Our Spotlights
Susana Gonzalez – Educator and Advocate
By Tanya C. Cloud
Susana Gonzalez has always been a visionary – even as a child, at the age of twelve, she had an idea of how she would live her life. When other children were busy playing, Susana was already busy at work as a caregiver, patching up their wounds. As the oldest child in a large family, it was natural for her. "We grew up very close and nurturing to one another, and I think I was always the go-to person when somebody fell, (when somebody) got a laceration, (when somebody) had a tummy ache, and (when somebody) had a fever. I’m the oldest of seven girls, one year apart, so I think sometimes I was naturally drawn to that role…to care and to heal."
Susana has continued to care for others during the more than twenty years she’s worked in the health care field. Her passion and vision have taken her career full circle – from the labor and delivery room to baby and mother unit. Susana started her career as a pediatric nurse at Children’s Memorial Hospital, where her desire to learn influenced her career. "Every time I moved on to a new position it was because I felt that I was ready for new growth, new challenges and new changes." After working at St. Joseph’s, Ravenswood’s, and several other Chicago hospitals with specialties, Susana ventured into a different realm of the health care field – community service. In her role as the Director of Nursing at The Infant Welfare Society, Susana developed programs and services that empowered indigent woman and children to make better decisions. Her programs and services helped educate women, arming them with information needed to make informed choices when they’re in the hospital.
While she initially thought, she might spend the remainder of her career at The Infant Welfare Society, her journey led her back to the place she began: in-patient hospital care. Serving as the Director of the perinatal department at MacNeal Hospital, Susana is now the head of the organization’s birthing center. For the last five years, she’s been responsible for seventy-nine employees, including nurses and allied health care professionals, in the labor and delivery, mother baby and nursery units. In this role Susana, oversees standards, policies and procedures for safety, quality of service, budget, vision, mission and values of the unit. At MacNeal, her team is very instrumental in the decision-making process, and act as key contributors to tactical and strategical initiatives. For Susana, it’s about inclusion and shared-governance. "You bring your staff to the table, you support them, you value them, you motivate them and you watch them grow and flourish…If you do it right they embrace it. They’re engaged and they make it happen." As a leader, she always reminds her staff that they are there to make a difference in people’s lives, whether it’s a visible difference or one that’s acknowledged years down the road.
Susana not only touches people’s lives through her work as a director at MacNeal, she also believes in reaching out to others through continued community service. Today, she is active on several boards, and has served on countless others throughout her career. Susana’s March of Dimes volunteer work and advocacy has always been a natural fit, near and dear to her heart, and goes hand-in-hand with making people aware of infant mortality rates. She’s worked with the organization for over ten years, chairing program committees, conferences and supporting critical initiatives like the folic acid campaign.
Susana believes strongly in every organization she supports, and understands the importance of getting behind a cause you truly believe. On the board of the Chicago Bilingual nurse consortium she works on the nursing shortage issues. "The Chicago Bilingual Nurse Consortium is a collaborative partnership designed to increase the number of internationally educated nurses for practice as bilingual, bicultural nurses in metropolitan Chicago and surrounding communities through advocacy, education, and supportive services. The current Focus is to prepare internationally educated Hispanic/Latino nurses to achieve licensure in Illinois. She is an active member at the National association of Hispanic nurses she sits on the scholarships and awards committee, a role she enjoys greatly.
She is active on the executive board of Mujeres Latinas en Accion and assisted with their major capital campaign, board governance and annual dinners. Their mission is to empower Latinas through providing services, which reflect their values and culture and being an advocate on the issues that make a difference in their lives. In 2007 the organization recognized her as an outstanding community leader, honoring Susana with the Maria ‘Maruca’ Martinez Community Service Award. Not only does she serve women through her community service, but she’s also a strong political activist and has served on women’s advisory committees, keeping legislators informed about key health issues as they relate to their constituents.
Recently, Susana has decided to pursue a dual Master of Science in Nursing / Health Administration. "We’re always learning and we’re always being challenged, and we’re always changing. All of us have so much more to give." While Susana doesn’t know what the future holds for her career, she does know that it’s important for her to continue expanding her knowledge to enhance both her professional and personal life. She believes that it’s important to do what you love and love what you do.
Sophia Wong Boccio - A Woman of The World
By Tanya C. Cloud
There aren’t too many women that are more culturally diverse than Sophia Wong Boccio. A ‘woman of the world’, Sophia has lived, worked, and played in more places than most of us can imagine. While Hong Kong may be home, as an adult Sophia was one of the first people from Hong Kong to live and work in China as an expatriate when China started opening up to the western world. In Beijing, she worked for several international companies trading strategic raw materials. For over sixteen years, she had a blossoming career in bulk commodities trading, progressing from a junior position to the managing director of a trading firm doing over $400 million.
