What are the key milestones on your path to leadership?
I am the Founder and CEO of HUED and we are a healthcare engagement solution designed to address the needs of Black and Latino populations.
I received my degree in communications from UMD College Park and went on to Howard University for law school. My career has been centered at the intersection of media, social justice, and technology. I have always worked in positions advocating and telling the stories of people and communities of color. Starting a company that was central to these populations was a natural progression of the work that I had already done.
I worked at Essence Magazine, the Rio, The Root, and Univision. While I’ve always been on the storytelling and social justice side, when you’re doing health equity work, there is also a social justice element to it.
Our technology connects BIPOC patients with culturally competent healthcare providers, offers health literacy, and helps organizations to dismantle structural and policy barriers that keep these populations from accessing high-quality and culturally competent healthcare.
A milestone that led me to start my company, came from my own frustration. I was diagnosed with uterine fibroids in 2017. While common for women, up to 90% of Black women will develop them by the age of 50. Many women will never have any issues, but I had over 30 of them and they began to impact my quality of life. Over a period of six months, I was in and out of the hospital. I met with four male, white doctors who either dismissed my pain altogether or stated that a hysterectomy was my only option. I was 30 at the time.
It wasn’t until I found a Black physician in Baltimore, MD - over 200 miles away from my home in New York - that I received the culturally competent care that I needed and deserved. After talking to friends, family members, and colleagues, I realized that my experience was central to a lot of their stories.
When I started the company in 2018-19, to talk about why people of color need health equity, pitching a company that focused on cultural competency and a standard of care for communities that have the highest rates of maternal mortality, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, melanoma and so on, nobody understood why we were doing the work we were doing.
When 2020 and COVID-19 happened, it became clear how disproportionately these populations were impacted. Because of how this virus ransacked these communities, it became a public health emergency. All of a sudden, we became a company that everyone wanted to work with and people began to understand the work we were doing, but healthcare disparities have long existed in this country.
When I think about milestones, it’s not centered in, I have this degree, great job, or I made this amount of money. My milestones are focused on turning problems into solutions that have a positive human impact.
What are the values that are most important to you as a leader?
I always make the joke that I’m a Cancer so, naturally, I am a communicator; I love to communicate thoughts and feelings. I think people perform better when they understand the issues. From a communications standpoint, a leader is someone who is open and listens to concerns and ideas in order to gain support from his/her constituents, other leaders, and advisors. Communication is an important core value of mine.
Integrity. From a business perspective, people don’t talk about integrity enough. We try to be successful and make money - money by any means necessary. I define integrity as the decisions you make when nobody's looking. A leader must be accountable for their decisions and actions. Integrity is really about taking responsibility for that. Teams need to be able to trust and respect their leaders – and that can only be done if they have integrity.
Vision - having a vision as a founder. Knowing where you see the company going. Nobody will follow unless you know where you are going to lead them. That’s where vision comes into play. People want to know how and why their efforts matter and a leader must actively structure and share this vision for people to maintain purpose in their work. As a founder, I also need to maintain my own focus for our work and understand where we’re going.
Are there any myths around what it means to be a leader?
As a startup and tech founder, the biggest myth was that I needed to have technical expertise or be a contributor in the industry. I own and run a healthcare technology startup. I don’t have a background in healthcare. I don’t have a background in technology. Oftentimes these are barriers specific to women. Studies show that women, with an emphasis on Black women, feel like we have to meet 90% of the requirements to apply for a job. By comparison, white men will apply for jobs and only possess 20% of the competencies. There’s a certain level or standard that women feel like we have to have, and I think that’s a myth. You can excel and succeed in any industry you choose. It’s just a common belief that leaders need technical skills for success. There’s a misrepresentation of the kinds of skills leaders need to lead. Leaders need to be able to delegate and find the right talent to build a company. This myth intimidated me initially in starting my company.
Another myth is that failure is not an option. Leadership is about risk-taking. You fail at things almost every day and you learn from your failures. It’s in our failures that we find success. When we talk about myths as leaders and founders, people are so focused on not failing, but that’s where learning comes from. You are going to try and you’re going to fail. In that, you may pivot or build your next product or next innovation.
When you think back on your journey, were there any particular challenges on your path toward leadership you had to overcome?
I am a Black woman in tech, so I face challenges every day. For example, .002% of venture capital funding goes to Black women. That already means we don’t have an equal playing field for success, even in comparison to white women and women of other races. Capital is access to resources, it’s access to mentorship, it’s access to certain spaces that historically women or people of color have been excluded from. When I think about challenges that I’ve faced as a leader, it’s rooted in this country and systems that were never designed or intended for people that look like myself. Therefore, everything is a challenge. However, I am not a “woe is me” type of person. As a founder, you have to have a thicker skin and the capacity to focus not on challenges, but opportunities. We are not challenge-oriented, all we focus on are opportunities - where we can thrive and find success through communities that are intended to help us do that.
What skills help in establishing leadership? In moving from individual contributor to leader?
I think empathy is really important as a leader, strategic thinking skills, and active listening. Many people are not active listeners. We want to contribute information without actually listening to what the problem is before offering a solution. The ability to share messages and make complex ideas and decisions easy to understand. Leaders often struggle with this, and it’s why everybody on the team might not be on the same page. The biggest skill in moving from an individual contributor to a leader is being able to inspire and convince others. There has to be some level of inspiration for those you are leading.
Supporting team growth - building on the strengths of others. It circles back to what I mentioned before about founders thinking they have to have every level of expertise or know how to do certain functions.
Knowing limitations. One of the biggest things that I didn’t realize as an early founder, but I know now is that hiring the right team and talent is THE most important thing you can do to set yourself up for success. Your team is your foundation. It’s not capital or any of the other things we often focus on. Personally, I seek out the knowledge and wisdom of others who can teach me things I don’t know.
Always acknowledge the value of your team. Acknowledgement and reward are necessary if you are going to have team members committed to the work you are doing and invested in the company. Great leaders rarely take credit for all of their successes. Humility is the sign of a great leader. If you are really trying to build a community of culture, friendship and respect, it’s about acknowledging the people who make the company or the team thrive.
What is your favorite quote, mantra, or word of advice to empower leaders?
“Sometimes we’re often so caught up on networking up, that we don’t focus on networking across.” -Issa Rae
When we go to conferences and events we always want to talk to the person on the panel who’s the CEO or the great advisor. We don’t focus enough on connecting and interacting with those who are on the same level as ourselves.
We’re the ones who will really grow up together and can put each other in positions of power. It’s the connections we make with like-minded individuals who are your peers, who you create genuine and authentic relationships with who are going to be the ones that set you up for success in the future.
