When this project was announced, I immediately knew who I would want to choose to interview as a nurse leader. Throughout nursing school, and even before I came here to school my maternal grandmother has been supporting my love for nursing. She has been the biggest support system for me as I went through school especially these past two years. She has helped me with assignments, given me confidence, and has been able to calm me down when I was left feeling like I should give up. The stories she has told me regarding her experience as an oncology nurse and how she would help new nurses study for the NCLEX, made me look up to her even more. It is very interesting hearing the stories she shares because of how much health care and hospital settings have changed since she was a nurse. She is an amazing person and was an amazing nurse and I hope that one day I could be half the nurse that she is.

Since I have had the honor of growing up with her in my life, I have been able to observe qualities and characteristics that she has that makes her a leader. She is a mother of 6 children and has many grandchildren. She puts all of us before herself and has so much compassion and empathy for everyone. She is hard working and did everything she could to support her 6 daughters as they grew up. If any of her children or grandchildren have a problem, she is able to critically think and step in to try to help fix it, she is a natural leader. As an experienced nurse, she would tutor new grad nurses to help them pass the NCLEX and get them as prepared as she could. My grandfather would say that she taught them so well that even he could take practice exams and pass them. I find that so inspirational that she went out of her way to help new grad nurses in my position succeed. I feel as though she is a perfect example as a nurse leader.

Although I have talked to my grandmother about some of her experiences as a nurse, I am looking forward to learning more. We have yet to dive in on how culture and structure in a clinical setting has changed over the years, and I am very interested in learning more about that. I am also excited to learn more about how she was a leader in her own workplace. I want to ask her about a time she felt hopeless due to a situation or an accumulation of situations at work and how she got out of it. I would also like to know if she ever helped a colleague who is struggling in the workforce and how she did it. These are all situations I may encounter, and I am so honored to be able to have this conversation with her and learn from it.  

She never had a formal leadership position where she had structure, authority, or power over anyone in a clinical setting. She was an informal leader that made a difference in the nursing/ clinical world when she did not have any authority over anyone in her setting. She genuinely loved doing what she did and loved and still loves to help people wanting to get into the field. I have no doubt that she will continue have my back throughout my job search, studying for the NCLEX, and beginning my new job.