Corey Dion Lewis (00:01.916)
Hello everybody. Thank you for joining me on the Healthy Project podcast. I'm your host, Corey DeJana -Lewis. I have another, as always, great guest in the building with me today. We're gonna be talking about something that has been, something I've been curious about for a long time, but amongst other things, I just want you to really get to know this individual. But not only are we talking about...

the lived experience for getting hired and jobs and health equity and all that good stuff, but also just chopping up and having a great conversation. I have with me, Quinny Sanchez Lopez in the building. Quinny, thank you so much for being with me today. I really appreciate it.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (00:45.743)
Thanks for having me, Cory.

Corey Dion Lewis (00:47.9)
Yeah, no problem. So, you know, before we get into the conversation, can you tell the people a little bit more about yourself and what gets you up in the morning?

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (00:56.655)
Yeah, so I'll answer the what gets me up in the morning first. I've been preparing for this one. So I like real talk, it's actually my cat. My cat wakes up at like 6am every morning and licks my face and I'm like, okay, I'll feed you. But like, like really like more personally, it's really trying to like improve the lives of others.

Corey Dion Lewis (01:13.98)
Time to go.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (01:23.535)
Thanks kind of reiterating this whole sense of like lived experience. Like I am fueled a lot by like things that I went through growing up and that I witnessed other people go through. And yeah, like once I started working, I was like, I am committed to making sure that people don't have to like live like this anymore. Whether it's poverty or like living in abusive situations or like having lack of mental health treatment, like.

Corey Dion Lewis (01:35.46)
Mm -hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (01:52.975)
I'm really motivated in just improving the lives of other people, especially people who grew up like me, like BIPOC or low income. Like these are the people that have often been forgotten. And so that's kind of really like my motivation and my focus. My career has taken me from doing outreach ministry, like through my church and with the Y to ending up doing like,

research, field research, doing a social work master's program, taking me into digital health, and then also taking me into like research and insight innovation within digital health investment. So I kind of feel like I've lived multiple lives just within these past 10 years since I graduated college. But there's a rhyme and reason to all of that. And I'm excited to talk a little bit more about that.

Corey Dion Lewis (02:50.524)
Yeah, you've done so much, right, in that time. Can you tell us a little bit, how did your lived experience influence your health equity advocacy?

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (03:00.429)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, so my lived experience, if I were to bottle up exactly what it is, is I am a first -generation immigrant. And so when we were also undocumented, so there's this point in my life where I very much understood fear that people had in that realm, and then also what it means to live as an immigrant, not just like...

in regards to policies and things of that nature, but like, okay, what are your chances of living in a safe place or a place that's like habitable? So there's that component. I think also being not just an immigrant, but also being Latina, like I have, I'm like a subset of the immigrant population. And also like, what is this like being half Lat, like being.

Corey Dion Lewis (03:40.572)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (03:57.775)
born in Mexico and then growing up in the United States and being a part of these two cultures and so relating to that. Also being an only child and now as I'm growing up, understanding the responsibilities of what it means to care for elderly parents. Growing up with a Christian context, you name it, having ADHD, understanding mental health from a younger age. So like.

There's all of these things that come with me, like whenever I go into any organization. And so what that allows me to bring in, and in the work that I do, is you mentioned the first, like you mentioned advocacy. Like that's a really big component. When I'm working with an organization, I'm thinking of like the community as a whole. I'm thinking of like those folks that will have walked in my shoes.

and vice versa, like those that are walking with them. So it might be somebody that has a completely different experience than I do, but they've gone through a struggle and my part of that is to make sure that they're being heard. And I do that in several ways. One of them is just being a cultural translator. I was talking to my friend the other day. We both do, like we were both really involved in community engagement type of initiatives.

