Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Niccole Bruno. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Niccole, appreciate you joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
Veterinary medicine is the least diverse medical profession in our country. My mom knew this and wanted to make sure that she provided me and my sister (also a veterinarian) with opportunities to see representation and have exposure so that I was confident in committing myself to this profession. She drove me outside of NYC to shadow a veterinarian when I was 13 years old to meet two black men who were veterinarians from Tuskegee. My mother encouraged me to go to Tuskegee University, an HBCU (Historical Black College and University) so that I could have continued support from my professors and classmates as well as have new experiences in the profession. She helped identify scholarship opportunities to help reduce our debt. Both of my parents worked multiple jobs to make sure that we never had to work while attending school. When I had doubts about reaching my goals, my parents never did. Now that I am a mother to two beautiful children, I credit so much of who I am to their sacrifices, and I can only hope that I pour as much into my children as was poured into me.
Niccole, 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?
Dr. Niccole Bruno is the CEO & Founder of BLEND, a veterinary hospital certification program in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). Raised in Queens, NY, Dr. Bruno became interested in veterinary medicine at 12. Despite living in such a diverse city, the inability to see representation within veterinary medicine or find mentorship was not a reality.
During her undergraduate matriculation at Tuskegee University, Dr. Bruno not only achieved her Bachelor of Animal Science degree magna cum laude in 2002, but she also thrived amongst the educational support and representation she so deeply desired. Her love for veterinary medicine flourished at Tuskegee University, propelling her to pursue her veterinary career.
While attending Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine, she and her classmates developed VOICE (formally named Veterinary Students as One in Color and Ethnicity) in 2003 to aid in fostering an inclusive atmosphere for Cornell’s veterinary students and bring campus-wide awareness to the deficits surrounding diversity in the veterinary profession. Dr. Bruno graduated from Cornell in 2006, receiving her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree.
Dr. Bruno’s journey throughout her veterinary career has been thoroughly rewarding. Unfortunately, her navigation into veterinary medicine as a minority has had its share of challenges. During her career, the experiences of racism, misogyny, and stereotypical behaviors, caused Dr. Bruno to subliminally develop micro-aggressions and a sense of disengagement from a profession she once loved. Nevertheless, her perseverance prevailed, and her passion for veterinary medicine resumed when she was offered the role of Medical Director for a local New York City veterinary hospital. For roughly eight years, her sincere and dedicated service as a hospital leader fueled her heartfelt endeavors to ensure a culture of diversity and inclusiveness.
Dr. Bruno continued in her efforts of diversity, equity, and inclusion through speaking engagements, mentorship, and building the pipeline of BIPOC students (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) into the profession. Following completion of the Purdue University and Inclusion program in 2020, her awareness, continual exploration, and study into the diversity deficiencies of our work ignited her vision to create BLENDvet.
Dr Bruno founded blendvet during the global pandemic after giving her first diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) presentation to veterinary students. Following the presentation, many students thanked her for sharing her experiences as a veterinary professional and why DEIB matter in veterinary medicine. She realized that more DEIB education and training were necessary for academic institutions. The combination of toxic workplace culture, social unrest, and a global pandemic had truly impacted us, proven by veterinary shortages due to “burnout.”
Her initial DEIB presentation affirmed her vision to create a program that places the focus of veterinary medicine on the PEOPLE of our profession and reignites our passion for serving our communities and the pets in a job that we all love dearly. She wanted to create blendvet-certified hospitals to ensure that clients, colleagues, and team members entered environments where they felt welcomed and were treated with respect and inclusivity. With blendvet-certified hospitals, there’s an opportunity to continually build upon ways to improve the culture within veterinary medicine by incorporating DEIB into daily practice, learning together as veterinary teams, and understanding how diversity in our team members contributes to the extraordinary ways we show up for one another every day. Investing in DEIB training and representation within our hospitals also helps us increase the veterinary pipeline for underrepresented students. It opens the door for shadowing opportunities and mentorship to keep students on the path toward a potential career in veterinary medicine.
In addition to veterinary training, pipeline development has always been important to Dr. Bruno and has been incorporated into the mission of blendvet. There is an element of community service (i.e., career days, mentorship, shadowing opportunities, wellness clinics, etc.) as a requirement for teams and individuals trained in the blendvet framework to receive certification. By incorporating pipeline events at veterinary conferences, an opportunity is created to lean on the local community of veterinary professionals and aid in fulfilling a requirement for those in the certification process. Additionally, increasing the interest of youth as potential candidates for the profession and peaking the interests of our professionals to the benefits blendvet DEIB training brings about. Developing pipeline events at veterinary conferences and leveraging the local veterinary professional network aids in fostering relationships with youth from a potential minority group and,d hopefully, one day increases their representation within our profession.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My most difficult career decision was choosing to leave my leadership position at a hospital and pursue BLENDvet/locum work. At that moment I felt that I was letting my team down, letting my clients down. But I wasn’t taking into consideration ME. The sacrifices I was making in staying were weighing on me and I was starting to feel very disengaged in veterinary medicine. I realized that I wasn’t walking or working on my purpose and I needed to let go. My staff was encouraging and happy because they saw the potential for blendvet. My clients were sad but understood and wished me well. That was the hardest part because being in general practice the relationships you develop with your clients are special. You go through chapters of life together and you grow together. It was hard to step away.
Leaving my job as Medical Director to pursue BLENDvet opened doors for me. I began to do relief work which allowed me to encounter even more amazing people in veterinary medicine and see how important BLEND training would be in veterinary hospitals.
In the last year, I have transitioned out of practicing medicine which is a new chapter for me. I realized that making an impactful change with blendvet required me to completely give my time and attention to that. I now travel to speak in academic and organizational spaces and am able to fully devote my time and energy into program development, marketing and pipeline programming.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
I met Dr. Genine Ervin-Smith during my undergraduate studies at Tuskegee University. We were both in similar classes but ultimately went to different veterinary schools and lost contact with each other. When I decided to commit to BLEND, I made a post announcing it on Linked-In in February 2022. Shortly after she contacted me and shared that she too wanted to pivot her career into diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) work. In spite of having two different journeys in veterinary med, we both have similar experiences navigating a homogenous profession. We wanted to make a difference for future generations as colleagues and mothers. A year ago we started working to bring blendvet to fruition and I am incredibly thankful to be on this journey with her.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blend.vet
- Instagram: @drniccolebruno
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niccole-bruno-dvm-75878a97/