PhDs Can Do Pretty Much Anything with Dr. Jasmine Escalera
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:20:18] The thing is that most people don’t understand. They don’t get it. What’s really going on. And there becomes almost for a lot of people, I would say there’s almost this deification. You’re no longer a person. You’re a doctor. Mm hmm. And that’s where I think a lot of the imposter syndrome comes from, because, you know, you are your family knows who you are, is just the new people that you meet. They treat you so differently. Yeah, I do see that a lot. And that’s something that we have to be aware of, how other people are going to treat us and also what other people expect of us, because other people will expect that you literally know everything, because there’s a lot of people who don’t understand that that’s not even possible. Yeah, your doctor, you must know everything. And so you have to be careful when you’re talking to them about sticking to the things that you know, because they’ll they’ll take everything you say as as as gospel or whatever would be the their analogy to that.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:21:20] I wish my significant other thought of me like that, like every word that I said is gospel. That would be amazing.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:21:27] You had to wait to meet him until after you graduated. That was the problem. But so tell us again some of these opportunities that came knocking. What have you been able to do now that you have this this degree?
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:21:44] Yeah, so I think in terms of what I’ve been able to really do and what I’ve been able to accomplish, some of my greatest accomplishments, accomplishments since getting my Ph.D., I’ve really been being able to take charge and ownership in a way that is very different from other individuals. There is a core level of belief in the things that I can accomplish and do. And so for various organizations that I’ve worked for, I’ve been able to be granted a level of power and status at the organization and that the role within the role that I’m in, that I truly believe other people would not be granted because of that that degree and because of the things that I’ve been able to accomplish. And so for me, within my different positions, I’ve had the ability to really take projects, design projects and promote and put out projects into the world that are really wonderful opportunities for an organization and for myself to be able to give back to different communities around health care and health care access and health care inequities. So I’ve just really had the opportunity to use my science and my research background to design projects in a different way than I think other individuals would design them. Because I look at it from the lens of how can we create the most impact? What is it that we actually want to change and how do we want to move the needle? And I think that’s really what research and doing research gives to you is. It gives you the opportunity to ask really insightful questions, but then to think about what you want the end goal to be and then to be able to really think about how you’re going to analyze that along the way, which I think is an incredibly different. And it really gives you the opportunity to design projects, design research in a completely different capacity.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:23:26] Absolutely. Absolutely. You mentioned people as. As being something that was a real motivating factor for you in that you want to step away from the bench because you wanted to get closer to people. How has the work that you’ve been doing, how have you seen that impact communities?
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:23:46] Such a great question. So I worked for an organization called the Child Mind Institute, a fantastic organization at the Children’s Mental Health Organization, and there I had the opportunity to come in. When they had it, they had an idea. They said, we want to create this research program where we will be giving free mental health and learning evaluations to kids in the New York City community in an effort to collect data to really be able to see what’s a better way to diagnose children’s mental health disorders. And they gave me this challenge of like, here’s the idea, here’s the concept. And we really want you to come up with how to design the actual program. And that was an amazing opportunity to design a project where we’re giving free resources to kids all throughout New York City. And I have the opportunity to open up different locations to actually be able to give these evaluations to kids I worked with in these locations. So not was I not only was I designing the project, I was supervising the staff. And I had the opportunity to see directly how this project was impacting families. And these were families where these kinds of evaluations cost thousands of dollars. When you talk about a learning evaluation for a child, thousands of dollars families are spending and these were families that just did not have the resources to do that. So I got the opportunity to really create a program where I was giving away for every single family thousands of dollars worth of free care to their child. And that was the most remarkable thing that I’ve ever done in my entire career, because not only seeing how it impacts the family, it impacts the child, but knowing that you have the opportunity to design it from scratch. Someone just gave you an idea and said, roll with it, figure it out, do it all. And that was just like such an amazing accomplishment for me. I used my research background. I use my design background, but I used my love for community first.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:25:46] That is awesome. I will tell you, that’s another theme that we hear from so many of our doctoral students, is that the the reason why the motivation, the mission, so to speak, is all about helping make the world a better place, somehow working directly with people. For some folks, it’s managing processes and it’s it’s a little bit more disconnected. But for so many folks, it’s about reaching out and making things better for you, whether it’s giving back or whatever. And and that’s why I find it so interesting to work with folks who have their doctoral degrees or who are in the process of earning their doctoral degrees. Just this. Intense motivation to make the world better is inspirational. I know that you at some point were given an opportunity to give a TED talk. How did that come about?