And we both grew up in the South. Some of the only Latinas in the room, our classmates were predominantly white, our contacts were predominantly white, but we also still had a side of us that was very much like, you go to church on Sundays and it's with Latina people. And so we learned these two contexts. She was telling me about knowing what it's like to talk to the like,

Corey Dion Lewis (05:28.028)
Mm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (05:50.255)
um the the older like southern ladies that know that yes ma 'am or the bless my heart or um the ones that are like just cheering you on and like sometimes that's like we can be taken aback if that's not like what we were raised with or we're like what are the intentions behind that and sometimes you kind of have to like learn to filter um what did they mean and then also explain it to other people that like may have not grown up in that

Corey Dion Lewis (05:54.524)
Hehehehe

Corey Dion Lewis (06:10.876)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (06:19.439)
context. So it's like this immigrant family or maybe like a Gen Z person that like never had to like experience that kind of translating like, okay, this is what's happening this interchange or when you go to that location, like, it's almost like code switching, but like using that as a tactic. And unfortunately, like, that's a tactic that we're all very used to, that we don't want to have to keep doing. But there are certain times when like,

Corey Dion Lewis (06:39.236)
Yeah.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (06:50.095)
we know it's just gonna be the shortcut. And it's like, I don't wanna be here longer than you wanna be here. Let's just like do the shortcut and get it done. So there's that component too. And like sometimes that allows people to also build partnerships of like, okay, like I'm able to filter out the people that get in, the people that don't get it. And so like, yeah, when you're young and you're like growing up in like an environment where you're just like,

Corey Dion Lewis (06:52.764)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (07:18.883)
constantly looking out for your safety, it's like, okay, now I can understand how to bring that into a professional context in the sense of like, okay, I can filter out like what that person really means, or I can filter out like their intentions. Are they really just wanting to like use us for clout or like to use their initiative to get a social media post or like do they genuinely want to make a change? And so you learn to filter out like.

Corey Dion Lewis (07:42.234)
Hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (07:45.967)
who is having like a genuine discussion, a genuine conversation.

Corey Dion Lewis (07:50.396)
Right? Can you talk a little bit about that, the energy that it takes as someone, and me and a lot of my friends of color who are in professional settings, we always talk about how physically, mentally, and emotionally it is draining talking to your friends one way and then getting into a professional setting and having to just flip the switch. For a lot of our...

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (08:15.433)
Mm -hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (08:19.002)
you know, professional careers, it was survival, it was just getting through it. And it's like, it's exhausting being that person with that lived experience, but it's also a blessing for someone. It's weird, because it's like a blessing to be able to prepare somebody who's coming into a professional setting. Like, hey, this is how it is. Did you find it physically or did you find it like just...

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (08:37.807)
Mm -hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (08:46.436)
Draining for you to be able to have to like switch it on and off like that

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (08:50.991)
Yeah, I think initially I was just like happy to be in the room. I was like, I don't care how I have to be like, I'm just glad that I'm here. But I think after, yeah, like after my social work program and like once I started like doing COVID related initiatives and getting more involved in social determinants of health, I've

Corey Dion Lewis (08:57.06)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (09:17.071)
really just was like, I don't think this is helping anybody because they also need to know the real me. Like if I'm doing work with the community, like I need to know that, or they need to know that I'm on their side. Like, and so there's that essence of like, I might do it with like my colleagues, but when I'm working in the field with partners, like I have to be my authentic self.

And even internally when it's with colleagues or even if you're dealing with a board or something of that nature, it's like, okay, I know I have to prepare myself. And it is exhausting. And one thing I have been working on is how do I just bring my whole personality into spaces? So if I'm, when I.

Corey Dion Lewis (09:55.068)
Yeah.

Corey Dion Lewis (10:06.554)
Mm -hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (10:08.655)
I was leading a facilitation for this conversation in San Francisco while I was working with Rock Health. And most of the people in that room shared my lived experience in terms of race and upbringing. But some of these folks were CEOs, some of them were funders, investors. And here's little Quinny just being like, hey, folks, or like.

Corey Dion Lewis (10:33.114)
Yes, sir.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (10:35.791)
referring to myself as a zillennial, I was like, honestly, like, they might be at this different level, but, like, I think I've demonstrated enough of what I'm capable of doing that I don't need to perform anymore. Like, this is who I am, like, this is what you get, like, this is why I'm able to do the work that I'm doing, because all of these components are a part of me. So I've been fighting to be more myself.

