Allow me to reintroduce myself

Quisha the Nurse, the Public Health Practitioner, and the Public Health Enterpreneur

I want to take a moment to reintroduce myself and share a bit more about who I am and what this blog is all about. My name is Quisha Umemba, and I am The PublicHealthPreneur. I bring over 20 years of diverse experience to my roles as Registered Nurse, Public Health Consultant, and Entrepreneur and I thought I would share a bit more of my journey to entrepreneurship with you. Sit back, relax, and allow me to introduce you to Quisha the Nurse, Quisha the Public Health Practitioner, and Quisha the Public Health Entrepreneur.

Quisha, the Nurse

Growing up, I was always passionate about helping others and making a positive impact in my community. I even worked as a Candy Striper at our local hospital when I was 16 years old. I had my heart set on going to medical school and becoming a Medical Examiner. Then life happened; I married at 18, had my oldest son at 19 and decided to pursue a certification in Medical Assisting (MA) instead. The MA certificate ignited a passion in me that led me to pursue a career in nursing, where I could directly contribute to improving the health and well-being of individuals, or so I thought. It wasn't long before I realized that I was seeing the same patients come in and out of my unit time and time again. Regardless of the care or education I provided, it never mattered much in helping to improve their medical conditions.

I loved nursing and I loved the challenges that came with it that allowed me to stretch myself, and to develop personally and professionally. (I even credit nursing for my business success today). I hated, however, the feeling that I wasn't really making the impact that I wanted to. I couldn't understand why, despite the excellent care and health education I provided to my patients; it didn't seem to improve their health outcomes in the way that I imagined it would. Then I was introduced to public health.

A windshield assessment assignment in a community nursing class was what motivated me to pursue my master’s degree in public health. Learning about the social determinants of health and the importance of addressing these factors in improving individual and community health outcomes helped me to understand the true drivers that contribute to poor health. I enrolled in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Public Health to pursue my MPH with a focus on health education and health behavior, and the rest is history.

Quisha, the Public Health Practitioner

I lucked out when it came to landing my first role in public health. I had 10 years of nursing under my belt, experience in the inpatient, outpatient, and community settings, a couple of certifications, and a shiny new MPH degree that helped me secure a job as a Chief Nurse at the Houston Health Department (HHD) in the Office of Chronic Disease Prevention and Management. I absolutely LOVED that job (until it no longer loved me back anyway). And it was during that time that I started referring to myself as "the nurse that got bitten by the public health bug".

As a Chief Nurse, I managed the daily operations and staff of the Diabetes and Colorectal Cancer programs. This experience was my first introduction to innovative program management and implementation, and I THRIVED IN IT! (Not to toot my own horn, but TOOT TOOT!). I had the opportunity to work on various community health initiatives, collaborating with other departments and community organizations to implement evidence-based interventions aimed at improving health outcomes in underserved populations.

During my time as a public health practitioner, I witnessed firsthand how social determinants such as poverty, education, and access to healthcare can significantly impact an individual or community. I also witnessed how communities can be empowered and uplifted if given the right assistance and supported with tools that help to foster self-efficacy. I never felt closer to the community than I did in my role as Chief Nurse at HHD, and I am grateful for the experiences and lessons learned during my time there.

After leaving HHD, I went on to work for the Texas Department of State Health Services as the Diabetes Nurse Consultant. In this role, I participated in planning at the state level providing clinical expertise in the prevention and management of diabetes and related chronic diseases using a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral approach. Although I only served in this role for 1 year before transitioning to corporate America, I gained a wealth of experience in stakeholder engagement and providing technical assistance (i.e. consulting) to public health systems and healthcare organizations.

Quisha, the Public Health Entrepreneur

Despite my successes in my public health career, I found that my impact was limited by the traditional approach to public health program implementation. As I began to get more comfortable in my role as Program Manager, I learned to think creatively and outside of the box. While this is a positive and what most organizations should consider an ideal characteristic in an employee, this is not necessarily the case in public health. I found it very difficult to implement new and innovative ideas within the confines of traditional public health practices and funding sources. If I'm honest, I found government bureaucracy frustrating, to say the least. I despised having to go through the many levels of approval to get the simplest things done. I dreaded the tedious reporting requirements for relatively small amounts of money, and the overall inability to make timely decisions that ultimately impacted the communities that we were serving. I started "asking for forgiveness, not permission" to ensure that my staff and my community could be served appropriately and in real time and I started shifting my focus towards finding ways to break down these barriers in a way that would create sustainable and equitable changes in communities and underserved populations.

I wanted to be able to create change in a more agile and effective way, so I started by researching and identifying pain points in traditional public health and finding ways to solve them. I realized that becoming an entrepreneur in this field would allow me to create innovative solutions that address root causes of health disparities. I saw an opportunity to help solve health disparities and advance health equity by training members of the public health workforce and founded my public health consultancy, Umemba Health, in 2019. Our mission is to transform public health through comprehensive workforce development.

Why you should get to know me

In the four years I've been in business, my organization has trained over 3,000 public health professionals representing over 300 organizations. That's a major impact for a small business. In addition, I've built a multi-six-figure Public Health consulting business proving that you can make a decent living while also addressing health and social issues. In fact, it's my guiding principle, to make impact and income by embracing a “purpose-driven, profit-focused” mantra and lifestyle.

I believe that public health professionals are uniquely positioned to serve the field of Public Health through entrepreneurship leading the way for public health innovation. That's why I teach “helping professionals” to build, launch, and scale profitable public health consulting businesses using my tried-and-true processes.

Drawing on lessons learned from the nursing field and my experience as a public health practitioner, I have uncovered a blueprint that transforms ideas into revenue generating ventures, now I show others how to use entrepreneurship to positively impact public health. My goal is to empower and equip others with the tools they need to create innovative solutions to some of the most pressing public health issues of our time. I've been in your shoes. I know what it's like to want to serve in a greater capacity, but not sure where you should start. I’m here to help you get started.

DOWNLOAD THE PUBLIC HEALTH CONSULTANT'S STARTER KIT! MY FREE GIFT TO YOU!

###
Quisha Umemba is The PublicHealthPreneur. She teaches "helping professionals" how to leverage their expertise and monetize their skillset so they can start, grow, and scale a profitable public health consulting business using her proven step-by-step system. Find out how you can cultivate a "purpose-driven, profit-focused" lifestyle by visiting https://quishaumemba.com/