Do The Change: Challenging and Reimagining OEHS

Do the Change: Episode 9 - Gabriela Gonzalez, MPH (Part 1)

• Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) • Season 2 • Episode 9

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In episode 9, we are joined by our wonderful guest, Gabriela Gonzalez, MPH. A recent UC Berkeley MPH graduate, she is dedicated to reproductive justice and improving pregnancy experiences. Focused on Black maternal health equity, Gabriela aims for a future in policy, advocacy, and community doula accessibility. Tune in for an insightful conversation on public health, impactful change, and her journey as a young professional. 

See full transcript here: https://www.coeh.berkeley.edu/do-change-gabriela-gonzalez

TYRA PARRISH:

Hi everyone welcome to the Do the Change podcast where we're challenging and reimagining OEHS. So in this podcast we focus on highlighting upcoming leaders in their fields and how they got to where they are today, with a special focus on the set of Occupational Health and Environmental Health Sciences, but we also go and talk about other fields as well because they overlap. And so we're going to be talking about all the hills and valleys of their journeys, get some insight into some non-traditional paths to the field. So my name is Tyra Parrish, I'm a recent graduate from the MPH program here at Cal and our guest for this episode is Gabby Gonzalez. We're so happy to have you. So Gabby is a recent graduate of our Masters of Public Health program here at Cal, also specializing in Maternal Child and Adolescent Health. She is passionate about reproductive justice and creating happier and safer pregnancy experiences for birthing persons and families. Her career goals include policy and advocacy efforts relating to Black maternal health equity and increasing access to community doulas. Gabby has also received her Bachelor's of Arts in sociology with a minor in women and gender studies from Illinois University in 2019. So we're so happy to have you.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Thank you, I'm super excited to chat.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yes, okay so check-in question, which I'm super excited to hear about was the last concert you went to, Gabby and if you could rate it out of 10 what would you rate it?

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Oh man, I recently was lucky enough to attend Taylor Swift's Eras tour, definitely would rate it 11 out of 10. I miss it every day, it's been my personality trait for so long, but yeah it was a time of my life and I was lucky to experience it with different people, you know see their reactions to the show, scream songs with different people. I still like have my friendship bracelets on, yeah amazing show and I don't know what her routine is because I was needing to take a seat every other song when she was you know up there for like over three hours so it's an awesome workout routine.

TYRA PARRISH:

Oh yeah, definitely. Okay what was the last concert I think I saw Burna Boy in April literally in the middle of like finals, so that was like sketch. You know what just it's stress relieving this was the first concert I've been to since, when it started so I was like you know what we're gonna go big right? It's been earned.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

You earned it.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yes, thank you. So my attitude was this is a graduation present this is birthday present that says you haven't been to a concert in so long present.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah, all the reasons.

TYRA PARRISH:

What was that show? What was- I don't remember the character was on Parks and Rec where it was like 'treat' yourself, it's like -

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah oh my God, I can't remember his name, but isn't it like Amy Poehler's like... he's not the assistant or something but they were -

TYRA PARRISH:

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, very much a treat yourself moment and I'm here for it because -

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Thank you.

TYRA PARRISH:

- what if you're having fun. I remember I saw it and I was like, "Okay!" Yeah, okay, so we're just gonna jump into the first question which is: walk us through how you got into public health and the field of maternal child health, and also are there any specific topics within the field that really kind of drew you in, into that field.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah, so whenever I get asked this question there's kind of two points I like to make. One is that my mom is actually an OBGYN so I definitely had a lot of that sort of influence just growing up, you know, just given her work background and the populations that she works with. Um, she works with a county hospital here in L.A county, so you know, not private sector work. So I had a lot of that influence growing up just with, you know, some of her experiences and just the realities of other people that my family didn't experience growing up. So that's a big influence, of course. And then another aspect I like to talk about is despite that influence, you know, it wasn't like from a young age I was like, "I'm gonna be XYZ." Everyone would always ask me, "Are you gonna be a doctor like your mom?" And I was like, "No, I get grossed out by stuff." So in high school, I didn't have any sort of passion or, you know, direction. I went to a private high school that was very big on, you know, 98% of our graduates go on to attend a four-year university, blah, blah, blah. So obviously very intense having that stress, but I still didn't necessarily know what I wanted to do as a 17 year old -- you shouldn't really know what you want to do.

