*Note: This was originally my personal statement submitted to University of North Carolina’s Doctor of Public Health program (I was not accepted)
I’ll never forget the first day, in my thirties, when I started to study for the Graduate Entrance Exam. I had avoided the expensive and time-consuming test until it was time to consider my doctorate. I hadn’t taken geometry since I was a sophomore in high school, and after earning my Master of Public Health degree, even my beloved Algebra knowledge had faded. How could this possibly indicate how well I would do in a Doctor of Public Health Program?
“Well, data shows that…” And, here we are: the cause of many issues throughout my educational and professional career. For example, hiring in government primarily values metrics, testing, and carefully scored applications. While these were created to provide an unbiased assessment, like all formalized testing, they arguably increase the bias by construct. What about an individual’s actual ability to be successful, or their character, drive, and passion? Perhaps this is a major reason why those who know their communities best are often overlooked and not empowered to be a part of the solution. Change isn’t all about metrics.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a data junky myself, but I also realize the data can be used to tell whatever story the person who paid for it wants it to tell.
“Two Patients with COVID-19 have been confirmed at Sutter Hospital in Santa Rosa, exposing several nurses.” On that day in March 2020, a shock wave shot down my spine. The temptation to quit my job on the spot knowing that shortly after I read that headline I would get a call to report to the County of Sonoma Emergency Operations Center was palpable. Why the severe response despite my lifetime dedication to Public Health? I knew deep down that the communications around COVID-19 would likely be poor and disjointed, ultimately hurting more than it helped in many cases. I would end up being the quieted minority as someone who specializes in Public Health Communications, but who has never worked for a Public Health Department in career life and is not a doctor or a nurse. After months of my life being dedicated to working in the Emergency Operations Center flood response in 2019 as well as the fire and PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff response in 2019, my energy was waning. My dedication to service and sharing of my craft is at the core of who I am. I knew I had to dive in doing what I could to translate acronym-speak and confusing data sets to the public.
My passion for Public Health communications started during my undergraduate degree at University of California Santa Barbara. I struggled in college quite a bit because I could not force myself intellectually into one silo as the system required. I ultimately changed my major four times before being forced to settle in Psychology in order to graduate before I hit the unit cap. I was disappointed my grade point average didn’t reflect success in this type of academic institution, but being the first to graduate college in my family was the reason I was there, and I had to find a way out. Originally working toward becoming a Physician, I jumped from Biology, to Bio-Psychology, to Business/Economics, finally landing on Psychology. I filled my elective units with classes in philosophy, religious studies, and law, as my fascination with the interworking of the human mind was my main focus. I have been intrigued since I was a child with the different ways people think and experience emotions. I wanted to learn about how we think from all aspects of biology, neurology, physiology, psychology, religion, and so on. I also spent my free time teaching myself graphic design and photography on an outdated version of Adobe Photoshop.
Shortly after graduation, I spent a month working in a community hospital in Ciudad Guzman, Mexico. It was an enriching experience scrubbing into surgery daily and shadowing different medical student interns throughout the hospital. While uncomfortable at first - mainly for the male patients who were not accustomed to a female “surgeon” - I quickly became comfortable identifying gall bladder issues and hernias, the two top ailments we saw. After months of underemployment working at Macy’s, I applied for a Master of Public Health Program at Touro University California. I was reminded in my interview of my first experience within the constructs of the Public Health system when I had my first paid summer internship as a freshman in college. It was with the County of Sonoma, with a Masters student researching children’s food preferences. My boss had told me I was chosen out of over 50 applications because I was the only person with a true interest in and understanding of Public Health.
I was very excited to be accepted to Touro, which is known nationally for their dedication to providing an education to a diverse student body. I was given the opportunity to travel to Ethiopia for two and a half months to conduct research and pilot new chapters of the Where There is No Doctor book, which was being rewritten from cover to cover for the first time since its creation. At the time, it was the most widely used international medical text specifically designed to provide information for non-traditional medical professionals. It was quite an honor and an exciting task to work with the country’s Health Extension Workers and receive their direct feedback. I quickly learned that the model I was sent with to gather information from these health workers was not working. Our first session was a failure, so at that moment I sat down and re-wrote the research methodology. This included convincing the doctor to simply translate (not lecture) and let the Health Extension Workers do the talking. Our future sessions were very different, and I was able to submit a lengthy report back about discrepancies in pictures and culture competence of tone.