Corey Dion Lewis (11:03.804)
Right. And it's, I wouldn't say it's scary to do that, but like, you just never know how someone's going to react to you. You know, and the first time I was able to speak in a group full of people who were at the time, I deemed like super important and I was just speaking myself, like myself, and I didn't change my tone or didn't try to look for, you know, it was just like, I was just me. And I'm just looking like, okay, it's somebody, what's the body language? What are people thinking? How I'm talking?

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (11:10.231)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (11:32.668)
And it was cool. And that was the start of me being like, you know what? This is time for me to like, just continue to do this because it's okay. And I shouldn't have to perform, like you said. You know, that's great. That's freedom right there, for sure.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (11:41.581)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (11:48.975)
Yeah, like understanding the balance of like not everyone gets it and for those that don't get it like I know what I have to do but I'm gonna like aim to be my authentic self as much as possible until it becomes the norm.

Corey Dion Lewis (12:06.012)
Right. When you're in these rooms, so like you talk about working at Rock Health and you're in these rooms with funders or very experts in different fields and you're trying to make these changes, how do you feel like your lived experience shined through there? Like there are some things that you said you started out and you're doing, but how did that lived experience shine at those times?

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (12:36.527)
Yeah, I think in those moments and going back to like this aspect of like one thing that I learned a lot was just like the importance of trust building and the importance of being an active listener growing up. And I wouldn't say like any of these traits are true for like every single person that's gone through things, but I think all of us bring something with us. And so when I was in those roles, like,

Corey Dion Lewis (12:49.818)
Mm -hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (13:02.224)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (13:05.359)
I would be able to converse with people and I would listen. And so even if it was somebody that like, somebody that like was a different race or like, what is it? Like job category than me or like different position. It's like, I'm going to take a moment just to listen to you and understand who you are. And then I'm going to work with that. And if it's somebody that like, I don't really.

Corey Dion Lewis (13:22.012)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (13:34.255)
have a lot in common with, like I'm gonna focus on that person and getting to know them and what they're about because that's really what I need to do at that time. Like, might not be a partnership that ends up happening or it might happen down the line, but like, I need to build trust with that person and sometimes it's just being the listener. And those other moments when it is folks that like have a little bit more connection with me, it's okay, like let's get into the nitty gritty.

or let's work with what we have. I think some things that people with lived experience do really well is we can make lemonade out of lemons. Something that we do is problem solve and we're very innovative because especially people with lived experience and they're in poverty or in low income situations or even dealing with a lot of different social groups or economic groups.

Corey Dion Lewis (14:23.068)
Mm -hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (14:31.683)
It's like learning how to manage relationships with people. And so I think that's something that we do really well. It's like, okay, if all you gave me was that you watched Ted Lasso, or if all you gave me was that you were a chief medical officer, like I'm gonna work with that. And like, we're gonna make a whole conversation out of just that little thing that you gave me.

Corey Dion Lewis (14:58.076)
Right. And you brought up some really great values that individuals with lived experience bring to the table. But I want to kind of touch on that a little bit more because I've been hearing a lot more, I've been seeing a lot more of companies really looking at hiring individuals based off lived experience and not just, you know, accreditations or if they went to college or they had the four year degree, kind of eliminating that barrier. What is the value of hiring?

and supporting people with lived experience.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (15:31.983)
Yeah, I think there's so much of it. I think one of the things I just mentioned was being innovators and just being resourceful. Another thing too is, especially when we're talking about the healthcare industry is like the advocacy component. I think when we see other people being mistreated or like we know something could have gotten better, like a lot of times we see ourselves in that situation and we think like,

Corey Dion Lewis (15:39.802)
Mm -hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (16:00.079)
what would I have wanted somebody to do for me? And whether that's like saying something in the moment or just saying like, okay, I need to strategize like what we can do differently. I think that's a big thing. Like one of the things that we're attuned to is like noticing the problem areas. It's like, okay, that didn't work well or we know like somebody's bringing in like a new food assistance program to our city. Like.

Corey Dion Lewis (16:03.77)
Mm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (16:26.351)
oh, the way that they're doing it, it's not gonna work. Like we're very good at knowing like they didn't do their research. But another thing that like we're really good at doing once we're given the leadership capability is figuring out a solution to that. So let's say, yeah, somebody's tasked to do X, Y, Z, they're gonna figure out how we need to get like the community engaged, how people are gonna respond to it because they're culturally attuned.

