From Microbiologist to Epidemiologist & supporting Public Health Entrepreneurs, with Dr. Charlotte Huntley, PhD, MPH

Today's episode features Dr. Charlotte Huntley, a public health entrepreneur and leader. We peel back the layers of her dynamic journey from a liberal arts and microbiology background to an influential career in epidemiology and entrepreneurship.  Our dialogue uncovers her dive into the pharmaceutical industry and how the entrepreneurial flame was kindled within her. As we pivot towards the impact of her work during a global pandemic, Dr. Huntley delves into the importance of communication in public health and the gratification of specializing her consulting services to aid BIPOC organizations. Join us as we draw inspiration from Dr. Huntley's narrative, illustrating the power of readiness for opportunities and the joy of a career intertwined with core values.


You’ll Learn

• Dr. Huntley’s work in microbiology and healthcare and her pivot into epidemiology and community health
• Global health and the pharmaceutical industry 
• Dr. Huntley’s start in podcasting and how it grew into a thriving business
• COVID’s impact on Dr. Huntley’s new company and how it has evolved since then to primarily serve BIPOC communities
• Glance into the making of Dr. Huntley’s upcoming book on public health entrepreneurship

Today’s Guest

Dr. Charlotte Hughes Huntley, MPH is a public health entrepreneur and recognized leader in the public health industry. She has over 20 years of experience as an accomplished epidemiologist, microbiologist, consultant, and podcaster. Dr. Huntley is the CEO at DrCHHuntley, LLC, a public health and epidemiology consulting firm supporting large nonprofit organizations and government agencies that serve black, indigenous, and people of color commonly referred to as BIPOC communities. Her team is often invited to support tribal organizations and are always humbled and honored to serve. Through another arm of her business, Dr. Huntley and her team also provide resources and support to public health entrepreneurs.

Resources

• Connect with Dr. Huntley on LinkedIn
• Learn more about DrCHHuntley Consulting and listen to the Public Health Epidemiology Conversations podcast  
• Learn more about Public Health Entrepreneurs, the Mastermind program, and listen to the Public Health Entrepreneurs podcast  

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

After doing it I realized, oh, it's not really moving away from this to get here. It was all of it, it was both, and so then at that point I just continued to kind of explore with a different lens, realizing that, like everything happens for a reason. So all of what we've gone through and experienced, even if it's not a health-related background, it can be connected to what we do in public health. It serves a purpose if it's no more than a perspective that we bring.

Speaker 2: 0:33

Welcome to PH Spotlight, a community for you to build your public health career with. Join us weekly right here, and I'll be here too. Your host, sujani Siva from PHSpot. Hello and welcome to the PHSpot podcast. Dr Huntley, I'm so excited to do this and to learn about your journey because I think I know bits and pieces of it. I've chatted with you when I was on your podcast, I've learned from you and I think this is a unique opportunity for me to hear about your public health journey.

Speaker 1: 1:06

Oh, I'm excited to be here. I think it's been a while that we've talked about this and we get distracted and then it's like, wait, why haven't we done this yet?

Speaker 2: 1:16

I have a few people like that, where it's like I've chatted with them, I've known them for years and years, and then when I look back at people I want to have on the show, I go whoa, I did not not have this person there. So you are one of those people and I'm glad we're doing it right now because I know you have lots of exciting things happening in 2024. So maybe you know it was meant for me and you to chat in this year.

Speaker 1: 1:39

That's right. That's right. Well, I'm always happy to chat with you. Very excited to be your guest.

Speaker 2: 1:51

Awesome. So when I was kind of preparing for the call, I think your background in terms of like your education surprised me a little bit. I don't know, you know, sometimes you just kind of assume I kind of know where this person's like education was in or how they started off in this journey. But I saw that you have a liberal arts degree and then you had actually started off in microbiology. So you know, when you think back to I don't know, however far back you want to go, when was it you think that you knew that like such a career in public health existed and that perhaps it was something that you wanted to explore?

