Serena Tobar, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, LNC, CLSSWB

I attribute my success to sheer stubbornness — I simply refuse to give up. Early in my career as an LVN, someone once dismissed my potential because of my title, comparing it to their BSN. That moment became fuel rather than discouragement; it made me decide I was going all the way, from LVN to RN to a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and now a PhD. My path hasn't always been a straight line, but I've never let anyone else's limited view of me define what I was capable of achieving.

The most powerful lessons I've received have come through mentorship. Dr. Bill Boudreaux, one of my instructors during my LVN program, saw potential in me before I saw it in myself and urged me not to stop at the LVN level. Life took me in a different direction for a while, but his belief in me stayed with me and eventually brought me back to nursing education. He also taught me, through a small and deeply personal act of compassion following the loss of my child, that caring for others can take many forms and that even the smallest gestures carry the greatest meaning. Beyond individual mentors, I've learned the importance of deliberately putting myself in rooms with people who hold the positions I hope to reach one day, and trusting that I belong there even when self-doubt says otherwise.

My biggest advice to new nurses is to stop trying to make all the money in the first year. Give yourself time and grace to grow — you can't develop as a nurse if you're working yourself to exhaustion. Set boundaries and take care of yourself first, because nursing is far more demanding than the polished image often shown on social media. At the same time, don't close doors before they're even opened. When leadership invites you to join a committee or take on a new project, don't say no right away; often they see potential in you that you haven't recognized in yourself yet, and those opportunities can open doors to growth you never expected.

Nursing is at a critical point of transformation. We're facing real challenges — staffing shortages, workplace violence, limited resources, and burnout — but I don't believe the answer is asking nurses to be more resilient. We've already proven our resilience many times over. The real opportunity lies in changing the systems and policies creating that strain in the first place, and in nurses recognizing our collective influence by getting more involved in professional organizations, policy conversations, and advocacy. I also see enormous opportunity in how artificial intelligence is reshaping our field; as a doctoral researcher studying nurses' lived experiences with AI, I believe we need to be part of those conversations so that technology enhances care without losing the human connection at its core.

Honesty and integrity guide everything I do — they will take you further than anything else. Alongside that, compassion, advocacy, and education are central to who I am, both as a nurse and as a person. I believe in caring for people through empathy and presence, in speaking up and setting boundaries rather than simply enduring difficult systems, and in treating education as a lifelong process that builds confidence and critical thinking, not just a means to pass an exam. Above all, I value perseverance — staying stubborn in the best possible way, and never letting someone else's doubt about my potential become my own.