In this new episode of ‘Narratives of Purpose’, host Claire Murigande explores the intersection of healthcare advocacy and personal storytelling with Dr. Nia Imani Bailey, President of the Byrd Cancer Education and Advocacy Foundation, who passionately discusses her journey as a radiation therapist and the drive behind her documentary, 'A Letter to My Sisters.'
Dr. Nia shares her experiences and insights on the rising incidence of breast cancer diagnoses among younger women, challenging the traditional age-based screening guidelines. She highlights the stories of women who faced significant barriers in receiving timely diagnoses and treatment featured in her documentary film.
Dr. Nia also calls for systemic changes that prioritise patient education, community resources, and holistic care. She equally emphasises the need for greater self-advocacy as well as open communication between patients and providers.
Show Notes
RELEVANT LINKS:
Research article on widening social inequalities after breast cancer at this webpage
More about Byrd Cancer Education and Advocacy Foundation at this website
More about the documentary "A Letter To My Sisters" at this webpage
Connect with us: narrativespodcast@gmail.com | subscribe to our news
Tell us what you think: write a review
This second part of our Women's Health series is supported by We Shape Tech.
CHAPTERS:
00:05 - Welcome to Narratives of Purpose
00:50 - Introducing Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
03:51 - The Importance of Early Detection in Young Women
08:14 - Creating Impact Through Documentaries
14:41 - Advocating for Yourself in Healthcare
16:59 - Connecting Resources for Cancer Patients
20:56 - Understanding Social Inequalities in Cancer Care
24:56 - The Need for Policy Changes
33:00 - Closing Thoughts on Health Advocacy
Episode Transcript
Claire Murigande
Hello and welcome back to narratives of purpose. You are now tuned into a new episode showcasing unique stories of global changemakers who are contributing to make a difference in society.
For those of you who are listening to narratives of purpose for the first time, my name is Claire Murigande. I am your host on this podcast which is all about amplifying social impact. If you want to be inspired to take action, then look no further. You are in the right place. Get comfortable and listen to my conversations.
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
You hear of a lot of physicians who were taught basically that breast cancer in your twenties or thirties is too young. So when they have seen the patients, they're like, no, you're fine. But what they're learning now is, hey, we need to listen to them.
Claire Murigande
In today's episode, I speak with Dr. Nia Imani Bailey as we mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Nia is a radiation therapist. She is also the writer and director of a documentary film titled a letter to my sisters. A breast cancer documentary for young women which gives some insight into the journey of four young women dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis. Driven by her passion for healthcare reform, Dr. Nia Imanibeli is also the president of Byrd Cancer Education and Advocacy foundation.
Remember to rate and to review our show wherever you listen to your podcast, we are really grateful for everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts. Thank you for your feedback and we also want to hear from you. So please tell us what you think of these conversations. All right now let's jump into the passionate discussion with Dr. Nia.
So Dr. Nia, how are you today?
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
I'm well. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you so much.
Claire Murigande
My pleasure. Welcome to narratives of purpose. So would you mind giving our listeners just a brief introduction? Who is Dr. Nia?
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
Oh my goodness, sure. I've been a radiation therapist for almost ten years. I am the president of Byrd Cancer Education and Advocacy Foundation. I am also the president of Agape. Finding your purpose and incorporating your faith. Our mission is to feed clothes and fellowship with those who explore worlds homelessness. I have two children's books of which I'm the author of. I also have two cancer documentaries, perhaps.
Claire Murigande
For those of our listeners who don't know exactly what a radiation therapist is, would you mind explaining?
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
Absolutely. So, radiation therapy, what we do is help cancer patients by giving them radiation. And radiation, a lot of people think of like atomic bombs or, I don't know, the microwave. Our patients cannot feel the radiation and it's just high energy. So I treat patients who have a breast cancer prostate, colon, head and neck, brain.
We actually also treat things that aren't cancerous, such as keloids. So our patients do not actually feel the radiation, although they do get side effects from it.
Claire Murigande
Out of curiosity, can you tell me what actually led you to become a radiation therapist?
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
Great question. I am a daddy's girl. My father had prostate cancer. He was diagnosed when I was a sophomore in high school, so I had to get in the same field that helped my father. And then also, unfortunately, a lot of people in my family have cancer, ranging from multiple myeloma, lung, prostate, colon.
So with my father and my family members who have been diagnosed with cancer, I had to get in the same field.
Claire Murigande
And then you also mentioned that you had two documentaries on breast cancer.
