Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Juanita McClain . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Juanita , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

A defining moment in my career was the the moment I chose to lean on my faith and quit my job of two year as a teachers aide to go back to school and focus on getting my Masters degree in earth science education. As a young adult my dreams and aspirations didn’t seem to be of relevance due to me being constantly sick from sickle cell disease. Making that choice was huge for me because I never even imagined that I would make it through my college experience succefully because at the time i was still often experiencing sickle cell crisis. When I began to have a new mindset on life and my illness, it became easier to push myself to accomplish anything it was that my mind had been set on. It was in that same year I had completed writing my 1st book “Living with and surviving sickle cell disease” and became a substitute teacher.

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?

I was born and raised in Buffalo Ny. I am a mom of three boys. My love for working with people and educating is what fueled my desire to become an Author and advocate for Sickle Cell Disease. I have been blessed to have written and published three books that share great insight into the lives of people who live with SCD. I am also the founder and CEO of The Sickle cell warriors of Buffalo inc. A nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education,support, programs, resources and community outreach to those living the Buffalo and WNY community that are impacted by sickle cell disease.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

I met my business partner as a young girl. We attended summer camp together for a few years and would also be neighbors in children’s hospital because he to was born with sickle cell disease. When we reconnected as adults, we realized we both had the same goal and the same passion in making changes for our sickle cell community. Today, I am very proud that we our now president and vice president for an organization dedicated to fighting for the cause.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

If I could go back, I would definitely choose my same profession. I will say that I am certain this is the path that was chosen for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: Scwbuffalo.org
• Instagram: @juanita_theauthor
• Facebook: Juanita sickle cell awareness
• Youtube: Juanita sickle cell awareness