Do The Change: Challenging and Reimagining OEHS
This podcast focuses on highlighting upcoming leaders in their fields and how they got to where they are today with a special focus on the field of Occupational Health and Environmental Health Sciences & Health Equity. So we are going to be talking about all the hills and valleys of their journeys and get some insight into non-traditional paths into the field. Sponsored by the Northern California Education and Research Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California Berkeley, San Francisco, and Davis.
Do The Change: Challenging and Reimagining OEHS
Do the Change: Episode 6 - LaShyra Nolen (Part 1)
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Join us for this episode with LaShyra "Lash" Nolen, a Southern California native, writer, activist, and dual-degree MD/MPP student at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is the first documented Black woman to serve as student council president at Harvard Medical School and strives to continue to dismantle systemic practices inside and outside medical institutions. In 2021, Lash founded We Got Us, a youth-led grassroots community empowerment project focused on increasing access to education and healing for marginalized communities. Join us for this enriching conversation with Lash as we explore her life story, her Fulbright adventure, and the powerful mission of her grassroots organization, We Got Us.
See full transcript here: https://www.coeh.berkeley.edu/do-change-lashyra-nolen
Hi everyone welcome to the Do the Change podcast where we're challenging and reimagining the field of OEHS. So in this podcast we're gonna be focusing on highlighting leaders or current leaders in their field and how they got to where they are today with the special focus in the field of Occupational Health and environmental health sciences and also delving into Health Equity as well. So we're going to be talking about the hills and the valleys of their journeys and get some insight into some non-traditional paths into the field. So my name is Tyra Parrish I'm a recent graduate from the MPH program here at Cal and our guest speaker for this episode is Lash Nolen.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Hi.
TYRA PARRISH:So, born and raised in Southern California, Lashyra, did I say that right?
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yeah.
TYRA PARRISH:Okay. Lashyra, Lash Nolen is a writer, advocate- activist and an advocate so, that was a good Freudian slip. So, dual degree MD, MPP student at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Kennedy School of government, where she is serving as a student council president of her medical school class, the first documented black woman to hold this leadership position. Um- oh gosh that word always trips me up with my stutter, a fervent?
LASHYRA NOLEN:Mm-hmm.
TYRA PARRISH:Thank you. Advocate for marginalized populations. Her voice has been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, and NPR among others. She is also a co-host of the Clinical Problem Solvers, Anti-Racism and Medicine podcast, and served as a member of the White House Health Equity Roundtable. In 2021 she founded the We Got Us, a youth-led grassroots community empowerment project, with the mission to increase access to education and healing for marginalized communities. An emerging leader in public policy, she is a 2023 new leaders Council fellow and a Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public leadership fellow. Lash attended Loyola Marymount University where she served as a student body president and graduated cum laude with a BS in Health and Human Sciences. Following her graduation she was selected as a Fulbright scholar and served as an Americorps member where she led public health initiatives to improve care for vulnerable populations. Her work has earned her the honor of being a Forbes 30 under 30, which is awesome, leader in healthcare, the 2020 National Minority Quality Forum's youngest 40 under 40 leader in minority health, a Boston Celtics Hero Among Us, and a Rock Health top 50 leader in digital health. Lash plans to continue to use policy writing and medical education reform as tools to impact the health of her future patients and community. As a physician activist and public leader she is applying into interna- not international girl, internal medicine residency this fall. So Lash has done a lot and is planning to do even more, and so thank you so much for being on this podcast and just speaking to us about you and your experience and what you have like going on. So yeah, welcome.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Absolutely, thank you for that, I know my bio is like a mouthful because it's like all random things, jobs in there, so um thank you for that and I'm just I'm excited that you invited me.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah we're excited to have you. So first we're going to start with our check-in question. Just to get it going, so the first check-in question or the check-in question is: what is the first thing you notice when meeting new people?
