[INTERVIEW]

[0:01:58.6] JW: Welcome to another great episode of The Public Health Joy Podcast, and today, we have with us Ameka Coleman, who is the visionary, founder, and CEO of Strands of Faith, a clean beauty brand dedicated to nourishing and revitalizing textured hair with cruelty-free, non-toxic, moisture-rich ingredients. Equipped with a double bachelor’s degree in biological sciences microbiology, a master’s in clinical research management, and an MBA, Ameka utilized her scientific background to begin formulating and testing products in her own kitchen.

 

Committed to uplifting the next generation, Ameka has also started a nonprofit called, Faith and Flourish, dedicated to positively impacting the lives of young girls through mentorship, mental health awareness, and entrepreneurship. Exposure. Now, here’s the part where I tell how we met and how I got her on the podcast because Ameka and I are both part of Our Village United, which is a nonprofit that supports Black entrepreneurs and is led by the amazing Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon or Dr. Key as we like to call her. 

 

And so, we were part of a program and that’s where we got to meet each other but here’s the thing, I follow Ameka on LinkedIn. I knew Ameka and the hair products and the hair brand and Strands of Faith and then, I came across this random LinkedIn post about Ameka going to a – was it your college that you formed? You went into a program you were formerly a part of and you were talking to the students and engaging with them on research, and I was like, “How did I not know that you are a researcher?” 

 

All the talks, we’ve interacted, all the conversations we’ve had, it has never come up. Like, how – 

 

[0:03:58.9] AC: Right, never come up. Yeah.

 

[0:04:02.6] JW: You just forgot that, to tell me that detail.

 

[0:04:06.5] AC: It’s one part of the journey that I’m finding as I share more of my journey. I’m putting all the pieces together to the forefront now and so, I think it’s kind of like new for a lot of people seeing, you’re hearing about the new part of the journey, and so that’s probably why you never heard of it before and then, but that’s yeah, I’m now – I’m being more vocal about the entire process, so.

 

[0:04:31.1] JW: We definitely need to hear more, that’s why I brought you on the podcast because now I’m like, “Girl, I need the whole story, the whole background.”

 

[0:04:39.8] AC: Yeah.

 

[0:04:40.7] JW: Because how did you go from being a researcher and being in that field and you know, you got the MBA and all that, is microbiology?

 

[0:04:48.0] AC: Microbiology, yes.

 

[0:04:49.6] JW: How did you go from that to now, being in the haircare business and doing all these things for our community? I need to – fill in the gaps for me.

 

[0:05:02.7] AC: All the things. It’s so funny because I always this journey a full-circle moment. It’s been so, so full circle. So, to touch on the research piece, I actually – so, I started off with an undergrad at Mississippi State University, that’s where I did my microbiology and my biological science undergraduate degree, and then from there, my goal was to get into research, so to speak. I was being exposed to new fields and areas that I wasn’t previously like, aware of. 

 

And so, UNT, the University of North Texas Health Science Center, you know, they had a program called PREP, which was the Post Bachelor Research Education Program, and their whole goal was to bring in minority students and individuals who aren’t usually like, goes to those type of fields and getting them up to speed, giving them exposure with the goal to prepare them for a doctorate in the research, in the actual research field. 

 

And so, when I got into that program, that’s when I was exposed to a whole new world, that’s where I did the one year in an oncology research lab, and so I was working in the cancer laboratory. My research project was basically, I created this nanoparticle delivery system, that was my goal to use the anti-cancer drug by Rubicin and to create this vehicle to travel, to kill the cancer cells with bypassing the healthy cells.

 

And so, I was in a lab with the project and you know how it is with research, you – that was my first time being exposed to it and it was so foreign to me, but I was learning all the ins and outs that I needed now, which is what makes it full circle. You know, I was in the lab, two in the morning, three in the morning, checking on the infusion process and all the veins and so, I got a lot of my footing there as far as like formulations.

And so, that’s why I will say it came full circle because with that experience, and now that, you know, I formulated our product starting in the kitchen, so now, you know, we have our own manufacturing, facility, and space, it’s just so full circle. So, that is how the research piece connected to the brand. There’s more to the story but that’s just the first piece, that you were talking about.

 

[0:07:16.5] JW: That makes so much more sense now because I was like, how did we get here? But it’s so important to recognize that full circle moment because there are so many things in our past that are relevant to where we are in our present and we don’t really take the time to be vocal about those different pieces, and then we got people on the other end being like, “Wait, hold up.”