And something struck me when I was watching your documentary, and it's also something I had noticed recently, because there's this one person that I'm following on social media. She's relatively young. I mean, she's not yet 40, and she was diagnosed with breast cancer in her early thirties. And apparently this is something that is happening more and more frequently.
And the challenge there is that, correct me if I'm wrong, but the healthcare system is mainly used to diagnose, or at least to screen for breast cancer when you're over 50. But then we have more and more cases of younger women.
And I think part of your work is also about advocating, about taking that cancer very seriously for much younger women. So tell me a little bit about how this documentary idea came. What led you to actually create a documentary and not maybe write a book?
Because you already wrote books before.
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
You know, you are absolutely right. So being a radiation therapist helped me create this documentary.
I remember, I think I was only working a year or two, and it was a woman who looked just like me. I was 24 years old. She had box braids like me, and both had gold anklets. We liked the local artist. And she passed away of triple negative breast cancer.
And in my mind, I said, you know, I feel like I learned about pediatric cancer and I learned about geriatric cancer, but nothing in between and nothing that would sort of resonate for me to know that someone who was 24 years old could not only have cancer, be diagnosed with cancer, but could pass from cancer? And that sort of happened along the way.
And being a radiation therapist, patients get treated from anywhere between one day or they have treatments for seven weeks. So you really become friendly with these patients and sometimes like family. So another woman, she was absolutely amazing. 42 years old.
She was engaged. And I just remember her being a fantastic woman. And she passed away of metastatic breast cancer. The cancer went to her lungs, and she had innumerable nodules in her lungs.
And I said, you know, I don't think that women know that they can get breast cancer.
And what finally led me to get, to create the documentary, my friend Jaclynn Smith, she went to the doctor, her gynecologist, and said, hey, I feel a lump in my breast. And her gynecologist felt it and said, you know what? You're too young to get breast cancer. You are fine.
So Jaclynn obviously took her gynecologist word for it. About a year later, Jaclynn went back to her gynecologist, who had her IUd taken out to start having a family. And as the gynecologist was removing the IUD, she also did a check, and she checked her breast. And Jaclynn said her eyes got big.
She sent Jaclynn to get a mammogram, an ultrasound, a biopsy, and it turned out to be triple negative breast cancer. And Jaclynn always wanted a family. This is why she went to the gynecologist to get her IUD taken out. She had no time to retrieve her eggs. She went right to chemotherapy, right into surgery, and then radiation, where she met me. We became friends. She completed all those treatments very well. Not saying it was easy, but she completed it.
And a couple months later, she went to the hospital with a severe headache. She had a tumor in her head, and a couple months later, she passed away. I said to myself, you know what? We don't know.
We meaning young women, that we can get diagnosed with breast cancer, because everyone's telling us, at one point, it was starting at 50, you get a mammogram, and now the task force said 40, and get a mammogram. So that's the only thing that we hear. We hear, we're not 40. We do not need a mammogram here. Check your body. Know your body, feel your body.
If there's something wrong, you advocate for yourself. And if the physician is not listening to you, it is okay to go to another physician and say, hey, there's something wrong with my body.
I know my body. I’m with my body 24/7 please help me. So the first documentary that I wrote was « a letter to my sisters, a breast cancer documentary for young women. »
And it highlights the journey of three women and their breast cancer journey. So the one woman, her name is Janique Rivera McGrip. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 29 years old.
And she tells her story of advocacy. She said that no one would check her out because they kept saying she was too young for breast cancer. And finally she said, someone has to help me. I don't know if I need to do the mammogram test myself. Like, I don't know what I need to do, but someone needs to help me. And it turned out she was correct about her body.
And she had breast cancer, and the breast cancer spread to her lung and her brain. And I can tell you she's doing phenomenally well. She is married, she has children. She's doing great.
But she tells her story that she just did not let them stop her because she knew there was something wrong with her body. So she went to the physician who would finally listen to her and take action.
The second woman is Brenda Durantes. She tells her story, and she is a strong mexican woman. And she basically said she didn't know mexican women got breast cancer. She said she was too busy.
She's married, she has children, and she just didn't have time for herself. Right? Being a worker, being a wife, being a mother, you just usually don't pour into yourself or if you feel something, you push past it because everybody else needs something. So finally, she learned she has to pour into herself because if she doesn't and she can't help anybody else. So she tells her story.
And the last woman, her name is Lynn Mitchell. She is swedish, irish, and German.
