Speaker 1: It's time for the b a q a a the
Speaker 1: v a q a, which say the big a q
Speaker 1: a man day the b a q a with tipp
Speaker 1: and a the b a qa all right, so we
Speaker 1: have a special listener on today. Her name is Anna,
Speaker 1: and we didn't get any questions beforehand, right right man.
Speaker 2: No, we don't know what she's gonna askol that she
Speaker 2: has fabulous curls and it's really nice, like our curls
Speaker 2: are papping, so keeping que Anna. No, I'm just joking.
Speaker 1: And I want to come on and give us like
Speaker 1: a mini introduction of yourself and then you can go
Speaker 1: ahead and ask you a question.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: So, yes, my name is Anna, a longtime super Over listener.
Speaker 4: I want to say thirty percent whole okay, yeah, so
Speaker 4: you know almost there.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: And the more I read your book, the more mad
Speaker 4: I get on my parents, like yeah, you can teach
Speaker 4: me this, okay, that's okay. We don't just appear, you know,
Speaker 4: and mindy, I am all over. I was I wasn't
Speaker 4: your oh my goshiating okay class and I'm sorry negotiating masterclass. Awesome. Yes, yes,
Speaker 4: it got me past the panic of thinking about maybe
Speaker 4: possibly negotiating.
Speaker 3: So I'm almost there. Almost.
Speaker 4: I am a new grad nurse. I well, yes, no grad.
Speaker 4: I've been a nurse for about a year, and so
Speaker 4: that my question is career oriented and you how to
Speaker 4: ask it's I. I love my job, super duper absolutely
Speaker 4: love it. I I feel like it's something that I
Speaker 4: probably did in my past life with how fulfailed. I
Speaker 4: feel but a little disappointed in it. I just keep
Speaker 4: looking around and I don't see the melanin anyway. I
Speaker 4: saw the met London in school, and now that I'm
Speaker 4: in it and the positions that I'm in, it's just
Speaker 4: just been a little a little bit heartbreaking. I'm lying,
Speaker 4: it's a lot, which is what what the question that
Speaker 4: I sent over was about, which I'm hoping you guys
Speaker 4: can provide some insight because you, I know, you were
Speaker 4: a rad school teacher and then working in tech. I
Speaker 4: feel like you guys might be able to relate. It's
Speaker 4: like the higher you go, the less of us you see,
Speaker 4: and it's just it gets kind of lonely, and I
Speaker 4: don't know if it ever happened to you guys. You
Speaker 4: kind of get cold, switching gets kind of tiring, and
Speaker 4: then you get burned out at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: and you're.
Speaker 3: Like, it shouldn't take so much.
Speaker 4: So I'm kind of having a hard time starting these conversations.
Speaker 4: It's kind of hard to say, like, hey, where's the melanin?
Speaker 1: Like where so that this is your question, ana, because
Speaker 1: we haven't heard it beforehand. This is like a little
Speaker 1: surprise for us.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, that is my yes, you know it's I
Speaker 4: tend to just ask what I'm thinking, but you know
Speaker 4: that when you're in corporate or when you're in a
Speaker 4: more professional setting, you have to soften your speech. So
Speaker 4: I am having a hard time trying to figure out
Speaker 4: how to navigate those conversations because I really do want
Speaker 4: to just go in and say, like where are the
Speaker 4: black nurses? Like why are we not hiring? There's black
Speaker 4: excellence and black women are insanely amazing, And you know,
Speaker 4: I always use dNaM like the example, like when a
Speaker 4: little black girl comes in, I want her to see
Speaker 4: herself in the people that are giving her care.
Speaker 5: I had a home birth last year. My midwife was black.
Speaker 4: That was very important to me, and I didn't know
Speaker 4: everything I was lacking until I had care from a
Speaker 4: provider that looked like me, so now that is very
Speaker 4: close to me.
Speaker 3: It's very every.
Speaker 5: Day that I go in, I feel like, where are
Speaker 5: my peers?
Speaker 4: And don't get me wrong, I work somewhere with some amazing,
Speaker 4: out of this world people that I you know, every
Speaker 4: single day that I get to work, I'm inspired by
Speaker 4: other people that I work with, and it's great. But
Speaker 4: I also feel like we're doing our community so disservice
Speaker 4: because they don't match the people.
Speaker 2: That we wanted to ask you, do you feel like
Speaker 2: the community that you serve is it more diverse than
Speaker 2: the staff at this hospital? That is concerning you would
Speaker 2: want the staff to reflect the community in some way.
Speaker 2: I'm shocked when my my husband's dad was in the
Speaker 2: hospital and they live. Where do you live, by the way,
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 5: Think we have Illinois nearby Chicago?