 

[0:07:39.7] AC: Right, right, what’s going on here?

 

[0:07:42.2] JW: Where did this come from? And there was several things, and your story sounds very similar to mine in having that program. I think, when I did the one at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the summer undergraduate research experience. That’s how I got exposed to physiology and I was in the lab doing the same stuff and when I think about those experiences, it has come full circle for me as well because I learned that, you know, all that stuff is important. 

 

You know, you got western blots and pipettes and you’re working with the test tubes and all that. It’s important but how can we use that to do something in our community, do something that we – do something that’s relevant to us and our culture and so, the fact that you are in the hair space, hair is so important to Black culture. Like, it’s the epitome of Black culture when you think about hair. 

 

And as you were talking, you were telling me about, you know, formulating things in your kitchen and how many of us, especially as little Black girls grew up with getting our hair done, starting in the kitchen.

 

[0:08:57.3] AC: Yeah.

 

[0:08:58.0] JW: That’s where it starts, and so for you to be able to come from that space, that research in microbiology space and bring that into the kitchen, like, into our Black hair, like, tell us more about that process?

 

[0:09:18.2] AC: Yes, absolutely, I just wanted to piggyback off of what you said about the summer research program when you mentioned earlier about when you first got, I guess, like, the wind of me being a researcher and stuff, that was the keynote speaker that I was doing at UNT for their summer research program for the students there and so, that’s just brought back the memories of just talking to them a couple of weeks ago. 

 

Many of them being exposed to research for the first time, they’re doing their posters and going over everything, it was just amazing but you know, back to like, the whole process of coming to the kitchen, that was just like an amazing journey and process because when I was in the kitchen in the formulating piece, it was curiosity mixed with knowledge. Like, know-how, like, what I knew to come up to reach a goal or a solution of what you know, I was struggling with, what many of us are struggling with, with textured hair. 

 

And so, when it comes to textured hair in the products, historically, the products that were on the shelves weren’t the best when it came to ingredients, you know, filled with toxic ingredients, fillers that didn’t really solve the issues that we were needing for our hair types, which as you know, mostly textured hair, especially kinky or curlier hair have more needs of moisture and hydration.

 

And so, many of those products would have ingredients that just didn’t benefit our hair, and so I found my hair staying dry even after the final products, and so you’re having to reapply over and over and over and so for me, it was like, “What solution can I come up with to extend this moisture for me?” And I was mixing, researching different ingredients that would be able to you know, work together with other ingredients and that would solve my moisture needs. 

 

And so, I tried it on my hair over and over, then I gave them to friends and families to try, and I would gather feedback, and from their feedback, I would iterate and optimize and that’s how I ended up coming up with the final formulas that you know, we’d still sell today that our customers love but it was just a process. In the beginning, it was fun coming up with it and it was just that combined – I call it passion meets purpose because I was very passionate about the haircare piece because back then too at the time, going after it was kind of taboo. 

 

Like, it wasn’t the thing to do, you know, straight hair, relaxed hair, that was still kind of like the standard, and so I created a platform documenting and showcasing my journey, and other women were interested. You know, they wanted too to pursue their own journeys, and so throughout that process, that’s how I was able to just document and to build that community of other people who are on their journeys as well but yeah, that formulated process in the kitchen is where it started and it was magical.

 

[0:12:12.3] JW: And what I hear as you were talking is that connection through our hair, like, is how we build relationships through our hair. Like, I even remember when I was – I was probably three-ish, around about, and my mom used to wash my hair in the kitchen sink and I have, at the time, I had a very irrational fear that I was going to go down the drain and so, the memory in my house, in my parent’s house is, Joyee would scream to the top of her lungs every time it was time to get her hair washed because she was afraid that she was going to go down the drain.

 

But that built memories, right? Maybe not the most pleasant memory for me but it still built memories and even through the process of you know, getting older, I remember getting my first relaxer, it did not end well. All of my hair fell out, well, not by a little bit but I would say I had long, thick hair. I got a relaxer and I think I was about probably nine-ish and got the relaxer and most of my hair fell out. 