And she tells her story of being a single mother and asking for help because her mother was diagnosed at a young age of breast cancer. They said, no, you have to wait till you're 40. And guess what? She waited, but she ended up having breast cancer.
So she tells her story of having to fight not only for herself, but for her children because she is the only sort of caretaker for her children because she is a single mother. So usually when people see the documentary, they get the impression of, okay, I need to know my body. I need to feel my breast.
I need to look in the mirror and actually look at my body, because if my nipple is inverted, that's not a good thing. It's leaking, and I'm not breastfeeding. That's not a good thing. You know? So they also say, you know what? I do have a family cancer history. Maybe I should go to my doctor and have this conversation, or I do not know my family cancer history. Maybe I should find out about it, or I'm adopted, I do not know my family cancer history, but I still need to go to my doctor to have that conversation with them because what do I need to do for future screenings? Genetic testing, clinical trial.
So it garners that conversation of what needs to happen for their health. And I think that's most important. And the second documentary is called « a letter to my sisters, the Erika Joe Robinson story. »
And she is not only strong and phenomenal, but she talks about the power of tongue. And in that if you're a spiritual person, that it's very important to watch what you say.
So there was a time in her life where she was just so low, and she remembers talking to God and saying, basically, I wish I wasn't here. She wasn't going to do anything to make that happen. But she said, I wonder if life would be better if I was not here. Fast forward.
She's living a great life. She's having a great time with her family, her friends, her career, and she gets diagnosed with cancer. She says to herself, one of her first initial thoughts was, not that I asked for this, but, you know, this can potentially take me out. When I had said years prior to, I did not want to be here.
So she talks about pushing through because she did not mean that and she does not mean that now. And she's going to push through to make sure that she reaches not only five years being cancer free, but 10, 15,and 20, so she can live a nice, impactful life.
So the point of even doing these documentaries is, I say to myself, you know, I'm not an avid reader. I read, but I'm not an avid reader. If I have to look at another PowerPoint, I feel like I'm going to pass out. I love documentaries. I love movies. And I said, you know what? I think other people do as well.
So that was just another way for people to learn about cancer by watching a documentary. Some people learn differently in that that was just another way for somebody to learn about cancer if they watched the documentary.
Claire Murigande
And there's something that strikes me throughout these different journeys that you've just summarized, as you were saying, there's resilience, but also persistence and advocating for yourself. And obviously that's not a given. So how do you as a therapist see the healthcare system taking into account these women?
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
You hear of a lot of physicians who were taught basically that breast cancer in your twenties or thirties is too young. So when they have seen the patients, they're like, no, you're fine, but what they're learning now is, hey, we need to listen to them, you know, if they feel a lump, and I also feel that lump, too, I'm going to send them for testing, because unfortunately, breast cancer does not discriminate based upon age.
So it's sort of, everybody in the medical healthcare system is relearning what was taught years ago. You know, you heard of pediatric cancer, and that sort of stops around 14. Unfortunately, birth to 14, you hear of, okay, you have to get your mammograms at 40. Your colonoscopy is at 40. Everything sort of starts at 40, but everyone in between, it's like, oh, you're fine. You can live your life, but that's just not the case.
And I think, finally, we are all learning, especially physicians, that if someone is of any age, but especially in that age bracket, listen to them. And it, financially, it costs something.
But being a kind person and a great doctor, it costs nothing to send that person, you know, to get testing to see what's going on. And it could be a cyst, it could be nothing. But by simply pressing on it and saying, I don't think it's nothing, it does not suffice.
So I think we're relearning what we're being taught. But I think it's also important. We're telling the community it's okay to advocate for yourself.
A lot of people have that white coat of syndrome that, you know, whatever my doctor says, it is the case. That's not necessarily true. You know, physicians, they go to school for a long time. They are very smart, and they are great people. But the caveat is that there would be no physician if there was no patient. So physicians work for the patients. And I don't say that to take any credentials or credibility away from the physicians.
I say that to empower the patient, to say, if you feel like something is wrong with your body, it is okay to speak up for yourself and say, hey, you know, I need some testing. And, you know, if that physician is not listening, that's okay.
It's also okay to find someone else who resonates with you, because that patient provider relationship is so important.
So you really want to have that relationship that if God forbid, did you feel anything, that provider will seek what you need to help get the answers that you need.
Claire Murigande
But now I want to come back to a different role. We mentioned the beginning, you’re President of Byrd Cancer Education and Advocacy foundation.
