1. What have you learned about the craft of health reporting that has already changed your approach to your work?

The theme for my fellowship year is resilience which is also my personal war cry. Despite editorial shifts and project pivots, I continuously worked to make the best of each reporting circumstance regardless of what I’d rather do or how I felt it should be approached. This brings me to my next point: it was never about me! Throughout each change, I internalized everything which ultimately led to the project sliding in the backfield of my forefront. Henceforth, I will embrace a mindset that postures the fellow (me) as a conduit or liaison between project inception and publication.

2. What have you learned about yourself in the past year that you expect to take forward into the next phase of your career as a journalist?

I learned to better pick my battles. Some wars are mere scrimmages. My ethnic media background and passion to illuminate those stories has taken precedence over my ability to embrace main stream media assignments that purposefullly exclude the Black plight – health, housing, poverty, positive strides. Any pushback from reporting those stories created a rebellious attitude. I’ve had to learn, that a pitch could be quite positive, but more appropriate for mainstream press versus a business subscriber base.

3. What did you learn from doing your project that was new that you didn’t know going into it?

I’ve learned much about health equity and how it is interpreted and misunderstood. An array of definitions exist, and health equity is not always driven by racial disparity. I had my head wrapped around racial disparities, but a wealth of social determinants contributed as well. Also, health equity spans a range of sectors and a cross-section of entities (programs) that have a pulse on improvements, awareness, and closing gaps where inequities most frequently exist. Health equity is the new Black!

The links below are my fellowship stories published to date in ONYX Magazine – a lifestyle publication that seeks to entertain, inspire and inform.

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 Dickerson ONYX_July-August 2023_part4_LD (1) (1)

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The Nov/Dec issue will feature Dr. Kelli Tice, Chief Health Equity Officer Guidewell/Florida Blue

Special thanks to the following organizations for their sponsorship and support :