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I am: creative, caring, courageous
What I do: I am a psychologist/teen expert. Psychology is the science of the mind, behavior, and emotions of an individual or group. I am a professor at a local university where I teach classes, mentor students and conduct research on HIV prevention. I also run a company which creates programs and books for teen girls and young women to help them build self-esteem, leadership qualities and life skills. Our signature program is called THE MIND MAKEOVERsm workshop. What I love most about my career is the flexibility and the opportunity to be creative. What I really love is working with teens!
My "career path": The path to where I am has been long with lots of twists and turns. I started in college as a pre-med student intending to become a medical doctor. Then I volunteered for a program serving youth in low income housing and was assigned to mentor six girls. That made me decide that I wanted to work with youth, so I gave up my goal of becoming a medical doctor to focus on Psychology. I went graduate school to get a PhD in Psychology and studied the best ways to work with youth. The more I did research, the more girls I came in contact with lacking confidence who had lost hope in their dreams. I decided to develop my company because of those professional experiences and my personal knowledge as a woman of color.
My favorite things outside of work: Balance is very important to me. So I make time to enjoy being with friends, going to artistic events and listening to music. I also love photography and writing poetry. I’m a huge fan of the reality show, Project Runway and enjoy catching episodes each week.
Tips for a successful girlfuture:
• Believe in yourself and trust your instincts.
• Give yourself time to try out different things, determine what you like and are good at.
• Learn to be comfortable making mistakes because it helps make you be a better person.
• Be flexible to change because you never know if you will like the new road you end up taking.
• Work very hard, but most of all have fun!
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