We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Happiness Nwozuzu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Happiness , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

I hate to say it, but COVID-19 was the defining moment of my professional career. I graduated from college in May 2020 and started working shortly after in June 2020 as a nurse in the ICU at the height of the pandemic. It was a very confusing, stressful, and sad time. However, going through that tough work experience transformed me in many ways. I learned that the work culture in America is literally meant to suck the life out of you. If you do not set your boundaries to take care of your mental health, it will deteriorate, just trying to work for someone else.

With that lesson, I started to pursue my other passions. I started blogging my nursing experience on Instagram. Through there, I connected with so many people who I can call friends today. It was a little community of nurses and nursing students who can all relate to the same struggles and benefits of nursing as a profession. I also resumed my other passion which is teaching financial freedom. I started blogging my journey of buying a house, and my other financial endeavors and shared it on Instagram in hopes to relate or encourage millennials who are trying to be more financially knowledgeable. Through doing these small passions, I was able to find happiness in helping others beyond the hospital, and I was able to reach out to many people who actually appreciate my content and encourage them to pursue their career goals.

Happiness , 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?

My name is Happiness (yes that is my real name)! I am a registered nurse, podcaster, and micro influencer. For my W2 job, I am a board certified psychiatric mental health nurse who works primarily with adults. For my 1099 job, I have a nursing IG page called @nursehappiness where I document everything about nursing and the profession. I also have two podcasts: “Nursing with Happiness” and “You Don’t Have To Be A Millionaire, where I talk about finances for relating to millennials. I also run a IG page for that podcast called @youngmillennialmoney.

Out of everything I do, I am most proud of the people who support me and the people I connect with! I love doing what I do when other benefits from the knowledge that I impart.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Absolutely. Nursing and I have had its beef, but ultimately, it is a blessing that I get to fulfill my purpose every day when I go to work. Mental health has always been an important thing in my life. Having a personal experience with witnessing mental health issues and working with people with mental health disorders opened my eyes to how much of a blessing it is to have your mind intact. My goal is to reduce the stigmatization that comes with mental health diseases, and create a space where people can be real with their mental health issues and seek help without judgement.

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

It is important to have empathy in the field of mental health. Most people who work in this field have a personal experience with mental health issues, or witnessed it before. However, for those that never had experience with it, it can be scary and confusing, and unfortunately some people have a poor understanding on how mental health issues are, which creates a place of judgement at times. People need to understand that just because you cannot physically see that something is wrong with someone, does not mean that they are not dealing with a sickness. It takes some type of understanding. Even if you do not understand 100%, just understanding 10% is enough to know that there are people who are going through internal battles that they cannot control. By having this basic understanding, we can move forward towards having more resources for mental health issues.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://anchor.fm/nursingwithhappiness
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nursehappiness/?hl=en
• Other: IG: https://www.instagram.com/youngmillennialmoney/ Financial Podcast: You Don’t Have To Be A Millionaire: https://anchor.fm/ydhtbam