab to then
like surveillance, public healthsurveillance.
I think you can be creative inthe ways that you talk about
your transferable skills, but Imean, when you're young in your
(08:33):
career you sometimes questionthose pivots and I know a lot of
people might get stuck at thosepoints in their career and not
take that bold step to do thatmini pivot to then continue on
with their career.
I'm curious to hear kind of howyou handled that.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
I didn't realize it in real time.
You know this is kind of aretrospective view.
I know that was a thought.
You know I did not want tostart over.
I had all this background ininfectious disease.
I had all of this all theseyears in health healthcare and I
didn't want to start over witha public health, you know,
because I decided thatepidemiology was a logical next
(09:13):
step.
So I didn't necessarily thinkof it as completely starting
over.
It felt at first like I would.
I didn't see a use for all ofthese years in care.
I thought, okay, well, I've gotto kind of close this down and
then move here into this chronicdisease focus and epidemiology.
(09:35):
I really thought of them asmore of closing one area and
kind of going into the other.
So it was not exactly astarting over, it was a shift to
something new.
But then after a little while Irealized that this almost
created a superpower for me.
The fact that I had thisinfectious disease background
(09:56):
and this level of expertise inmicrobiology was very
complementary to my work inchronic disease epidemiology.
So it was, you know, afterdoing it I realized, oh, it's
not really moving away from thisto get here.
It was all of it, it was both,and so then at that point, I
just continued to kind ofexplore with a different lens,
(10:20):
realizing that, like everythinghappens for a reason.
So all of what you've gonethrough and experienced.
Even if it's not a healthrelated background, it can be
connected to what we do inpublic health.
It serves a purpose if it's nomore than a perspective that we
bring.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
And I like what you said and I'm paraphrasing.
But you kind of said, like youknew, the goal was epidemiology
and I think that's importantbecause you know, sometimes you
might look at the role of anepidemiologist or a health
promoter, whatever it is, or ajob description and you can kind
of look at it and think I don'thave the qualifications to be
(10:57):
that now.
But I think having that goaland knowing that it is a
possibility that you could worktowards that goal in the next
five years or so allows you totake those incremental steps,
for you to build thequalifications you need to get
there right.
So, even if the job titledoesn't say epidemiologist,
thinking about what skills can Ibuild here around, like data
(11:19):
and stats and public healthsurveillance, in order to
prepare me to be anepidemiologist?
And was that like?
Did you identify epidemiologyand that you could be an
epidemiologist all prior tostarting your grad school, or
was that kind of all during thattime?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
It was pretty early on.
I identified that area and Ihad a great mentor that kind of
you know made the suggestion andyou're right.
I really think it's importantfor us to not focus too heavily
on just the title.
You know you don't wait untilyou're an epidemiologist to
think about, oh, what I need tolearn and do and capitalize on
(11:58):
that.
So my work, even within thestate public health lab, was in
the microbiology division andthere's a lot of surveillance,
there's a lot of reporting up tothe federal level and there are
a lot of tasks involved in whatI was doing that I could
recognize and so it didn'tmatter if the title was with me.
(12:18):
I was doing a lot of the tasksthat were preparing me for the
work as an epidemiologist.
So, yeah, I think it'simportant to just maybe lessen
our focus on the titles of jobs.
I think that's it's a naturalthing to do, but I really
encourage people away from that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, and then you know you did become an
epidemiologist after.
I think you spent about fiveyears or so as an epidemiologist
.
Tell us about that transition.
Did that happen kind of justnaturally again as you were
finishing up your MPH and gainedsome more experience at the
state health level?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I wouldn't say naturally.
I finished my MPH I thought Iwould go into infectious disease
epidemiology within our stateand it didn't happen.
It was a lot of what people.
Always we hear a lot of peoplesaying how hard it is to get
into jobs and the barriers thatwe bump up against very
(13:16):
systematic, sometimes a littlepolitical.
There's all these nuances.
So I started my doctorate.
My PhD is in public health withspecialization in epidemiology.
Started my doctorate my PhDs inpublic health with
specialization in epidemiology,and my mentor was my bureau
chief.
He was more excited about mypath than I was.
I think I was doing a thing hereally wanted to do, but he
didn't go that direction.
(13:37):
So he was like living throughme.
So he gave a lot of guidancebut around that time he got sick
.
He passed away.
A lot of things changed.
I was ready for somethingdifferent.
I didn't like that.
I was real excited about ideasand things I was learning and
what I saw like a vision for howwe could improve even our lab
system.
My mentor at that time wouldsee that and he would get
(13:59):
excited about it.
But when he was gone, nobodyelse was really like him in that
area.
So I lost that kind of lightand I didn't want to just start
counting how many years I haveleft to retirement.
So I started to just open myeyes to something broader.
And I live in a very rural stateand so, with a PhD in public
health, if you're not workingfor the state and you're not
(14:21):
working for the university, thenwhat else are you going to be
doing?
So it really had me opening upmy eyes and options.
So I you know the job that Ifound was within the pharma
industry and the company isbased in the UK.
So it really opened my mind tothe rest of the world and
opportunities and options.
So I worked in.
(14:42):
It was probably one of the mostexciting moves for me because
it brought this corporatebusiness focus.
Where we have money, we're not,you know, always struggling,
and that was a refreshing change.
And they really lovedinnovation and creativity.
So I liked that.
(15:03):
But there was this other veryscientific part of this that had
me using all of my skills andbackground.
So it was like the perfectmarriage between the two for me.
So I was responsible forestimating patient population of
people with various chronicconditions, including some
cancer.
So I got a chance to reallyrealize that epidemiology is not
(15:24):
just one job but it is verybroad and there are a number of
different ways that you canfocus and pivot within
epidemiology.
So I worked in the centralnervous system was my
therapeutic area that I focusedon.
So I was responsible forconditions like Alzheimer's
disease and Parkinson's, butthen I was also responsible for
about three or four cancerindications.
(15:46):
So it brought that expertisethat I was able to develop in
cancer epidemiology.
And our clients were big pharmaand I really enjoyed that
because when we supplemented alot of their work, when there
were questions about how thisreport was generated, then I
could just have some greatconversations about the
methodology that I use togenerate and really go deep dive
(16:08):
and it was a very much anintellectual fix and the
creative fix because you know,had a lot of, you know my
feedback was welcome and itwasn't that they put into place
every idea I had, but you knowit was, it was considered.
And then the global perspective,because it wasn't just, you
know, my state level population.
(16:28):
But now you know I'm looking at, for example, if I'm
considering Parkinson's disease,I'm looking at the populations
in the United States, in Japan,in UK, in Germany, in Spain, and
why are they different and thetrends you know globally.
So it was very intellectuallychallenging and rewarding and
just really a much broader viewof the world and populations and
(16:52):
nuances and changes and shiftsand so I really, really enjoy
that.
I think in that role I was ableto use everything, so none of
my background went to waste inthat position.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Oh, that's awesome.
I've always been curious abouthow entrepreneurship became an
interest for you and I feel likeI know the answer to that.
And I wonder if it was yourrole at this company and,
looking at your LinkedIn hereand it was called Pharma
Intelligence Informa if that waswhere that spark kind of
started.
(17:24):
Or have you always been someonewho had ideas, wanted to pursue
them, be self-employed?
