We were lucky to catch up with Claire Zhu recently and have shared our conversation below.

Claire, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

One of the most important lessons my parents have taught me is speaking up, whether in enacting change or defending what is right. Through joining debate in high school and discussing various political and domestic topics, I realized the power of using my voice to advocate for overlooked societal issues. When the Covid pandemic shed light on pertinent health inequities, I learned about the issue of inadequate access to menstrual products among low-income residents in the DallasLife shelter. Digging deeper, I realized that this discrepancy was part of a much larger unaddressed problem affecting millions of women globally: period poverty. Despite the prevalence of menstrual health concerns, I was shocked that the topic is still shrouded in stigma, secrecy, and shame- in turn, leaving millions of girls from missing out on school and women from fully participating in the workforce. With a desire to shift the societal narrative, I partnered with Ashley to develop a campaign through our HOSA chapter, initiating forums around our school and DFW to demystify misconceptions about menstrual inequity and advocating for menstrual hygiene to be treated as a fundamental right rather than a privilege. Through partnering with local businesses and organizations, we’ve collected over 16,080 menstrual products as our efforts became featured on various news sites, paving a path toward increased awareness. Although speaking about periods in a sea of unfamiliar faces was initially daunting, this experience emboldened me to break the silence. Utilizing our voice doesn’t always have to necessitate shouting into a microphone- it can also mean pushing marginalized issues to the forefront of conversations.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Claire Zhu, a current high school senior at the Hockaday School in Dallas, TX, who is passionate about social impact, medicine, and public policy. With the vision to empower peers in the healthcare field and hearing how many sought opportunities to connect to put their interests into practice, I founded and serve as the president of my school’s first-ever HOSA Future-Health Professionals Chapter. We’ve hosted various guest speaker sessions and opened opportunities for students to compete in various competitive events and interact with various aspects of the healthcare field. Beyond my school community, I wanted to expand our chapter’s outreach to the surrounding South Dallas area by organizing a free annual medical summer camp to 100+ underprivileged students, where we explored topics like the brain, vaccines, and how diseases work, sparking students’ curiosity within the medical field. It has been a great joy seeing how enthusiastic students engage with new topics, and I distinctly remember how one student proudly nicknamed himself “Dr. Daniel.” Although my passion for medicine and scientific fields started from a young age, it wasn’t until the clinical internship, when I encountered a low-income patient who struggled to retrieve medications, that I was exposed to the relevance of systemic inequities underlying disproportionate health outcomes. Realizing the importance of considering the larger picture in public health, I strived to take action. Alongside our period poverty fundraising campaign, after discovering stark racial disparities in the stem cell registry, we hosted a Be The Match Drive to contribute to efforts to help match blood cancer patients with potential donors. As we continue to tackle relevant health disparities, I hope that our chapter can continue to positively impact the community around us.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Starting my school’s first HOSA Future Health Professionals Chapter was definitely not an easy journey. Developing the idea over the summer, at the start of the school year, I approached numerous teachers requesting to serve as our chapter’s sponsor. Yet, after multiple declines due to failures in previous years to bring the organization to fruition, I was disheartened as the club approval deadline passed. However, with a persistent outlook, I met with the assistant head of my school and passionately proposed my vision and opportunities that HOSA would bring to our school, not only in terms of exposure to various healthcare fields but our social impact outreach in addressing health disparities in the Dallas community. Between various meetings in and out of her office, she stepped in as a sponsor, and our chapter took off, growing to over 60 members. Without previous experience in HOSA, I learned to navigate through logistical and organizational challenges with creative approaches. For instance, to prepare members for their competitive events, I set up virtual interviews with past international competitors connected through LinkedIn to share advice. Most importantly, throughout the process, in planning various chapter meetings, I learned the value of collaboration and seeking inspiration from others. Looking back, I am grateful for these hurdles, all of which have shaped my understanding of what it means to be a leader and encouraged me to continue taking risks, as well as adopting the mindset from my favorite quote: “If there is no path, pave one forward”

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

An influential book I have read is “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” by Simon Sinek. The novel taught me what it means to be a leader, discover my purpose, and effectively communicate a central vision with team members to put words into action. I learned the importance of starting with “why” and then branching out to the tangible “whats” and the importance of adopting this mindset, whether in developing new initiatives or social impact campaigns. A notable quote from the novel is, “people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hdayhosa/