Corey Dion Lewis (16:30.916)
Yeah.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (16:54.639)
they've witnessed things that have not gone well. I think one of the things that I'm cognizant of is like, I think research is great. I'm a big proponent of like evidence -based, but I do think sometimes the healthcare field spends way more money on research than it does on hiring people that already have that research in their mind. Like we already know what needs to happen in this community. Like,

Corey Dion Lewis (17:18.49)
Hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (17:22.447)
The three years you spent on that research, I could have told you that in three minutes. So I think that's a big thing. Yes, let's keep doing research, but also let's put people in leadership positions that already know what needs to be done or have experienced ways that shouldn't have happened. A big thing is quality control and effectiveness.

Corey Dion Lewis (17:27.004)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (17:52.591)
and implementation. I think I was talking to someone today and talking about how like a lot of times if you go into medical practice, you'll have a doctor, let's say they diagnose you with like diabetes or high blood pressure. Those are things that run in my family. So it came to mind. There's a big expectation that like, okay, I'm going to give you this diagnosis. Now you're going to go and figure it out. Like I told you what it was. Hopefully next time your blood levels, like your sugar levels come down.

Corey Dion Lewis (18:00.924)
Mm -hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (18:21.692)
Yeah, good luck.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (18:22.383)
this notch and this notch. Yeah, right? And Cory, like with your work, like you are familiar with like the need of like, we need like the community needs guidance. Like there was already distrust in going to the doctor, probably. And in terms of like immigrants, like there's a language and a cultural barrier there too. And so when it comes to like actually like,

Corey Dion Lewis (18:42.46)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (18:47.951)
getting the outcome that we want, we know that it takes more than a diagnosis. I think that's one of the things that I really like to highlight are community health workers, because that's an example where like healthcare has really like recognized like, oh, this is why we need lived experience, because these folks don't have to convince their neighbor to get like their COVID test, or they don't have to convince them.

Corey Dion Lewis (18:58.084)
Mmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (19:06.3)
right.

Corey Dion Lewis (19:14.78)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (19:15.983)
that they need assistance or because they already trust them. They're already living in the neighborhood. They already speak the language or the lingo. And oftentimes they look like them too. And I think that's a big factor that we can't deny. Like racism is still prevalent in the United States. And if it's happening to us, like we're gonna feel very like standoffish and like on guard if we're being supported by someone who looks different than us.

So yeah, I think in that context, it's very important to have somebody who knows it's not just enough to create a program. What are all the ins and outs that we need to do to get people in the programs, that we need to get people tested? What are the hurdles that they're gonna face? What are the nuances that people have? I think that's another thing that people with lived experience know is like,

Corey Dion Lewis (19:50.202)
Mm -hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (20:10.972)
Mm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (20:15.181)
let's say somebody that's like neurodivergent or has autism, like they're going to know what people who are neurodivergent need for like a conference or for a project or for an initiative. And they're going to be able to say like, actually like y 'all have been doing this thing and it hasn't been working. Um, and they're going to know the nuances. Like not every person with autism is the same, but like as a community, like,

Corey Dion Lewis (20:26.3)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (20:43.631)
they're familiar with those things. And there does come a point where we need to acknowledge, like, I don't know everything about my community and we need to open up about that. But at least getting a person in the door to start that conversation is going to be light years instead of spending so much time just doing investigations.

Corey Dion Lewis (20:51.002)
Right.

Corey Dion Lewis (21:04.988)
No, absolutely. And even on the advocacy side, I can see it being like, especially in healthcare, where a lot of older people will just say yes to everything, but then having someone there being like, are you sure you wanna do that? Cause they're not going to say no to the doctor, but they'll tell that person that looks like them, that has that lived experience, exactly how they feel.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (21:23.949)
Mm -hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (21:33.207)
Mm -hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (21:33.276)
and then that person can speak for them. And I've seen that happen. Like they don't really want to do this. You know what I mean? And that's, that's a gift to be able to have somebody there that can speak for you because they know, well, I don't know if they really want to do this, but they're, they don't know how to say that to the doc.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (21:39.759)
Thank you.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (21:53.581)
Exactly. Yeah, and that I had a lot of those experiences. When I was an interpreter, I've been an interpreter and like refugee settings and in healthcare settings and like public school settings, but the ones that like, were very just altering were the ones in which it was a healthcare provider.