Speaker 1: 2:22

Yeah, it's one of my favorite questions to ask on my podcast. I love this question when it's directed my way because, you know, my story is one of those where I didn't start out knowing that public health was even a thing, that was even an option. Early on, I was focused on health care because that's what I knew. I knew I was interested in health topics. I knew I cared a lot about people, especially my family. That we were losing a lot of family members from preventable conditions, like you know, too early, from complications of unmanaged diabetes, for example. We didn't talk a lot about. I think we had like a health conscious family in general, but I just felt like there was so much more. So I just thought, you know, health was the direction to go. I had a little brother went to medical school, so I just was like, okay, that's direction, that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 3:14

It actually wasn't until I was trying to make a decision on which direction to go in terms of grad school that I discovered public health. So I had already worked in healthcare for at least 10, 12 years at that point and then I realized, oh, public health is a thing, oh, and then when I realized it was population focused and prevention. Then it was a huge aha moment because that was a perfect fit for me. That was really what I wanted all along. I just didn't know that I could actually choose this direction as a career path I get really excited to like now there's public health undergraduate degree programs that didn't exist when I was in college and as an option. So it's exciting how we've progressed because I really wish I didn't have to go the long way to get here. But I think it also served me well because that background in that time in healthcare and infectious disease and that's all I knew infectious disease as a career focus served me well as this foundation to pivot into public health.

Speaker 2: 4:22

So were you like 10 years as a microbiologist, when you kind of like got to a point in your career thinking about your next steps, that you're like sitting on the computer and trying to figure out okay, where should I go for grad school? Is that how, like, you discovered public health?

Speaker 1: 4:37

It was much more janky than that, you know, starting as pre-med, and then I got introduced to microbiology. Almost immediately. I started working part-time in the microbiology lab of a hospital that was close to my university at the time and it was like love at first sight. I loved being in that lab and I did a lot of work supporting in that lab. And then I actually paused, I got married and we started a family. I actually paused, I got married and we started a family. So part-time here and there I did work as like lab assisting or phlebotomy, always in, you know, anytime I could get to the lab. But in the labs and the hospitals you can only go so far without the credentials to do that extra work. So I did that around navigating family and all those things. So when I was married 10 years, had three kids, worked those jobs around, and then when I divorced and I was suddenly a single mom and I needed to tie up these loose ends, then it was like, oh, I've got to make something happen here and that was completing those credentials. To become a medical laboratory technologist and to specifically work in the microbiology diagnostic area made sense. There was a shortage, there's a straight line to that so I could get these credentials and then I could immediately go to that work and that's what I needed at that time. So for me that was like low-hanging fruit and I went that direction. And then, after working there for a while and I love the work I was just like, well, how do I really increase? And that comes with more education or extra credentials. I kind of got to a point where I realized, in order to really escalate, I need to go get a graduate degree. And some of my mentors and colleagues had an MPH. So whereas our supervisor and lab directors were saying, well, if you get your MBA, you can move into a hospital administration along with your background, my mentors and colleagues in the lab that were more senior, they had this MPH and they were, you know, doing this research, while still it was a very large hospital system. So they were in the healthcare system working, doing diagnostic microbiology, but they were also doing research. And that was when I first discovered public health, but it was still.

Speaker 1: 6:52

I didn't get the full impact of it. I saw it through their lens of how they were. You could think of it as a lot of surveillance. So they were isolating to get super, super techie here, but the area of like fungus. They were like one person specialized in that, so they would isolate samples and then be able to send those off. It was a part of surveillance and a part of that aspect's contribution to research. There was another one that focused on special isolates from pneumococcal growth, and so they would, you know, send their special isolates off to another research team. So I was thinking, oh, this is really interesting. But I discovered a position where I could do this diagnostic work within our state public health lab and that's what really triggered. I realized oh, population health. Now I'm not looking at one patient at a time.

Speaker 1: 7:41

but this is the impact of populations. So it was really that kind of eye-opening moment and that need to pivot in my career. And then I discovered it that way and it was perfect because I was able to do the work and complete my master's at the same time. So it was already, you know, moving into that positioning. So it was really, it was perfect alignment for me, because every course I took was exciting, because I was doing that work. Yeah, it's still working in microbiology, but focused on populations.

