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

Oni, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My passion for health equity was inspired by my mother, who I like to call “the original Dr. Blackstock”. She was born into poverty in Brooklyn, NY, and raised by a single mother on public assistance along with her five siblings. My mother managed to defy the odds that society had stacked against her. When she was in elementary school, she told her teacher that she wanted to be a doctor, but her teacher told her that would be imporssible. Despite this, she made her way to college, becoming the first person in her family to do so, and then on to medical school. She dedicated her career as a nephrologist – or kidney doctor – to addressing the disproportionate burden of high blood pressure and kidney disease among Black Americans in the same community in which she was raised. My twin sister and I would tag along with her to community health fairs and other community events throughout Brooklyn, and NYC, following her around as she talked to community residents. Through these experiences, I began to understand that the joy that my mother derived from this work – but also that there were certain communities, such as my own, that didn’t fare as well as others and, as I started medical school, I decided to dedicate my career to eliminating health inequities.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I own and lead a consulting firm called Health Justice that supports health care, public health, and other health-affiliated organizations in making their workplaces more equitable and inclusive, as they work towards eliminating health inequities in the communities they serve. I’m a physician, researcher, and public health practitioner by training and known internationally as a leading and trusted voice in the arena of health equity, and work with a team of expert consultants. We provide a range of services to organizations including trainings, organizational assesments, leadership coaching, and strategic planning. We have increasingly used a collaborative approach that centers working with the client (vs. working for the client). In just four years, we’ve worked with over 100 clients located across the country. I attribute much of our success to leveraging my reputation, professional network, and pre-existing professional relationships that I had formed in the various arenas in which I previously worked. Equity and inclusion have always been a common thread in my clinical practice, research, and public health practice and, in my current role, it is the primary focus. Health Justice aims to build client’s capacity so that after our engagement with them they feel capable of carrying on this important work independently.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have learned and am still learning to let go of perfection and to see times where things didn’t seem to work our as learning opportunities. I can be the hardest on myself so I try to remind myself that I’m at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey and that I’m learning every day. Several years ago, I had a session with a client that didn’t go as planned, however, I’ve used that experience as one to learn from – how can I do things differently the next time the situation arises? what supports do I need? what are alternative approaches to dealing with the situation if it arises again? In this way, I’m prepared in the future, but I also extend myself the grace and remind myself that I am a perpetual learner.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Starting my business came after I began my career as a physician, researcher, and then public health practitioner. Because of this, I had formed many relationships throughout the years with individuals and organizations. My business is an outgrowth of these prior experiences. As a result, I’m able to leverage many of these relationships and connections that I had in the other chapters of professional life to feed in to and nourish my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://healthjustice.co

Image Credits

Akinfe Fatou