It was in Beijing where Sophia met her husband, Michael, a New Yorker, who ventured to Beijing as a foreign student, where he later lived and had an equally successful "China Trade" career. The couple took a 2-year leave of absence during 1990-91 and moved back to New York to further their academic interests. When they returned to Beijing in 1993, greatly influenced by New York’s art and culture, Sophia decided to pursue her true love – THE ARTS. "New York is a vibrant cultural city. Every day you open the arts and leisure page, it blows your mind with all the stuff going on….So I got really inspired by that. " With an entrepreneurial spirit, she started an independent film program in Beijing showcasing Chinese filmmakers’ works for all the international expatriates. Sophia’s desire to educate the world about culturally diverse art forms didn’t end in Beijing. In fact, her journey was just beginning.
When Michael’s company moved them from Asia to Chicago in 2000, the first thing she told him was, "I’m going to look for an arts related job!" Her search quickly landed her with the Chicago International Film Festival where she spent seven years working first in operations, and then for the managing director. Ready for a new challenge, Sophia joined Chicago’s Fulcrum Point New Music Project as the Executive Director in 2007. Fulcrum, a champion of new music, has distinguished itself in the artistic world through its production of multimedia performances intertwining music, art, literature, and theater from different cultures. In her current role, Sophia is responsible for finance, fundraising, staffing, program development and administrative activities. Much of her time is spent on fundraising, educating potential donors about Fulcrum’s programs and new educational initiatives. But she still finds time to lend a hand for the smaller things, when needed. Jokingly, she says, "I often tell people I have to be the one to go out and buy the stamps, lick the stamps, also draft the letter about the fundraising donations, and then mail it." Sophia’s involvement in every aspect of the business reflects her depth of commitment to the organization, and personal mission to make every concert a learning experience.
Outside of Fulcrum, Sophia still flexes her creative muscle. This year, along with her husband, they will co-chair their neighborhood Halloween Celebration. Hosted in a local park, the event is fully supported by local merchants. A number of activities are planned, including an appearance by the "Puppet on Bike"; "Get Fit with the Ghosts"; stilt walkers & jugglers. Sophia promises to temporarily turn the neighborhood into a family fun and scary place, making it an event to remember!
Q. It’s clear you have a love of music and the cinema. Where did your love of the arts come from?
A. "Family has a lot of influence because both my parents were in the film business in Hong Kong. My father was a film editor; my mom was an actress….I grew up in that kind of environment. In our house, (my) uncle and aunt are directors, cinematographers, co-actors."
Q. How have you been able to successfully make the transition from different industries considering you’ve been in commodities, cinema and the music industry?
A. "My bottom line is run everything like YOUR OWN business, whether it’s a non-profit business or for profit business – the bottom line has to be the same. You need to have good organizational skills, you have to have strong communication skills. These are the basic elements that can be applicable to any type of trade, any business. If you do all that well, I think you will succeed in everything."
Q. Do you consider Chicago home now?
A. "Very much so! I love it! The city is beautiful. The lake shoreline is a real treasure…Anybody can come in and enjoy the lake, from north all the way down to south. We all share that shoreline….Millennium Park is a real asset to the cultural scene. (In) Summer, every day you can go to a free concert, a free dance. There’s so much to do, you really have a hard time choosing."
A Survivor’s Story - Tannis Williamson
By Tanya C. Cloud
"Breast cancer has no age limit. It sees no color. It sees no economic background. It can happen to anyone regardless of whether or not you have a history…It can happen to you."
Tannis Williamson knows this first hand, because she has lived this story, like so many other women that have been impacted by breast cancer. She is a survivor, not of the actual disease, but a survivor, who along with her father and brother, learned to cope with life after the tragic and untimely loss of her mother to breast cancer.
Today in her role as the Annual Fund Director for Breast Cancer Network of Strength, Tannis acts as an advocate for breast cancer, a cause that has personally impacted her life, and one that she strongly believes in. But when she originally heard about the job opportunity, she thought it was too good to be true.
"I’m talking about something that has affected my life, and then I’m doing something that I love, which is fundraising," said Tannis. "So this was definitely the ‘Dream’ job."
In her role, Tannis is somewhat of a trailblazer – laying the foundation for the organization’s fundraising programs. Much of her day is spent trying to figure out the best approach for getting, and keeping donors engaged, as well as how to motivate them to give to the organization.
Although Breast Cancer Network of Strength, formerly known as Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization, has been around for 30 years, it’s still an integral part of Tannis’ job to educate people about the organization, while reinforcing the importance of breast health.
She touts the benefits of the many programs offered by the organization, and explains to donors how women of all ages can benefit.
"We (Network of Strength) go into high schools and talk to junior and senior girls about breast health awareness, and we also show them how to do self breast examinations," says Tannis. " A prosthetic breast is used to show them what normal feels like versus what a lump feels like…so they’ll know what they’re looking for."
The fundraising initiatives of the organization take Tannis many places, giving her the opportunity to meet a lot of great people, including breast cancer survivors. Her message is equally valuable to them, and she shares with them information about the organization’s resources and ways survivors can get involved.
"I tell those people who are survivors that Network of Strength has a 24-hour hotline that’s staffed solely by breast cancer survivors and it’s called Your Shoes," says Tannis. "So I ask these women, join our hotline, be peer counselors… because there are other women who are currently going through what you’ve been through."
