Niara Ijezie

I would say my faith. My faith, I'm very grounded in God, and I would say that has really gave me a huge drive to believe in myself, and to stay the course, and to be resilient. And I would say also my family. Family is a big part of everything that I do, and so I just kind of think of them in all that I'm doing as well, to be able to not only be an inspiration, but to know that I'm doing it because I want to help them as well, and to be able to provide for them.

The best career advice that I've ever received is to never believe that you can't do something. And to always speak up for what it is that you want, or believe that you should have. I think sometimes as women, we either believe that we can't do something because we haven't seen it done, or it hasn't happened for us, and so we believe that it's not possible. And along that lines is, because of those things, we then might not speak up and say, well, this is what I want. And so that is part of the reason why things don't happen, is like not speaking up for it. So I would say that's the best career advice I've gotten. And just to be bold, and people aren't going to not believe in you unless you don't believe in yourself, and so sometimes that like fake it until you make it, but not that. I believe more so face it until you make it. And so if you have the faith, you can do it.

I would say that it's never too late. And the advice that I would give is to start taking the classes, start looking at what schools, what programs, and start getting prepared. Preparation is definitely key. I'd say for myself, if I wasn't prepared, I wouldn't have been able to get it done. And so that was part of it, and just being resilient. Just being resilient, and you're gonna face roadblocks and things that are challenges, things that are gonna happen, and just to keep going and keep trying. And if one door seems to close, another one will open if you go knocking. So just keep on knocking on doors, and keep on and that's something in real estate too, it's like they always say like always close, like always be closing, and sometimes you gotta get out there and knock on doors to get the sale, and so like there's you're gonna hear a thousand no's before you hear the yes. So just gotta keep going.

I'd say the biggest challenge is sometimes just the educational aspects of health, and getting patients to kind of see the issues and how they're living currently, and making the switch on the changes that they can make to be better. I think sometimes people they're so used to the things that they're doing, and they kind of get stuck in their ways essentially, and kind of can be a challenge. Especially if it's cultural or generational or spiritual or religious reasons behind why they do certain things or not do certain things. You know, getting them to maybe take vaccines, or getting their children to take vaccines. So there's a lot of challenges when it comes to that. I would say that I would say that's more so the hardest part about it, is you know, we have our standards and have our beliefs on what the patient should do, and then trying to get them to understand that can be a challenge.

So I value being honest. Honesty is key. Transparency, being authentic. I value communication. I value compassion and creativity. And I also want to add that although I switched essentially my career into nursing and healthcare, I also recognize within this I would just want to add that I don't feel like I'm also now like boxed into nursing and that this is the only thing that I'm going to do.