 

It grew back, but most of it fell out. My body just did not react to it very well and then, growing up, I went through the natural hair. I ended up getting a relaxer when I was a little bit older, you know, in high school, I think it was high school maybe, getting a relaxer so that I could have the, you know, you want to be cool in high school. You want the straight hair, and then you got all the pictures and everything. 

 

But then when I got to college, I said, “You know what? I think I want to transition to natural.” And there was really nothing out there to help you figure out. There were maybe a couple of blogs at that time, but I feel, like we said, switching to natural was very taboo, and it really also had an effect on your self-esteem as well, and I ended up doing the big chop. If you don’t know what the big chop is, that’s where you cut off all of your relaxed ends of your hair and you go back to your natural hair. I had never had short hair.

 

[0:14:24.3] AC: Yes, same.

 

[0:14:26.5] JW: I never had short hair but that experience really taught me to embrace these different parts of me, and I really had to learn, learn my hair. I think about Tabatha Brown naming her hair Donna, and it was like your hair has a whole different personality so far and it affects your self-esteem. That self-esteem affects your mental health and so, while some people don’t understand the connection between Black hair, the culture of Black hair, and what that does for our mental health. 

 

What that looks like in terms of our relationships and our community, it’s a real thing, like, this is how we do things. So, it’s really important. So, for you, what does that intersection look like for you, especially because your products are focused on clean beauty specific? Not just getting it moisturized and getting it looking good but it’s got to be clean beauty. What does that mean for you and your brand, and especially with that scientific background for you?

 

[0:15:27.0] AC: Yeah. So, most textured hair products over 50% contain those types of ingredients that I was talking about like for instance parabens. That’s a standard preservative system that we use in products and it’s been known to you know, the one to causing thyroid. Other types of toxic ingredients that cause cancer, hormone elevations, like, all the things, and so I wanted to create products that provided the results and was going to find a solution but that was clean at the base form. 

 

That’s super important because as you know in our history, we have a lot of health issues within our communities that some of them like those, aren’t necessarily – where they’re not the lifestyle-related, so to speak, as far as like we – you know, we think about diabetes and you grow up eating the household, those are kind of hereditary from a sense of the lifestyle change. It’s like, you’re learning it, right? 

 

And then when you get older, you can unlearn and do better behaviors. Whereas like relaxers and toxic ingredients, these are products that we’re using and pulling off the shelves, that are essentials that we’re using in our day-to-day lives, so we don’t really have much control or say on those types of products and so, that’s why I think the clean beauty piece was a non-negotiable because our communities, they deserve better, you know? 

 

And so, that’s where that piece came from and then, like, the mental health that you were speaking about. So, I see it from two different angles. Number one, so, that actually ties into our mission. Our mission is to end global texturism. Texturism is basically like a form of hair type discrimination where you – kinkier hair, curlier hair is generally seen as less desirable, unprofessional, not the standard. 

 

Straight hair historically has been deemed as a standard of beauty, like you just mentioned it yourself about getting a straight hair, getting a relaxer, that was what we were taught like as a culture, and then just overall if people across all different races, ethnicities, straight hair has been the thing. And so, we want to rebuild the narrative and show all strands are absolutely beautiful and should be celebrated because however God made you, you should be able to feel and rest and be so confident in that, that you shouldn’t have to look to somebody else as the standard. 

 

Like, you are the standard. You’re in your strand, however they’re made, that’s the standard, and so, you have better mental health when you finally come to that realization and you, you know, believe that it takes on some unlayering to do because what we’ve been taught to believe has been decades in the making but one, your mental health is better for it when you just come out and accept who you are. 

 

So, that’s what we’re doing on the mental health piece and the mission piece of ending the world of texturism but then the other mental health piece on the personal side, which ties into the brand is, you know, my own personal journey and story of mental health and you know, the thing about that with the trauma, with that experience, and I just bring that holistically into the brand because you know, I always saying we sell products second and I know that’s kind of crazy to be a for product brand and business. 

 

You sell products, right? You have to sell products to make money to keep the business going but we sell joy first. We sell faith first, we sell – that’s our primary because we are a holistic in a sense that we want to have your hair looking good but we want your spirit and your soul looking good too. You know, I want to speak to that and so, by elevating your faith within yourself, it affects all areas of your life and so that’s just in a nutshell, I know I went all off and just bring it all in but that’s kind of like where we started with the clean beauty, the mental health, and bringing it all together. 

