What year did you graduate from the CPH and what is your degree?
I graduated in Spring of 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in public health (BSPH). I had two concentrations, education and promotion of health & health administration
In a nutshell, what do you do?
I am currently a customer success manager for Hello Heart, a digital therapy solution for heart health education and prevention, working in partnership with employers and insurance carriers to provide Hello Heart to different populations. Our mission is to empower people to understand and improve their heart health using technology and behavioral science. I work in employee benefits and provide education and prevention strategies to companies' employee populations on heart health and overall wellness.
What are you working on right now?
I am currently working on partnerships with other health providers in the health and wellbeing space to create ecosystems that focus on sleep, musculoskeletal disorder, diabetes, and hypertension education and solutions.
Why did you choose this path?
This career avenue is the perfect balance of healthcare and business. I get to feel like I am making an impact on different populations from a health and wellbeing perspective and still get to be a successful business woman and run client meetings, present webinars, and annual business reviews.
Why do you love what you do?
Once you graduate and go into the real world it is extremely stressful to really know exactly what you want to do and what gives you purpose. I now have found what I love to do and that is educate people on their heart health and overall health and wellbeing. I love what I do because my company is awesome, I am making a difference, and preventing heart disease!
How did your KSU CPH education prepare you for your current work in Public Health?
My KSU CPH education was the best of the best and I use it in my day to day job! I use many of the education and promotion marketing strategies to know how to market heart health to different populations and I use a lot of data to show our program outcomes. I genuinely am so happy that working with data was part of the curriculum, because I have to be able to understand and explain data to my clients to show the value and impact of our program.
What are the most rewarding and challenging aspects of your work?
Most rewarding: Public health is rewarding in itself, I always say that public health staffers are the "hidden heroes.” The reward is helping someone manage their heart health or maybe even helping someone identify hypertension or high cholesterol that they might have not known about. Now that they know they will hopefully live a long and happy life and I helped prevent a heart attack or stroke!
Most challenging: There are some people that are scared of their health and I think the most challenging aspect of my job and public health in general is making health welcoming and not intimidating. If someone has not been to the doctor or ignores big health issues for a long time, that is when bad things happen. How do we make heart health or just overall health welcoming to get people to care before the bad things happen!
What advice would you give to current public health students?
Give yourself grace and have patience when you graduate. If your first job is something you do not like, that is ok! Trial and error – there are so many things you can do with your degree and so many jobs that are open to you. Do your research, make connections, and have patience. The right job and career path for you in public health is out there!