So tell me how this connects to your work as a radiation therapist, but also through the documentaries that you made.
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
Yes. The reason why we created Byrd was we did not want to redo reinvent anything that is already done.But what I realized as a radiation therapist, there are some things that patients do not know.
For example, they did not know that if you are diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer, you can sign up with Unite For Her. And they offer integrative services, they offer nutrition, they offer Reiki and counseling and meditation. So if you are a mother of two and you are too tired to cook, you don't feel like going to grocery store, Unite For Her will provide those resources.
So you can have those resources for not only for you or for your children. American Cancer Society offers financial help. Tiger Lily offers financial help. There's so many wonderful organizations.
So what we wanted to do was connect them with the resources that they may not know of. So we label ourselves as the connectors.
You have a question about counseling, about meditation, about genetic testing, clinical trials, any and everything about. I just don't even know what cancer is. I don't know what breast cancer is. I don't know what type of breast cancer, prostate, colon, myeloma is.
I need help and I need the resources. You go on our website and you find that out, and it's all over the world. So that's the reason why we did it.
Because as a cancer patient, there's so much information that is thrown at you, and there's so much that you just may not know. And we want to make sure that as the patient, you focus on surviving, thriving, you focus on getting better.
Let us take care of what you may not know, and we'll figure it out for you and help you in whatever you need help with. The reason why Byrd is the name is, as I mentioned, a lot of people in my family had cancer, all types of cancer. My uncle had breast cancer. Two of my family members had multiple myeloma, lung, breast, prostate, all over. So we sort of pay homage to my family by naming the organization Byrd Cancer foundation.
And the way that the documentaries tie in is showing them that, you know, you're not alone. And it's very important to tell your story if you want to, because storytelling is culturally one of the ways that we learn.
You know, I learn a lot of things from my family by them just telling stories of what I need to do and what I'm not going to do. So that's how the documentaries tie in. But we just want to sort of be a resource for those who are dealing with cancer. But guess what?
Those who are not dealing with cancer. You know, my cousin has cancer. I do not have cancer. But is there anything that I need to do to talk to my doctor or feel on my body or look for or the community?
You know, I have a community center, and I have so many people coming to me, asking me questions, what do I do?
So it is a hub for anyone, no matter where you are in the journey. And I usually kind of say it's to learn how to prevent, treat, survive cancer and everything in between.
The goal is obviously to eradicate cancer, but in this time, that is not where we are at. So we just want to help people who inquire about cancer.
Claire Murigande
And that's really interesting you mentioned that, because I was reading an article recently, the paper was about social inequalities that actually widen after breast cancer.
So one of the authors says, « if we expected a certain degree of inequality at the start of the disease, the fact that these inequalities increase rapidly and persist for so long is a surprise.
The impact on quality of life is much more pronounced for women with fewer resources, irrespective of the biological characteristics of their cancer, their age, and the treatment they have received.
Then he goes on to say, « when we talk about precision oncology, we need to consider the whole person, including their social dimension. Our data concerns women treated in France, a country where equal healthcare access. In countries without a universal healthcare system, these inequalities are likely to be even more pronounced. »
The reason why I want to have your take or your perspective on this question is probably also linked to your foundation, because you're creating a resource hub. And basically here what they're saying is, depending on your socioeconomic status, the fact that, you know less or you have less support can be even more impactful in a negative way after you're treated for the cancer. Is that something that you see?
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
Absolutely. You know, I think about it like this. I am from West Philadelphia, and it's an urban area, right? And imagine if I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
I get the biopsy and they say, I have breast cancer. So now what? I don't drive. I work nine to five. I have two children. I am a single mother. How am I going to successfully get the surgery? Go to my chemotherapy appointments, go to my daily radiation appointments, go to the follow up appointments ? Am I going to continue the habits, and this is not a judgment, but continue the habits of maybe eating the same foods that I eat?
I already have a lot of stressors in my life, and we know stress can cause a lot of things. I already have a lot of stressors in my life. So I'm not learning how to de stress or handle stress.
I'm living in an environment where it's a lot of toxicities in the environment. Absolutely. That article makes sense.
If I can't get to my appointments, if I'm missing appointments, if I'm missing my radiation appointments, if I can't take care of myself properly after surgery, if I'm not eating the correct things, if I'm stressed about money and nobody can watch my children. Yes, I cannot successfully be cured of cancer. I can't be.