LASHYRA NOLEN:I would say just their energy, like do they come off as warm, friendly, are they receptive to like my random jokes that I might throw out about the weather or like whatever we're at. Just getting a feel for like how somebody is and depending on how long I'm in the space I might see how they interact with other people. If they're like kind to other people, I think like that kindness piece is really big to me.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah, I think for me it's very similar, like energy but also like how they- when they're talking with people are they like, I don't know what the word is, but it's like you can tell when someone's actively listening and kind of asking questions following what they've heard or what another person has shared.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yeah, if they're engaged.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah, how they're engaging with people, versus like, oh I'm just talking to you so I can talk about myself. Like sometimes you come across those people, but I feel like the people that- that's like the first thing I notice, is like how do you have conversations with people. So yeah, very similar like wavelength for sure, so yeah. Yeah, that's really dope. Okay so we're just gonna just jump right into it. So, can you share your personal journey and how you became interested in your field? And what sparked your passion or motivated you to pursue a career in this area and was the dream always medicine?
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yeah, that's a great question um because there was nobody in my family who was in medicine when I was growing up. No one in the Allied Health professional fields or anything in healthcare. So for me, like, when I first even thought about becoming a physician, it was third grade, Ambler Elementary School in LA, we had a science fair and I told my mom, like the day before, like hey it's a science fair tomorrow. And she was like girl what? So we basically had to like whip up this project together quickly. I remember we went to Walmart and she found something on Google, if Google existed then, some search engine.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And it was looking at how fish responded to light. And that was like my science project. And I ended up getting first place at that science project. I still have the medal in my room, because it's like, it was the first time that I had been rewarded for something related to science. And that moment really just sparked this interest in science for me, and I just kept on pursuing that. And I was like wow, I'm actually really good at this, I actually really like this investigative approach to learning and all of that. And I don't know where it came from, but then at that point I decided I was going to be a brain surgeon. Like, that was like, I would tell people. Yeah, and I was like dressing up as a doctor for Halloween ever since that point it really was like- support science fairs y'all because they really, they really do spark interest for the youth.
TYRA PARRISH:That's like the seed planting for sure.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Exactly, exactly. So that was kind of where it started for me, and I think that I always got positive feedback from adults whenever I'd be like, yeah I'm gonna be a brain surgeon.
They were like:Oh okay, you something. You know, so it was it was also that too, and I really have to shout my family out for that, especially my mom who raised me as a single parent who was the first in our family to get both her bachelor's and her master's degree. And even though she wasn't in the health care field, she kind of showed me how important education was and beyond that, always just believed in me. Even though like I had never seen a black doctor before, it was how much my mom believed in me and she saw me and she was like we're gonna claim this dream together. That just meant so much to me, like my mom would always keep tabs on like- I remember she would always tell me about this black brain surgeon, Dr Keith Black. I don't know if he's still practicing, but whenever she heard of like black doctors or anything, she would just send me like news clippings and videos, and it was just so incredible to have that kind of support. And the same energy came from my grandmother too, who didn't have the opportunity to pursue education beyond high school, but like always showed me the importance of giving back to our community. Through church, you know cooking praline candy for the kids after church and all that, but also, my grandmother similarly just believed in me so much. Like she would always tell me, I played basketball growing up, protect your hands, be careful, you know you're gonna be a surgeon. And it just kind of like claimed that dream in my mind for me already, like yeah I got to protect my hands because I'm gonna be a surgeon type of thing.
TYRA PARRISH:Right.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And I think that that's really where the seed started, it was like this young black girl in Compton, who had never seen a black doctor before. But with the support of my family I was really able to see that dream for myself, despite the fact that I didn't see that black doctor until I got to undergrad basically. And I just, and I just really couldn't have done it without the support of my family, so this is really a win for us.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah, and I really like how, like your family kind of supported you from both ends of even though that- even though like you shared that you didn't see a black doctor there, like that, that doesn't matter because you gone be the black doctor.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Right.
TYRA PARRISH:On top of that then they start sending you like stuff of like, okay but you're actually like, we're there. We're not there in a lot of numbers but we're there. So you're kind of getting it from both ends of like, even if you don't see yourself, you can be that person that's in those spaces. And then in addition there are sprinkles of us in those spaces so there's also like, community there and I think that's just- oh I'm getting emotional. But that's like really heartwarming of like, that's sometimes all like someone needs. Where it's like, you just need someone to be like even if you're not there that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be there.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yup.