And I think I heard that,especially when you said your
mentor passed on.
You didn't want to be sittingand counting to retirement.
So, yeah, when did that sparkstart?
And I just have to say that'san incredible opportunity
(17:47):
working for that company becauseof that global aspect.
And you're right, I thinksometimes when we're in a
certain industry, whether it'sgovernment or academia, and we
build a career in that streamfor so long, we kind of don't
know how the rest of the worldfunctions.
And it's nice to jump aroundindustries.
I haven't done it personally,but when I do hear the
(18:08):
reflections from people I feellike there's a lot of learning
that goes there as well.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah yeah, I have a family of entrepreneurs, so it's
very second nature.
And as far as, like the idea ofbusiness, I wasn't really
thinking of like public healthand a business necessarily,
although I sort of accidentallydid some of that and not realize
it was okay I mean, that waslike I could actually build a
business.
I was gaining momentum.
(18:33):
It was like, okay, I stop thatand go do this other thing.
So the entrepreneurial bug isjust.
I think it's just been in myveins since birth probably, but
when I was working for thatcompany, yes, it really started
kicking off a lot of like youcan do this or like, oh, this is
possible.
There are things that happenedin that role that validated that
(18:55):
.
You know I'm a problem solver,so my ideas are good.
I was able to participate in alot of projects that were very
different and whereas maybe theteam would say no, that's just
too different, we shouldn't dothat, there's a small group of
us going I think we should trythis, and so we would try some
of these things and I saw wherethey experienced great success
(19:17):
and those results were veryprofitable for the organization.
So it kind of showed me that,oh, I have ideas and we can do
things differently and my ideasare really good.
Not all of them, but some ofthese can drive some big changes
and I was willing to take achance on myself in that way.
And still not knowing exactlywhat that was going to look like
(19:38):
, I started my podcast, whichwas really the kicker, and it
was a solution to a problem.
You know I'm a problem solver.
It's just very natural for meto do that.
So people were reaching out tome constantly with
career-related questions and Iwas getting some of the same
types of questions but fromdifferent people, and starting
(19:59):
the podcast was sort of amentoring platform.
I could answer these questionsthat were very similar and
people were asking, likereaching out to me on LinkedIn
in my messages.
That's where I was getting them.
So if I started responding tothose same questions through
podcast episodes, my thought wasyou know, maybe I can reach
more people who have same typesof questions.
(20:21):
And I was a fan of podcasts.
Now, you have to remember thiswas in 2017.
That's how I'm still explainingto people what a podcast is.
Now everybody knows somebodywho has a podcast.
But it was something I waswilling to try and I invested in
some training.
I was like, if it's going totake off, I want to make sure
(20:41):
I've got myself situated and ifit takes off well.
So I invested in training andlearned how to do it really well
from the beginning and then Icommitted to it and it took off
very quickly.
As I built a community andengaging with community and
listening to what people had tosay, realizing new themes were
surfacing, new problems werestarting to emerge.
They weren't necessarily new, Iwas just able to see them.
(21:04):
And the next problem was okay,people were saying this podcast
is great, but how do I work withyou?
I want to meet with you to talkabout my personal situation.
Can you help me with myquestion?
So I started trying to doone-on-one like coaching, but
that didn't work because I'mstill I have a job and I'm
trying to podcast.
So I found a love for courses,which I just refer to as
(21:26):
programs, and I really startedhelping people a lot through
programs where they can enrolland, you know, kind of
self-guided, and it eliminatedthe need for one-on-one and it
allowed me to be able to setthat.
And that worked for quite awhile and the consulting work
was just coming to me.
(21:46):
So the more the podcast grew, Ikept serving, you know, through
the podcast and reaching peoplethrough programs.
And then organizations werereaching out with consulting
projects you know, can you helpus with this?
And I would do them sort ofbased on how excited I got about
the project and things justcontinued to grow until I
(22:07):
realized that I had somethingpretty significant going and
there was a real opportunity andI decided to go all in on my
business because I could alwaysget a job.
No one's going to take away myexpertise or my experience, my
degrees, but I may not be ableto recreate this opportunity
(22:30):
that was in front of me.
So I made that decision andleft my job on wonderful terms
and with lots of well wishes andactually they became a client
for a little while and the restis kind of history.
It really just continued togrow and explode.
So I didn't start with a planof I'm going to have this
consulting business.
It was me responding toproblems.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Well, that's incredible and I think it's a
powerful lesson in just puttingyourself out there to solve
problems.
And I think often people haveideas and imposter syndrome or
not knowing what that first stepis, or just the sheer overwhelm
of too much information, toomany platforms out there that
(23:15):
stops you from taking that firststep.
But when you do take that firststep, all these opportunities
come your way that you probablywould not even plan for.
And I think you know myassumption was that maybe you
had started the consultingbusiness because you found that
you know interest when you wereworking for the pharma company
and then the podcast came.
But very cool to hear that itwas the other way around,
(23:37):
actually, and I remember youtelling me during the pandemic
even, I think people werereaching out to you,
organizations were reaching outto you right For even more work.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
People were reaching out to you organizations were
reaching out to you right Foreven more work.
Oh, absolutely, well, first Iwant to say my entire, I think
path has been one discovery,like just a path of discovery,
because even when I took my jobin pharma industry, it's like
it's like a non-traditionalroute, but I was like I'm just
going to see where this leads me, and it's always been so
(24:05):
rewarding.
But, yes, during the pandemic,because at the very, very
beginning, like when everythingshut down, people were like what
is this virus, virology, right?
So if you're looking up thingslike virology and epidemiology,
(24:25):
I was serving up to people,especially on LinkedIn, so I
would get messages literallyfrom all types of organizations.
Can you help us understand whatthis means?
I sat during that time and hadso many conversations.
They pay you to sit down andhelp them understand.
What does this mean?
And I think you and I are verymuch on the same page with this.
Communication skills aresometimes underrated and people
are not prioritizing developmentof that the ability to have a
(24:48):
conversation where you canexpress your thoughts and you
can hear from people in thisexchange, to where you can break
things down enough, to wherepeople can understand.
We have to find ways to explainwhat we do so that people can
understand what that means.
So that's essentially what alot of it was.
To be honest, the timing was Ihad just gotten enough courage
(25:11):
to say, okay, I'm going to takethis big step, and I had said
goodbye to my nice five-yearstint with this organization.
It was so wonderful.
So I was really remote, makinggood money, having lifestyle.
Way before remote was cool whenit was weird, and I developed
all these skills as a result.
(25:31):
So now I resign, send all of myequipment back and I'm one week
into my new full-time rolewithin my company and the
country shuts down.
So immediate panic followed byimmediate influx of everyone
asking me for help.
So I said yes to all the workand I was booked out for
(25:55):
everything and I was so stressedbut I was afraid to say no to
anything because the countryshut down and I had just like
left that ability but I wasavailable for all that was
happening.
So that first year was amixture.
I did.
I did all sorts of projectsthrough the business.
Just because I was saying yesto so many things, I found out
(26:15):
really quickly what I did notlike doing and then you know
more of what I did enjoy doing.
But it's been a constant journeyof exploration.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
And incredible timing , which which you can't plan for
, but I think when you have allthe pieces ready and the
opportunity comes, you're there,right?