TYRA PARRISH:

Right.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

But aside from that I eventually found sociology in undergrad so I quickly declared that, because I was immediately happy with it and in love with it. Which was also simultaneously happening around the time of the 2016 election, so it was just a very kind of surreal time to be introduced to that topic and the things we discussed in class. But then, by my senior year of undergrad I had taken a -- I think it was a sociology of gender class, but one of the topics was health and, you know, health disparities between different genders and race and everything and I just found that super interesting. But looking back, I see now the ways I would take so many opportunities to write about pregnancy outcomes and disparities and I always had an interest in working with kids and families. But I think the more exposure I got and the more I learned I eventually just learned the area I wanted to be in is helping primarily moms and birthing people. So that's how I got into maternal child health, so it's definitely a journey, but it's everything to me now. I don't know what I would do if I didn't find this area.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah, so I guess I'm curious when you're looking at MPH programs, what about Cal specific maternal health program made you to go like, "That one."

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah, definitely. So ironically UCLA was actually my top choice for the longest time, because I'm in LA county and it's pretty close by. And I didn't even consider, you know, Berkeley that much because I'm like, "It's too far away, I'm like a chicken." So I'm like,"I'm just gonna stay close to home." But Berkeley was one of the first schools I heard back from. So they gave me a lot of time to investigate and scope them out. And they're actually the only Maternal Child Health program that I applied to. So there was that for starters. And this fight, the MCH program at Berkeley, being a quantitative based program and me not being a quantitative girly. If I had to pick I would be qualitative, if not both, like mixed methods. But I felt just the fact it was MCH in particular was a big thing because it just felt so much more specific than just doing something like health education or just public health period. And I just heard so many good things about the program from different alum and I really like that it was also a small program. I just thrive more in those environments so those are a couple of things that made me want to pick Berkeley. And just from attending their virtual events because it was Covid. So that's when everything was online. I just feel like they made themselves look really good compared to the other schools that I applied to and got into. And I felt like it would be a good close-knit community despite it being Berkeley with all the, you know, horror stories you can hear.

TYRA PARRISH:

I mean, that's real. But I'm totally with you on the -- even initially applying to Berkeley, I was kind of like, "Mm, not sure." Also being from Socal where I'm like,"It's getting far." And just never being in the Bay Area ever, it's just like a lot of news at one time and I have no one who lives in this -- no family that lives in this area so that was a lot. But I think you're right, where it's the specificity of that program. Of like this is Maternal Child Health that we're studying versus health education and then kind of having to find those classes does make it a little bit easier in regards to focusing on what you want. But yeah. So I actually have a follow-up question of like as you were kind of progressing in your field were there any moments of self-doubt or imposter syndrome either in the journey to Cal, while at Cal -- oh my gosh that's like a tongue twister for me -- outside of Cal? And how did you manage those feelings and still stay confident in yourself and be like, "No, I'm supposed to be here. Like this is where -- you know, this is part of my journey."

