IAM2273 – CEO Emphasizes the Significance of Understanding All Community Needs in Public Health

00:00 - 00:34

Brittaney Jenkins: It's been so rewarding to be able to educate people about preventable things, to identify barriers to resources and literacy and so much more. So that is really my story, really living and surviving those communities. And even before I started my company at Jenkins Public Health Consulting, I had the opportunity to work with local governments and support the community I lived in and was raised in to get them the resources and access that they needed. So like full circle moment in so many ways and they actually even became my client.

00:34 - 01:01

Intro: Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO Podcast.

01:03 - 01:10

Gresham Harkless: Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the IMCEO Podcast and I'm super excited to have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Brittany Jenkins. Brittany, excited to have you on the

01:10 - 01:13

Brittaney Jenkins: show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here as well.

01:13 - 01:45

Gresham Harkless: Yeah, I'm excited to have you on and Brittany's doing so many awesome things. So of course, before we jump in to having a phenomenal conversation, I want to read a little bit more about Brittany so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And Brittany is the CEO of Jenkins Public Health Consulting, a woman in minority-owned firm specializing in capacity building, strategic partnerships, and community engagement strategies. JPHC helps health focus organizations upskill teams and exceed the performance goals of programs and initiatives using a 5 step framework. Brittany's dedication to the public health industry and workforce

01:45 - 02:12

Gresham Harkless: translates to her efforts of mentoring individuals worldwide since 2018 and landing mid to senior level jobs in public health and health care. And, before preparing for this, I was reading a little bit more about Brittany and listening to some of her podcasts that she's been on. She's an awesome person. She has a really powerful story as well too. But 1 of the things that really kind of resonated with me as I say, it's always great to of course, know what people do, but I think it's even more powerful to know why they do it. And 1

02:12 - 02:23

Gresham Harkless: of parts of her strong why and started her business stemmed from the environment that she grew up in and her family resided. I thought that was really, really powerful. So I'm sure we're going to dive a little bit more into that. But Bri, are you ready to speak to the IMCL community?

02:24 - 02:26

Brittaney Jenkins: I am so ready.

02:27 - 02:33

Gresham Harkless: So to kind of kick everything off, let's rewind the clock a little bit. Here a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CN story.

02:34 - 03:11

Brittaney Jenkins: Yes. Oh my goodness. And it's so deep and it really continues to stem my passion for public health and healthcare. But, you know, growing up, I did live in a poverished area, underserved, under-resourced area in Indianapolis, Indiana, west side. And when I tell you the eyes that you see through a child is completely different from the eyes you see as an adult. Because As I grew to understand the community that I lived in, and my grandparents had to adopt us because we lived in an area that was dangerous. Not only was it under-resourced, but the crime

03:11 - 03:45

Brittaney Jenkins: was very high. Actually, both of our neighbors, we lived in townhouses. Both of our neighbors died. 1 was murdered, 1 we're not sure what happened to them. So we were actually adopted by our father's parents. And, you know, that journey living with my grandparents opened up the opportunity to learn about my community because they were philanthropists. Now they never would consider themselves public health or health advocates, but it was a lot of the work that we were doing. We were at the shelters providing food. We were giving clothes. We were doing fundraising for the Haitian Environmental

03:45 - 04:17

Brittaney Jenkins: Health Association, their initiatives, a global initiative. And I remember the first time I had actually had success in that I raised $800 as a second grader that benefit a Haitian community. And I was so proud of that actually still have the necklace that that community made for me. And that really fired something up in me. And so I started to volunteer at the hospital. I also was able to job shadow a physician who worked on the pediatric unit. And I was like, I want to help people. And the first thing came to mind was being a

04:17 - 04:36

Brittaney Jenkins: pediatric surgeon. And fast forward being in college, I had the opportunity to work in the hospital, even post college. And I noticed that patients were there for preventable diseases and deaths. And I couldn't take it. I was too emotional. I was getting in trouble for spending too much time with the patients in

04:36 - 04:36

Intro: the rooms.

04:37 - 05:14

Brittaney Jenkins: And I changed my career path to public health. And 13 years now, I haven't looked back. And it's been so rewarding to be able to educate people about preventable things, to identify barriers to resources and literacy and so much more. So that is really my story, really living and surviving those communities. And even before I started my company at Jenkins Public Health Consulting, I had the opportunity to work with local governments and support the community I lived in and was raised in to get them the resources and access that they needed. So like full circle moment

05:14 - 05:21

Brittaney Jenkins: in so many ways. And they actually even became my client in 2024. So it was a big full circle moment all over again.

05:21 - 05:31

Gresham Harkless: Yeah, absolutely. And that's why I think that why is so powerful. And then, so I wanted to drill down a little bit more here, a little bit more on how you're serving with and work with your clients. Could you take us through a little bit more on what that looks like?