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Okay, so you get yourself intothis like world of
entrepreneurship.
You're helping people starttheir own business.
You're working on your ownbusiness.
The country is shut down, likewhat's happening in your life at
(26:47):
that point.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
After the first year because a lot of the projects I
said yes to that.
You know I was just doing allthese things.
I began to complete some ofthose and close off doors that I
didn't want to continue thattype of work and this is sort of
the consulting side.
The coaching side is whatpeople are used to seeing me
helping entrepreneurs.
So I began to build upconsulting more visibly, talk
(27:10):
about the consulting and startto pull away from some of the
coaching work.
I was really booked as a coachand it wasn't like I didn't like
it anymore but I was trying todecide which one of these was
going to really be my focus.
But it didn't exactly work outlike that because both of them
were in need, both were reallythriving.
I wasn't brand new in businessbecause when I coach people I'll
(27:34):
say pick one and you stick withthat one.
I have several years in and Ihad a team and I had structure.
So we began to really justshave away things and niche it
down to a sweet spot.
I mean I do a lot of work withtribal organizations.
So on the consulting side ofbusiness, this is really niched
down to the way that we show upfor BIPOC organizations or these
(27:59):
large nonprofit organizationsthat are focused on BIPOC
communities, or maybe it's astate government organization or
some sort of governmentorganization that has a genuine
interest in connecting orserving BIPOC communities.
That's where we show up to helpwith any type of
epidemiology-related work,whether it's communicating in
(28:22):
plain language it could look anynumber of ways, it could be
podcasting, it could be reportdelivery, it could be, you know,
any type of analysis buthelping to support those
organizations, because the BobHot communities are hit hardest.
They're usually hit first, theysuffer quickly when there's
budget cuts and and there'salways this disparity.
(28:42):
So we're really passionateabout serving in that area.
So definitely tribal communitywork, because we get invited
often and we don't take thatlightly.
We've built trust.
We understand that it is reallya privilege to serve in these
organizations the blackcommunities, any community of
color.
(29:02):
So we really are fired up andhave a small data team and
that's where we do a lot of ourwork.
And in terms of support forentrepreneurs, I've done
one-on-one coaching.
I've had group coachingprograms, but it's really niched
down to one program that peoplehave an opportunity to work
with me and it's a mastermindprogram.
That started right after ourexpo last year and it is some of
(29:28):
the most phenomenal, brilliant,vibrant public health
professionals from literally allaround the world and I get to
support them on their journeyand I am amazed that I get to
engage with them and to supportthem.
I am genuinely a cheerleaderfor everything they're doing
(29:48):
because when they're servingtheir communities then I am
indirectly a part of that.
So it is helping me on such adeep level and we have locked in
this community and I love doingthat.
So I have this business nowwhere I get to serve in the
consulting space with the workand provide, you know, the
(30:09):
support to BIPOC organizations,and then I get to support
entrepreneurs, provide, you know, the support to BIPOC
organizations, and then I get tosupport entrepreneurs and I was
like, wow, I get to do thisevery day.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, and it's kind of nice, right, because you're
building this business on theside and you take those lessons
and then share it with yourmastermind group of individuals
which you're just completelyinvested in, want to see them
succeed, because they too aregoing to go and, like, serve the
world and change the world.
And I see that when you're likestruggling to find words of how
(30:42):
to explain that emotion, it'sthere, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I have two things that are kind of new for
supporting entrepreneurs.
Well, a kind of new.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
This is a long journey, but you'd asked me
earlier about the book.
I think last time we chatted itwas probably more than a year
ago.
You had just signed on to writethis book.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yes, that was like the end of 2022.
I was like, yes, I got thisbook deal.
It's being published by JohnsHopkins University Press and I
was very, very excited.
I actually had two offers.
I had Oxford was one and JohnsHopkins, and I actually sat down
and had those two offers, eachcontracts, in my hands.
(31:26):
I was trying to decide whichway to go.
And I was just enjoying thatmoment and there was like no way
to make a wrong choice witheither one of those and I
decided to move forward withJohns Hopkins and I was just
excited.
So I had a year to write thebook and I thought eh it's not
going to take that long, whereasI don't like long processes.
It's like, oh, life washappening last year.
(31:47):
I have an excellent team atJohns Hopkins that was helping
guide.
My editor was helping me andjust giving great guidance.
But I wrote that book, which isreally the work that I've been
doing as an entrepreneur inpublic health.
So you know, I was a publichealth entrepreneur before
people wanted to call themselvesa public health entrepreneur.
(32:07):
So at the beginning I knewother people that were, you know
, consulting or entrepreneurs,but nobody really wanted to be
tagged a public healthentrepreneur very few, whereas
everybody.
It's cool.
Now I guess I don't know.
It's funny how things can shift, but I've been.
I share in this book, you know,kind of this it's, it's this
journey for me you know, it's inthis.
this Johns Hopkins is veryexcited about it and that gets
(32:29):
me excited.
So the end of last year, so endof 2023, the manuscript was due
.
So I stressed out and you talkabout imposter syndrome.
I want people to know thatnever goes away.
You don't just get to some placeand you're like oh, I've
arrived, I'm good.
If you ever get thatcomfortable, I think something's
wrong.
When you're stretching andgrowing, you're always going to
(32:51):
feel a little challenged and Ithink that's an indication that
you are growing and that'simportant.
So when it was time to submitthe manuscript end of last year,
I was nervous and that's anunderstatement.
I had a full blown meltdown.
I thought they're just likethis is going to be awful, which
it was not.
It was a really it was not abad experience.
(33:11):
I met my deadline.
So now we are at the time thatwe're talking.
Now we're in this sweet spot ofit's a lot of back and forth,
finalizing a few things to getthat final approval, because it
is an academic.
There's a review phase to getthe proposal reviewed and
approved.
Now there's a review that thebook is completed and within a
(33:31):
couple of months we'll have apublication date and it's a very
long process.
Then the marketing getsinvolved and the promotion.
So I recently told my editorthat I don't like this long
process, but then, at the sametime, I appreciate it because so
much has happened and it's thistime and this process I am
(33:54):
starting to understand andappreciate the importance of
putting together something likethis.
So I will be sharing a littlebit more once I get the
publication date, because atthat point it's kind of like the
promotion time to pre-sale andthey've already got plans about
you know how we're going to dopre-orders and all of that.
I can't quite get there in myhead.
(34:15):
This book was probably severalyears in the making, like I've
had it in my heart for a longtime but just really excited to
have this to support.
You know people that are justcurious and thinking about
entrepreneurship and publichealth and just how do they come
together?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Yeah, that's incredible.
So are there kind of like tipsyou're able to share from your
years of coaching for some ofour listeners?
And I think that's a good wayto wrap it up and I think the
other piece of it was also likebuilding a fulfilling career,
right, you know, I kind of thinkof the story that you've just
shared and you've had differentstages, different pivots along
the way and I'm sure you've doneyour own set of reflection that
(35:01):
each phase and made thosepivots because you wanted to
build that fulfilling career.
And so you know you said thisbook has always been there in
your heart and I'm sure you'vetalked about it a lot in the
book as well.
So curious for just ourlisteners what they can kind of
walk away with from this chat.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
What I would love for people to walk away with is, I
would say, the importance ofdoing meaningful work, and you
may have to figure out what thatmeans for you.