 

[0:19:12.6] JW: And I absolutely love that because our hair is the way that we express ourselves, right? I hear stories all the time of women who go into the professional workplace, Black women who go into the professional workplace, they have their hairstyle one way one day, switch it up the next day, and then people don’t even realize that they’re talking to the same person, right? 

 

And there are so many ways that we experience discrimination like this is our lived experience, this is what happens to us on an everyday basis. We wake up in the morning thinking about what does our hair going to look like and how is it going to be perceived by other people, right? And now that I’ve actually made the transition, I’ve done the big chop twice and I actually had another situation where I was diagnosed with lupus. 

 

And when I was diagnosed with lupus, I had lesions in my scalp and the lesions in my scalp caused my hair to fall out in those places and so I was basically bald in places in my scalp and so, I was physically sick, I was also mentally sick as well over the transition, over what was happening, over what my hair was doing, what my hair was looking like, and I had to go into the workplace and trying to cover up bald spots because I don’t want people to see what’s happening and what’s going on, and that’s hard. 

 

Like, it takes a toll on your mental health, and going through the process of the person you thought you knew isn’t there anymore and just to think about how many people are going through that like not just with lupus but it might be with cancer. It might be with another medical condition and we don’t how these products are contributing to this, to this medical conditions. It could be any number of things because we don’t know what’s in that stuff. 

 

And so, to be able to make that connection between Black hair as the way that we express ourselves and how it’s connected to our physical health and the discrimination that we experience and it goes right back to in public health, we talk about of course the social determinants of health, right? And they’re divided up into these different domains, different categories. 

 

Hair and the way that we express ourselves through hair and the way people perceive us through hair, that is a big part that people don’t think about when it comes to our specific culture. 

 

[0:22:03.5] AC: And you also mentioned about the workplace, that’s – everything that we’re talking about actually has – is correlated and we have terminology behind it, CROWN Act. That’s why the CROWN Act, we really think distance, they’re a type of discrimination in the workplace, in the schools, like all the things, and it’s crazy to even think about 2024 that we need a law you know, to be passed to say that you can’t discriminate against these things, like touch your hair. 

 

Like, you have a lock, you know? Just because you have a lock doesn’t mean you’re any less professional than somebody who doesn’t. You have a whole doctorate degree, you know you’re educated, you’ve done the research, you know? And so I think that law should be passed in all of the United States. We’re actually in the process of you know, trying to get it passed here in our beautiful state of Mississippi. 

 

But it’s so important and it all ties together, like it’s like a unit. Like you said, it’s just – it’s all interconnected, which is mind-blowing to think about that.

 

[0:22:59.8] JW: Yeah, and I even think about not just in that professional setting like from coworker to coworker or from supervisor to employee or any of that but even in my work with communities through research, like that’s one of the ways I build relationship when I’m – and especially as a community that does not know me, even if there’s a Black community in Mississippi, they don’t know me. 

 

But there are some places or common ground that I can find to connect with them, Black hair is one of them, and people when people think about research, especially public health research and community-engaged research, they can make it more complicated than what it is, in terms of what it takes to build a relationship and don’t get me wrong, it can be challenging. It can be complicated but there are some little things that we can connect on. 

 

And so, when I get introduced to Miss Johnson at Mount Olive Baptist Church, and I compliment on her hair, there’s a real connection there. It’s a way to break barriers and to build trust but you are going into a community and you’re not aware of the culture of that community. You might not know how to address certain things, right? You know, we’re used to – I know for me, I have an experience in high school, I can’t remember what assembly. 

 

It was something we were having, I had got my hair freshly relaxed, freshly relaxed. It was misty rain that day and there was humidity, and we were outside.

 

[0:24:48.2] AC: Did it poof up on you like a porcupine? 

 

[0:24:51.7] JW: It poofed up and mind you, I was going to a predominantly white school. So then, people are like, “What is happening to your hair?” 

 

[0:25:03.5] AC: Yeah. 

 

[0:25:04.3] JW: “That is doing magic, like what’s happening?” And so then I’m trying to figure out how do I – 

 

[0:25:10.3] AC: Tame it, how you hid it. 

 

[0:25:11.9] JW: But then I can’t fix it like I feel once it goes to that stage, it’s not anything you can just go to the restroom and lay it down, right? And so, it’s those experiences like that that have shaped you know, my viewpoint on things and how I interact with community members. So, if I see somebody who got some poofed-up hair, I’m like, “Well, I know what happened.” 