So add all of that, plus my cancer diagnosis, which is why the gap widens in regard to cancer care and the outcomes of cancer. And of course, I just gave sort of a dramatic example, but this is real life. You even have parents who are married. But my husband works this job. I work this job. You know, my parents live in South Carolina and I live in Chicago. And the daycare will only take my children to 05:00 p.m., and radiation oncology, their hours are only from seven to five.
Where am I going to get treated? How can I get treated? I don't have PTO (paid time off,) so I have surgery and I need to get back to work.
You know, our lives are not conducive for cancer. Our lives are not conducive to even get sick, you know?So, yes, it's going to continue to widen if we don't first meet the immediate needs of those who are diagnosed. And the immediate needs look different for everybody.
So for me, if I get diagnosed, I am fortunate enough to not only work in a cancer center, which makes it easier, but I have PTO, I drive, I have a awesome village who would cook for me. And you just make it very simple for me to deal with cancer. Everybody doesn't have that.
In terms of transportation, in terms of that village, that will help. Hey, I'll pick up your child. Hey, I'll cook for you. That alone decreases the stress, which increases cancer. You know, it's so frustrating because I think we don't think about all those dynamics and how we need to help people. And it's hard because, like I said, it's so individualized. It's not cookie cutter.
One person may need their rent paid for a year, and that way they don't have to work as hard. You know, they'll work enough to put food on the table and pay for the water bill, but then they can get treatment. So there's not one size fit all.
But unfortunately, if we don't customize it, then the gap is always going to widen.
Claire Murigande
And do you personally, as an advocate, and perhaps also through your foundation and the work you do, are you also working at the policy level ?
And by that, I mean, are you active in playing a role in trying to see how you can reshape policy changes within the healthcare system, or is it something you're considering for the future?
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
Yes, both. I have been sitting at tables where that is the goal and trying to customize it. I was at the White House. It was national minority week, I think.
So I was able to sit with the Department of Defense and the American Cancer Society and touch the Black Breast Cancer Alliance and Tiger Lily and other phenomenal organizations in cancer care to figure out what can be done and what can be done sort of AIDS at, because people need us now so that things can be customized and we can accurately treat not just the cancer, but the whole person. Because if we don't treat the whole person, we're nothing even touching the cancer.
You know, if I don't treat everything about you, your surroundings, your intake, your stress levels, that all plays a part in the diagnosis. So I was blessed to have a seat at the table and other tables as well.
But the goal is to continue to not just sit at the table, but to walk away from the table and actually make things happen. And the reason why I just feel so passionate, like things need to happen now. My friend passed 42 years old of breast cancer.
And then I also have a friend now who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at 26 years old. She is now 30, and she was told to go in hospice and get her affairs in order.
And so when I tell you that things need to happen now, I don't say that lightly.
One of the reasons why I, like I said, I'm so passionate about it, is we talk about, you know, the black and brown community, how we have aggressive cancer. We talk about so many other things.
But one thing I think that needs to be talked about, and I sort of mentioned it before, is being a parent and being a single parent, because my friend, who passed away at age 42, she was a single parent. That's hard because you're totally devoted to your child, so you don't have time to focus on you until you have to have time to focus on you, and she's no longer here.
So I think that's another thing that we mentioned, is addressing the immediate need to make sure that everyone is successful and not only the treatment, but in their health and their survivorship, because I think we put a lot of emphasis on cancer and treatment, as we should. But there also needs to be equal emphasis on survivorship, on how to survive and thrive post that treatment, because you're still going through, you know, even though, yes, you're done chemo, you're done radiation, a lot of people still have to take tamoxifen, estrogen. The side effects are still there. You know, there's still so much that these patients are going through.
Although they are done going in all the time for their appointments, they are still technically and unfortunately, cancer patients. So we need to teach them and help them survive cancer.
Claire Murigande
So how do you see that evolving? I mean, obviously you've been in different spaces. You mentioned the White House. You have your documentary. So perhaps you can also tell me a bit what your objectives are with the screenings, for example, of these documentaries. What do you want to achieve with the audiences?
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
I think it's trifold.
No matter if you are a male or a female or how you identify that at the base level, you know, your body, and if there was any change in your body, you know, to advocate for yourself and to seek help in the prevention space, it's making sure that your plate looks colorful. You know, I mentioned I'm a Philly girl, and we love cheesesteaks, but I can't eat a cheesesteak every day. Teaching about exercise and not smoking. Not smoking anything. Not a hookah, not a cigarette, not a bake, nothing. Drinking alcohol, less sugary drinks. So teaching, that is very important.