like the laws and the stipulations for a translator are that like you really are just supposed to like say what they're saying in English and figure it out and in that language like you can't really give guidance you and there's a there's a point into which that is helpful um but there's also this another other component where like the doctor might be talking about a treatment that the client knows or the patient knows nothing about and

Corey Dion Lewis (22:28.964)
Yep.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (22:49.295)
Like you might be like, okay, like, um, can I pause doctor? Like they don't know what, what they need. Like I need to interpret like, or explain to them what this is. Um, but like it's something that you see in their eyes. Like the doctor might not catch that. And that's really frightening. It's like, how often does this happen? I think that's part of why there's so much malpractice is because people don't know that they can ask questions and they don't have somebody encouraging them to.

Corey Dion Lewis (22:53.724)
you

Yeah.

Corey Dion Lewis (23:03.772)
Yes.

Corey Dion Lewis (23:14.714)
Mm -mm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (23:19.247)
which is really scary.

Corey Dion Lewis (23:21.5)
Oh, absolutely. When for those companies that, you know, want to hire individuals with lived experience, maybe for community health workers, you kind of touched on earlier, or for or for whatever industry, are there things they need? Are there like tools or the things they should be focusing on? Like how like how do you start getting those people into the door that not only have lived experience, but maybe the experience that the company

really wants to see is there some, what are some of your advice, advice around that?

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (23:56.399)
Yeah, I would say for folks that don't have like maybe a college or a master's degree, or even for folks that do that want to pivot into other roles, really like pinning down like what is it that I'm an expert at? Like maybe, and some of that is already like with lived experience. Like, so maybe I'm a very good storyteller or I'm a very good like,

cultural interpreter and that makes me a great communicator. But, and so like really taking that time and then also pairing those things with hard skills. So like, let's say somebody managed, like maybe they were an oldest child or something. They had seven siblings. That was my mom's story, right? Like they managed the household. And so that's a manager. That is a manager position. Like,

Corey Dion Lewis (24:50.074)
Mm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (24:51.439)
writing down all the duties that you do of like responsible for the schedule, responsible for making sure that I'm like ensuring that we have enough of this product. Like I think it can be really hard to like just break, take time to break down like what we do in professional language. But even if we don't do it for a job, I think it's something that like really boosts our self -esteem when we realize like, wow, I have so much to offer this world. Like.

Corey Dion Lewis (25:11.514)
Mmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (25:20.08)
Yeah.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (25:21.231)
I should be getting paid just for living in my house, you know? Yeah, that's right. I think about that a lot with like stay at home moms or like stay at home parents. I'm like, yeah, that's a real job. Like, and if you're gonna raise like your kids to like be healthy, like it's educated in the terms of like getting reading and things of that nature. Like it really does like take some routine and some planning to do that. Other skills.

Corey Dion Lewis (25:24.604)
Yeah

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (25:50.319)
that I would recommend to people or like looking up courses online of like project management or coding right now. So I was working in digital health and that's something that I think is going, it's like a horizon for us. There's gonna come a point when like we're not gonna distinguish between healthcare and digital health. It's just all kind of gonna be one thing. And whether you wanna get into that on like, I think,

Corey Dion Lewis (26:15.804)
I agree.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (26:19.983)
For people with lived experience, getting into that in user experience research is a really good in, or even design. Because user experience is essentially almost in a way doing customer service of where we have all of these people that use a software, let's say Facebook, for example, or we can do telehealth apps.

Corey Dion Lewis (26:46.812)
right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (26:48.527)
They're using this software, but what are the things that we could improve? And a lot of times, digital health solutions are catered to people that are Medicaid recipients or that just have very complex health issues. And very few of the times are they making sure that they're getting the perspectives of diverse clients, of diverse patients. And so part of doing UX research is getting

on a personal level with someone, whether it's a focus group or an interview and really understanding like what is it that you need and how is this software meeting you where you are. And then reporting that back to like the product team and saying like, this is what I heard. These are my suggested recommendations. We need to like, maybe the software is already in Spanish or whatever language other than English, but we need more than that. Like we need to be more culturally competent and these are the areas in which we can start.