 

[0:25:37.2] AC: Yeah, you already know. 

 

[0:25:39.0] JW: It’s like if I can do something, I’ll do something. You know, if I can help out, help, of course, I’ve been through it myself, right? And so, just thinking about how all of that intersects with public health and community-engaged research and what it looks like to take that information and to do something amazing for our communities and you were talking about your nonprofit, Faith and Flourish. 

 

So, I wanted to provide some space to talk more about that and kind of what that looks like and how that started. 

 

[0:26:14.3] AC: Yeah. So, actually, Faith and Flourish is my nonprofit. It’s newer, it’s still getting off the ground but it’s basically we are – the goal is to take young girls and to expose them to entrepreneurship, tune them to wellness. I find based on my own journey that the prime years to really expose and to change the mindset of someone is when they’re like in their prime years and I feel like that’s when little girls they’re most exposed to trauma. 

 

Whether it’s peer pressure, maybe it’s abuse, maybe it’s physical abuse at home, maybe it’s sexual abuse, maybe – whatever type of abuse that there is and that robs them of their joy. It robs them of their future and their hope and all those things and I find that like if you introduced them and coached them through something as simple as entrepreneurship, like getting their creative juices flowing with their mind seeing what’s possible. 

 

Like, what ideas do they have? Bringing that to the forefront, letting them know what’s possible being, it gives them a better chance to go out in the future and maybe become women entrepreneurs, building businesses, open that community, and so that’s my whole goal was just the exposure, the awareness. Like I said, it’s personal for me because as a little girl, you know, I experienced the trauma. 

 

I am a victim of sexual trauma, like you know, as young as five years old, and so growing up being shy, being reserved, keeping to myself, just feeling like I don’t have a voice, all those things, I feel invisible, I feel like I didn’t have any power, and when I think back to the little girl, how powerless I felt, I don’t want any of the little girls to feel like that, you know? Because I know the power of coming into your true self and being confident. 

 

But you have to cultivate that, you have to have someone who sees you, who believes in you, and who’s going to guide you, and so that’s kind of the whole idea behind Faith and Flourish. It’s brand new, I can’t wait to start our official programming but my hope is to really just impact the lives of all of the young girls who don’t have the guidance to kind of help them lead the way and so. 

 

[0:28:27.5] JW: That’s a powerful testimony and a powerful story of being able to come from that and to look at you know, where you are now and being able to pour into the youth, right? To be able to pour into young girls and especially here in Mississippi. You know, we have a whole different culture of our own beyond the hair aspects. 

 

[0:28:52.2] AC: Right. 

 

[0:28:53.0] JW: And so, really taking in that into consideration and thinking about you know, how can we get more girls in our community and more women in our community to be mentors to these young girls because like we said, we need to be in a place where we are connecting with them, with the younger generation because they’re going to grow up, right? They’re going to be the leaders, they’re going to be the researchers. 

 

They’re going to be the ones building more haircare products for us, for us, right? So, and that should be the goal with anything, anything that we’re doing, anything that we’re doing, anything in our profession regardless of what it is how are we bringing up the next generation to feedback into our community in a positive way because, at the end of the day, it’s about where do find our joy. We find our joy in Black hair, we find our hair – 

 

I mean, our joy in Black culture, we find our joy in our connections to one another, in our relationships to one another and so all of that, even recounting our stories, recounting our lived experiences, it’s all part of our journey to joy across generations. So, with that said, I do want to ask you one last question. 

 

[0:30:16.7] AC: Yes, yes. 

 

[0:30:17.8] JW: What brings you joy in your work. 

 

[0:30:21.0] AC: Ooh, what brings me joy in my work, so many things, all of the work, all of the things. So, actually, so that’s part of our whole goal and mission is to bring joy to textured hair, textured hair has historically been underrepresented, the last of the Mohicans, you know, when it comes to product representation, all the things, and so we just champion that and to be a voice and show that we see you. 

 

You have a place, you know? And so, doing that work brings me joy, our mission, all the things, on the journey to accomplish brings me joy but one of the things that brings me joy and is summed up in our tagline, “Embrace your beauty, believe in you, keep the faith.” The “embrace your beauty” piece, it just brings me so much joy how we’re able to put that message out there and to be a mirror to show people to embrace who you are. 