But get involved means for you,but get involved, no matter
what that level is.
Get involved.
If you're working a job and youfeel that there's more that you
have to give because I hearthat from a lot of people, it's
(35:41):
I have more that I could do Thenfind a way to explore what that
could look like.
Maybe you could volunteer rightwhere you work, Take an
initiative, design some sort oflunchtime chat, talk, some
program.
Like explore ideas and optionsand connect with the true
(36:02):
mission and value, like reallytapping into your authentic self
, what matters to you, what'simportant to you, Even if it's
in sort of mundane work.
You probably could dig a littledeeper and find the connection.
Maybe you're not excited aboutwriting that report, but what
does that report represent?
Does it mean a program for acommunity that you really care
(36:22):
about?
Or maybe you know downstream,several steps away, you can find
something that you can.
You can see the connection tothe community or the individual
in it and then that can be thething that you're excited about
to kind of help you to find themeaning in what you do.
You know, for some people what'smeaningful work right now, on
(36:42):
this phase of your journey, maybe for this phase of your
journey and then it may pivot tosomething else.
So, just not being afraid tofollow you know what lights you
up, what you get excited about,what matters to you, Because I
think, at the end of the day,that's the real driver, and we
need more of that in publichealth.
So if you're choosing becauseit's like a really, you know,
(37:05):
controversial time We've got alot of things going on in public
health, People are coming goingso if you're choosing this work
, find a connection to somethingthat matters more than just the
paycheck or the credentials onthe resume.
I think that's the biggestthing I would love for people to
take away.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
And I like what you said, how it's okay and it can
change.
Like what lights you up candefinitely change throughout
this journey.
It doesn't have to be, you know, the same throughout your two
or three decades in it.
I remember rereading my letterof intent for my MPH program and
I wanted to save the world andcure diabetes and I maybe I did
(37:43):
some volunteer work in diabetesbut have never touched that area
of work and ended up going toinfectious disease and outbreak
management.
So it can change because youknow, as you learn more, you
experience more in your life,like personal life as well as
professional life, like whatlights you up and what kind of
gets you out of bed definitelywill change and it's okay to
change.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Thank you so much, Dr Huntley, for joining us on the
podcast.
I often think you know an houris good, and then we start
chatting and I have to tellmyself I have to wrap things up
good.
And then we start chatting andI have to tell myself I have to,
I have to wrap things up.
But thank you so much and Imean I'm sure we'll have you
back on, as you, you know, workon marketing the book and
release some additional coolstuff out there for people.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
It sounds good.
Thank you for having me.
This has been a greatconversation.
It's great to be on the side ofthe mic and to be able to share
a bit more, so I appreciate youand thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Okay, here's a final question which side of the mic
do you like being on?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
This helps me to appreciate the journey of my
guests being on this side.
So I kind of like both.
I do like the other side, whereI get to lifting up my guests
and telling me more about whatthey're doing than I do, kind of
peeling back and talking aboutmyself.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
It's nice to talk about yourself once in a while
so.
I'm glad you were able to do ithere.
Thanks, hey.
I hope you enjoyed that episode, and if you want to get the
links or information mentionedin today's episode, you can head
over to phspotorg slash podcastand we'll have everything there
(39:15):
for you.
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
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
(39:38):
public health career.
And in addition to being able toconnect and build those
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
(40:00):
inspiring individuals in theseareas.
So if you want to learn more orwant to join the club, you can
visit our page at phspotorgslash club and we'll have all
the information there.
And, you know, as a spacethat's being intentionally
curated to bring togetherlike-minded public health
professionals who are not onlythere to push themselves to
(40:22):
become the best versions ofthemselves, but also each other,
and with that, I can't wait tosee how this is going to have a
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 bejoining us in the Public Health
Career Club.
(40:42):
Thank you,
After doing it I realized, oh, it's not really
moving away from this to gethere.
It was all of it, it was both,and so then at that point I just
continued to kind of explorewith a different lens, realizing
that, like everything happensfor a reason.
So all of what we've gonethrough and experienced, even if
it's not a health-relatedbackground, it can be connected
(00:22):
to what we do in public health.
It serves a purpose if it's nomore than a perspective that we
bring.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
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 fromPHSpot.
Hello and welcome to the PHSpotpodcast.
Dr Huntley, I'm so excited todo this and to learn about your
(00:54):
journey because I think I knowbits and pieces of it.
I've chatted with you when Iwas on your podcast, I've
learned from you and I thinkthis is a unique opportunity for
me to hear about your publichealth journey.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Oh, I'm excited to be here.
I think it's been a while thatwe've talked about this and we
get distracted and then it'slike, wait, why haven't we done
this yet?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I have a few people like that, where it's like I've
chatted with them, I've knownthem for years and years, and
then when I look back at peopleI want to have on the show, I go
whoa, I did not not have thisperson there.
So you are one of those peopleand I'm glad we're doing it
right now because I know youhave lots of exciting things
happening in 2024.
So maybe you know it was meantfor me and you to chat in this
(01:38):
year.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
That's right.
That's right.
Well, I'm always happy to chatwith you.
Very excited to be your guest.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Awesome.
So when I was kind of preparingfor the call, I think your
background in terms of like youreducation surprised me a little
bit.
I don't know, you know,sometimes you just kind of
assume I kind of know where thisperson's like education was in
or how they started off in thisjourney.
But I saw that you have aliberal arts degree and then you
had actually started off inmicrobiology.
So you know, when you thinkback to I don't know, however
far back you want to go, whenwas it you think that you knew
(02:15):
that like such a career inpublic health existed and that
perhaps it was something thatyou wanted to explore?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, it's one of my favorite questions to ask on my
podcast.
I love this question when it'sdirected my way because, you
know, my story is one of thosewhere I didn't start out knowing
that public health was even athing, that was even an option.
Early on, I was focused onhealth care because that's what
I knew.
I knew I was interested inhealth topics.
(02:44):
I knew I cared a lot aboutpeople, especially my family.
That we were losing a lot offamily members from preventable
conditions, like you know, tooearly, from complications of
unmanaged diabetes, for example.
We didn't talk a lot about.
I think we had like a healthconscious family in general, but
I just felt like there was somuch more.
(03:05):
So I just thought, you know,health was the direction to go.
I had a little brother went tomedical school, so I just was
like, okay, that's direction,that makes sense.
It actually wasn't until I wastrying to make a decision on
which direction to go in termsof grad school that I discovered
public health.
So I had already worked inhealthcare for at least 10, 12
(03:28):
years at that point and then Irealized, oh, public health is a
thing, oh, and then when Irealized it was population
focused and prevention.
Then it was a huge aha momentbecause that was a perfect fit
for me.
That was really what I wantedall along.
I just didn't know that I couldactually choose this direction
(03:49):
as a career path I get reallyexcited to like now there's
public health undergraduatedegree programs that didn't
exist when I was in college andas an option.
So it's exciting how we'veprogressed because I really wish
I didn't have to go the longway to get here.
But I think it also served mewell because that background in
(04:12):
that time in healthcare andinfectious disease and that's
all I knew infectious disease asa career focus served me well
as this foundation to pivot intopublic health.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So were you like 10 years as a microbiologist, when
you kind of like got to a pointin your career thinking about
your next steps, that you'relike sitting on the computer and
trying to figure out okay,where should I go for grad
school?