Speaker 2: 8:12

Did you at any point think like this pivot is going to mean that I need to develop new skills? Or, you know, I might have to start from like a junior level position because, you know, going from a wet lab to then like surveillance, public health surveillance. I think you can be creative in the ways that you talk about your transferable skills, but I mean, when you're young in your career you sometimes question those pivots and I know a lot of people might get stuck at those points in their career and not take that bold step to do that mini pivot to then continue on with their career. I'm curious to hear kind of how you handled that.

Speaker 1: 8:48

I didn't realize it in real time. You know this is kind of a retrospective view. I know that was a thought. You know I did not want to start over. I had all this background in infectious disease. I had all of this all these years in health healthcare and I didn't want to start over with a public health, you know, because I decided that epidemiology was a logical next step. So I didn't necessarily think of it as completely starting over. It felt at first like I would.

Speaker 1: 9:22

I didn't see a use for all of these years in care. I thought, okay, well, I've got to kind of close this down and then move here into this chronic disease focus and epidemiology. I really thought of them as more of closing one area and kind of going into the other. So it was not exactly a starting over, it was a shift to something new. But then after a little while I realized that this almost created a superpower for me. The fact that I had this infectious disease background and this level of expertise in microbiology was very complementary to my work in chronic disease epidemiology. So it was, you know, after doing it I realized, oh, it's not really moving away from this to get here. It was all of it, it was both, and so then at that point, I just continued to kind of explore with a different lens, realizing that, like everything happens for a reason.

Speaker 1: 10:22

So all of what you've gone through and experienced. Even if it's not a health related background, it can be connected to what we do in public health. It serves a purpose if it's no more than a perspective that we bring.

Speaker 2: 10:37

And I like what you said and I'm paraphrasing. But you kind of said, like you knew, the goal was epidemiology and I think that's important because you know, sometimes you might look at the role of an epidemiologist or a health promoter, whatever it is, or a job description and you can kind of look at it and think I don't have the qualifications to be that now. But I think having that goal and knowing that it is a possibility that you could work towards that goal in the next five years or so allows you to take those incremental steps, for you to build the qualifications you need to get there right. So, even if the job title doesn't say epidemiologist, thinking about what skills can I build here around, like data and stats and public health surveillance, in order to prepare me to be an epidemiologist? And was that like? Did you identify epidemiology and that you could be an epidemiologist all prior to starting your grad school, or was that kind of all during that time?

Speaker 1: 11:37

It was pretty early on. I identified that area and I had a great mentor that kind of you know made the suggestion and you're right. I really think it's important for us to not focus too heavily on just the title.

Speaker 1: 11:53

You know you don't wait until you're an epidemiologist to think about, oh, what I need to learn and do and capitalize on that. So my work, even within the state public health lab, was in the microbiology division and there's a lot of surveillance, there's a lot of reporting up to the federal level and there are a lot of tasks involved in what I was doing that I could recognize and so it didn't matter if the title was with me. I was doing a lot of the tasks that were preparing me for the work as an epidemiologist. So, yeah, I think it's important to just maybe lessen our focus on the titles of jobs.

Speaker 1: 12:30

I think that's it's a natural thing to do, but I really encourage people away from that.

Speaker 2: 12:35

Yeah, and then you know you did become an epidemiologist after. I think you spent about five years or so as an epidemiologist. Tell us about that transition. Did that happen kind of just naturally again as you were finishing up your MPH and gained some more experience at the state health level?

Speaker 1: 12:54

I wouldn't say naturally. I finished my MPH I thought I would go into infectious disease epidemiology within our state and it didn't happen. It was a lot of what people. Always we hear a lot of people saying how hard it is to get into jobs and the barriers that we bump up against very systematic, sometimes a little political. There's all these nuances. So I started my doctorate. My PhD is in public health with specialization in epidemiology.