 

Embrace your beauty. It goes beyond hair. If you’re big, you’re small, you’re tall, you’re short, you wear glasses, you don’t wear glasses, like, you got a narrow nose, a wide nose, embrace your beauty. You know, you’re aesthetic, how you look, embrace that first. Most importantly, embrace your inner beauty, you know? Because each of us have a beauty to ourselves that can nobody meet it, can nobody copy it, it’s our secret sauce, you know?

 

And so, embracing that and in order to embrace that, you have to know who you are, you have to step into that, you have to build your confidence and so, that’s the first piece, believing in yourself, believe in you. Believe in you, that was the hardest journey for me. It took me – I’m 39, it took me just about 39 years to believe in myself, you know? I think the first for me starting this journey six years ago, the brand, that was my first leap to believe in myself. 

 

But it was a continuous evolution process and I know the power in believing in yourself, whatever you’re doing, even your work, you’re having to believe fully in your work, in your mission, in the impact that you’re desiring to create but when you show up and you fully believe in yourself, it transforms people over and beyond you, you know? And so, I think, there’s just so much power and believing in ourselves. 

 

And then the last piece, which all of this brings me so many joy to bring full circle is keep the faith. Keep the faith. Let me tell you, I always say that it was my faith that kept me. Had it not been for my faith, none of what you guys see will be in existence. That alone is so powerful for me and that’s a gift that I always try to give to other people because if you don’t have nothing else when they’re the, you know, the cards fall when you’re in the valley. 

 

When your season’s low, if you have your faith, that’s enough to keep you pushing, keep you going, keep you full of hope, keeping you optimistic, keeping you seeing what’s ahead, and it’s just a propeller to keep you pushing and so, keep the faith. And so, I think all of that combined is what brings me joy, like to know that this brand is so much bigger than me and we’re able to impact over and beyond just products, that’s what brings me joy. So, yes.

 

[0:33:35.9] JW: You just fed my whole spirit. I’m over here, I got a – I got a song in my heart. As soon as you started talking about keep the faith, I was like, We’ve Come This Far by Faith.

 

[0:33:45.6] AC: Yeah.

 

[0:33:45.7] JW: I call the whole song is playing in my head and in my heart right now. So, if you ain’t never heard We’ve Come This Far by Faith, put it in your – 

 

[0:33:54.3] AC: We’ve Come This Far by Faith, yeah.

 

[0:33:55.2] JW: Go listen to it, make sure – I don’t know which version you should listen to, just make sure – 

 

[0:34:00.8] AC: Wow, I do know.

 

[0:34:03.0] JW: That’s the choir, Missy the math choir has probably sung it some time, Donnie McClurkin I think has had some version of it. So, just put it in YouTube and take a listen because I know, same here, my faith is what keeps me strong in this game because as an entrepreneur, you got ups and downs. It’s a roller coaster. You don’t have something to ground you? Baby, you’re going to be lost.

 

[0:34:28.8] AC: Game over, game over.

 

[0:34:31.6] JW: I need you to put your lock-in but you’re going to be lost, okay? So, I love that. So, as we’re wrapping up, tell folks where they can learn more, if they want to get in touch, how can they get in touch and we do have a special little something for our listeners so we’ll talk about that as well.

 

[0:34:49.2] AC: Yes. So, you can find the brand at strandsoffaith.com, you can also find us on socials, on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, just type in Strands of Faith and we’ll pop up everywhere and then, my personal brand, me, Ameka Coleman, I’m found on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all the things, and yeah. So, we have a special exclusive discount code for the Public Health Joy Podcast audience and that is 20% off our entire site, using the code “publicjoy” for 20% off at strandsoffaith.com.

 

[0:35:29.2] JW: Amazing, because I know I need me some products so I’m definitely going be using that code to get those stuff because the lock life, I’m getting used to it but – and I’m loving it but I’m like, “I need some more products. I need my stray locks stay moisturized.” So, I appreciate you so much for coming on this podcast episode, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and this is going to wrap up this episode of The Public Health Joy Podcast.

 

[END OF INTERVIEW]

 

[0:36:02.4] JW: I am so grateful for this time we get to spend together. If you enjoyed this episode, I need you to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. For more information on transforming public health research into positive community impact, visit www.joyeewashington.com. This is where research meets relationship and I’ll see you next time on The Public Health Joy Podcast. 

 

[END]