1. Can you give us a bit of background on how you started your career and how you evolved? What changes have you seen in yourself from the beginning to here?
2. What's been the biggest highlight in your career so far?
3. What's your dream and goal which you want to achieve in your career?
4. Using one word how would you describe your passion?
5. Who is the person that inspires you the most and why?
6. If you have the power to share anything with the world, what would that be?
7. What are your goals for the near future and do you have any exciting projects which you want to share with all of the readers?
8. If you could say one thing to someone younger who looks up to you, what would you say?
Hey Yall! My name is Ariel Shorter. I am a 19 year old currently attending xavier university of louisiana studying Healthcare administration with a minor in Public Health and Mass Communications. Growing up on the south side of chicago and witnessing at a early age the lack of health care facilities in my community. I knew something had to be done and realized I was destined to become the change I wanted to see in my community. Now here I am as a young adult furthering my understanding of the public health to open up my own healthcare facuilty in my hometown.
The changes I have seen in myself from then to now is a tremendous understanding of what my people need and ways that i can help advocate for those needs. My biggest highlight in starting my career has been networking with organizations and having the opportunity to get accepted in 2 internships. These internships has provided me with the resources to strive in my research of understanding the public health and come together to build a platform for myself. Being so young but having the right people in my corner has helped me as well. These are people who work in my field of study and provide me with useful insight to be better than them and use their mistakes as a advantage into the system. My dream is to have a facility where people of color especially elders feel comfortable and safe. My facility will feel like a home away from home. Not like any other healthcare facility, this one will be very welcoming to all and treat people with respect no matter their race, religion, nor identity. A place where people wont have to worry if they have the money to cover bills. Most importantly, this facility will be ran off love. Using one word I would describe passion as selfless. I always felt the need to put others above my own. It makes me happy to see others happy and to know that they aren’t hurting. The person who inspires me the most is my mother. My mom has never given up on something that she put her mind to. No matter what others has had to say or destroy her passion , she never allowed that to get into of her plans. She taught me “if you fall for what others tell you then you’ll settle for anything”. In other words , if you lower your morals for the negative things people tell you then you’ll settle for anything life throw your way. Growing up, she made the best out her situation and the cards she was dealt with in life. She had a million and one reasons to give up but she didnt. She preserved and kept pushing just so we could live comfortably.
If i had the power to share anything with the world, I’ll tell them to always put God first. Praise him in advance at all times. He might not do what you want him to do but he will always be on time to provide and steer you into the right direction. My goals for the near future is to travel the world and understand life from a different light. I want to bring forth that change and go to different countries to see what works for their healthcare facilities and bring that technique back to my healthcare facility. I have one exciting projects that I am currently working on. The focus is spreading awareness to parents and educators the importance of sexual health knowledge. The goal is to bridge the gap between what educators and parents feel comfortable teaching and what the youth need to know about their sexual health and development. If you would like to follow me through this journey , you can follow my instagram @ S3xual.health to learn more. Speaking to someone younger who looks up to me , I would tell them to act on all their goals now, it will never be a perfect time to start something new. We all start the same way when beginning new goals. We all face challenges , it’s about how we get through them that matters