Speaker 1: 13:25

Started my doctorate my PhDs in public health with specialization in epidemiology, and my mentor was my bureau chief. He was more excited about my path than I was. I think I was doing a thing he really wanted to do, but he didn't go that direction. So he was like living through me. So he gave a lot of guidance but around that time he got sick. He passed away.

Speaker 1: 13:43

A lot of things changed. I was ready for something different. I didn't like that. I was real excited about ideas and things I was learning and what I saw like a vision for how we could improve even our lab system. My mentor at that time would see that and he would get excited about it. But when he was gone, nobody else was really like him in that area. So I lost that kind of light and I didn't want to just start counting how many years I have left to retirement. So I started to just open my eyes to something broader.

Speaker 1: 14:15

And I live in a very rural state and so, with a PhD in public health, if you're not working for the state and you're not working for the university, then what else are you going to be doing? So it really had me opening up my eyes and options. So I you know the job that I found was within the pharma industry and the company is based in the UK. So it really opened my mind to the rest of the world and opportunities and options. So I worked in. It was probably one of the most exciting moves for me because it brought this corporate business focus. Where we have money, we're not, you know, always struggling, and that was a refreshing change. And they really loved innovation and creativity. So I liked that.

Speaker 1: 15:03

But there was this other very scientific part of this that had me using all of my skills and background. So it was like the perfect marriage between the two for me. So I was responsible for estimating patient population of people with various chronic conditions, including some cancer. So I got a chance to really realize that epidemiology is not just one job but it is very broad and there are a number of different ways that you can focus and pivot within epidemiology. So I worked in the central nervous system was my therapeutic area that I focused on. So I was responsible for conditions like Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's, but then I was also responsible for about three or four cancer indications. So it brought that expertise that I was able to develop in cancer epidemiology.

Speaker 1: 15:54

And our clients were big pharma and I really enjoyed that because when we supplemented a lot of their work, when there were questions about how this report was generated, then I could just have some great conversations about the methodology that I use to generate and really go deep dive and it was a very much an intellectual fix and the creative fix because you know, had a lot of, you know my feedback was welcome and it wasn't that they put into place every idea I had, but you know it was, it was considered.

Speaker 1: 16:22

And then the global perspective, because it wasn't just, you know, my state level population. But now you know I'm looking at, for example, if I'm considering Parkinson's disease, I'm looking at the populations in the United States, in Japan, in UK, in Germany, in Spain, and why are they different and the trends you know globally. So it was very intellectually challenging and rewarding and just really a much broader view of the world and populations and nuances and changes and shifts and so I really, really enjoy that. I think in that role I was able to use everything, so none of my background went to waste in that position.

Speaker 2: 17:04

Oh, that's awesome. I've always been curious about how entrepreneurship became an interest for you and I feel like I know the answer to that. And I wonder if it was your role at this company and, looking at your LinkedIn here and it was called Pharma Intelligence Informa if that was where that spark kind of started. Or have you always been someone who had ideas, wanted to pursue them, be self-employed? And I think I heard that, especially when you said your mentor passed on. You didn't want to be sitting and counting to retirement. So, yeah, when did that spark start? And I just have to say that's an incredible opportunity working for that company because of that global aspect. And you're right, I think sometimes when we're in a certain industry, whether it's government or academia, and we build a career in that stream for so long, we kind of don't know how the rest of the world functions. And it's nice to jump around industries. I haven't done it personally, but when I do hear the reflections from people I feel like there's a lot of learning that goes there as well.

Speaker 1: 18:13

Yeah yeah, I have a family of entrepreneurs, so it's very second nature. And as far as, like the idea of business, I wasn't really thinking of like public health and a business necessarily, although I sort of accidentally did some of that and not realize it was okay I mean, that was like I could actually build a business. I was gaining momentum. It was like, okay, I stop that and go do this other thing.

