We were lucky to catch up with Danielle McCamey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Danielle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

This day is one that I will never forget. I was in high school at the time and was on the quest to find out the best ways to get to college. I was the first in my family to go, so I had to lean on others and decided to make an appointment with my guidance counselor. I figured she would be the best resource given her expertise in being in her position. But little did I know that would be so far away from the truth. I booked the last appointment because I wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be a rush for the next appointment. I skipped into her office wide eyed with excitement to explore the possibilities. I introduced myself and quickly began to ramble about all the different schools that I had looked at. I explained to her this was extremely important that I get all the information I needed to start applying because I wanted to make sure I was set to get admitted into somebody’s college. I could see that she was not very impressed and she began to say that’s nice that you’ve considered all these schools, but we have to focus on some facts. Because you are Black, female, product of a single parent family household, you haven’t scored over 1000 on your SATs and your family only makes 40K a year, the statistics show that you will not be able to be admitted and if you are, you will more than likely fail given your circumstances. In that very moment all my hopes and dreams were ripped away. I gasped because I could not breathe. I was stunned. I had NEVER looked at my circumstances from that perspective…and bc she was the counselor, I immediately took it as the gospel. In that moment, I believe what she told me, after all she is the expert and she had the facts and statistics to back it up. It took everything in my being to hold back my tears, I thanked her for her time and rushed out so that I could hurry up and cry and also get ready for track practice. I went to the bathroom and I lost it. It was like someone had punched me in the stomach. I cried-HARD. But I couldn’t cry long because I had to report to track practice to lead the warm up drills and my track coach did not do lateness nor did he have time for tears!! I assumed my position and started drills, but I could not hold back my emotions. Tears streamed down my face with each step and I tried with all my might but could not hold it together. My coach noticed and in his true fashion summoned me… McCamey! Get over here! What the heck is up with you, are those tears? And at that moment I just dug my face on his shoulder and cried my heart out. He was stunned and kept asking what was up. Once I finally composed myself I told him about my encounter with the guidance counselor. I could see he was extremely upset by this news but I could see him transition back to coach mode. McCamey-you listen to me and you listen good, all those things she told you, you can use to your advantage! You will be able to get need-based scholarship and application fee waivers just because of your circumstances. And beyond that you are in the top 5 in your class, in honor societies, and so much more. You are a well rounded student that colleges would LOVE to accept into their schools! I stepped back from him and looked him in his eyes…Are you for real!! And from that moment on that fire was re-ignited and I got so laser focused on my dream of going to college. I applied to over 20 schools and got into all of them!!! Most with full ride scholarships. I went to my guidance counselors office and showed her all my acceptance letters. She was floored. It was this moment, that literally changed the trajectory of my life. Had I believed her, I would never be where I am today as the Founder/CEO of DNPs of Color and an Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.

Danielle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m an acute care nurse practitioner. I’ve been in nursing for 20 years and I was inspired by mom watching her throughout her career of taking care of people. I was so fascinated at her skill and ability to connect and heal so many people. Of course, she encouraged me to pursue nursing and I never looked back.

I build communities and create opportunities. When I look back at the paths I’ve walked in my life, I’ve always served others in some capacity as a source of inspiration, mentor, educator, and visionary. My life path has brought me today as a founder & CEO of a 501c3 nonprofit, DNPs of Color that was created from my experience being a Black woman pursuing doctoral studies at a predominantly white institution (PWI) and the need for a community to support my journey and others. Our mission is to build community and create opportunities for doctors of nursing practice of color through networking, mentorship, and advocacy to increase diversity in doctoral studies, clinical practice, and leadership. We’ve grown exponentially as a group since we operationalized in May 2020 to over 2500 nursing student and professionals.

I’m also serving as an assistant professor and assistant dean at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. It’s such an amazing opportunity to come full circle to be on the educator side of nursing. To really inspire students to be the next generation of nurses is such an honor and privilege.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

The answer to the million dollar question on how to be the most successful in life is finding a mentor. I am often asked what is the secret to my success in my career and I owe a large part to the wisdom and counsel I get from my entourage of mentors. I encourage people to have mentors for different aspects of your life. I used to think that I could only have one, but once I got the memo the key is to have more than one.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

DNPs of Color, 501c3 nonprofit that I created from my experience of being the only Black woman pursuing doctoral studies in a predominantly white institution (PWI).

DNPs of Color (DOCs), is a 501c3 nonprofit nursing organization, whose Our mission is to build community and create opportunities for nurses of color that have their doctorate in nursing practice through networking, mentorship, and advocacy to increase diversity in doctoral studies, clinical practice, and leadership.

DNP, short for Doctor of Nursing Practice, is the highest level of education a nurse can attain which focuses on clinical practice. DNPs influence healthcare outcomes through healthcare policy, organizational leadership, and translating nursing research into evidenced-based practice.

We launched during the pandemic…of course like everyone else…such a great idea right? But we really met a need to be of support for communities of color during the height of it all. We offered safe spaces for folks to vent and connect. During that time we launched our Virtual Commencements to celebrate new DNP graduates since a lot of their graduations were canceled.

We offered a lot of professional development events and programming and continue to expand our reach for other nurses of color. People found psychological safety, belonging, encouragement and inspiration in our community. We hosted our 2nd Conference this past October at the Regional F. Lewis Maryland African American History and Culture Museum for we had over 300 registered attendees from all over the nation and we scored big sponsorships from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Kaiser Permanente to name a few.

Fast forward to today we continue to advance our mission of empowering this specific group of nursing professionals as we are the only organization dedicated to elevating their voice.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dnpsofcolor.org
• Instagram: @drmccamey @dnpsofcolor
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DNPsofColor/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mccamey/
• Twitter: @drmccamey @dnpsofcolor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9vm5sCDPpVQrcqWi0qPyeQ

Image Credits
My photo headshot photo: VeeA Photography