TYRA PARRISH:And then even like, black people have a very funny way of like supporting your- like, oh girl, like watch out you don't want to hurt your hands. And that's like such a very cute and creative way to further manifest that into your life. Like, I do gotta- it into everything.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Right. Right. Okay you bad, you bad.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah right. Oh my gosh I love that. And I guess to further expand upon that, as you were kind of going through that journey and then through undergrad and even now, like were there any kind of mentors in addition to your family who were kind of keeping you going, or even like directing you to different like fields, not necessarily fields, but I know there's a lot of Specialties in medicine. So like were there folks who were kind of helping you kind of navigate that?
LASHYRA NOLEN:Absolutely. So yeah, so I- I go through high school, and while I'm in high school, had a very important family member to me die from a preventative health illness. And at that time, I was also starting to, because like once you've become the doctor in your family, I'm putting air quotes up for our listeners, they just think you a doctor. So like everybody in my family would come to me and be like: yeah, my family calls me Shyra, yeah Shy I don't know what's going on, I got the sugar, or like my blood pressure is high. So they're telling me all of their health issues, right.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And I started to realize like man, a lot of my family members have these preventative illnesses like high blood pressure or diabetes. And I was seeing my family be impacted by it to the point that it was impacting like their their lifespans. And I think that that really kind of colored my lens differently as I was approaching like, you know, what do I want to do in medicine? So I went to LMU and I was a Health and Human Sciences major, and up until this point I had never seen, like physically, like a black doctor in front of me. And I had an incredible advisor at LMU through Health and Human Sciences, and her name is Dr. Heather Tarleton. She is like, just this badass black woman, unforgivable, and just like, just brilliant. Like I think that's the word that I would use to describe her, and when I stepped into her office it just felt like somebody was kind of passing the baton. It felt like my mom and my family was passing the baton to her, to kind of like hold me and keep me as I went through LMU. I remember I walked in there and I had my highlighters, and everything all lined up, like I was serious. And she was like, okay, like you really about to do this thing. And it was just so great to feel seen and to also see myself in her, because even though she wasn't a medical doctor, she had a PhD. And it was like so nice to just see someone who was gonna have my back and also like be a role model in this- in this path for me. So Dr. Tarleton studies like public health. And that's where her expertise is, and I think that she was the most pivotal mentor that I had at LMU, because her courses helped me start to think about the physician that I wanted to become. And then also my patients and how I want to care for them, and I started to think about well, as a a physician you see patients in the clinic, but so much of their health is impacted by what happens before they can even get to your clinic.
TYRA PARRISH:Exactly.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Whether it's their ability to transport themselves to your clinic, to get child care so that they can even go to that visit, do they have safe spaces to exercise? I mean, and this is right up your alley because you have your MPH, so you know all about that this.
TYRA PARRISH:Girl, yes.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Socio-political determinants of health, and that was the first time that I heard that term and it just blew my mind and it was like Dr. Tarleton, who like, you know taught me all of this foundation.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And I started to reflect more about my own life, because I spent the larger half of my childhood in Compton, in LA. And when I was 10 years old we moved to Rancho Cucamonga in the IE, or the Inland Empire. Which is very white, suburban community and that was the first time that I started to be like, hold up like y'all got Trader Joe's out here, ain't no potholes in the street like y'all got three-
TYRA PARRISH:The pot-holes is so real.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Like, I was like wait a minute this is different. This is very different. No burglar bars on the windows, like. So I think that like, that first, second year at LMU is when I was like wow, like here's this combination of like my life, and a reflection upon all of those experiences, and who I imagine myself becoming. And I think that that's where like me becoming a physician was less about oh, I'm saying I want to become a physician because of the fact that people respond to me positively when I say it or it's like a good dream to pursue, it's gonna help me financially provide for my family. Because when I look up neurosurgeon they make a lot of money. It was like well I think that I want to actually dive deeper into what being an MD MPH or an MD
MPP might look like. I want to dive deeper into:do I want to become a family medicine doctor or a primary care doctor? Because that might be more suited in the line for my vision for healing.
TYRA PARRISH:Right.