Is that how, like, youdiscovered public health?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
It was much more janky than that, you know,
starting as pre-med, and then Igot introduced to microbiology.
Almost immediately.
I started working part-time inthe microbiology lab of a
hospital that was close to myuniversity at the time and it
was like love at first sight.
I loved being in that lab and Idid a lot of work supporting in
(04:58):
that lab.
And then I actually paused, Igot married and we started a
family.
I actually paused, I gotmarried and we started a family.
So part-time here and there Idid work as like lab assisting
or phlebotomy, always in, youknow, anytime I could get to the
lab.
But in the labs and thehospitals you can only go so far
(05:18):
without the credentials to dothat extra work.
So I did that around navigatingfamily and all those things.
So when I was married 10 years,had three kids, worked those
jobs around, and then when Idivorced and I was suddenly a
single mom and I needed to tieup these loose ends, then it was
(05:39):
like, oh, I've got to makesomething happen here and that
was completing those credentials.
To become a medical laboratorytechnologist and to specifically
work in the microbiologydiagnostic area made sense.
There was a shortage, there's astraight line to that so I
could get these credentials andthen I could immediately go to
that work and that's what Ineeded at that time.
(05:59):
So for me that was likelow-hanging fruit and I went
that direction.
And then, after working therefor a while and I love the work
I was just like, well, how do Ireally increase?
And that comes with moreeducation or extra credentials.
I kind of got to a point whereI realized, in order to really
escalate, I need to go get agraduate degree.
And some of my mentors andcolleagues had an MPH.
(06:23):
So whereas our supervisor andlab directors were saying, well,
if you get your MBA, you canmove into a hospital
administration along with yourbackground, my mentors and
colleagues in the lab that weremore senior, they had this MPH
and they were, you know, doingthis research, while still it
was a very large hospital system.
So they were in the healthcaresystem working, doing diagnostic
(06:45):
microbiology, but they werealso doing research.
And that was when I firstdiscovered public health, but it
was still.
I didn't get the full impact ofit.
I saw it through their lens ofhow they were.
You could think of it as a lotof surveillance.
So they were isolating to getsuper, super techie here, but
the area of like fungus.
They were like one personspecialized in that, so they
(07:05):
would isolate samples and thenbe able to send those off.
It was a part of surveillanceand a part of that aspect's
contribution to research.
There was another one thatfocused on special isolates from
pneumococcal growth, and sothey would, you know, send their
special isolates off to anotherresearch team.
So I was thinking, oh, this isreally interesting.
(07:27):
But I discovered a positionwhere I could do this diagnostic
work within our state publichealth lab and that's what
really triggered.
I realized oh, populationhealth.
Now I'm not looking at onepatient at a time.
but this is the impact ofpopulations.
So it was really that kind ofeye-opening moment and that need
to pivot in my career.
(07:48):
And then I discovered it thatway and it was perfect because I
was able to do the work andcomplete my master's at the same
time.
So it was already, you know,moving into that positioning.
So it was really, it wasperfect alignment for me,
because every course I took wasexciting, because I was doing
that work.
Yeah, it's still working inmicrobiology, but focused on
(08:10):
populations.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Did you at any point think like this pivot is going
to mean that I need to developnew skills?
Or, you know, I might have tostart from like a junior level
position because, you know,going from a wet lab to then
like surveillance, public healthsurveillance.
I think you can be creative inthe ways that you talk about
your transferable skills, but Imean, when you're young in your
(08:33):
career you sometimes questionthose pivots and I know a lot of
people might get stuck at thosepoints in their career and not
take that bold step to do thatmini pivot to then continue on
with their career.
I'm curious to hear kind of howyou handled that.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
I didn't realize it in real time.
You know this is kind of aretrospective view.
I know that was a thought.
You know I did not want tostart over.
I had all this background ininfectious disease.
I had all of this all theseyears in health healthcare and I
didn't want to start over witha public health, you know,
because I decided thatepidemiology was a logical next
(09:13):
step.
So I didn't necessarily thinkof it as completely starting
over.
It felt at first like I would.
I didn't see a use for all ofthese years in care.
I thought, okay, well, I've gotto kind of close this down and
then move here into this chronicdisease focus and epidemiology.
(09:35):
I really thought of them asmore of closing one area and
kind of going into the other.
So it was not exactly astarting over, it was a shift to
something new.
But then after a little while Irealized that this almost
created a superpower for me.
The fact that I had thisinfectious disease background
(09:56):
and this level of expertise inmicrobiology was very
complementary to my work inchronic disease epidemiology.
So it was, you know, afterdoing it I realized, oh, it's
not really moving away from thisto get here.
It was all of it, it was both,and so then at that point, I
just continued to kind ofexplore with a different lens,
(10:20):
realizing that, like everythinghappens for a reason.
So all of what you've gonethrough and experienced.
Even if it's not a healthrelated background, it can be
connected to what we do inpublic health.
It serves a purpose if it's nomore than a perspective that we
bring.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
And I like what you said and I'm paraphrasing.
But you kind of said, like youknew, the goal was epidemiology
and I think that's importantbecause you know, sometimes you
might look at the role of anepidemiologist or a health
promoter, whatever it is, or ajob description and you can kind
of look at it and think I don'thave the qualifications to be
(10:57):
that now.
But I think having that goaland knowing that it is a
possibility that you could worktowards that goal in the next
five years or so allows you totake those incremental steps,
for you to build thequalifications you need to get
there right.
So, even if the job titledoesn't say epidemiologist,
thinking about what skills can Ibuild here around, like data
(11:19):
and stats and public healthsurveillance, in order to
prepare me to be anepidemiologist?
And was that like?
Did you identify epidemiologyand that you could be an
epidemiologist all prior tostarting your grad school, or
was that kind of all during thattime?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
It was pretty early on.
I identified that area and Ihad a great mentor that kind of
you know made the suggestion andyou're right.
I really think it's importantfor us to not focus too heavily
on just the title.
You know you don't wait untilyou're an epidemiologist to
think about, oh, what I need tolearn and do and capitalize on
(11:58):
that.
So my work, even within thestate public health lab, was in
the microbiology division andthere's a lot of surveillance,
there's a lot of reporting up tothe federal level and there are
a lot of tasks involved in whatI was doing that I could
recognize and so it didn'tmatter if the title was with me.
(12:18):
I was doing a lot of the tasksthat were preparing me for the
work as an epidemiologist.
So, yeah, I think it'simportant to just maybe lessen
our focus on the titles of jobs.
I think that's it's a naturalthing to do, but I really
encourage people away from that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, and then you know you did become an
epidemiologist after.
I think you spent about fiveyears or so as an epidemiologist
.
Tell us about that transition.
Did that happen kind of justnaturally again as you were
finishing up your MPH and gainedsome more experience at the
state health level?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I wouldn't say naturally.
I finished my MPH I thought Iwould go into infectious disease
epidemiology within our stateand it didn't happen.
It was a lot of what people.
Always we hear a lot of peoplesaying how hard it is to get
into jobs and the barriers thatwe bump up against very
(13:16):
systematic, sometimes a littlepolitical.