Upon return, while writing my final capstone paper, I developed a Health Marketing theory to replace the current Health Education models to improve the public health of communities, especially those within the United States. I loved living and working internationally but wanted to work to address the myriad issues in my home country. The model involves showing people how to live vs. telling them how to live. It integrated modern marketing techniques into health communications so that individuals are engaged and are properly reached. My Capstone presentation itself was one of the first major tests of my character in my career, as my own advisor showed up to tear apart my ideologies, including the idea of studying why Ethiopia has lower rates of HIV than neighboring countries to try and identify protective factors. If it wasn’t for my second reader, an immigrant from Africa (who is now a professor) showing up to support the idea of studying protective factors, I’m sure I would have never received my degree.
After graduating in 2011, I again faced the defeat of a lagging economy and found myself working part time in a medical back office, the same job I had at age 18 after graduating high school. I started a consulting company specializing in social media marketing and set up the medical office’s Facebook page. I learned all there was to know about social media marketing. One of the first things I learned as a new business owner was that networking was the key to success, regardless of one’s discipline. I had made a point of making friends in the area after returning to Sonoma County, which ultimately allowed me to gather clients by word of mouth.
A few months later, I was offered a position as the Policy and Communications Analyst for the Marin City Community Services District. I was charged with the seemingly impossible task of “rebranding” Marin City, which had fallen victim to a poor reputation perpetuated by the media as the most diverse area in the wealthy North Bay county and having the only family HUD housing there, as well. After combating the residents’ extreme distrust of government, I was able to garner support in the form of community engagement to transform the district. My government and communications experience led to infamous conversations with the County, pushing them to pay attention to an area they had widely ignored since its advent during WWII. The rebranding started with an overhauled modern website, a robust social media marketing plan, non-stop press releases, speaking engagements, and extensive community engagement.
After gaining attention from the newly developed State of California Department of Health Equity, I was responsible for planning a community meeting and presentation to show Marin City’s efforts to address health disparities by recognizing all of the Social Determinants of Health. For the presentation, I used my (then) shaky graphic design skills to create an infographic comparing Marin City to a neighboring town of similar size, Ross. This simple disaggregation of data would show that Marin City experienced a life expectancy that was shorter by 15 years (now 18 years) than Ross, which is known for its affluence. This seemingly simple graphic grew legs travelling around the nation in the hands of the Health Equity Officer’s Director as a clear example of how place matters. I do believe this momentum is the cause of one of my greatest career successes; Marin City being chosen as one of the final 15 in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize. After two and half years working in the community, I spent hours developing the application elements, producing and starring in a video, and planning the site visit for the ultimate honor of being in the top tier out of over 350 communities nationwide. One of the District’s innovative solutions aiming to create a Culture of Health was development of a healthy eating and nonsmoking policy I co-authored. After it passed, I spoke at workshops and held training on “bottom up” policy development. Marin City now has expanded visibility and is a model for how change can happen. While I realize this type of success is hard to quantify, I reiterate that data doesn’t always tell the full story. I would consider it a significant process change ultimately impacting the “quality of care” given by public health professionals in all areas. If you don’t tell your story effectively, someone else surely will.
I have learned a lot about leadership and management over the last decade. I have learned to listen, be intentional with my work, and to find innovative ways to teach. While working in Marin City I managed the “tough ones” from the Marin County Juvenile Probation Department as Dan Daniels (project director) used to say. Dan developed an alternative sentencing program that included in-classroom professional and personal development sessions, as well as a work placement requirement. Completion of the paid work placement program was the key and last option before being sent to a juvenile detention camp. While I certainly agree there were tough moments, working with these juveniles was one of the richest experiences of my career. I learned more from them than they learned from me, and to this day I believe our teenagers have the answers and ideas to solve some of our most complex issues.