LASHYRA NOLEN:I feel like that's really what that process and LMU was for me. And I think that that was such a crucial point in my development and trying to figure out the doctor that I would become, that I will be in the next year essentially.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah, and I really love that because I think that, that like deep calling is what's going to push you through those really hard times. Like I think like having a grasp on like your core of who you are as a person, how it's connected to like your work or your life work, because it never truly ends, like healing never ends. And I think that, yeah and I think that sometimes when folks get into medicine, which is fair because it does pay your bills, it really does. But it's also like medicine also is very, could be very unforgiving in regards to the stress, in regards to the emotional load, in regards to folks are coming in sometimes at a hundred and you have to help kind of- them like work through that in addition to whatever you're also bringing into that space. And so having that really deep calling of like I'm here, like how you were saying I'm here because I want to facilitate healing in some ways and however broad you want to take healing, and that is what pushes you through those really challenging times. And so that's really- I can't imagine how or I guess I can't imagine learning about Public Health at that point, if that makes sense because that's just, I learned about public health like later on, and in my head like I'm like what? Like this is all like, what you said like, this is like, this is like my entire life essentially that's what public health is, but I can only imagine like how how much of an impact that would have if like that was kind of like, I don't want to say like a basic understanding of life, but I feel like if we had learned at the beginning of like- these things that are happening are not inherently tied to being a black person or inherently tied to being a person of color. That is rather like a whole bunch of things that are outside of your control, externally impacting how you can live your life. That's just a totally different way of looking at yourself, your community, and then other communities, and connecting with those communities if that makes sense. So.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yeah.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah that's really, just-
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yes, yes. No, I really appreciate that point that you're bringing up, because like even one issue that I have with medicine today, and I think that they're starting to do it better is saying like oh, well being black is a risk factor for developing diabetes.
TYRA PARRISH:Right.
LASHYRA NOLEN:No. Racism and the sociopolitical constructs that promote oppression make it so that you're more likely to develop diabetes. And I think that that is really, that framework that we unfortunately don't get, because we studying Mendel's peas in biology class, instead of learning about the context that really undergirds all of those lessons.
TYRA PARRISH:Exactly that. I even think, well, on the CDC it still says that for cardiovascular- cardio- oh my goodness, cardiovascular disease, a risk factor is being black. And it's still up there, and I'm like y'all know better. And it's just it's just, it's mind blowing.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yeah, it's wild. It's really wild.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah, okay so I'm gonna jump to the next question, which is what was the journey like becoming the first documented black woman to be the president of your medical school class at Harvard? So kind of jumping from now you're talking about LMU into the like- or actually maybe if you if you don't mind before that talking about the application process, and like how that was for you like applying to medical school and then jumping into that. Because I feel like that's like a very important chunk that I'm just-
LASHYRA NOLEN:Absolutely. Right. Yeah, wow okay. So basically, so LMU was great. Met friends, lifelong friends lifelong mentors. Learned how to navigate a PWI, great skill.
TYRA PARRISH:That's a whole other episode. Love LMU, but also.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Exactly, exactly. Yeah, and I also was student body president at LMU too. And I think that what I was so thankful for, and I'll say this because I think it's important to like contextualize my journey, because I think people see the accomplishments that I have and they're like oh yeah she just wins. But like no. I just fell forward, like that's really what my life has been.
TYRA PARRISH:Falling forward. You're going. You're going somewhere with it.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Exactly, exactly. You know like you got to take every hit and just use it as an opportunity to just get up and get better. And I think that the way that that's presented itself in my life is when I applied to undergrad, or you know, to when I was applying to colleges I applied to like maybe 20 different schools and only got accepted to really like the Cal State's, maybe one of the UC's, and LMU just happened to send me like a pamphlet or something like that. Thank god I was on their mailing list. Because I was applying to like all of these like Ivy League schools. I was applying to like Harvard, I was applying to Duke and Yale, and they said no, no, no. They said no sweetie, not- really that was just God saying not now, not now.