There's all these nuances.
So I started my doctorate.
My PhD is in public health withspecialization in epidemiology.
Started my doctorate my PhDs inpublic health with
specialization in epidemiology,and my mentor was my bureau
chief.
He was more excited about mypath than I was.
I think I was doing a thing hereally wanted to do, but he
didn't go that direction.
(13:37):
So he was like living throughme.
So he gave a lot of guidancebut around that time he got sick
.
He passed away.
A lot of things changed.
I was ready for somethingdifferent.
I didn't like that.
I was real excited about ideasand things I was learning and
what I saw like a vision for howwe could improve even our lab
system.
My mentor at that time wouldsee that and he would get
(13:59):
excited about it.
But when he was gone, nobodyelse was really like him in that
area.
So I lost that kind of lightand I didn't want to just start
counting how many years I haveleft to retirement.
So I started to just open myeyes to something broader.
And I live in a very rural stateand so, with a PhD in public
health, if you're not workingfor the state and you're not
(14:21):
working for the university, thenwhat else are you going to be
doing?
So it really had me opening upmy eyes and options.
So I you know the job that Ifound was within the pharma
industry and the company isbased in the UK.
So it really opened my mind tothe rest of the world and
opportunities and options.
So I worked in.
(14:42):
It was probably one of the mostexciting moves for me because
it brought this corporatebusiness focus.
Where we have money, we're not,you know, always struggling,
and that was a refreshing change.
And they really lovedinnovation and creativity.
So I liked that.
(15:03):
But there was this other veryscientific part of this that had
me using all of my skills andbackground.
So it was like the perfectmarriage between the two for me.
So I was responsible forestimating patient population of
people with various chronicconditions, including some
cancer.
So I got a chance to reallyrealize that epidemiology is not
(15:24):
just one job but it is verybroad and there are a number of
different ways that you canfocus and pivot within
epidemiology.
So I worked in the centralnervous system was my
therapeutic area that I focusedon.
So I was responsible forconditions like Alzheimer's
disease and Parkinson's, butthen I was also responsible for
about three or four cancerindications.
(15:46):
So it brought that expertisethat I was able to develop in
cancer epidemiology.
And our clients were big pharmaand I really enjoyed that
because when we supplemented alot of their work, when there
were questions about how thisreport was generated, then I
could just have some greatconversations about the
methodology that I use togenerate and really go deep dive
(16:08):
and it was a very much anintellectual fix and the
creative fix because you know,had a lot of, you know my
feedback was welcome and itwasn't that they put into place
every idea I had, but you knowit was, it was considered.
And then the global perspective,because it wasn't just, you
know, my state level population.
(16:28):
But now you know I'm looking at, for example, if I'm
considering Parkinson's disease,I'm looking at the populations
in the United States, in Japan,in UK, in Germany, in Spain, and
why are they different and thetrends you know globally.
So it was very intellectuallychallenging and rewarding and
just really a much broader viewof the world and populations and
(16:52):
nuances and changes and shiftsand so I really, really enjoy
that.
I think in that role I was ableto use everything, so none of
my background went to waste inthat position.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Oh, that's awesome.
I've always been curious abouthow entrepreneurship became an
interest for you and I feel likeI know the answer to that.
And I wonder if it was yourrole at this company and,
looking at your LinkedIn hereand it was called Pharma
Intelligence Informa if that waswhere that spark kind of
started.
(17:24):
Or have you always been someonewho had ideas, wanted to pursue
them, be self-employed?
And I think I heard that,especially when you said your
mentor passed on.
You didn't want to be sittingand counting to retirement.
So, yeah, when did that sparkstart?
And I just have to say that'san incredible opportunity
(17:47):
working for that company becauseof that global aspect.
And you're right, I thinksometimes when we're in a
certain industry, whether it'sgovernment or academia, and we
build a career in that streamfor so long, we kind of don't
know how the rest of the worldfunctions.
And it's nice to jump aroundindustries.
I haven't done it personally,but when I do hear the
(18:08):
reflections from people I feellike there's a lot of learning
that goes there as well.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah yeah, I have a family of entrepreneurs, so it's
very second nature.
And as far as, like the idea ofbusiness, I wasn't really
thinking of like public healthand a business necessarily,
although I sort of accidentallydid some of that and not realize
it was okay I mean, that waslike I could actually build a
business.
I was gaining momentum.
(18:33):
It was like, okay, I stop thatand go do this other thing.
So the entrepreneurial bug isjust.
I think it's just been in myveins since birth probably, but
when I was working for thatcompany, yes, it really started
kicking off a lot of like youcan do this or like, oh, this is
possible.
There are things that happenedin that role that validated that
(18:55):
.
You know I'm a problem solver,so my ideas are good.
I was able to participate in alot of projects that were very
different and whereas maybe theteam would say no, that's just
too different, we shouldn't dothat, there's a small group of
us going I think we should trythis, and so we would try some
of these things and I saw wherethey experienced great success
(19:17):
and those results were veryprofitable for the organization.
So it kind of showed me that,oh, I have ideas and we can do
things differently and my ideasare really good.
Not all of them, but some ofthese can drive some big changes
and I was willing to take achance on myself in that way.
And still not knowing exactlywhat that was going to look like
(19:38):
, I started my podcast, whichwas really the kicker, and it
was a solution to a problem.
You know I'm a problem solver.
It's just very natural for meto do that.
So people were reaching out tome constantly with
career-related questions and Iwas getting some of the same
types of questions but fromdifferent people, and starting
(19:59):
the podcast was sort of amentoring platform.
I could answer these questionsthat were very similar and
people were asking, likereaching out to me on LinkedIn
in my messages.
That's where I was getting them.
So if I started responding tothose same questions through
podcast episodes, my thought wasyou know, maybe I can reach
more people who have same typesof questions.
(20:21):
And I was a fan of podcasts.
Now, you have to remember thiswas in 2017.
That's how I'm still explainingto people what a podcast is.
Now everybody knows somebodywho has a podcast.
But it was something I waswilling to try and I invested in
some training.
I was like, if it's going totake off, I want to make sure
(20:41):
I've got myself situated and ifit takes off well.
So I invested in training andlearned how to do it really well
from the beginning and then Icommitted to it and it took off
very quickly.
As I built a community andengaging with community and
listening to what people had tosay, realizing new themes were
surfacing, new problems werestarting to emerge.
They weren't necessarily new, Iwas just able to see them.
(21:04):
And the next problem was okay,people were saying this podcast
is great, but how do I work withyou?
I want to meet with you to talkabout my personal situation.
Can you help me with myquestion?
So I started trying to doone-on-one like coaching, but
that didn't work because I'mstill I have a job and I'm
trying to podcast.
So I found a love for courses,which I just refer to as
(21:26):
programs, and I really startedhelping people a lot through
programs where they can enrolland, you know, kind of
self-guided, and it eliminatedthe need for one-on-one and it
allowed me to be able to setthat.
And that worked for quite awhile and the consulting work
was just coming to me.
(21:46):
So the more the podcast grew, Ikept serving, you know, through
the podcast and reaching peoplethrough programs.
And then organizations werereaching out with consulting
projects you know, can you helpus with this?
