Tiffany Simmons

I attribute my success to my deep relationship with the Lord and my faith journey. In 2012, I fully rededicated myself to Christ with no playing around, living according to scripture, and that's when doors began to open for preaching, speaking, and teaching opportunities. The Bible talks about how your gift will make room for you, and that's exactly what happened. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2024, everything that could have been tested was tested - my faith, my family, my finances, my future. It was one of the hardest things in my life, something I couldn't do but I did, if that makes sense. Going through surgery and cancer treatment with no spread taught me that God is true to His Word and His promise to never leave me or forsake me. Now in 2026, I have even deeper roots, and it's my opportunity, privilege, and honor to go and tell a dying world just what He's done for me. That's why I'm so passionate about my work and my faith - because I was a wretch undone, and I know my relationship with the Lord. I've learned that a fool says in his heart that he knows everything, but a wise man realizes that he knows nothing, and that wisdom has guided my journey from being foolish to being fully committed to serving others.

Before you get into nursing, you have to count the cost. Students often come chasing a degree in nursing but they don't understand nursing. When you interview students, they always say they saw a nurse taking care of someone in the hospital and it looked so nice and easy, but that nurse was operating in her call, her gift, her job, which is why she made it look easy. You have to count the cost of understanding what nursing really is and how you're going to contribute to this body of profession. I always refer to the principle of building a house - you have to count the costs first, because if you don't, the house can't be built all the way because you never considered all the details like light bulbs and switches. Most students say yes when I encourage them to count the cost, but they really don't. Nobody wants to read, nobody wants to put in the work, they ask why they have to do things or why they can't get paid for certain experiences. That's when I know they didn't count the cost. The three things you need to operate well are accountability, ownership, and communication. If you have those three things, you can succeed in nursing.

The biggest challenge I see in our field is silo working. From an academic perspective, you have all these universities doing great things, but I believe we need to come together collaborating because we all have one common goal - the people that we serve in our community, wherever we are in the world. What does it look like if I'm baking a chocolate cake and you're baking a chocolate cake, and we're giving the chocolate cake to the same neighbor? Well, the neighbor has two chocolate cakes, and you know why? Because we never discussed it, we never even talked about it. So we've got multiple chocolate cakes in the world when there's a need for apple pie. That comes with us moving away from the silos and working together collaboratively more. Not that I want your blueprint or template, because universities have proprietary things they do, but the old saying is that if you want to go fast, you go alone, but if you want to go far, you take somebody with you. That's why one of the pillars for the ANA pre-summit I organized was access, opportunity, and collaboration - we need to break down these silos and work together.

The most important value to me is adding value wherever I am. I have this on my LinkedIn page - that I add value. Wherever I am, I add value. That is my goal, to always add value wherever I am. Whether that means being an influencer, being a mentor, opening up connections, whatever that means at the time it happens is subsequent to me being a person who wants to add value. My main goal isn't recognition - it's to be a contributor. I also deeply value my faith and my relationship with the Lord, which guides everything I do. I start my day with prayer and reading my Bible, and I'm committed to living according to scripture. After going through cancer treatment and seeing how God kept His promise to never leave me or forsake me, I understand that it's my privilege and honor to serve others and tell the world what He's done for me. I value being able to take my hats off and just be silly with my family, laughing and being present with the people I love.