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:26:37] I say it came about from Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin, who I believe was one of I was on your podcast as well. So she’s she’s an amazing I call her my mentor unofficially, because I just claimed her as my mentor. But she’s an imposter syndrome expert. And I met her as I was kind of going through my journey of really trying to figure out how to navigate my imposter syndrome. And I remember the first time I met her in person was actually when she did her TEDx talk. I went out to go to see it because I was just I have to meet this woman. She’s fantastic. Everything that she talks about is resonating with me. And I wanted to hear her story in person. I wanted to see it. And I got a chance to meet her after. And we’ve been friends since then. And she was actually the person who linked me to do this TEDx talk like she pushed me to do it. I was actually enrolled in her imposter syndrome group coaching course, and she said to me, they’re doing it. They’re calling for women to talk about being fearless. And we think her and Rich thought I should do it. And I was just like my imposter syndrome immediately kicked in. And I’m like, oh, no, absolutely not. But I pushed myself. I pushed myself to do it. And it was such a great accomplishment.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:27:54] I had a guy on the podcast recently who looked at this in a different way, which I thought was really, really cool. And that is that you want to have imposter syndrome and you want to have imposter syndrome because you know that that’s when you’re out there on the edge and you’re pushing yourself and you’re doing new things that are really going to help people, but you’re not entirely comfortable with what you’re doing. And and his his perspective on it was if you don’t feel like you have imposter syndrome, at least to some extent, then you’re taking it too easy on yourself. You’re taking it you’re being too comfortable, and ultimately you’re not going to be happy with that. Now, there might be some people would argue, you know, I would be quite happy with that. And so we’re not talking to those people because, yes, I understand that. But there are a lot of people out there who do have dreams and ambitions and want to change the world. And it almost requires that. I think it might require that you have some imposter syndrome when you’re going through that process, because it doesn’t matter how much you’ve earned it. I mean, how how could Steve Jobs walk out and be Steve Jobs? There’s like he didn’t earn that in one sense, but in the other sense he did because he went out and did all of the things that were required to make it happen. But there were many points along the way where he just had a dream and knew some of what he wanted to accomplish and brought in other people to help accomplish it. He couldn’t do most of the things that got done under his leadership and. I wonder how in his case, if he if you ever actually talked about this, if he felt at some point like, OK, at some point everybody’s going to find me out.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:29:36] You know, it’s so interesting that it’s interesting that you say that, because that’s that’s something that I say to my clients all the time. It’s like if you’re if you’re feeling too comfortable, if you’re if you’re not feeling scared, if you’re not feeling a little bit of fear, that means that you’re actually not on the right path. Like there is this concept of like comfort. And I definitely love to feel comfortable, too, in my fuzzy pajamas. But in my life, I don’t want to always be feeling comfortable because that just means that I’m not making the change. So I actually totally agree with that, that you want to feel like you’re doing something a bit scary.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:30:16] At some point, you know, you wear your jammies for the first day. Your girlfriends are like, yeah, girl, you deserve that. You want jamas for like the fortieth day in the row. And they’re like, you’re depressed now.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:30:26] You got it. Come on, let’s go.