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I was shocked when Enrique's dad went to
Speaker 2: the hospital and no one spoke Spanish, and I was like,
Speaker 2: you're in the freaking bronx. I didn't understand, like the doctor, sorry,
Speaker 2: a couple of nurses, but the doctor who like he
Speaker 2: was having you. I don't want to put business out there,
Speaker 2: but it was a serious situation. The doctor didn't speak
Speaker 2: Spanish and it's so much pressure on anyway, I'm just like,
Speaker 2: what the so I I'm not entire really surprised, And
Speaker 2: my first thought is, in that case, I think it's
Speaker 2: going to be important for you. And you're early in
Speaker 2: your career too, You're gonna have to vote with your
Speaker 2: feet a little bit in the sense that choose to
Speaker 2: work places where hopefully you have the choice, you have
Speaker 2: those options where you can find a place that does
Speaker 2: have diversity and make that one of the first questions
Speaker 2: you ask when you interview and take a tour and
Speaker 2: look around and see if it reflects the kind of
Speaker 2: environment where you want to work. That will solve like
Speaker 2: down the line, but right now, I understand it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: At the same time, I would say, if it's really
Speaker 2: bothering you, I would bring it up and maybe you
Speaker 2: can find a way to do that that feels safe
Speaker 2: to you, whether it's going to Do you have a
Speaker 2: in a hospital. Do you have like an HR business
Speaker 2: partner or someone dedicated to the nursing staff or a union.
Speaker 4: Yes, and we have huddles, you know where we meet
Speaker 4: with our directors and you know, the staff leadership is
Speaker 4: very present it's just I don't know if it has
Speaker 4: happened to you ladies. When you bring some thing up
Speaker 4: to a demographic that's outside of yours immediately, even though
Speaker 4: you're not saying directly like hey, you are keeping black women.
Speaker 3: Out of the workspace.
Speaker 4: Immediately, people just feel they need to defend themselves kind
Speaker 4: of like they're like, hey, no, but not me. And
Speaker 4: I I'm having a hard time passing that wall, you know, like.
Speaker 2: You've tried and they've kind of shut you down and
Speaker 2: been defensive, you.
Speaker 3: Know, without saying yes you could, you know.
Speaker 4: It's like I understand it's uncomfortable, But I've asked, like,
Speaker 4: are our recruiters like we are they trained to be
Speaker 4: cognizant of what is the resume test?
Speaker 3: Are they? You know? Like are we name checking people?
Speaker 4: Like are we not calling staff, you know, applicants because
Speaker 4: the name sounds too difficult to pronounce, or you know,
Speaker 4: things that we know happen and keep us out of,
Speaker 4: you know, spaces where we deserve to be.
Speaker 3: But it's seems to it was draining. It was it
Speaker 3: was a draining experience.
Speaker 4: I felt defeated afterwards, and it's it's just sad to
Speaker 4: see like I have the luxury. I'm Latina, and I
Speaker 4: have the luxury I like to pass when I in
Speaker 4: times when I not necessarily like I felt like I
Speaker 4: needed to.
Speaker 3: But I have the luxury of being like a chameleon.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: I've been part of certain conversations where I'm not by
Speaker 4: the people that are there. You know, I'm not seeing
Speaker 4: as a black or as Afro Latina. So the kind
Speaker 4: of little nuances that I pick up on make it
Speaker 4: clear that, you know, if they don't know, and it
Speaker 4: doesn't seem like they're receptive to knowing either.
Speaker 2: We deserve a little breaking break. All right, let's take
Speaker 2: a break.
Speaker 1: Even though you might not win the battle, you could
Speaker 1: certainly start the revolution by the questions that you're asking,
Speaker 1: you know. So, I mean sometimes I think we feel
Speaker 1: like we have to do the whole war. Like I
Speaker 1: had a conversation today with a woman who was just like,
Speaker 1: there's so much to be done, and we got to
Speaker 1: do this, we got to do that. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I have to do all that
Speaker 1: because it's been doing, you know, but these are fifteen
Speaker 1: years helped a lot of black women. It might be
Speaker 1: time to pass the baton, like, I don't have to
Speaker 1: see it through all the way to the end that
Speaker 1: you know that. I think we're all tasked to just
Speaker 1: do what we're here to do. And you know it's
Speaker 1: not likely to your point, you're going to win the
Speaker 1: whole war. But the fact you're even bringing it up
Speaker 1: is a good start. But the question about refilling your cup,
Speaker 1: you know, there are there Black Nurses Associations or Latina
Speaker 1: Nurses Association that you can join because that's always a
Speaker 1: really great place where you could feel seen and heard,
Speaker 1: and they're probably going to offer like my mom.
Speaker 2: Was a nurse for I don't even know thirty forty years.
Speaker 1: You know, they can offer resources, and they could also
Speaker 1: offer suggestions, you know, or just even power and might
Speaker 1: behind like oh girl, girl, you know, thanks lend us.
Speaker 1: So we're going to roll up and say something, you know,
Speaker 1: And so it's not for you to fight alone by yourself.
Speaker 1: I'm really proud of you for having the initial conversation,
Speaker 1: but get your backup. You know that you're not in
Speaker 1: this by yourself because there are a lot of black
Speaker 1: and brown nurses and at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you know, nurses are all it have been and still
Speaker 1: are in super high demand and so you know, you know,
Speaker 1: your voice is not as your voice is stronger than
Speaker 1: maybe even realize.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you said that because I can feel
Speaker 2: the weight on you, like you really feel like, I mean,
Speaker 2: there's this huge it is a it's systemic, and it's
Speaker 2: so much bigger than you are. But are those those
Speaker 2: organizations like do you do you feel like you have
Speaker 2: a community? Do you are you able to lean on
Speaker 2: other black and brown nurses, like find your tribe?