05:31 - 06:09

Brittaney Jenkins: Yes, for sure. So I started Jenkins Public Health Consulting because I was offended by the way community outreach and engagement was being done. I felt like it was generalized. It wasn't intentional. It wasn't culturally competent. These are all key words that organizations are using now, but that's the basis of why we were developed in 2018. And so that's why I started the company. I wanted to make sure that organizations were skilled and trained and address their biases when it came to interacting with communities, not just of color, but all communities, right? Because sometimes it's not just

06:09 - 06:47

Brittaney Jenkins: about race who's living in under-resourced areas. When we talk about rural versus urban, those are also under-resourced areas. So how are we, you know, addressing their needs as well? So I do trainings and consulting for health focused organizations that includes nonprofits, government agencies and businesses who have a health focused initiative. So I really helped them get to the root cause of their underfunded programs or underperforming programs and initiatives and our 5 step framework. And it's really helped teams to feel more empowered, help them communicate more effectively among each other and also see why they are really

06:47 - 07:20

Brittaney Jenkins: doing the work that they're doing because some are like why are we collecting these performance measures? Why are we conducting these outreach events? You know some of them are feeling purposeless right like there's no purpose behind this but that framework has really helped people to identify the bigger why and get clear and create strategic partnerships. So consulting, training, and then we have a workforce development arm of the company which allows me to take a lot of the insights from when I'm supporting these healthcare organizations on what they're looking for from candidates and bring that into those

07:20 - 07:49

Brittaney Jenkins: who are trying to land mid to senior level jobs in public health. And it has helped so many people around the world go through our public health mentor program to land mid to senior level jobs in public health. They're gaining over 30 skills. They're doing it in 90 days or less, and it's been very successful. And I just, I have to say that having that insider knowledge has been very helpful for people who are trying to navigate. I tell people, I don't encourage you to look for entry level jobs. You are much more than that. And

07:49 - 07:54

Brittaney Jenkins: so how can we equip you with the skills and confidence needed to navigate the field successfully?

07:54 - 08:19

Gresham Harkless: Yeah, that ends up being such a powerful thing. And I love that you do that. And I almost wonder if that's part of what I would like to call your secret sauce. It could be for yourself, the business or a combination of both. But I'm gonna use the word holistic, is you seem to have an ability to be able to see all those aspects, see both sides of those aspects, even the leaves and just understanding, it's much more than just saying, let's just do this because this seems good, because there might be so many other implications

08:19 - 08:25

Gresham Harkless: that happen as a result of that decision. But do you feel like your ability to be able to see that as part of what the sexual part of it makes you unique?

08:25 - 08:59

Brittaney Jenkins: Yeah, because I used to be an environmental health specialist for the health department. And I mean, when that guy said that analogy about the leaves and the debris, well, I actually had that piece, but you know, the whole tree thing, I was like, Oh, man, I have to tell this guy about my nerdy thoughts. So yes, I think having the background in healthcare working in the hospital, helping with like systems change within the hospital and being a certified health education specialist, that has given me a lot of insight into both sides and really understanding the different

08:59 - 09:30

Brittaney Jenkins: approaches that are needed for community. And then of course, the lived experience. When I hear lived experience, I hear someone who has actually been through the trenches and are understanding what community needs are. But I'll have to say 1 thing you mentioned earlier is like the people who represent you. I think another piece of that being careful is that sometimes we can be hard on those who we feel like they can overcome that, right? Like, oh, you're a man, you should be tough. Oh, I've been through that. And so I know you can get through that

09:30 - 09:51

Brittaney Jenkins: as well. We don't know all those other things that they're dealing with, right? We call those social determinants of health. We don't know all the other factors that it's affecting them from getting out of the situation or to the next level, because it seemed so easy for us or because we got through it. And so being very careful on how we approach people and how we help them navigate through their challenges.

09:52 - 10:03

Gresham Harkless: Yeah, that is a being so huge. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple Book or a habit that you have. But what's something you lean on that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:03 - 10:38

Brittaney Jenkins: Oh, I love effective and efficient. Something that I lean on is a project management tool. I thank God for Asana, and obviously this is my sponsor. Thank God for a project management tools because not only am I a business owner, you know, serving organizations across the United States, but I'm also a mother and I'm also a wife and a 2 year old toddler who's like taking everything, switching up my papers like I couldn't even find my shoestring this morning. I'm just like, what the heck? But a project management tool that helps me organize all of my

10:38 - 11:14

Brittaney Jenkins: projects and help me understand what tasks have and have not been completed, what to delegate, you know, forecasting, goal setting. So I love Asana, I have used it before. And I, you know, that's every client that I work with. Typically I'm onboarding them into that, our apprenticeship or internship program, they're utilizing that as well. And it's improved communication significantly. It's helped us be more efficient, right versus like scrambling through emails Did I send them that you know, when did they submit this because we're tracking the timeliness of completion as well So productivity and everything so I

11:14 - 11:31

Brittaney Jenkins: would say the project management tool is something that I use every single day. Without that, I am a pen and paper person. I still love to write things down, but I will actually screenshot and thankfully for iPhones, it can translate it, transcribe it into text and I upload it just like that.

