I really found this inspiring. I love that she found motivation from her grandma. Go grandmas!
I’ll be honest- I didn’t think I had a smidgen of a chance of becoming a Global Health Corps fellow. I had two reactions upon reading the position descriptions and mission statement of GHC. 1) Unprecedented excitement. I knew this was the opportunity I had been looking for, the next step in my career and the chance to actually apply my college education and internship experience into the real world of public health – basically my dream. The combination of fieldwork and professional development, but with an emphasis on fostering a community of leaders dedicated to achieving global health equity, seemed almost too good to be true. This led to thought number 2) Self-doubt. Although on paper I felt qualified for the position I was interested in, and I definitely had the passion and commitment GHC was looking for, I lacked confidence in my ability to persuade the GHC and mothers2mothers teams that I could be the one. Intimidated is an understatement for how I felt while perusing the GHC website. I didn’t have a Masters degree, wasn’t a doctor treating thousands of people on my own, and hadn’t established an NGO at the age of 18. Was I good enough to be one of those smiling faces? Nah, definitely not. Yet, I couldn’t get GHC off my mind. I had to at least make an attempt.
I will admit that I am the Queen of procrastination. I couldn’t bring myself to actually sit down and complete the application. I had the essay topics written on napkins that I tacked over my bed, hoping that I’d get some inspiration in the middle of the night and magically produce acceptance worthy essays. Obviously that did not happen. A week before the application was due, I hadn’t written one word. At this point in time, I had just graduated from George Washington University with an undergraduate degree and was working and traveling around Indonesia. I had a scheduled Skype date with my parents, and as a special surprise, my 92 year-old Grandma joined as well. I excitedly told my family about the GHC application, but as quickly as I lit up about the job posting at mothers2mothers, I followed with a negative remark along the lines of “I’ll never get it-there’s no point blah blah blah woe is me.” My Grandma abruptly shut me up, told me if I didn’t apply she’d disown me, and proceeded to detail all of the reasons why I would be an exceptional candidate. She wouldn’t sign off of Skype until I virtually pinky promised her that I’d apply no matter what. There was something compelling about my Grandma screaming into the computer because she thought being halfway across the world implied that I wouldn’t be able to hear her. Her point came across loud and clear. I signed off after taking an award winning screenshot (see below), went for a surf, and mulled over my options. I could a) not apply, lie to my Grandma, and feel guilty for the rest of my life (this is dramatic but entirely true), b) apply, not become a fellow, but know that I at least gave it a shot, or, c) apply, BECOME A FELLOW, and be one step closer towards pursuing my dreams. A few interviews and one acceptance email later, I became one of the 90 chosen as part of the 2012-2013 GHC fellow class.