Speaker 1: 18:36

So the entrepreneurial bug is just. I think it's just been in my veins since birth probably, but when I was working for that company, yes, it really started kicking off a lot of like you can do this or like, oh, this is possible. There are things that happened in that role that validated that. You know I'm a problem solver, so my ideas are good. I was able to participate in a lot of projects that were very different and whereas maybe the team would say no, that's just too different, we shouldn't do that, there's a small group of us going I think we should try this, and so we would try some of these things and I saw where they experienced great success and those results were very profitable for the organization. So it kind of showed me that, oh, I have ideas and we can do things differently and my ideas are really good. Not all of them, but some of these can drive some big changes and I was willing to take a chance on myself in that way.

Speaker 1: 19:35

And still not knowing exactly what that was going to look like, I started my podcast, which was really the kicker, and it was a solution to a problem. You know I'm a problem solver. It's just very natural for me to do that. So people were reaching out to me constantly with career-related questions and I was getting some of the same types of questions but from different people, and starting the podcast was sort of a mentoring platform. I could answer these questions that were very similar and people were asking, like reaching out to me on LinkedIn in my messages. That's where I was getting them. So if I started responding to those same questions through podcast episodes, my thought was you know, maybe I can reach more people who have same types of questions. And I was a fan of podcasts. Now, you have to remember this was in 2017. That's how I'm still explaining to people what a podcast is. Now everybody knows somebody who has a podcast. But it was something I was willing to try and I invested in some training. I was like, if it's going to take off, I want to make sure I've got myself situated and if it takes off well. So I invested in training and learned how to do it really well from the beginning and then I committed to it and it took off very quickly.

Speaker 1: 20:52

As I built a community and engaging with community and listening to what people had to say, realizing new themes were surfacing, new problems were starting to emerge. They weren't necessarily new, I was just able to see them. And the next problem was okay, people were saying this podcast is great, but how do I work with you? I want to meet with you to talk about my personal situation. Can you help me with my question? So I started trying to do one-on-one like coaching, but that didn't work because I'm still I have a job and I'm trying to podcast. So I found a love for courses, which I just refer to as programs, and I really started helping people a lot through programs where they can enroll and, you know, kind of self-guided, and it eliminated the need for one-on-one and it allowed me to be able to set that. And that worked for quite a while and the consulting work was just coming to me.

Speaker 1: 21:46

So the more the podcast grew, I kept serving, you know, through the podcast and reaching people through programs. And then organizations were reaching out with consulting projects you know, can you help us with this? And I would do them sort of based on how excited I got about the project and things just continued to grow until I realized that I had something pretty significant going and there was a real opportunity and I decided to go all in on my business because I could always get a job. No one's going to take away my expertise or my experience, my degrees, but I may not be able to recreate this opportunity that was in front of me. So I made that decision and left my job on wonderful terms and with lots of well wishes and actually they became a client for a little while and the rest is kind of history. It really just continued to grow and explode. So I didn't start with a plan of I'm going to have this consulting business. It was me responding to problems.

Speaker 2: 22:54

Well, that's incredible and I think it's a powerful lesson in just putting yourself out there to solve problems. And I think often people have ideas and imposter syndrome or not knowing what that first step is, or just the sheer overwhelm of too much information, too many platforms out there that stops you from taking that first step. But when you do take that first step, all these opportunities come your way that you probably would not even plan for. And I think you know my assumption was that maybe you had started the consulting business because you found that you know interest when you were working for the pharma company and then the podcast came. But very cool to hear that it was the other way around, actually, and I remember you telling me during the pandemic even, I think people were reaching out to you, organizations were reaching out to you right For even more work.

Speaker 1: 23:43

People were reaching out to you organizations were reaching out to you right For even more work. Oh, absolutely, well, first I want to say my entire, I think path has been one discovery, like just a path of discovery, because even when I took my job in pharma industry, it's like it's like a non-traditional route, but I was like I'm just going to see where this leads me, and it's always been so rewarding. But, yes, during the pandemic, because at the very, very beginning, like when everything shut down, people were like what is this virus, virology, right? So if you're looking up things like virology and epidemiology, I was serving up to people, especially on LinkedIn, so I would get messages literally from all types of organizations. Can you help us understand what this means? I sat during that time and had so many conversations. They pay you to sit down and help them understand. What does this mean? And I think you and I are very much on the same page with this. Communication skills are sometimes underrated and people are not prioritizing development of that the ability to have a conversation where you can express your thoughts and you can hear from people in this exchange, to where you can break things down enough, to where people can understand. We have to find ways to explain what we do so that people can understand what that means. So that's essentially what a lot of it was.