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:30:30] Yeah, there’s got to be a certain level of pushing in of of stress and challenge in life, I think, to keep us interested, to keep us engaged and also so that we’re giving at the level that we really should be. I really if there is a meaning to all of this, our time on this Earth, it’s to try to make it a better place, to leave it a little bit better than we found it. And and if you subscribe to that at all, then I think you have to be uncomfortable a little bit to get there.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:30:55] Oh, one hundred percent. I think you have to be uncomfortable a lot to really be able to create change for yourself. You know, there’s that internal work. And then for the external world, yeah, I think we all have to get uncomfortable.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:31:08] And those of you who are going through the process, again, that’s part of where the rule.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:31:13] Yeah, yeah. Oh, it’s very uncomfortable,.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:31:17] It’s uncomfortable during that process. So don’t think that you’re alone in that in that feeling. Any other stories that you’d like to share with us today, Jasmine, about, you know, maybe some some moment where you realized we’ve been talking about imposter syndrome, some moment when you realize that you’ve arrived? Did did you did you ever feel one of those sort of things where you were like, wow, I can’t believe I’m doing this. But then you also realize that I deserve to be here.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:31:45] Yeah. It didn’t happen for me until a little bit further along in my career. I think I think the imposter syndrome, I think being a first generation college student, a first generation graduate student, the first person in my family to actually have a manager position at an organization, at a company, all of that really bred and fed into my imposter syndrome. Also being a Latina and STEM like I even though I was working for nonprofit organizations, I was still in research. So I was still sort of that brown girl in STEM. So it took me it took me quite some time to say, like, I’m owning this. And it took me a lot of challenges, like things having my PhD definitely opened a lot of doors, but I still am a Latina. So there were a lot of things that I had to overcome being in a very white male dominated space. And I think that’s just to be that’s the way it is. So I would say that I felt like I had made it when I actually felt like I reclaimed myself. So there was a lot of conformity that I felt like I had to do being a Latina in STEM. And I did it. And there were a lot of ways that I tried to appease others in order to achieve the success that I wanted. And I did it. And that caused a lot of internal struggles. So I would say that my aha moment and my moment of coming into my power was really when I reclaimed my identity and myself and really stepped into the woman that I wanted to be in my career. And that took time. That took time because I kind of had to let go of a lot of these other things that are sort of external factors and do the internal work.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:33:27] Yeah, that makes sense. So finish the sentence for me. My my name is Jasmine Escalera and I am.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:33:34] My name is Jasmine Escalera and I am a powerful career woman.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:33:39] OK, so so you’re you’re identifying as female, but not Latina, right off and not as a doctor, right?
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:33:48] No, no. I mean, I really my my power I’ve always told individuals that, like, when I stepped into my power, I stepped back into my identity. But my identity is not my PhD. My identity is my my community, where I came from, the fact that I was that girl from the projects like that’s more of what I claim rather than in my PhD. My PhD has been a vehicle for me to be able to do amazing work and for me to be able to really live a life where I can give back in a very unique way. Like I think the work that I’m doing is giving back in a very, very unique way. And I love that. I love everything that my she has afforded me the challenges and also the opportunity.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:34:38] Yeah. And the opportunities. I think that’s amazing. Where do you see those opportunities taking you next? You have you have you thought about what you think the next one three, five years looks like?
