If you wanted to draw up a road map for success, becoming pregnant as a teenager would not be a good first step.
It was, however, a step that Angela D. Thomas, DPH, took when she gave birth to her son at age 16. Angela was an excellent student who planned on a career in medicine. At 17, she took her five-month-old son to college at the University of Michigan and progressed in her studies, earning three degrees by the time she was 30. Thomas’ career developed in public health; in time she became an executive, now with MedStar Health. Along the way, Thomas became a role model for others and eventually wrote a book about her experience — Bullets, Babies, and Boardrooms: Success Secrets from a Teenage Mother.
Lessons
The title sets up her lessons. “Bullets” refers to her mother, a parole officer in the City of Detroit, being shot five times by a hitman hired by an offender whom her mother was going to send back to jail. “Babies” refers to her pregnancy and her journey to earn her education. And “Boardroom” refers to her corporate path and the leadership lessons necessary for success.
Each of these elements has an additional layer of meaning. “Bullets” refers to mindset: believing what you can achieve. “Babies” connotes resilience: having the determination to succeed when the odds are stacked against you. Finally, “Boardroom” is the “action necessary to achieve results.”
In an interview with me, Dr. Angela described two factors that helped her succeed: hope and determination. Hope is the sense of optimism that enables you to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Determination is the drive that propels you. “So if you’re determined,” says Dr. Thomas, “if you’ve set out to accomplish it, set out to be healed, set out to do whatever it is that you desire to do and can see it, you, it starts to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You start to look for ways to make your dreams and realities your dreams come true to make them realities.”
Community
For Dr. Angela, the book is a “love note to her community,” the people who helped her succeed, and the lessons she teaches others. It has been a foundation she stands today and a platform for sharing what she has learned with others.
The community at work, too, plays a role in Dr. Thomas’s career. She is a fierce advocate for diversity, inclusion and equity. That is, having the right people at the right table at the right time, with one vital understanding. Not everyone, as Angela knows, having been a teen mom, has the same starting point. “It is the premise that it is your journey; you can’t do it alone. And don’t try to do it alone,” says Dr. Angela. “You must have people around you who are champions for you and for what you’re trying to achieve.”
As Dr. Angela writes in her book:
While I do believe that the mystery of “me” is more accurately the “myth” of “me,” – I don’t have it “all.” I experience failures like the next person… But I know for sure that I consistently lean on a set of life-changing principles I’ve learned along the way. I took years to realize that this is what I was doing.
Along the way, I’ve added to and refined those principles… I certainly believe that these life-changing principles are principles that ANYONE can grab hold of, adapt and apply to achieve their goals and dreams…”
Inherent in this passage is a deep understanding of self, which, as leaders know, is essential for personal growth and shepherding an organization through challenging times. Along the way, leaders such as Dr. Thomas feel a calling to share what they have learned with others as a means of teaching others and building community.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
____________________________________
Take advantage of SmartBrief’s FREE email newsletters on leadership and business transformation, among the company’s more than 250 industry-focused newsletters.