Speaker 1: 25:07

To be honest, the timing was I had just gotten enough courage to say, okay, I'm going to take this big step, and I had said goodbye to my nice five-year stint with this organization. It was so wonderful. So I was really remote, making good money, having lifestyle. Way before remote was cool when it was weird, and I developed all these skills as a result. So now I resign, send all of my equipment back and I'm one week into my new full-time role within my company and the country shuts down.

Speaker 1: 25:44

So immediate panic followed by immediate influx of everyone asking me for help. So I said yes to all the work and I was booked out for everything and I was so stressed but I was afraid to say no to anything because the country shut down and I had just like left that ability but I was available for all that was happening. So that first year was a mixture. I did. I did all sorts of projects through the business. Just because I was saying yes to so many things, I found out really quickly what I did not like doing and then you know more of what I did enjoy doing.

Speaker 1: 26:22

But it's been a constant journey of exploration.

Speaker 2: 26:25

And incredible timing, which which you can't plan for, but I think when you have all the pieces ready and the opportunity comes, you're there, right? Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Okay, so you get yourself into this like world of entrepreneurship. You're helping people start their own business. You're working on your own business. The country is shut down, like what's happening in your life at that point.

Speaker 1: 26:48

After the first year because a lot of the projects I said yes to that. You know I was just doing all these things. I began to complete some of those and close off doors that I didn't want to continue that type of work and this is sort of the consulting side. The coaching side is what people are used to seeing me helping entrepreneurs. So I began to build up consulting more visibly, talk about the consulting and start to pull away from some of the coaching work. I was really booked as a coach and it wasn't like I didn't like it anymore but I was trying to decide which one of these was going to really be my focus. But it didn't exactly work out like that because both of them were in need, both were really thriving. I wasn't brand new in business because when I coach people I'll say pick one and you stick with that one. I have several years in and I had a team and I had structure. So we began to really just shave away things and niche it down to a sweet spot. I mean I do a lot of work with tribal organizations. So on the consulting side of business, this is really niched down to the way that we show up for BIPOC organizations or these large nonprofit organizations that are focused on BIPOC communities, or maybe it's a state government organization or some sort of government organization that has a genuine interest in connecting or serving BIPOC communities. That's where we show up to help with any type of epidemiology-related work, whether it's communicating in plain language it could look any number of ways, it could be podcasting, it could be report delivery, it could be, you know, any type of analysis but helping to support those organizations, because the Bob Hot communities are hit hardest. They're usually hit first, they suffer quickly when there's budget cuts and and there's always this disparity. So we're really passionate about serving in that area. So definitely tribal community work, because we get invited often and we don't take that lightly. We've built trust. We understand that it is really a privilege to serve in these organizations the black communities, any community of color. So we really are fired up and have a small data team and that's where we do a lot of our work.

Speaker 1: 29:09

And in terms of support for entrepreneurs, I've done one-on-one coaching. I've had group coaching programs, but it's really niched down to one program that people have an opportunity to work with me and it's a mastermind program. That started right after our expo last year and it is some of the most phenomenal, brilliant, vibrant public health professionals from literally all around the world and I get to support them on their journey and I am amazed that I get to engage with them and to support them. I am genuinely a cheerleader for everything they're doing because when they're serving their communities then I am indirectly a part of that. So it is helping me on such a deep level and we have locked in this community and I love doing that. So I have this business now where I get to serve in the consulting space with the work and provide, you know, the support to BIPOC organizations, and then I get to support entrepreneurs, provide, you know, the support to BIPOC organizations, and then I get to support entrepreneurs and I was like, wow, I get to do this every day.