Corey Dion Lewis (27:33.37)
Mmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (27:48.975)
So yeah, and then I would also say like people with lived experience make great business folks too. The entrepreneurial bug is something that I'm trying to catch, but like I know that there are some people that like are just born with it or they had to like my cousin was out like hustling like used clothing in Mexico like for the longest time and like now she's like us.

Corey Dion Lewis (27:58.49)
Mm -hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (28:15.951)
a pharmacist, like director, regional director, because she's just like so good at like doing business. She's like really good at upselling, but also just treating people really well. And I think if you're a CEO, or even if you're a director, like the way that you treat people, like you cannot teach someone to be kind. You cannot teach someone to be like a humble leader that...

Corey Dion Lewis (28:19.164)
Oh wow.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (28:42.305)
actually like tries to learn from their staff. Like you can read that in a book and it will help you. I'm not negating that, but there are some skills that people just like have and are born with. And I think we really need to leverage the opportunity for those people and get them ramped up.

Corey Dion Lewis (28:59.132)
No, that's so real. You said a few things there that just kind of caught my attention. One being when it comes to lived experience, there are people that will say, oh, I just watch my kids. I'm just at home with the kids, right? Or I'm just at home with the kids. I'm just a stay at home mom or I'm just a stay at home dad. But...

That is a job that some people, I would just much rather pay for daycare. You know what I mean? Like that is, that's a skill. That is a skill.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (29:30.349)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. That's true. Yeah, there's like patience in that or like even grit of like, ooh, like you are nagging me or maybe not even nagging me. They would say like, it's like, okay, I'm on a call, but like I'll get to you. Like that is persistence and patience. Yeah. Discipline.

Corey Dion Lewis (29:38.876)
Oh my gosh.

Corey Dion Lewis (29:43.504)
Yeah.

Corey Dion Lewis (29:52.902)
Yes. Discipline. And I think when I think of lived experience, you know, it's such a equitable thing to be as a as a company to be thinking about because if you look at all the people, your cousin you're talking about, like her, she could be the CEO of something, but just because she doesn't have that whatever background they look for in a CEO.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (30:15.343)
Oh, absolutely.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (30:20.463)
She didn't go to college. Yeah, she couldn't afford it.

Corey Dion Lewis (30:23.836)
It doesn't mean anything. There is some, look, I got a college degree, I'm not saying there's nothing good in that. But I'm sure there are people in the world that are better than me at my job that don't have my experience or my degree. You know what I mean? That's just a fact. I feel like if we want to tackle some of these social determinants and improve some of these communities, we have to look outside of that, you know,

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (30:31.329)
Exactly.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (30:39.373)
Mm -hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (30:52.828)
that typical job description of a bachelor degree, master's preferred, you know, or whatever, because there are people out here in these communities that could benefit their community by having a job that they have pride in and they're contributing to the world or their community.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (30:57.901)
Mm -hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (31:12.175)
Absolutely. A lot of the times when I'm doing my work, I have my mom in mind. And my mom is probably like the second person I know best besides myself. And so if I see a solution, I'm like, what would my mom think about this if she saw it? Or...

Corey Dion Lewis (31:21.188)
Mmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (31:34.799)
how easy would this be for her to access? Would she understand what it is? And so it's like kind of thinking through those complexities of who this individual and then also who these communities are. And that's something that you can't, I can't teach that to somebody else because I'm the only person that's lived that, like, known what it's like to be my mom's daughter or to be a part of these communities.