Of the five that came through our doors, four completed the program. Because of the success of Dan’s program, I started thinking about prevention. I then created the Marin City Action Academy, which was a social entrepreneurship and civic engagement program for high school students. Part of the project was development of the Marin City Youth Council, who reported directly to the District’s Board. The Youth Council was developed because Marin City youth did not feel represented, and felt they weren’t making an impact as part of the Marin County Youth Council. Being one of the founding members of the Petaluma Teen Council way back when, I was able to secure funding from the Kaiser Foundation to pilot the program, which turned out to be a great success that reached 25 youth directly during my time as the acting director. We then hired a teen coordinator as well as two parent liaisons to continue the program. The District was able to secure further funding from juvenile probation to build a teen center under the care of the Youth Council, who planned safe events and excursions for the Marin City teen community.
After departing Marin City, I worked for the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians, which brought with it a whole new (and steep) learning curve. My primary job was grant/contract and compliance management, but after a one-year tenure with the Tribe, I was asked to be the Interim Court Operations Manager to restructure their consortium court system and related grant-funded programs. I was responsible for hiring, training, and developing policies for four staff members while also managing the workflow of attorneys and judges. During my time in the role I developed internal policies around communications and data retention as well as working closely with Tribal Court attorneys to remedy issues within the codes, and training staff on the changes. One of the goals of the Tribe was to provide opportunities for local Native individuals to expand their skill set to advance their careers in areas they may not have had access to otherwise. A highlight of my career was when one of the Tribal Court staff came to me and said I was the best boss they ever had. I was honored and of course wondered, why? She explained that I actually took the time to talk to her, integrate her ideas, and further develop her expertise to serve her Tribe. My leadership style in both work and life is to give people the skills and knowledge they need to be successful to serve their community in whatever capacity that may be. I had said in our first staff meeting that I needed them to tell me how to best serve the Tribal members. As someone who is not a Native American, I could never deeply understand their struggles or traditional solutions. It was clear to me we cannot not be successful in Public Health if individuals who know their community best are not empowered to be a part of solution.
I currently work as a Policy Manger for the County of Sonoma, a new position in Permit Sonoma (formally the Permit and Resource Management Department). My current position integrates strategic communications and policy development. I was promoted in April to this Senior Leadership position, given my success in marketing for the department and recognition that this new position was a perfect match for my entire set of skills. In concert with my “day job,” my consulting company is now called MaberMe, Inc. Maber means “working together with a passion” in the Native language of Ethiopia, Amharic. The name choice was a reflection of the collaborative nature of the “experts” (as I call them) within MaberMe’s expert circle. The consultancy is designed to wrap services around government and nonprofit agencies to improve both their communications and operations. As an entrepreneur, I have learned to surround myself with experts in their fields so I can continually learn and know who to call when I need an answer.
After years of advancing my career, I revisited the idea of obtaining a Doctor of Public Health Degree as the correct pathway to pursue my passions and share my knowledge. I researched several schools for online and in-person programs. The Gillings School of Public Health stood out during the informational session, as it was apparent that this program is vastly different and lightyears ahead of its competition. There is an emphasis on the candidate’s career, leadership abilities, and impact vs. simple metrics. I like that professional recommendation letters replace the GRE score requirement, and the honesty about the rigorousness of the program was refreshing. Many other schools treated the informational sessions seemingly as a sale pitch meeting, like their brand itself was what I should be looking for regardless of my own potential experience. I also appreciate the applied nature of the program, and the potential to integrate my schoolwork into my day-to-day job.