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah, definitely. I feel -- kind of going back to high school in a way -- I applied to 13 schools in high school going into undergrad, and I got into four of them. One of them not being like a top school that I want to get into. And I was a very different student at that time. Like I was saying earlier, I didn't have any sort of idea of any direction I wanted to go which reflects, you know, the type of student that I was. Um, and -- sorry, notification popped up and it distracted me -- but I think I bring that up because when I think about when I was applying to grad school I just remember having that sort of feeling in the back of my mind as I was applying especially because I had really excelled as a student in undergrad, that I felt I had to sort of continue to like beat myself. I'm like I have to aim for the highest school within close proximity. I -- okay, side note. I remember I was looking at John Hopkins because I was like, "Top public health graduate schools in the country!" And like John Hopkins comes up and I start filling up the application, I'm like typing my name -- I'm like,"Where even is John Hopkins?" And I look and they're in Maryland or something out on the East Coast and I'm like, "Absolutely not." Close the application. I'm like, "I'll settle, yeah, I'll settle with UCLA or Berkeley here on the West Coast." But anyways. I love tangents.

TYRA PARRISH:

Me too.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

So I had, yeah, so applying to grad school -- which looking back I'm like I can't believe I did this. I applied to nine schools. Because I'm like, I need my options I need my top schools, my middle, and then my backup. I saw all the options because of the experience that I had in high school. But I... ugh, I don't know where I was going with that. I think it took me some time to accept that wherever I end up, whether it's this high-ranking school that everybody just knows about, or not, an education is still an education. But I definitely still experienced those feelings in -- especially the first year of grad school, the reality of it never really goes away. I just think I've gotten better about talking myself down when I have those moments. And being able to give myself props for how far I've come and like the fact that I'm here and I'm here for a reason. And I'll always think about -- I hate to bring it up, but -- biostats and epi[demiology] that first semester. Like that just tore me apart because -- not in a cocky way, but -- I was used to doing well in classes because of the type of student I was in undergrad. So I was like, "Why am I struggling so bad right now?" And that was just something that was super uncomfortable to me. But I think it just really... I don't know, maybe humbled is the right word. You're not gonna excel in everything and there's certain areas that are your strong suit. But yeah, I've been talking for a little bit about that question. I think, to sum it up, that feeling never really goes away but I think looking back at my journey from high school to now I've definitely come a long way in, you know, feeling like I've found the route I want to take in public health and that I will hopefully be a good public health professional and advocate in Maternal Child Health. But you know there's always going to be those hurdles that come up especially as I'm just starting out in my career journey.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah, and I think I want to just pause and uplift the fact that I know you're going to be a great public health professional based on what I know about you so you don't need to worry about that.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Thank you.

TYRA PARRISH:

But I think what you shared is real, where it's like that transition of like being -- like doing well and then you come up against something -- well really, two somethings, because Epi was one battle and then biostats was one battle. And then you're doing it at the same time in a new environment, new space, getting to know people. And then everyone has like those two to three geniuses in your class like,"Biostats is easy!" And you're like, "Oh, so I'm stupid." Like that's how you internalize it. And I definitely went through the same thing where I'm like, "I thought I was good at math. I guess not." And it's like, "Oh, I thought coding wasn't that bad." Which I realized that was a little delulu. Coding is hard and I think doing both at the same time while learning Epi, and then being afraid to ask people for help because it seems like they're getting it really well, but I don't want to feel like I'm burdening them asking for help. But I think that's real where it's like, having to wrestle with the fact of like, it's okay to be like, to just be doing good enough and not necessarily A's all across the board. As someone who's a recovering perfectionist, I'm gonna be recovering for life, but that was really hard for me too and I just, I'm just glad that you shared that because that's just real. Particularly at Cal, that was a hard adjustment for a lot of folks, but in the moment no one really talked about it so you kind of felt alone until like second year where everybody was like, 'Ugh, FBM biostats was rough!" I'm like, "You too??"

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah, I'm like honestly my thing is I survived that, like I'll be good. Like do your best, it'll all be okay. And I'm so glad I finally got to that point rather than constantly being like, "You need to do better than you did the previous time." Sometimes it just got to a point where I'm like, the bare minimum is all I could do right now and that's okay. And I think also, there's such a big difference I think in grad school versus undergrad where grad school like you have typically more time because you're in class a lot less, so you have more ability to like pick where you want to dedicate you know your energy and I finally figured that out and unfortunately grad school, at least our program, was only two years, so you know I had the whole year gone and then I was like, okay let me not suffer and be as miserable as I was the first year. Because you know, so now we don't go through that again, because I just look back and am like - what a like hard and horrible time that was where I was like - what am I doing. But I know a lot of people, like we talk about it, just what a difficult time that was for people. And plus it was 2021, so we're still like really deep in COVID, so it's just like a really kind of weird time looking back. It feels so long ago.