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:34:50] Yeah. So I mean, you know, because of because of the challenges I faced being a Latina in STEM, I actually did a lot of journeying of myself of internal work, but also really trying to figure out how to navigate the career world as a woman of color, just in general as a woman of color. So two years ago, I founded my own career coaching business where I use my leadership and my management experience, some of the challenges that I faced and overcame being a woman of color and in my career. And so for me, the longevity, the where am I going next and what am I doing next? I really want to focus on now helping women of color really to overcome their own challenges and barriers by doing the internal work, but also by building the skills and the confidence to really own their careers and to move around the career world in a way that is authentic to them, but also in a way that they’ll be able to achieve and get the things that they want.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:35:49] Yeah, I love that. I know that I personally made that decision to leave kind of corporate world at some point because I didn’t feel like that that was a really good fit for me. And so many of the folks that I like to hang out with now have all come to that decision that, you know, nothing for so many of us, nothing about the way the corporate world is built is is exactly built for us, whether it’s it’s, you know, whatever it might be, and be able to go out there and sort of produce, make your own world and help people in a way that you seem to feel that you’re most connected with, that you’re most called to help with. I think that’s that’s amazing. That to me, that’s the ultimate opportunity, is to write your story and not say I want to plug into this story or that story. But this is my story and I really enjoy that.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:36:41] Yeah, that’s awesome. And I think that’s that’s the way that we should all sort of navigate. It’s like, what is my story and how do I create it for myself? I love that.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:36:49] Oh, that’s that’s cool. I like the way you that. Well, Jasmine, how can people reach out to you if they if they wanted to talk to you about the career path that you’ve had and how they, as you said, write their own story, how would they go about doing that?
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:37:08] Yeah, I love talking about my career path because I feel like it has been windy and all of that great stuff. But I’m very active on LinkedIn, so definitely connect with me there. Jasmine Escalera and I’m also very active on Instagram. So if you ever have any questions or want to have a networking chat and talk about your journey, please just shoot me a message and I’m always open to it.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:37:29] So LinkedIn, Instagram, we will get that in the in the show notes. So those of you who’d like to to check that out, you can go to DissertationDone.com/blog and and and find the episode notes there. Thank you so much for joining us here today. This is really fun. It’s amazing how we hear the same sorts of things, whether I bring him up or not. The imposter syndrome. It’s out there for everyone to. Yeah, just the people face and then the tremendous opportunities are out there. I thank you so much for sharing all that with everyone.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:37:59] Thank you so much. This was absolutely wonderful. I appreciate it. And I love the work that you’re doing because you’re absolutely right. I feel like when you know, someone else has gone through it, it brings this sense of normal to it. And then you don’t have to feel like you’re doing it on your own.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:38:14] It does. We actually have one of our early students. Her dissertation research was on what types of support do you need if you’re going to complete your dissertation remotely so you’re not plugged into a campus somewhere. And she found that you need obviously operational support, someone to tell you what to do and how to do it. But also, you needed emotional support. People there cheering you on it. You can do it. And something that was it was a little bit. It’s a. When we initially figured it out, when we initially found it in the research, but makes all the sense in the world is you also need to find people who’ve been there before and done it before. If you’re husband or wife or mom or whoever it is that might be your cheerleader hasn’t been through the process at some point that they’re there. You know, insistence that you can do it rings hollow. They literally don’t know what they’re talking about. And it becomes frustrating for students that they’re doubting themselves to have someone else, you know, believing and and them not being able to believe in themselves. But if you’ve got somebody who’s been there before and done it before and they tell you that same story, that you can do it. It just it carries more weight. So definitely find yourself wherever it is. We’re happy to help students that are a good fit for us. But just find someone who you can get into your support network who has been through it before. You don’t have to take a ton of their time, but they can share with you and talk to you from time to time and keep you on that path and keep moving forward.
Dr. Jasmine Escalera [00:39:40] Love that. Absolutely love that. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Dr. Russell Strtickland [00:39:44] Yes. Yes. It’s been been really good. I’ve really enjoyed it. I like to remind everyone that today’s episode has been brought to you by Dissertation Done. So if you’d like to talk to us about any of the dissertation stuff that we’ve been talking about today, reach out to us at DissertationDone.com/done. And then something I’m super excited about is we’ve been doing a lot to help folks who are in that expert space to really get their message out there. We call it Expand Your Authority. And by becoming a published author, not only do you have the credibility of having a doctoral degree if you’ve done that, but also you’ve literally written the book on your area of expertise you can find out how they interface with us about that by going to DissertationDone.com/book. Again, Dr. Escalera, thank you so much for being here with us today.