Corey Dion Lewis (31:53.948)
Mm -hmm.

ride.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (32:01.999)
I do think that there need to be more opportunities for these folks to get fellowships and even apprenticeships. If there are folks that haven't had the chance to go to college or won't be able to, and I also think not everyone needs to go, I'm a very big fan of trades. But there's still ways that we can be bringing people into the fold. And like,

Corey Dion Lewis (32:21.444)
Yeah.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (32:30.351)
We need to really create alternative pipelines. Yeah, another thing is like scholarships. Like I know we want more equity in our education system and especially like when it comes to like our healthcare providers. I really want to see more scholarships that are based on lived experience. Like people that like know what it's like to go to the community health clinic and wait for hours to get help. Like they have, or,

Corey Dion Lewis (32:50.81)
Hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (32:59.983)
They have an experience that we, or I know I don't, but I know that there are other people who have that, and they're gonna be able to recognize administrative things or just what are alternatives that we can do to evade that from happening. So I think these folks, we have so much to offer if we are given the opportunity, and there needs to be more emphasis on creating those pathways.

Corey Dion Lewis (33:16.058)
Right.

Corey Dion Lewis (33:28.252)
I love that. I love that. So, know, Quinnie, you talked about your start in social work. You're an obvious, you know, healthcare or health equity advocate. What is next? Where do you see yourself going from here? What are some of the things that you really want to see yourself? What are some of your goals? What is Quinnie going to be doing out here? What do these streets look like?

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (33:53.231)
I know what are these streets gonna look like. I was like, I don't know. No, but really, I'm really passionate about a few things right now. In the current, in the time that I was with Rock Health, like just being together with Latinas from all sorts of backgrounds who were just championing health equity.

Corey Dion Lewis (33:55.164)
You

Corey Dion Lewis (34:00.506)
haha

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (34:22.607)
and recognizing that there are very few opportunities for them to come together is something that has left this hole in my heart where I'm like, I really want to do something to continue bringing these leaders together. And I think there's a need for that within different population groups, but I think also just BIPOC leaders as a whole.

Corey Dion Lewis (34:39.706)
Hmm.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (34:50.383)
I think we fuel one another. I think the conversations that I've had with you have fueled me. They've affirmed what I'm doing. And hopefully like what we're saying affirms what other people are doing too. But I really wanna bring more of those folks together. And I think highlighting too that Latinas are not a monolith. Like we represent a variety of races, a variety of.

different languages that are spoken in countries. And so really wanting those folks to feel like they're seen is really important to me. I'm actually entertaining the idea of a podcast. And so I'm like, I'm focused on like Latina health. And so I'm like, okay, I might need to connect with Cory on more of like a mentorship level on that. But.

Corey Dion Lewis (35:31.196)
K!

Corey Dion Lewis (35:39.004)
You

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (35:43.599)
Yeah, I think that's like a really big thing for me. And I think that translates to into like the work that I'm doing here in North Carolina and in the triangle. I want more folks in the area to be aware of opportunities that that we have like across the health care ecosystem. Like, you don't just have to work in a community health center. But if that's what you want to do, like, I want that to be because you chose it, not because that was the only option that you thought or like,

Corey Dion Lewis (36:10.426)
Right.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (36:13.103)
I hear a lot from my friend who works at UNC. It's like they've got a great medical school and there's students that are studying to be pre -med and they're like, I don't think I can be in healthcare because it's just not my thing. And so they're thinking about leaving healthcare completely when they don't know that there's other options for them. I think that's something that I really want to raise the flag on is.

Corey Dion Lewis (36:34.254)
Alright.

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (36:38.159)
If I have access to this within my local community of like educating people on like all of these other healthcare opportunities, like I want to take that because healthcare is moving fast. Sometimes it moves too slow, but like the workforce itself, like it's going to drive the changes in healthcare. And I really want that those folks to be representative of the communities that need the help the most.

Corey Dion Lewis (36:55.164)
Thank you.

Corey Dion Lewis (36:59.612)
Right.

Corey Dion Lewis (37:08.188)
No, absolutely. Quinnie, thank you so much for your time today. For those that want to learn more about you, connect with you, where can they reach you?

Quinny Sanchez Lopez (37:20.463)
Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn. My LinkedIn is like slash Q Sanchez Lopez, but we'll we'll make sure we get the right link in the description too.

Corey Dion Lewis (37:32.956)
Yeah. Awesome. Well, again, thank you so much for your time. I really, really appreciated it. And everybody, thank you for listening to the Healthy Project podcast. I'll highlight you next time.