TYRA PARRISH:That's right. Period. Because I think people think, where it's like that door might open next year, two weeks like, it's just like, it's like you said it's a not now or it's a very gentle like deferment of that's not your path, your path is bigger and better than what you have, like in your mind if that makes sense.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Exactly.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah, I appreciate that.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And yeah I just wanted to bring this up for our listeners who, like no matter where you are but especially for our listeners who might be a pre-health professional student in undergrad, because like, I got denied from all these schools and I ended up at LMU, but I think that that was the best thing that could have happened to me. Because at LMU I had so much support that I was able to like leave there and go into the world like, you can't tell me nothing. You know what I mean? Like I had the leadership experience, I had gained like the academic confidence, I knew how to walk into office hours and be like look this is what I need, I learned don't you leave a class with a doubt in your mind about anything, without asking that Professor to clarify it for you, because you paying to be there. Like just so many helpful life lessons that have made medical school so much easier.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:So I just wanted to like drop that nugget in there for me. And you know, I also didn't have the easiest time my first year at LMU, academically. Like it was the first time that I was taking both chemistry and biology at the same time. I was- I looked at that schedule I said oop- so we don't take it in two different semesters we take it-
TYRA PARRISH:This is 8 AM to 5 p.m I remember.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yes! And I said oh, and they have lab too, and the lab is one unit but we working for eight hours. It's fine, it's fine, I'm not mad about it, but I am.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:It was just like- and a lot of my classmates, they were coming from like schools where they had like done like, AP Chemistry or like you know, it's kind of like it was a breeze for them. It was like a review for them and for me, like they offered like AP Chemistry at my high school and stuff but I just never had the confidence to like take that class, so it was a transition. But, I did really well you know, from that point forward because I got my my footing. So I just wanted to share that nugget so that you know that even if you struggle early on, it's about- it's not always about how you start, but it's about how you finish.
TYRA PARRISH:Exactly. LASHYRA NOLEN: I think that that's something that I learned. So now that we got that, so you know that you know, it wasn't all just like you know, rainbows and unicorns we can fast forward to my senior year at LMU and basically I took the MCAT right after graduation, that was rough because everybody was celebrating, traveling, I was like you know deep in the amino acids. It was tragic. But, the reason why I wanted to take it then is because I had gotten the Fulbright Grant to go to Spain. Yes.
LASHYRA NOLEN:So I went there, I taught English in Galicia which is the most Northwestern Province, right above Portugal and Spain. I was the only black woman, like in the area.
TYRA PARRISH:Okay, yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And that experience was interesting, but so empowering because I really learned to own my blackness and how to communicate the black experience in America for me to people that have never interacted or interfaced with like American culture directly.
TYRA PARRISH:Yes.
LASHYRA NOLEN:So it was really inspiring and powerful in that way. And then my second year I did Americorps. And I think that that's like really what colored like my experience in medical school even more, because I was doing Americorps, I was working as a health educator at a federally qualified health center, which is like a community health center that gets federal dollars. I was living on the south side of Chicago, but I was working at the clinic on the north side of Chicago. And every day I would have about two hours of a commute. You know, including from and back so I would just read. I would like- I read like The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein. I read The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabelle Wilkerson, I was introduced to e-viewing. Like it was like my mind was expanding as I'm taking these train rides.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:But then on top of that, I'm noticing that as I come from the north side to the south side that all the white folks get off at the Roosevelt stop, and all the black folks stay on the train as we journey into the south side, and then things start to look a lot more like Compton. So it kind of felt like I was going from Rancho to Compton every day. And that was like a reflection of my own life experiences.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:On top of that I was a health educator, so these patients will come in, they get a new diagnosis of hypertension, diabetes. I'm supposed to tell them how they can make these small, you know smart goals to improve their health, but I'm like I'm telling you to eat less tortillas, but you can barely put food on the table to afford you know healthy vegetables for your family, or could barely afford to get here. So I think that all of those experiences, the personal growth that I had in Spain and then also the experiences that I had in Chicago, like allowed me to go into my interview process, as I was interviewing for med school with like this, as we talked about, like purpose. Like I knew what I was there to do. I was like we're here to dismantle systemic racism, as it impacts health. And I would say, and I was like and we about to do this for like unforgivably, for black people like-
TYRA PARRISH:Yes.
LASHYRA NOLEN:You know, and I think that that was kind of the mindset that I came into this with. And I think that it just was so liberating to know that the schools that accepted me, many of the schools that accept- so it was like the opposite, I applied to 15 Med schools and got into every one that I interviewed at. Which is, wow. So it was like 14 Schools.