So it's very important to teach about prevention.
Knowing your family, cancer history, seeking a patient provider relationship, talking about genetic testing, if that is applicable in the space where you find out that you may have cancer, whether that's breast, colon, multiple myeloma, head and neck, whatever that is, being successful in that treatment.
And that starts with, if you were to be diagnosed, being caught at a early stage because you have a better prognosis, and being very successful in that treatment, making sure that you're able to go to all your appointments, whether that's follow up surgery, chemo, radiation, immunotherapy, however that looks like, and even in during that treatment space, you are eating properly. There are things in your life. Stress is common, but there's ways to de-stress.
And however the medical team is able to help. The village that you surround yourself with is able to help. That's very important. And then post treatment, the survivorship. What can I go back to?
Because you're not going to be the same person after all of this. I think sometimes patients look to be the same person, but you're a different person, and that doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing. You're just different. Your body went through a lot so what can I continue to do? I love to travel. These, these things make my heart well.
I love to do yoga, but maybe I should not go back to smoking, drinking heavily, things like that. I need to set my life to be different.
And not just that, but giving back to the community and telling them what they should look for, to always advocate for themselves that I keep pushing.
And so the goal in all of that is to teach prevention, if you were ever diagnosed, to hopefully be diagnosed at an early stage, because like I said, that increases your prognosis and then to survive cancer. And however that looks. So watching the documentaries, being a part of the Byrd cancer foundation, those are the goals.
Because when that happens, cancer sort of doesn't become sort of a terminal, quote unquote disease, but a chronic disease. And I think that's very important.
And I have a friend who is a metastatic breast cancer survivor and she's also the founder of Priscilla's initiative. And we had a conversation and I said to her, I want cancer to be eradicated. And she very blantly said to me, well, I want it to be chronic.
And she mentioned how in the eighties the HIV AIDS epidemic was ravaging. And that really spoke to me because my uncle passed away in 1985.
But now, if you are diagnosed with HIV AIDS, though you may not want the diagnosis, you can live a life, you can thrive. And so this is how we want cancer to be.
Though you may not want the cancer diagnosis, you know that if you are diagnosed, that you can still thrive in your life.
So that is the goal for watching the documentaries from being at the part of Byrd Cancer foundation, from all of my work, of course, I'm still aiming for cancer to be eradicated. That's the final goal. But the short term goal, that it can be chronic.
Claire Murigande
So I also wanted to give you some time. If you have a special message for women in terms of advocating for their health.
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
I would say, and I've probably said this, if we could count probably a thousand times, always advocate for yourself.
I feel as women, we push through a lot. I will have time for me, I'll get to be.
No, you are the most important person. If you do not take care of yourself, you cannot take care of anybody else. If you do not pour into yourself, you cannot pour into anyone else. So always pay attention to yourself. Focus on yourself. You are the most important person. And then, is that selfish? Yes. And it's okay to be selfish because like I said, you can't help anyone else if you don't help yourself.
Always advocate for yourself. And, you know, it's just important. We women are needed. We rule. You know, I'm a feminist. We rule the world.
And we just, in order to continue to rule the world, we need to make sure that we are okay. We are healthy. And that's what I'll leave you with.
Claire Murigande
Thank you so much. So advocate for yourselves, for your daughters, your sisters, your mothers, your aunts.
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
And for your ancestors. They did all this work so that you can be in the position that you are in today.
Claire Murigande
Absolutely. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure having you and I look forward to staying in touch with you.
Dr. Nia Imani Bailey
Yes, absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity.
Claire Murigande
Thank you so much for tuning in today. I appreciate you taking the time.
That was episode 73, a conversation with Dr. Nia Imani Bailey on advocating for your own health, a special episode to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Find out more about Nia’s work on her website at drniaimanibailey.com, the link is available in the show notes, as always. You will also find the link to Nia’s foundation, the Byrd, spelt B-Y-R-D, Cancer Education and Advocacy foundation byrdcancerfoundation.org.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it in your network. And if you are curious for more about women's health from fascinating conversations on our podcast, be sure to listen to our special series released earlier this year in March in episodes 66 to 70. You can also listen to episode 38, talking about women's heart health, plus episode 42, focusing on midlife health.
Join me again in two weeks as I continue to shorten female innovators moving the needle in the women's health space. Until the next episode, take care of yourselves. Stay well and stay inspired. This podcast was produced by Tom at Rustic Studios.