Sapna Jain

The best career advice I ever received actually came from one of my OBGYN attendings, though she didn't give it directly to me - it was something I overheard her say to a patient. She said, 'I'm here to help you, I'm not your friend.' Growing up, I think you want to please people and say things that make them happy, but what I realized from that is if you really want to help people, sometimes you have to say the hard things. You have to tell them like it is so that they can get through the tough times and move forward, and not get stuck where they're at or make poor medical decisions. It's not about me, it's not about how I'm going to look or whether you're going to like me. It's really about what is the best thing for you. That piece of advice really helped me to be able to love people even more, because it taught me that truly helping someone means doing what's best for them, not what makes me feel comfortable.

I can't give general advice because I think each case is very different, but I would say follow your dreams and follow your heart, and don't let convention always get in the way. I literally quit my job after three years of working and went overseas, and that is not what would traditionally be the right thing to do, but it's been amazing. The doors are always open - I still come back and work, and now I have this great job in Seattle that's per diem where I can work every day and set my hours and work from home. If you're truly following your calling, then nothing will stop you, but you can't let fear stop you either. I'm not saying be unwise - some people don't think things through and starting a nonprofit overseas becomes an escape or the easy route to avoid something. That's the wrong reason. But if it's your true calling, like that is what makes you feel alive and what you feel like you're meant to do, then go for it. When I land overseas, I'm like, I'm home - that's what it feels like to me. The other thing I would say is if you have a nonprofit, try not to use its money for yourself. Try to truly make it about helping other people, because then you don't run into any ethical dilemmas while you're overseas. You're not raising money for yourself, you're raising money for the work itself, and then you work on the side like I'm doing. That just keeps things separate and makes it so much easier - you can do whatever you need with your conscience clear.

The greatest challenges are, one, being a woman and going places - I think automatically if you're a male, you get a lot more credibility. Also, going into countries where you don't speak the language and you don't know all of the customs or the ways things are done is challenging because you're kind of navigating in the blind. When I first moved to Cambodia, for the first six months I felt like I had a lot of people who wanted to meet me but nobody who wanted to help or was able to help. Another major challenge is that a lot of countries want bribes to do even good work like this, and one of the decisions I made early on was I'm not going to pay any bribes to do good work. The doors have to open the right way, not the wrong way, even though it's the cultural way. You have this desire to help and you're like, well, why don't I just pay the bribe and get it done, but that's not the right way to do it either. So waiting and being patient and waiting for those doors to open is hard. As for opportunities, they're just endless. Anywhere you go in the world, it feels like there's so much need, whether it's Africa or Southeast Asia or other places. Whenever I go to a place, I'm like, oh my goodness, I could do so much here. The opportunities are endless to be able to make a difference in the world. As Americans, we have so much opportunity and so much that's handed to us, and we don't even know it until you leave the country and you see how little they have.