I excelled in my Master of Public Health program because it was vocational and applied. I was able to still dive into the data and carry out research, but utilized different methodologies including qualitative measures. I feel I will excel again as someone committed to a lifetime of learning. Given where I am in my career now and my Doctoral degree focus, I feel it is exactly the right time to apply to this program. I know that I have something rarely found in Public Health to contribute to a small international cohort. My expertise does not really fit a single job title, as it stretches beyond community engagement and public relations. My specialty is in integrating modern marketing and strategic communications strategies into government agencies to ultimately shift the behaviors of individuals. The type of marketing I specialize in, is as I call it, “behavior change marketing.” As all marketing and advertising is trying to illicit some behavior (buying), I have chosen to apply my skills to encouraging individuals to make changes to live healthier lives. Alongside this comes with using those same strategic communications skills to advocate for, develop, and get support for effective policies. It is not enough to just address the individual. The institution itself also needs to be changed.
My ultimate goal is to teach at the University level about Public Health and Government Communications. One person who impacted my life and career probably more than he will ever know is Professor Wegman at Santa Rosa Junior College. Against the advice of my advisor as a Biology major, I took his macroeconomics class as one of my freshman electives. Professor Wegman was known for his direct and brutal teaching style. My class started with around 40, and less than 15 took the final (I was one of only two women who did). One day after class, Professor Wegman came up to me and said, “I can see that you are stressing out. Don’t focus on your grade. You are smart, and that is what is important. You are going to be successful.” After years of being in an educational system and soon to be professional system based on metrics and numbers, I started to shift my thinking around my education and college experience. I want to be able to help those students who were unconventional succeed and elevate their work to celebrate real, innovative thinking.
I recently spoke to an undergraduate Public Health Policy class about the failures in messaging around COVID-19, which really drove this desire to teach home. The main example was the messaging around the use of “masks.” Without consideration for the more individualistic mainstream American culture, the main message was to wear a mask to protect others, which we now see very clearly does not resonate with all Americans. The messaging furthers that by working together we can “fight” the pandemic without considering the nation is arguably more divided than it ever has been. Of course, we want a united country who wants to work together, but this weak communications strategy aided in the polarization of the issue in its entirety (on top of decades of ignored Public Health Professionals). I furthered the conversation by showing a video stitching several commercials created by major companies together that were nearly identical, which started a rich conversation about advertising and consumption even in times of widespread circumstantial poverty. The purpose was to show that words matter and messages matter. Seemingly simple ideals can completely skew public perception, whether they are accurate or not.
Presenting my expertise itself is a risk given my knowledge that it isn’t always received well. One recent example was re-designing the County’s COVID-19 information website. I pushed for the design to be modern, user friendly, and relatable. A main argument for the re-design was actually grounded in a shift in thinking about how we communicate about the pandemic. I was pushing for a shift from treating it as an emergency like we do with fires or floods to treating it like an ongoing opportunity to give people the resources to be healthy while of course continuing to be transparent and keep the community up to date on the constantly changing metrics, color tiers, etc. My efforts were based on analytics, public perceptions, overall accessibility and usability. I tapped my understanding of how people feel when they see certain words, colors, and images, trying to make sure the non-text messaging was well received and easy to understand. What is often missed is that the same information needs to be packaged in different ways depending on the outlet and audience. Large marketing firms and companies understand this, but it is often missed in local agencies. The website was not only beautiful, it was incredibly functional and successful. I got quiet nods from members of the team who recognized for the first time a business-minded marketing professional was on the team and thanked me for speaking up.
Unfortunately, mere months down the road, the website was dismantled and aligned again with the emergency icons and categories, which has been one of my major disappointments in my career. I spent so many hours working with a team to get this website into 2020 only for it to be reverted back. I may be seemingly taking a risk by being so transparent about my current employer; however, this is a sentiment I have and will continue to openly share. We must do better, and I am dedicated to helping agencies do better. COVID-19 brought to the forefront the decades-long health disparities communities have tended to ignore. Without embedding communications strategies with an equity lens into our institutions, major media will continue to conquer what information the public gets and what they don’t. It is my goal, even one person at a time, to start making change in how we engage with the public, otherwise issues like the systematic racism and faulty policies debilitating low opportunity communities will never be re-written. The public’s health is not going be improved solely by using metrics.