TYRA PARRISH:

It literally does for so long ago and it was literally, what, maybe like a year and a half ago, if that? Actually no, it was two years ago.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Two years ago.

TYRA PARRISH:

We started the suffering with, yeah, it's okay. Okay and so I guess to further wrap up that journey - were there any mentors or like folks in your support system who not only like influence your journey, but also provided guidance and support in those moments? And how do they contribute to just your growth as like a person? And as I guess now, a future, no because you're currently a public health practitioner, caught myself - I'm current.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yes, um I definitely want to shout out my mom, who like I was talking about earlier, I think yes, heart for my mother. She's definitely had a big influence on me and it's just interesting to see the difference between, you know, and MD versus an MPH, and how different those fields are in a way. But hearing her, especially with her lived experiences, not only with how she grew up, but also you know her work/ professional experience. I'm very lucky in that my mom has an education. This is the background that she works in, so she's very familiar. So I had someone who you know, could read my papers, and I could talk to about it, and I could sort of brainstorm with, and I know not a lot of people including my own program had that. So she definitely helped me a lot in that regard. And I think also just her resilience. I don't know how she does it, like sees what she does, the chaos that she sees, and like comes home then does it again the next day. I'm like, if one bad thing happens, like if someone eats my leftovers in the fridge, I'm like oh my God how am I gonna carry on [laughter].

TYRA PARRISH:

Whole day ruined, yeah.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Like it just shatters me, not to be dramatic, but yeah, just queen of moving on basically when something happens. But then I also have a great mentor who is a professor at LMU in the Sociology Department, Stephanie Limoncelli. I was basically just always at her office my final two years at LMU. I always had a hard time talking to authority figures, but like in this case, like teachers/professors. I just found it very intimidating, especially being someone that's more on the quiet side. Luckily I've branched out and come out of my bubble a bit, but at the time I was still very more sheltered. But she's just someone who I felt I could talk to about anything, whether it was complaining about other classes, talking about you know my next steps after graduating, and luckily I'm still in touch with her today, so she's definitely helped me a lot. And there's just so - I'm lucky that I know a lot of maternal health advocates in LA who are doing amazing work, I don't even know. The people that come to mind, I don't want to forget anybody, is Angela Jones, um Mashariki Kudumu, up in, she's not in LA, but Paige Edwards who I, we, both previously worked with. Yes.

TYRA PARRISH:

We love Paige.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah there's so many amazing individuals who I'm lucky to know and who have had a great influence on me. And not only me figuring out the journey and the path I want to take prior to grad school, but also helped me during it, and like, I'm sure will help me you know after the fact, and will definitely cross paths with them in the future.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah, yeah, that's really dope and I'm like, I just love that you, like this, just having a collection of mentors either over time or like at one point when they're just like, I guess I'm trying I'm trying to figure out the words to describe that. Sometimes it's like that one voice or that one person that gives you like that okay, or that like push to continue doing what you're doing, or when you're trying to figure out kind of what's going on and like what you want to do, having that kind of solid foundation, or like space, where you can kind of just unload. Like I'm thinking about this, but this, but then also I don't really know what this is, and like having that is so important just in your journey and trying to figure out like who you are as a person, but then also like how you want to, what type of person, or yeah what type of person you want to be, like in whatever job field you end up choosing. So that's really dope that you've had that many people, that those people are still around too, so that's really just -