11:32 - 11:53

Gresham Harkless: So. Nice, yeah. I love that. And yeah, it's not sponsored by Asana, but it can be Asana if you're listening. Definitely, you know, reach out, you never know. So you might've already touched on this, but what would you consider to be a little bit more of what I would call a CEO nugget? So this could be a word of wisdom or piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your younger business self if you were to hop into a time machine or potentially your favorite client.

11:54 - 12:27

Brittaney Jenkins: You are where you're supposed to be right now. I think we all work for more. We want to become better and better every day. And we want to be at a different part of our lives even once we reach that goal. But you have to just step you have to step into that right. I talked about accountability and action. And when you look at where you are right now and see where do you wanna be, right? I want to reach more people with my services and support more communities. What is stopping me? What's that little thing

12:27 - 12:44

Brittaney Jenkins: that I'm like, oh, lean into that. That's public speaking for me. That's why I'm here today. That's going out into my community to shake random people's hands that I, you know, I actually have no fear in that. But it's stepping into yourself, even if you don't feel fully prepared.

12:45 - 12:55

Gresham Harkless: Yeah, that's such a huge thing. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And our goal is to have different quote unquote CEOs on this show. So Brittany, what does being a CEO mean to

12:55 - 13:29

Brittaney Jenkins: you? Being the CEO to me means to be fearless And you know, false evidence appearing real. That's true. Most people don't start their own business or take that leap of faith because they are fearful and they're like, I don't know the answers. I don't know how to do this. I don't know where to go for resources. But like it's out there. There's billions of dollars waiting for business owners, even minority business owners. So there's some priority areas for us out there. And so I think to be a CEO is to be fearless, and it provides flexibility.

13:31 - 13:46

Brittaney Jenkins: And I just I do enjoy it. It is hard, it is hard work, but it's like, I know I have not been passionate for working towards something like this in my life, work-wise. And so I just love the things that I'm doing for organizations and communities.

13:47 - 14:09

Gresham Harkless: Yeah, absolutely. It's been such a huge thing. I think I was reading that, I think you posted something that just in Alabama, it was over $40 billion, I think, of people that had disease or things that they were dealing with that could have been prevented. And I think sometimes when you have those numbers, you realize that, then you realize that, hey, it may not all be together, but I need to take a step so that these people that I can serve are waiting for me.

14:10 - 14:35

Brittaney Jenkins: Yes, it's $44 billion. Chronic disease is costing Alabama $44 billion in medical costs and loss productivity. Right. So people are going to the hospital and then they're also calling off work. They're, you know, either getting, they're getting fired, so many things, and it could be happening to them, their family, their children, what have you. Chronic disease is rampant across the nation.

14:35 - 14:48

Gresham Harkless: Yeah, that ends up being such a powerful thing. So what I wanted to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, let people know how best they can get a hold of you, find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working

14:48 - 15:20

Brittaney Jenkins: on. Yes, this was such a pleasure. If you are working at a health-focused organization and you're dealing with underperformance of your programs or initiative, please connect with me. Our Five-Step Framework walks through the entire process of really looking at the root cause. And we're also upskilling, you know, those who are trying to navigate the workforce. And we're trying to get away from entry-level small thinking status quo. And we want to upskill professionals to land a job that's going to help sustain organizations and their mission long term and build trust with communities. So we have some the

15:20 - 15:58

Brittaney Jenkins: public health mentorship program that's been around since 2018. We also have our community impact intensive, which is for health professionals who are wanting to build skill and capacity building and strategic partnerships and community engagement. That's our online courses. But you guys can best reach me by www.jinkins.com on LinkedIn, Brittany Jenkins, and Instagram is jinkins underscore public health. So thank you guys so much for this opportunity and I hope to connect with all of you. We do have some free resources available as well if you want to just get on our email list. We have a health

15:58 - 16:03

Brittaney Jenkins: equity guide dropping very soon And then we also have a resume enhancement checklist.

16:03 - 16:11

Gresham Harkless: Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate you so much, Brittany. Of course, we're going to have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest

16:11 - 16:13

Brittaney Jenkins: of the day. Thank you so much.

16:13 - 16:48

Intro: Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.