And I would do them sort ofbased on how excited I got about
the project and things justcontinued to grow until I
(22:07):
realized that I had somethingpretty significant going and
there was a real opportunity andI decided to go all in on my
business because I could alwaysget a job.
No one's going to take away myexpertise or my experience, my
degrees, but I may not be ableto recreate this opportunity
(22:30):
that was in front of me.
So I made that decision andleft my job on wonderful terms
and with lots of well wishes andactually they became a client
for a little while and the restis kind of history.
It really just continued togrow and explode.
So I didn't start with a planof I'm going to have this
consulting business.
It was me responding toproblems.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Well, that's incredible and I think it's a
powerful lesson in just puttingyourself out there to solve
problems.
And I think often people haveideas and imposter syndrome or
not knowing what that first stepis, or just the sheer overwhelm
of too much information, toomany platforms out there that
(23:15):
stops you from taking that firststep.
But when you do take that firststep, all these opportunities
come your way that you probablywould not even plan for.
And I think you know myassumption was that maybe you
had started the consultingbusiness because you found that
you know interest when you wereworking for the pharma company
and then the podcast came.
But very cool to hear that itwas the other way around,
(23:37):
actually, and I remember youtelling me during the pandemic
even, I think people werereaching out to you,
organizations were reaching outto you right For even more work.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
People were reaching out to you organizations were
reaching out to you right Foreven more work.
Oh, absolutely, well, first Iwant to say my entire, I think
path has been one discovery,like just a path of discovery,
because even when I took my jobin pharma industry, it's like
it's like a non-traditionalroute, but I was like I'm just
going to see where this leads me, and it's always been so
(24:05):
rewarding.
But, yes, during the pandemic,because at the very, very
beginning, like when everythingshut down, people were like what
is this virus, virology, right?
So if you're looking up thingslike virology and epidemiology,
(24:25):
I was serving up to people,especially on LinkedIn, so I
would get messages literallyfrom all types of organizations.
Can you help us understand whatthis means?
I sat during that time and hadso many conversations.
They pay you to sit down andhelp them understand.
What does this mean?
And I think you and I are verymuch on the same page with this.
Communication skills aresometimes underrated and people
are not prioritizing developmentof that the ability to have a
(24:48):
conversation where you canexpress your thoughts and you
can hear from people in thisexchange, to where you can break
things down enough, to wherepeople can understand.
We have to find ways to explainwhat we do so that people can
understand what that means.
So that's essentially what alot of it was.
To be honest, the timing was Ihad just gotten enough courage
(25:11):
to say, okay, I'm going to takethis big step, and I had said
goodbye to my nice five-yearstint with this organization.
It was so wonderful.
So I was really remote, makinggood money, having lifestyle.
Way before remote was cool whenit was weird, and I developed
all these skills as a result.
(25:31):
So now I resign, send all of myequipment back and I'm one week
into my new full-time rolewithin my company and the
country shuts down.
So immediate panic followed byimmediate influx of everyone
asking me for help.
So I said yes to all the workand I was booked out for
(25:55):
everything and I was so stressedbut I was afraid to say no to
anything because the countryshut down and I had just like
left that ability but I wasavailable for all that was
happening.
So that first year was amixture.
I did.
I did all sorts of projectsthrough the business.
Just because I was saying yesto so many things, I found out
(26:15):
really quickly what I did notlike doing and then you know
more of what I did enjoy doing.
But it's been a constant journeyof exploration.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
And incredible timing , which which you can't plan for
, but I think when you have allthe pieces ready and the
opportunity comes, you're there,right?
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
Okay, so you get yourself intothis like world of
entrepreneurship.
You're helping people starttheir own business.
You're working on your ownbusiness.
The country is shut down, likewhat's happening in your life at
(26:47):
that point.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
After the first year because a lot of the projects I
said yes to that.
You know I was just doing allthese things.
I began to complete some ofthose and close off doors that I
didn't want to continue thattype of work and this is sort of
the consulting side.
The coaching side is whatpeople are used to seeing me
helping entrepreneurs.
So I began to build upconsulting more visibly, talk
(27:10):
about the consulting and startto pull away from some of the
coaching work.
I was really booked as a coachand it wasn't like I didn't like
it anymore but I was trying todecide which one of these was
going to really be my focus.
But it didn't exactly work outlike that because both of them
were in need, both were reallythriving.
I wasn't brand new in businessbecause when I coach people I'll
(27:34):
say pick one and you stick withthat one.
I have several years in and Ihad a team and I had structure.
So we began to really justshave away things and niche it
down to a sweet spot.
I mean I do a lot of work withtribal organizations.
So on the consulting side ofbusiness, this is really niched
down to the way that we show upfor BIPOC organizations or these
(27:59):
large nonprofit organizationsthat are focused on BIPOC
communities, or maybe it's astate government organization or
some sort of governmentorganization that has a genuine
interest in connecting orserving BIPOC communities.
That's where we show up to helpwith any type of
epidemiology-related work,whether it's communicating in
(28:22):
plain language it could look anynumber of ways, it could be
podcasting, it could be reportdelivery, it could be, you know,
any type of analysis buthelping to support those
organizations, because the BobHot communities are hit hardest.
They're usually hit first, theysuffer quickly when there's
budget cuts and and there'salways this disparity.
(28:42):
So we're really passionateabout serving in that area.
So definitely tribal communitywork, because we get invited
often and we don't take thatlightly.
We've built trust.
We understand that it is reallya privilege to serve in these
organizations the blackcommunities, any community of
color.
(29:02):
So we really are fired up andhave a small data team and
that's where we do a lot of ourwork.
And in terms of support forentrepreneurs, I've done
one-on-one coaching.
I've had group coachingprograms, but it's really niched
down to one program that peoplehave an opportunity to work
with me and it's a mastermindprogram.
That started right after ourexpo last year and it is some of
(29:28):
the most phenomenal, brilliant,vibrant public health
professionals from literally allaround the world and I get to
support them on their journeyand I am amazed that I get to
engage with them and to supportthem.
I am genuinely a cheerleaderfor everything they're doing
(29:48):
because when they're servingtheir communities then I am
indirectly a part of that.
So it is helping me on such adeep level and we have locked in
this community and I love doingthat.
So I have this business nowwhere I get to serve in the
consulting space with the workand provide, you know, the
(30:09):
support to BIPOC organizations,and then I get to support
entrepreneurs, provide, you know, the support to BIPOC
organizations, and then I get tosupport entrepreneurs and I was
like, wow, I get to do thisevery day.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, and it's kind of nice, right, because you're
building this business on theside and you take those lessons
and then share it with yourmastermind group of individuals
which you're just completelyinvested in, want to see them
succeed, because they too aregoing to go and, like, serve the
world and change the world.
And I see that when you're likestruggling to find words of how
(30:42):
to explain that emotion, it'sthere, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I have two things that are kind of new for
supporting entrepreneurs.
Well, a kind of new.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
This is a long journey, but you'd asked me
earlier about the book.
I think last time we chatted itwas probably more than a year
ago.
You had just signed on to writethis book.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yes, that was like the end of 2022.
I was like, yes, I got thisbook deal.
It's being published by JohnsHopkins University Press and I
was very, very excited.
I actually had two offers.
I had Oxford was one and JohnsHopkins, and I actually sat down
and had those two offers, eachcontracts, in my hands.
