Christine Hoyte

I have amazing friends - a circle of friends that help give me the push. My grandmother pretty much raised me, so I would say those friends and my grandmother are what I attribute my success to. They've been the wind beneath my wings, giving me the support and drive I needed to keep going, especially through the challenging times like nursing school and recovering from COVID.

The best career advice I've ever received is to make sure whatever I decide to do in life is a passion rather than a career. This advice has really guided me, especially when I allowed myself to pivot from my original path. I thought I was going to be a professional model when I first came to America, but when I went back and looked at my high school yearbook, I saw that I had written I wanted to be a doctor. Even though it wasn't something that stuck in my mind at the time - it was a fleeting thought - I eventually found my way back to the medical field, which is truly my passion.

I would say stay focused and never give up, because becoming in the medical field is not easy. Getting an RN and passing the NCLEX - you think that once you get a degree in nursing, that's it, but that's just the beginning of everything. It's a lot of hard work. I would say just focus and never give up, and have a great support system. That support system really helps on the days where you're feeling a little less confident.

The biggest challenge for me working in the ER is that on those busy days, sometimes I don't have enough time to spend with patients. Not having enough time to spend with one patient and really connect with them - I think that's one of the hardest things. The resources are there, but not having enough time to spend with each patient can be very hard. It's unfair, the amount of patients that you have to give personal care to at one time and one shift, but connecting with patients is so important to me, and that time constraint is the biggest challenge I face.

The values most important to me are being my true self, being honest and authentic, and helping people as much as I can. I came to America when I was a teenager, and growing up in Guyana, I never really had access to so many things that I've had here. So to me, cultural embracement is very important - knowing where I came from helps me thrive in life. I was raised in a place where I wouldn't have had these opportunities, so being able to use my skills, gain my expertise here, and share it with the world is incredibly meaningful. Seeing how happy those kids are through our nonprofit work gives me the drive to want to do more, because our organization focuses only on kids, and that helps keep me grounded in what matters most.