TYRA PARRISH:Yes.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And that was wild, you know it was like the setback for the comeback, all over again, the same schools that rejected me were giving me full scholarships to go to medical school, it was such a blessing. But what felt the most rewarding and special to me is that I did it unforgivably myself. Like I knew from my application, the way I presented myself in my interviews, that this is what I'm coming to do. And I think that having that sense of purpose really has just made the journey up to this point so impactful and special to me.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah, and I, I really want to highlight how when you were talking about your travel, or this- you being on that train and taking the opportunity to not only read, but to also be aware of like what's happening. And I feel like that is like a very small but it's very important, of like just being aware and cognizant of like what you're experiencing or seeing, and then also kind of reflecting on that. So I think sometimes like we're in situations or spaces where it could be very easy to kind of get swept into like this is what I'm here to do and this is like all that I need to do, this is my business and this is what I get paid for and that's it. And I think that like while, yes I'm all for the like, there's a balance between like don't let yourself be taken advantage of to where you're being overworked for what you're being paid, but then also there is this- I don't want to say a responsibility but I think there is a little bit of responsibility of being just aware of what you're seeing, and how if you're- like how you said your goal was in regards to healing, and also dismantling like systemic racism and oppression in the medical field.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yeah.
TYRA PARRISH:You need to be aware of like what you are seeing in regards to like you said, like white people getting off on Roosevelt you said? I'm not from Chicago.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yeah, Roosevelt, yep.
TYRA PARRISH:You're getting off on Roosevelt and you're like hold on, like what's going on? And then you're seeing-
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yeah.
TYRA PARRISH:And you're also experiencing, like you're having to tell your patients like different things in regards to like how they can change their diet, but then you're also like- it's, it's just I think that being a physician requires that. Like you need to also obviously give medical advice to your patients but also be aware of the fact that is it- is it fair to tell someone hey yeah you should be buying this, this and this knowing good and well that like that's-
LASHYRA NOLEN:Right.
TYRA PARRISH:Like that's just not like a fair statement to say also. And it's like balancing that but that requires this level of social awareness and wanting to be aware. And I think that in those mo- in that like experience that you were sharing like you were being aware of that and I think that that's- and then also demonstrating that when you're doing your interviews as well. Like this is me this is what I've noticed, this is what needs to be like- this is what needs to change and like that's it.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Exactly.
TYRA PARRISH:Right, and then also I feel like that's just huge because I think sometimes folks- because I'm also, God willing, getting into applying to medical school also. But I think that there is this fear or like narrative, like you have to present yourself a certain way when you're applying to medical school. And it's like you could be yourself and still get accepted into medical school, because what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong and I really appreciate that you stood ten toes down in that. And that's really dope.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Exactly, exactly and that's so exciting that you're applying to medical school. Yeah, I think that I really appreciate how you draw- how you drew out this point about like being aware and like having the opportunity to be perceptive and I think that that opportunity was really offered because I I took those two gap years.
TYRA PARRISH:Right.
LASHYRA NOLEN:Because before then, it's like when you're pre-med and you're just going through the pre- like I have so much respect for people that go straight through. But I also worry about them, because I'm like there's so much life that we don't get to see or experience or even, like so much of ourselves that's left unexplored.
TYRA PARRISH:Right.
LASHYRA NOLEN:When we're on the pre-med track because it's like Organic Chemistry, General Chemistry, Bio Chemistry, Calculus. Like it is just a non-stop grind. Volunteering over the summer, you got to be doing something. You in somebody's lab, you pipetting. On top of that you're trying to like maintain your sanity, spend time with your family, your friends. So there's
no time to like really reflect and be like:dang, like who am I becoming? Who am I? Who do I want to be? Like what- what is happening? Like am I in tune with myself? And I think that having those gap years, I journaled and I read a lot. And I got to read what I wanted to read, and I think that that is what elevated my consciousness and my purpose because before that time like I was just following the path that I thought I had to follow without having a true sense of direction. And I think that even if you go straight through or you take gap years, like really using that time to pour into yourself and I think that that really benefited me.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah, and I guess I want to now loop back to the first question which is okay, so now you've got into Harvard Medical School, how was that journey to being the first like documented black woman or black woman who was the president of her medical school class? How did that happen?
