Her Story
About Joanna
I began my career in healthcare administration in 2008 and spent about 15 years in the field. In my most recent role with R1 RCM, I worked on a hospital client project for the state of Texas. When my co-worker left the company in April of last year and was never replaced, I took the initiative to maintain all of our monthly goals as a one-man team, which stands out as one of my most notable professional achievements. I recently transitioned out of healthcare administration starting in January to pursue independent contracting work in AI training. This career change was driven by my need for more flexibility to be there for my father, who has been pretty ill the last few years. In my new role, my key responsibilities include reviewing AI-type responses from questions asked, checking for accuracy, originality, and ensuring non-biased responses. I'm working to train AI to make accurate and unbiased responses. While this field is new to me and I've always felt I should have been more technically savvy, I've always been the type to love challenges and challenge myself, so it's keeping me on my feet.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Joanna
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to, first of all, God leading and guiding me to my goal setting. My mother was a big influence for me. She passed in December 2013, but she always was motivating to me, so I try to keep instilling that in myself, with the help of God, of course. I believe in setting goals and working towards those goals every day. You can't just be out here living - you have to work towards goals in life, because life will pass you by if you don't set those goals and then work towards them.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was to always stay the course and never get knocked off the course. I know we go through life and things can kind of get us off track, but you should always come back to where you were, to your goals, and keep trying to reach those. Life will throw challenges at you, but it's important to maintain your focus and keep working toward what you set out to accomplish.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would give advice to just not be so hard on yourself. I think that as women, we take on a lot, and we can expect even more. I think we have to take it easy on ourselves with our positions in this field, because it can already, in healthcare, be overwhelming. So you just take it one day at a time, one task at a time, and just not overwhelm yourself with the challenges that are to come and to be expected. Don't put too much pressure on yourself all at once.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenge is that this is new - working with AI. I've always kind of not been as technically savvy as I should be. I should have really dived into that a little more than I have in my career. With the technology advancement, this is challenging because it's something new, but I've always been the type to love challenges, and I like to challenge myself as well. So it's keeping me on my feet, and I can appreciate that.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think the values that are most important are being positive - that's a big one for personal and work. You kind of have to stay motivated, and a lot of times we have to self-motivate, and that can be difficult to do, but I think that puts the drive in you to keep going. Good communication is also a big thing that is needed with both personal and work. You have to be able to be a great communicator to get things done and to be interactive with others, family, friends, and co-workers as well.
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