Speaker 3: I'm starting to.
Speaker 4: I'm reaching outside of you know, the immediate community that
Speaker 4: I have, and I you know, I found some and
Speaker 4: you know, we have had those conversations, you know, like
Speaker 4: we come in and we see staff in dis apartment
Speaker 4: and this apartment they're black, and then it's less and less.
Speaker 3: As you get higher.
Speaker 4: So it was nice to hear that I'm not by myself.
Speaker 4: But yeah, you know it's no let's roll up like
Speaker 4: that's like you said, I'll do some more outreach. And
Speaker 4: because I get like, you're right, they.
Speaker 5: Are out here.
Speaker 3: I graduated with them, I was inspired by them.
Speaker 2: And now where'd they go? I want to know, I'd
Speaker 2: be like where y'all at? And is it good over there?
Speaker 2: Because we talk. Yes, they'll let you know where the
Speaker 2: good good is. They'll be like, yeah, come over here.
Speaker 2: Girls lit like they love us here like.
Speaker 3: For fine organists.
Speaker 1: Because my mother was part of a black nurse's organization
Speaker 1: in New Jersey. That's why I shared that, you know,
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 2: I was part of a National Association of Black journalists
Speaker 2: for the first ten years of my career.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are organizations specifically for that. So you know,
Speaker 1: she didn't have to go it alone because it wasn't
Speaker 1: easy for her either. She's also part of I think a
Speaker 1: Nigerian nurses association.
Speaker 3: Girl. They got association for everything, you know.
Speaker 2: I'm sure they got for Latino one exactly.
Speaker 5: I need to work with a group that nows is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you got to watch and go. It's day one.
Speaker 4: Don't touch it, you know. So you know, hopefully i'll
Speaker 4: get there. But and then you know, once I do
Speaker 4: get there, I'll make it a point to pull everyone
Speaker 4: else with because as much as I would love to
Speaker 4: be in a room where those decisions are made, I'm
Speaker 4: not made for politics.
Speaker 3: I don't have it in me.
Speaker 2: I just now A lot of women tell me that
Speaker 2: you never know because you asked, what do you do
Speaker 2: to heal yourself and refaill your cup? And one of
Speaker 2: the best things for me was working to get into
Speaker 2: a leadership role so I could hire more of us.
Speaker 2: And it didn't take you know, sometimes it doesn't take
Speaker 2: as much work and as many politics. If you find
Speaker 2: the right company or the right fit, you can do it.
Speaker 2: But like even if you can get closer to that
Speaker 2: decision making table just so that you can be at it,
Speaker 2: like you can have impact fright where you are. And
Speaker 2: like Tiffany was saying, hey, did I change the fact
Speaker 2: that there's you know, very few people of color at
Speaker 2: the top in fintech? No, but I sure did hire
Speaker 2: you know, over a dozen bipop staff while I was
Speaker 2: there to make sure they got great raises and I
Speaker 2: was able to care and put you know, fix wage
Speaker 2: gaps and things like that. And I feel really proud
Speaker 2: of that. And I think that if we, just, like
Speaker 2: Tiffany said, focus on what you can do and what
Speaker 2: power you have, take some of the weight off of
Speaker 2: the world and just remind yourself you're doing the best
Speaker 2: you can. You're only one person.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm just rid of you, Anna, And we
Speaker 1: love having our listeners on.
Speaker 2: I love getting to ask follow up questions. I'm always
Speaker 2: dying too.
Speaker 1: Yes now and if you want to be in a
Speaker 1: hot seat like Anna you already know well hopefully you
Speaker 1: know hit us up on ig We want you to
Speaker 1: leave us a recording of your question. We can have
Speaker 1: you in virtual studio and you can ask your career,
Speaker 1: your business, your personal finance, just your growth questions overall
Speaker 1: and manager and I will do our best to pour
Speaker 1: into you. So hopefully, Anna, you know you've taken away
Speaker 1: a little glimmer of hope and that your homework is
Speaker 1: to do your googles and find you a nurses association,
Speaker 1: a club, a something you know related to your to
Speaker 1: your field that cater specifically to who you are, you
Speaker 1: know and how you want to show up and then
Speaker 1: lean in there.
Speaker 2: Okay, y, thanks for coming on and I'm such a
Speaker 2: pleasure to meet you. Yes, hey, ba fam, we could
Speaker 2: not do this show without your support or the support
Speaker 2: of our team behind the scenes. The Brown Emission podcast
Speaker 2: is produced by Cumulus Podcast Network. It's edited by the
Speaker 2: wonderful Emani Crosby and produced by Tanya Bustos. Dennis Stimplinsky
Speaker 2: is our in house tech guru and I am Bandy
Speaker 2: Woodrid Santos your co host, and I will see y'all
Speaker 2: next week.