(31:26):
I was trying to decide whichway to go.
And I was just enjoying thatmoment and there was like no way
to make a wrong choice witheither one of those and I
decided to move forward withJohns Hopkins and I was just
excited.
So I had a year to write thebook and I thought eh it's not
going to take that long, whereasI don't like long processes.
It's like, oh, life washappening last year.
(31:47):
I have an excellent team atJohns Hopkins that was helping
guide.
My editor was helping me andjust giving great guidance.
But I wrote that book, which isreally the work that I've been
doing as an entrepreneur inpublic health.
So you know, I was a publichealth entrepreneur before
people wanted to call themselvesa public health entrepreneur.
(32:07):
So at the beginning I knewother people that were, you know
, consulting or entrepreneurs,but nobody really wanted to be
tagged a public healthentrepreneur very few, whereas
everybody.
It's cool.
Now I guess I don't know.
It's funny how things can shift, but I've been.
I share in this book, you know,kind of this it's, it's this
journey for me you know, it's inthis.
this Johns Hopkins is veryexcited about it and that gets
(32:29):
me excited.
So the end of last year, so endof 2023, the manuscript was due
.
So I stressed out and you talkabout imposter syndrome.
I want people to know thatnever goes away.
You don't just get to some placeand you're like oh, I've
arrived, I'm good.
If you ever get thatcomfortable, I think something's
wrong.
When you're stretching andgrowing, you're always going to
(32:51):
feel a little challenged and Ithink that's an indication that
you are growing and that'simportant.
So when it was time to submitthe manuscript end of last year,
I was nervous and that's anunderstatement.
I had a full blown meltdown.
I thought they're just likethis is going to be awful, which
it was not.
It was a really it was not abad experience.
(33:11):
I met my deadline.
So now we are at the time thatwe're talking.
Now we're in this sweet spot ofit's a lot of back and forth,
finalizing a few things to getthat final approval, because it
is an academic.
There's a review phase to getthe proposal reviewed and
approved.
Now there's a review that thebook is completed and within a
(33:31):
couple of months we'll have apublication date and it's a very
long process.
Then the marketing getsinvolved and the promotion.
So I recently told my editorthat I don't like this long
process, but then, at the sametime, I appreciate it because so
much has happened and it's thistime and this process I am
(33:54):
starting to understand andappreciate the importance of
putting together something likethis.
So I will be sharing a littlebit more once I get the
publication date, because atthat point it's kind of like the
promotion time to pre-sale andthey've already got plans about
you know how we're going to dopre-orders and all of that.
I can't quite get there in myhead.
(34:15):
This book was probably severalyears in the making, like I've
had it in my heart for a longtime but just really excited to
have this to support.
You know people that are justcurious and thinking about
entrepreneurship and publichealth and just how do they come
together?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Yeah, that's incredible.
So are there kind of like tipsyou're able to share from your
years of coaching for some ofour listeners?
And I think that's a good wayto wrap it up and I think the
other piece of it was also likebuilding a fulfilling career,
right, you know, I kind of thinkof the story that you've just
shared and you've had differentstages, different pivots along
the way and I'm sure you've doneyour own set of reflection that
(35:01):
each phase and made thosepivots because you wanted to
build that fulfilling career.
And so you know you said thisbook has always been there in
your heart and I'm sure you'vetalked about it a lot in the
book as well.
So curious for just ourlisteners what they can kind of
walk away with from this chat.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
What I would love for people to walk away with is, I
would say, the importance ofdoing meaningful work, and you
may have to figure out what thatmeans for you.
But get involved means for you,but get involved, no matter
what that level is.
Get involved.
If you're working a job and youfeel that there's more that you
have to give because I hearthat from a lot of people, it's
(35:41):
I have more that I could do Thenfind a way to explore what that
could look like.
Maybe you could volunteer rightwhere you work, Take an
initiative, design some sort oflunchtime chat, talk, some
program.
Like explore ideas and optionsand connect with the true
(36:02):
mission and value, like reallytapping into your authentic self
, what matters to you, what'simportant to you, Even if it's
in sort of mundane work.
You probably could dig a littledeeper and find the connection.
Maybe you're not excited aboutwriting that report, but what
does that report represent?
Does it mean a program for acommunity that you really care
(36:22):
about?
Or maybe you know downstream,several steps away, you can find
something that you can.
You can see the connection tothe community or the individual
in it and then that can be thething that you're excited about
to kind of help you to find themeaning in what you do.
You know, for some people what'smeaningful work right now, on
(36:42):
this phase of your journey, maybe for this phase of your
journey and then it may pivot tosomething else.
So, just not being afraid tofollow you know what lights you
up, what you get excited about,what matters to you, Because I
think, at the end of the day,that's the real driver, and we
need more of that in publichealth.
So if you're choosing becauseit's like a really, you know,
(37:05):
controversial time We've got alot of things going on in public
health, People are coming goingso if you're choosing this work
, find a connection to somethingthat matters more than just the
paycheck or the credentials onthe resume.
I think that's the biggestthing I would love for people to
take away.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
And I like what you said, how it's okay and it can
change.
Like what lights you up candefinitely change throughout
this journey.
It doesn't have to be, you know, the same throughout your two
or three decades in it.
I remember rereading my letterof intent for my MPH program and
I wanted to save the world andcure diabetes and I maybe I did
(37:43):
some volunteer work in diabetesbut have never touched that area
of work and ended up going toinfectious disease and outbreak
management.
So it can change because youknow, as you learn more, you
experience more in your life,like personal life as well as
professional life, like whatlights you up and what kind of
gets you out of bed definitelywill change and it's okay to
change.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Thank you so much, Dr Huntley, for joining us on the
podcast.
I often think you know an houris good, and then we start
chatting and I have to tellmyself I have to wrap things up
good.
And then we start chatting andI have to tell myself I have to,
I have to wrap things up.
But thank you so much and Imean I'm sure we'll have you
back on, as you, you know, workon marketing the book and
release some additional coolstuff out there for people.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
It sounds good.
Thank you for having me.
This has been a greatconversation.
It's great to be on the side ofthe mic and to be able to share
a bit more, so I appreciate youand thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Okay, here's a final question which side of the mic
do you like being on?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
This helps me to appreciate the journey of my
guests being on this side.
So I kind of like both.
I do like the other side, whereI get to lifting up my guests
and telling me more about whatthey're doing than I do, kind of
peeling back and talking aboutmyself.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
It's nice to talk about yourself once in a while
so.
I'm glad you were able to do ithere.
Thanks, hey.
I hope you enjoyed that episode, and if you want to get the
links or information mentionedin today's episode, you can head
over to phspotorg slash podcastand we'll have everything there
(39:15):
for you.
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
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
(39:38):
public health career.
And in addition to being able toconnect and build those
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
(40:00):
inspiring individuals in theseareas.
So if you want to learn more orwant to join the club, you can
visit our page at phspotorgslash club and we'll have all
the information there.
And, you know, as a spacethat's being intentionally
curated to bring togetherlike-minded public health
professionals who are not onlythere to push themselves to
(40:22):
become the best versions ofthemselves, but also each other,
and with that, I can't wait tosee how this is going to have a
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 bejoining us in the Public Health
Career Club.
(40:42):
Thank you,
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