Speaker 2: 30:20

Yeah, and it's kind of nice, right, because you're building this business on the side and you take those lessons and then share it with your mastermind group of individuals which you're just completely invested in, want to see them succeed, because they too are going to go and, like, serve the world and change the world. And I see that when you're like struggling to find words of how to explain that emotion, it's there, yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:46

I have two things that are kind of new for supporting entrepreneurs. Well, a kind of new.

Speaker 2: 30:53

This is a long journey, but you'd asked me earlier about the book. I think last time we chatted it was probably more than a year ago. You had just signed on to write this book.

Speaker 1: 31:03

Yes, that was like the end of 2022. I was like, yes, I got this book deal. It's being published by Johns Hopkins University Press and I was very, very excited. I actually had two offers. I had Oxford was one and Johns Hopkins, and I actually sat down and had those two offers, each contracts, in my hands. I was trying to decide which way to go. And I was just enjoying that moment and there was like no way to make a wrong choice with either one of those and I decided to move forward with Johns Hopkins and I was just excited.

Speaker 1: 31:40

So I had a year to write the book and I thought eh it's not going to take that long, whereas I don't like long processes.

Speaker 1: 31:44

It's like, oh, life was happening last year. I have an excellent team at Johns Hopkins that was helping guide. My editor was helping me and just giving great guidance. But I wrote that book, which is really the work that I've been doing as an entrepreneur in public health. So you know, I was a public health entrepreneur before people wanted to call themselves a public health entrepreneur. So at the beginning I knew other people that were, you know, consulting or entrepreneurs, but nobody really wanted to be tagged a public health entrepreneur very few, whereas everybody. It's cool. Now I guess I don't know. It's funny how things can shift, but I've been. I share in this book, you know, kind of this it's, it's this journey for me you know, it's in this.

Speaker 1: 32:25

this Johns Hopkins is very excited about it and that gets me excited. So the end of last year, so end of 2023, the manuscript was due. So I stressed out and you talk about imposter syndrome. I want people to know that never goes away.

Speaker 1: 32:41

You don't just get to some place and you're like oh, I've arrived, I'm good. If you ever get that comfortable, I think something's wrong. When you're stretching and growing, you're always going to feel a little challenged and I think that's an indication that you are growing and that's important. So when it was time to submit the manuscript end of last year, I was nervous and that's an understatement. I had a full blown meltdown. I thought they're just like this is going to be awful, which it was not. It was a really it was not a bad experience. I met my deadline.

Speaker 1: 33:12

So now we are at the time that we're talking. Now we're in this sweet spot of it's a lot of back and forth, finalizing a few things to get that final approval, because it is an academic. There's a review phase to get the proposal reviewed and approved. Now there's a review that the book is completed and within a couple of months we'll have a publication date and it's a very long process. Then the marketing gets involved and the promotion.

Speaker 1: 33:39

So I recently told my editor that I don't like this long process, but then, at the same time, I appreciate it because so much has happened and it's this time and this process I am starting to understand and appreciate the importance of putting together something like this. So I will be sharing a little bit more once I get the publication date, because at that point it's kind of like the promotion time to pre-sale and they've already got plans about you know how we're going to do pre-orders and all of that. I can't quite get there in my head. This book was probably several years in the making, like I've had it in my heart for a long time but just really excited to have this to support. You know people that are just curious and thinking about entrepreneurship and public health and just how do they come together?

Speaker 2: 34:40

Yeah, that's incredible. So are there kind of like tips you're able to share from your years of coaching for some of our listeners? And I think that's a good way to wrap it up and I think the other piece of it was also like building a fulfilling career, right, you know, I kind of think of the story that you've just shared and you've had different stages, different pivots along the way and I'm sure you've done your own set of reflection that each phase and made those pivots because you wanted to build that fulfilling career.

Speaker 2: 35:06

And so you know you said this book has always been there in your heart and I'm sure you've talked about it a lot in the book as well. So curious for just our listeners what they can kind of walk away with from this chat.