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah they've definitely all been role models and influences in different ways, whether it's you know one-on-one, or just watching the way they like feed a room or a meeting. Or the way they advocate and participate in just in so many different ways. But yeah, like you said, I'm definitely really lucky because I know it could be really hard to find.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah very hard. Okay, so we're gonna do a topic shift into what you're currently doing now. So one, first question, which I feel like is a question that a lot of post-grads don't like being asked, so I'm gonna just apologize ahead of time.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

It's a must though.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah, it's a, yeah. So how has post-grad just been in general and what is that transition like from just like full day of classes, thesis work, XYZ, like life, grad life, into like now.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah it's definitely been a transition and I still have so many other transitions that I'll be experiencing just personally the next few months. I mean, after graduating I still had my student position with Berkeley until like the end of July, so at least I had some sense of normalcy and a source of income for a little bit and I was still like in Berkeley. But now I'm back in LA, unemployed, and luckily I have a lot to, you know, keep me on my toes because I have a lot going on. But it's definitely different from student life. I mean I've experienced this before, we've both experienced this before, from graduating from undergrad to going to nothing for like, one to two years, it's a transition. But I'm, this kind of period that I have right now, I've been living my best fun employed life, like I just said. I went to Eris tour recently.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

I went more than once, I'm not gonna say how many times, but I'm just trying to take advantage of you know this time that I have, where I'm not paying rent, I am back here where I have a lot of my friends nearby. And even though it could be stressful, not could be, it is stressful, you know not having a source of income, well I'm trying to do fun things. You don't really get a time like this very often to be able to just, you know, wake up and you know you're fully in charge of what you want to do with your day in terms of not having school or like work that you have to do. So I'm trying to you know, take advantage of it as stressful as it is at times, because yeah, it just doesn't come very often. But job searching has been really stressful for sure.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah and I like how you're like highlighting about like being present, like you have the ability to be very present with your friendships, and like just enjoying like the moment of like no school, no work, that sounds like happiness.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah.

TYRA PARRISH:

Just gotta be happiness, where it's like, that's ideal where you could just kind of choose your own adventure with your day, every day, and obviously in capitalist America that's not sustainable long term. But that's really awesome that you get to experience that though, so that when you do, are adding more things on your plate, you have like almost a frame of reference. Like, I remember how this felt, how can I get as close to that as I can with what I have to kind of handle.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Absolutely, and I think another thing too is, I remember just being in school and being like, I just want to be able to do nothing right now. But then it's like once I have nothing, I still find myself complaining because I feel the need to just be, you know, going back to back.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

I like my - it's weird, I'm weird, I like my structure, but also despise it in a way. I feel like as I've gotten older that's been the case. I don't know, like I'm always complaining, but realizing that, I think again - remembering student me, who's like I just want to be able to exist, helps me like in the moment when I kind of feel overwhelmed about what am I doing, why am I an adult, and I'm not having more structure, blah blah blah.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Because it's a very rare moment and not a lot of people get to experience. So I'm trying to you know live in it because it's not going to last a very long time.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah, I'm just gonna say, I resonate with that so-heavy. I'm the same person where I'm like, I like my structure, but I also like having the choice to like, I don't know if destructure is a word, if not I'm making it right now, where I like to just step away out of structure, and just be like - I'm just going to sit for the whole day. If I want to read a book, I'm gonna read a book. If I don't want to read a book, I don't, and nothing's gonna happen. You know?

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Yeah.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah, but then when I do it too much, then I'm like oh my gosh, I need 10 million things in my plate. I need to be stressed the whole day or else I feel like I'm doing nothing. I don't know, there's probably a book explaining what that is, and where that's coming from.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

When I find it I'll let you know, and then, likewise.

TYRA PARRISH:

Please, we can read it together.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

Oh yeah, honestly. Bookclub. It's a constant battle. I think similar to the earlier question, about like imposter syndrome and self-doubt, it's like you kind of just learn your own techniques and strategies to sort of navigate that because it's always going to be uncomfortable, it seems like. I think ultimately just trying to take things day by day, is ultimately the main sort of way to go about it, regardless of what you have on your schedule.