LASHYRA NOLEN:Yeah so, so basically I didn't apply to Harvard Medical School at first.
TYRA PARRISH:Okay.
LASHYRA NOLEN:It was one of my mentors, two of my mentors who were like Lash, you need to apply to Harvard. I was like well I ain't going to that bougie school, like they're gonna just take my money and not give me an interview or whatever. So I apply, I get an interview I'm at my interview like, I have a like damn near panic attack in the bathroom before the interview, because I'm like yo I'm at Harvard like I'm tripping right. Like-
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:You step onto campus at Harvard Medical School and like it just takes your breath away because like the building is like all marble it's just like so extravagant like things are gold trim, there's like white men, like all on these portraits everywhere. And you're just like what is going on? Like Paul Farmer studied here. Like it's just so extravagant and I think that I just needed some time to just catch my breath, like literally anything they gave me that interview day I kept it. Like they gave us like a little like folder, they had the Harvard like logo-
TYRA PARRISH:Oh yeah, yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:on there I said yeah we gonna go ahead and just keep this and put some documents on here.
TYRA PARRISH:Right, you're lowkey getting your reparations, like I'm gonna take this-
LASHYRA NOLEN:Let me see this, the ancestors right there. So yeah, but the long story short, I got in. I was ecstatic, I was like oh my god like it, you know I told all of my family and my friends and Dr. Tarleton, my mentor. And they were just like this is this is an incredible opportunity, and I just knew that like even in my decision, it was tough because I was like do I do I stay home in Cali? Because there's some incredible medical schools here, I'd be closer to family and all of that. Or do I go to Harvard Medical School and I bring my family, my values, I bring La, I bring everything that is meaningful to me into this space, because I don't know when- when they will have someone who can bring what I can bring to the space again. So as soon as I got to Harvard, like I just got busy. I was like you know what, I'm gonna run for Student Council President and I'm not going to run on a platform of like fun and festivities. Like I'm a run on a platform that's saying like hey like we're gonna do the difficult work, we're gonna hold the institution accountable, we're gonna do great work for social justice. And I was just so excited to see that my classmates agreed with that. Because I did have a little bit of an identity crisis when I first got there. I was like, well the other people who might be interested in running, like they're like throwing all these parties and stuff like that, and that's just never really been me. So like again to your point, like always returning back to self and like remembering like why am I doing this? like what what makes this me? And just- and going with that.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And I think that that's kind of what that experience was. When I first won I didn't realize that I was gonna be the first. Like in this, in this role of student council president.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And I was elected like in, it was 2019. It was like maybe September of 2019.
TYRA PARRISH:Yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:And like, no one really like cared about it. It really wasn't in like the news or nothing like that, but then one of my incredible classmates, Victor Lopez Carmen, he's like one of my really good friends, he decided to do a Q&A with me for teen Vogue. And talking about how I had been elected into this role, and he was like yeah I think it's important for people to know about this. And it blew up and suddenly like The Lily from Washington Post, it was AfroTech, I was about to do an interview with CNN, but then like the pandemic and things got ridiculous and scary. And yeah it was, it was really cool, like you know Vice President Kamala Harris like you know, had tweeted that I was President.
TYRA PARRISH:Period, yeah.
LASHYRA NOLEN:It was wild, yeah. But I think that there were two things going through my mind.
The first was:why did it take y'all so long? And the second was like this is cool, like I'm doing cool work within Harvard. But like, what about the black women that never make it to Harvard? What about the black women that are outside the walls of Harvard, like down the street in Roxbury, where the life expectancy is 23 years less than like where there's white folks right down the street and Back Bay? Like I think that that's like, in that role I was just like yeah this is really cool but I think that there's something bigger here, and I think it's easy to be in institutions and be serving these institutions the whole time you're there, and you leave and you're like, well what have I really been able to do for like my people or my community? And I think that that was heavy on my heart, my mind, even as I was in that role.
TYRA PARRISH:Hi guys this is Tyra Parrish, your host for this episode, and we have reached the end of part one of this conversation with this amazing speaker don't log out yet, because part two to this conversation has already been posted so go ahead and click over to the next page, and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and Spotify page.