While Tannis’ dedication to breast cancer health originated many years ago as a youth, her interest in fundraising arose later in life. The path to Breast Cancer Network of Strength was preceded by a number of roles in the legal and non-profit arenas, but it was her time at the Salvation Army Metropolitan Division that sparked her true ‘love’ of fundraising. As Gift Advisor with the Salvation Army, Tannis dealt with individual donors and major donors.
"I would cultivate relationships with those people and get them involved in what we were doing at the Salvation Army," says Tannis "I also worked with the planned giving donors, who would leave something to the Salvation Army through a client will, trust or anything like that."
It was during that two-year period Tannis realized how much she liked fundraising and that because of her enjoyment it didn’t really feel like a job. Armed with the knowledge she’d gained at the Salvation Army, and the new realization that she loved raising money for a cause, Tannis left to become Breast Cancer Network of Strength’s Annual Fund Director.
Throughout her career, Tannis’ father has been a huge supporter of her decisions. She still talks to her Dad at least once a week, but these days she’s usually calling to check on him instead of the other way around.
"One thing that I just love about him is that he allowed us to fall," says Tannis. "He allowed us to make our mistakes, and he didn’t come back and say - Well I told you, you shouldn’t have done that. He always encouraged us to try."
Her father’s encouragement and tough love didn’t go unnoticed. While he allowed her and her brother to fall, she knew he would always be there to pick her up if she really needed it. Just like her father shared advice and support, Tannis continues the same tradition with Breast Cancer Network of Strength, supporting people who need it the most.
For more information about breast cancer, and Breast Cancer Network of Strength, please visit:
Dr. Brooke Jackson, M.D.
pi-o-neer
Show Spelled Pronunciation [pahy-uh-neer] Show IPA
–noun
Dr. Brooke Jackson, M.D. comes from a family of educators. Her mother was a teacher, and her father was a physician who held the position of Chairman for the Department of Pathology at Howard University. More than anything Dr. Jackson’s parents valued education, and instilled in her their ethics and morals. “My father was the first one in his family to go to college - go to med school. So I think he valued…they both valued education. I think for them ‘not’ getting a graduate degree was not an option…..certainly, (my) not going to college was not an option.” Like her father, Dr. Jackson was the ‘first’ – a pioneer – in many areas of medicine.
Her decision to pursue dermatology at Georgetown University Medical School didn’t come easy though. Dr. Jackson initially considered pursuing OBGYN, but soon realized that this field might not give her the career / life balance she sought. The story told by one OBGYN really stuck with her, essentially causing her to take stock of what she truly wanted to do. “I remember particularly one man, who was probably in his sixties, said, ‘I have four children and I haven’t seen a single one of them graduate from high school because I was delivering someone else’s baby.’”
Her choice to enter dermatology not only gave Dr. Jackson the flexibility she desired, but allowed her to build on-going relationships through a diversity of patients and to utilize processes and procedures, two things she greatly enjoys. One of her mentors, Dr. John A. Kenney, Jr. played a big role in helping her define her specialty within the medical field. Dr. Kenney, who founded the department of dermatology at Howard University, was a friend of the family and served as a wonderful source of inspiration and information. With his guidance, Dr. Jackson completed her post graduate medical training, doing an internship in pediatrics at the University of Chicago and dermatology residency training at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit Michigan. While at Henry Ford Hospital, she blossomed under the leadership of Dr. Edward A. Krull, Chairman of Dermatology. His mentorship proved to be invaluable, influencing Dr. Jackson’s decision to seek a fellowship in lasers at Harvard University and become the first African American dermatologist awarded the honor. “The fellowship really gave me the opportunity to learn about…lasers and ethnic skin – actually at the time I was up there – that was not even a field. Most of the studies that they were doing at that time were on Caucasian patients.” After completing her formal training, Dr. Jackson remained at Harvard as a faculty member, until she left for her second fellowship in skin cancer surgery. At Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, she studied mohs micrographic surgery and later founded the Mohs Surgery Unit at MD Anderson Cancer Center. “I loved my job in Houston…the patients. In particular when you walk into a hospital that is dedicated to cancer patients, it’s a very special place.”
Even with such a rewarding career, Dr. Jackson has had her share of challenges – because of both her race and gender. While demographics in medicine have started to shift and the field has a proportionate number of women, she still recalls times when her credentials were challenged. “There were a couple of instances when I actually entered the room and they either thought I was a nurse…or an orderly, even though I was wearing a long white coat that said Dr. Jackson.” But for her, giving up was not an option; a lesson that her parent’s love and endurance taught her.
Dr. Jackson is currently a board certified Dermatologist and Dermatologic Surgeon. She serves as a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and the American College of Mohs Micrographic Surgery and Cutaneous Oncology. As an expert in her field, Dr. Jackson writes, lectures and consults on lasers, ethnic skin and the prevention and treatment of skin cancer. Her devotion to dermatology is equally matched by her dedication to her husband and twin daughters. When she’s not spending quality time with her family she enjoys running, having finished eight marathons and six triathlons. Dr. Jackson is someone we can all admire and appreciate because of her many contributions and accomplishments.