TYRA PARRISH:

Yeah I totally agree and I'm gonna follow up on the job search process. Again, apologizing in advance, because I know it is, it is -

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

You know what, if it helps somebody, I'm here for it. Let's, and I'll rant, it's what I can do.

TYRA PARRISH:

Maybe I'll get some tips from you because, yeah, this is rough. Okay, so can you talk about just the job search process in general? You already shared that it has been challenging, so what about it particularly is challenging and what are some things that have helped? Or things that you realize we're like, oh someone told me this is helpful, and then actually it's kind of not particularly as helpful as I thought it was.

GABRIELA GONZALEZ:

So, I think upon graduating, I had this mindset I was going to have a job pretty quickly and I feel that just comes from hearing, you know, like oh you went to Berkeley Public Health and you'll have jobs lining up, blah blah blah. Not dismissing how helpful it is to have Berkeley on your resume, but I was like, oh by the time I wrap up my student job in, at the end of July, I'll have my next job lined up. That's not been the case at all. Luckily I was talking to you, Tyra, yesterday about this, but luckily it seems I do have a job lined up but that's actually coming through Network, like networking. So I think that is definitely, and like I'm hearing from a lot of people also, that Network, like your network, whether it's just reaching out to someone on LinkedIn with mutual connections or to someone who you've worked with previously or whatnot, like it truly is everything. I remember, okay we were both LMU Lions, I remember first learning about LinkedIn from LMU and I would always joke, I feel like they're sponsored by LinkedIn or something because the way they shove it down our throats, and me still putting kind of more introverted and really despising just like informational interviews and anything like that, I was like - I don't like this. But they were right, it truly makes a world of a difference. But anyways, I think yeah, tips are networking, don't be afraid to reach out to people on LinkedIn. Something that I discovered recently is there's different groups on LinkedIn that you could join, whether and like different hashtags you could follow, whether it's following like an arcades hashtag public health jobs or there's this group called women in public health and there people will just post whether they have an available position open, or if you yourself are looking for a position and posting your resume ,and this is what I'm interested in. I did that on LinkedIn recently and within like 10 minutes I had two people reach out to me, like one who I already knew and someone who just came across the post, so definitely recommend doing that. LinkedIn is a resource, definitely take advantage of it. For all the Berkeley girlies who are listening to this, particularly in public health, the RISE Center is amazing. They helped me just not in terms of, in this, at this current point of time, with finding a job, not that they didn't help me with that, but just keeping me mentally sane I guess with you know, you're not the only one going through this. And they'll help you with your cover letter, your resume, etc. So 10 out of 10 recommend reaching to them. Caitlyn Green was literally my savior when we were applying for practicum because I wrote the best cover letter for Expecting Justice, so yes, take advantage of that. And I think also just don't take things personally. I've been applying, I've applied to I don't know how many jobs and I've only been interviewed twice I think and others I just did not hear from period. And I know other people who are going through the same thing, so I think just remember to not take it personally, and I know it's hard because we have to pay rent, you know, you can't just talk yourself down, there's, and like people have different needs, some more immediate, so I don't want to you know dismiss how stressful it is by any means, but it is really hard. I think being in public health from what I've witnessed and what I know, like we're such an under-paid, under-resourced field where even just people taking the time to try and hire somebody to help lower their workload is like a lot. So I think just keeping that unfortunate reality in mind, especially coming out of COVID. Like that's just kind of the reality right now, but I think also keep in mind that it's still summer, so like hopefully things will like be a bit more responsive come September. But yeah, just continue to be active, sign up for job listings, and try and set goals for yourself. I have a friend who aims to apply to one job a day, then she took a break for a week and then she's like back at it, you know. So just try and set small goals for yourself and it'll come with time, but there's also a lot of resources out there to help you.

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 look out yet because part two of 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.