Speaker 1: 35:20

What I would love for people to walk away with is, I would say, the importance of doing meaningful work, and you may have to figure out what that means for you. But get involved means for you, but get involved, no matter what that level is. Get involved. If you're working a job and you feel that there's more that you have to give because I hear that from a lot of people, it's I have more that I could do Then find a way to explore what that could look like. Maybe you could volunteer right where you work, Take an initiative, design some sort of lunchtime chat, talk, some program. Like explore ideas and options and connect with the true mission and value, like really tapping into your authentic self, what matters to you, what's important to you, Even if it's in sort of mundane work. You probably could dig a little deeper and find the connection.

Speaker 1: 36:14

Maybe you're not excited about writing that report, but what does that report represent? Does it mean a program for a community that you really care about? Or maybe you know downstream, several steps away, you can find something that you can. You can see the connection to the community or the individual in it and then that can be the thing that you're excited about to kind of help you to find the meaning in what you do.

Speaker 1: 36:39

You know, for some people what's meaningful work right now, on this phase of your journey, may be for this phase of your journey and then it may pivot to something else. So, just not being afraid to follow you know what lights you up, what you get excited about, what matters to you, Because I think, at the end of the day, that's the real driver, and we need more of that in public health. So if you're choosing because it's like a really, you know, controversial time We've got a lot of things going on in public health, People are coming going so if you're choosing this work, find a connection to something that matters more than just the paycheck or the credentials on the resume. I think that's the biggest thing I would love for people to take away.

Speaker 2: 37:21

And I like what you said, how it's okay and it can change. Like what lights you up can definitely change throughout this journey. It doesn't have to be, you know, the same throughout your two or three decades in it. I remember rereading my letter of intent for my MPH program and I wanted to save the world and cure diabetes and I maybe I did some volunteer work in diabetes but have never touched that area of work and ended up going to infectious disease and outbreak management. So it can change because you know, as you learn more, you experience more in your life, like personal life as well as professional life, like what lights you up and what kind of gets you out of bed definitely will change and it's okay to change.

Speaker 1: 38:02

Yeah absolutely.

Speaker 2: 38:03

Thank you so much, Dr Huntley, for joining us on the podcast. I often think you know an hour is good, and then we start chatting and I have to tell myself I have to wrap things up good. And then we start chatting and I have to tell myself I have to, I have to wrap things up. But thank you so much and I mean I'm sure we'll have you back on, as you, you know, work on marketing the book and release some additional cool stuff out there for people.

Speaker 1: 38:23

It sounds good. Thank you for having me. This has been a great conversation. It's great to be on the side of the mic and to be able to share a bit more, so I appreciate you and thank you for having me.

Speaker 2: 38:34

Okay, here's a final question which side of the mic do you like being on?

Speaker 1: 38:38

This helps me to appreciate the journey of my guests being on this side. So I kind of like both. I do like the other side, where I get to lifting up my guests and telling me more about what they're doing than I do, kind of peeling back and talking about myself.

Speaker 2: 38:54

It's nice to talk about yourself once in a while so.

Speaker 2: 38:56

I'm glad you were able to do it here. Thanks, hey. I hope you enjoyed that episode, and if you want to get the links or information mentioned in today's episode, you can head over to phspotorg slash podcast and we'll have everything there for you. And before you go, I want to tell you about the Public Health Career Club. So if you've been looking for a place to connect and build meaningful relationships with other public health professionals from all around the world, you should join us in the Public Health Career Club.

Speaker 2: 39:31

We launched the club with the vision of becoming the number one hangout spot dedicated to building and growing your dream public health career.

Speaker 2: 39:40

And in addition to being able to connect and build those meaningful relationships with other public health professionals, the club also offers other great resources for your career growth and success, like mindset coaching, job preparation clinics and career growth strategy sessions in the form of trainings and talks, all delivered by experts and inspiring individuals in these areas. So if you want to learn more or want to join the club, you can visit our page at phspotorg slash club and we'll have all the information there. And, you know, as a space that's being intentionally curated to bring together like-minded public health professionals who are not only there to push themselves to become the best versions of themselves, but also each other, and with that, I can't wait to see how this is going to have a ripple effect in the world, as we all work together to better the health of our populations and just have immense impact in the world, and I hope you'll be joining us in the Public Health Career Club. Thank you,