Omolara Thomas Uwemedimo, MD, MPH’s Post

"The woman who doesn't require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet." —Mohadesa Najumi A few days ago, my co-founders, Drs. Suzette Brown, MD, MPH, Nicole Brown MD, MPH, MHS and I met for our weekly strategy meeting. As we spoke, I couldn't help but realize how much this journey of growing our healthcare practice has changed us. You see, there was an unspoken curricula that we were taught to survive in medical school as Black women, which included: 1) changing our voice, speech and tone to make others comfortable, 2) working harder than everyone else to prove that you belonged a 3) silencing our "controversial" opinions to try and counteract the assumption that we are "aggressive" It is now, only in hindsight, that I see how much courage it took for us to leave the traditional careers we cultivated in academia, expose the problems that exist in healthcare and create an organization that challenges the status quo- decentralizing health into communities not clinics. As a result, we have had to do a lot of unlearning and, in the process, have become bolder, more confident and ridiculously more ambitious. (And less likely to smile in meetings just to make others feel comfortable) Our story is not unique, it is similar to the countless Black women clinicians I have spoken to, who also ventured to build what never existed but was so necessary. We could never create what we envisioned, if we continued to believe that our ideas require validation, permission or acceptance. Yet while we don't need a co-sign on our work, we do need community to help us stay confident to continue our work. So, I wanted to share this special LinkedIn love note to my fellow Black women healthcare leaders- those who I've connected to, those who I have yet to connect with and those who I just admire from far- because all of you serve as a reminder of how true Toni Morrison's words are. You, indeed, are your best thing. And even when they try to make us think otherwise, we actually are healthcare's best thing, too.