Social Media Is Replacing Public Health Education with Celene Craig, MPH, MS

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Is social media replacing traditional public health education?

In this episode, Dr. Marissa Robinson sits down with Celene Craig, public health professional, health communicator, and digital storyteller, to explore how social media, misinformation, and content creation are reshaping the future of public health.

From her experiences working during the COVID-19 pandemic to navigating roles across health communication, advocacy, and digital media, Celene shares what it takes to build trust, combat misinformation, and connect with communities in today's fast-moving digital world.

Together, they discuss the growing influence of social media in health education, why representation matters in public health messaging, and how public health professionals can leverage storytelling to create meaningful impact online and offline.

The conversation also explores career pivots, personal growth, burnout, self-care, and the importance of staying grounded while balancing multiple roles and responsibilities.

🎙️ In this episode, we discuss:
• Public health careers and career pivots
• Social media and health communication
• COVID-19 and lessons learned
• Representation in public health
• Wellness, self-care, and avoiding burnout
• Building trust through authentic communication
• And much more!

Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of public health, career growth, leadership, and impact.

Chapters
@0:00 Introduction
@2:14 How did you end up doing the work you do today?
@5:44 Wearing many different hats.
@18:16 Intersection of public health, storytelling, and digital content creation.
@30:39 How have you personally redefined wellness and balance?
@36:05 Where does public health show up in your work, even behind the scenes?

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💕 YouTube – Talks, videos, and deep dives

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

But it's like I had to be like, okay, I have to go back and pull from behind me and bring Yeah and and feel how girls feel when they're like having to come into an office and tell, you know, somebody at 15, 16, 17 that they're pregnant. I know exactly what that feels like. So when a patient comes into the room and tells me that, it's like, oh girl, no, that's that's when when that's not your that's not gonna be your story. That's not gonna be your sacrifice of you trying to put your reproductive rights um, you know, up for a debate. You know, but we live in that world these days. And so fighting for those kind of things, it hits home a little differently. So I always look back at my pivot and it's like, I guess it wasn't a pivot. I guess it's just was just was the path.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Hello, hello, everybody, and welcome to Real Talk Real Impact Podcast. This is a podcast where we center the voices and lived experiences and bold ideas shaping the future of public health. I'm your host, Dr. Marissa Robinson, and I'm joined by my girl, my strong sister, my soul roar, Miss Assaline Craig. Hey girl, how are you today?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

I am so good. It's a fresh new month, fresh new week, first of the month. So, yeah, I'm feeling good. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Yes, I'm feeling good. I'm so excited to have you on the show. And before we dive into our conversation, let me kind of let the people know who you are and give them a little bit about you. So Selene Craig is a master's of public health and a master's of sciences, and is a public health professional content creator, marketing strategist, passionate about bridging the gap between health, culture, and communication. With experience across national health initiatives and digital storytelling, she uses her platform to amplify conversations around wellness, women's health, and equity while inspiring others to live intentionally and impactfully. And we're gonna get into that a little bit later because she's in the works of doing some things, y'all. And if you're not following her, I'm gonna need you to uh we won't get you handles at the end of the show, but I'm gonna need the people to tap into you because you are doing such great work, and I am so happy that you accepted the invitation to come on the show. So let's dive into some questions. How's that sound?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Yes, let's dive on in.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Yes, take me through that. All right, so let's start with your story. How did you end up doing the work that you do today?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

So I always wanted to be a sciences and health care, but I just didn't know in what aspect. And before I even go into project, thank you so much. I appreciate just you connecting and creating these platforms for us as younger professionals, early professionals, and public health, and just all public health professionals, because we kind of get mixed in the weeds of things when it comes to health care. People think of a doctor or you know, like traditional, but there's so many things when it has to deal with systems of health, health and wellness and equity. Um, it's not just being in a hospital setting. So thank you so much for just platforming us. But yeah, so I always wanted to be in the sciences, I always wanted to be in health, but just didn't know what that looked like. And it was actually while we were at Sphelman together, I knew I wasn't like I wasn't mature enough to go straight into medical school. I always wanted to be a doctor. I used to carry around a little official price doctor bag when I was like a little girl. So that was always my thing. I went to like a special program in high school for students that were excelling in the sciences. So I got taught by like my botany classes were by botanists, my meteorology classes were by meteorologists or gymologists or whatever. Like I got like straight world world in the field experience from those individuals and not just, you know, when you go to school, you get you go train by a teacher, but the teacher knows everything. So it was a little different experience for me. And then um, yeah, I got to spell them. I was like, I ain't ready to be no doctor. I was I was very immature when it came to just figuring things out. I was going through a lot as Spelman. And so the Health Careers Club or office, they had like a public health kind of like panel round table. And it was a young lady, her name, I'll always shout her out. Um, her name is uh Dr. Nathea Tobert, and she actually works at Morehouse now, but she came from Morehouse School of Medicine and she shared, um, it was other programs too. It's just she just kind of I just like stuck to her and took to her. She shared with the public health program with Morehouse School of Medicine was the valve. Like, oh, the HBCU thing, and also just, oh, I'm still gonna be connected to public health. Let me go get a master's. And then I was like, oh, I actually want to be an MB MPH. I don't want to just have my MD or oh M MPH or getting uh a master's or a doctorate in public health is like um kind of just oh it's lost plan B. It was like, oh, let me join this in and incorporate it into the master plan. So I was like, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna go zip, get my master's of public health first and then go and still continue on to medical school. And so that's how I got in it. And what once I was there at Morehouse School of Medicine, I was able to do um my thesis in women's health. I was able to go to El Salvador, do some work with the medical students down there. I think I was the only public health student on the team, but I got to triage, they knew I was pre-med. Um I was able to intern at a feminist women's health center at Atlanta, which is um they, you know, give uh reproductive health and reproductive justice. So that was a great experience. Got to work in substance use and behavioral health and some um opportunities on campus. So since then, and obviously at the end of that, we kind of hit COVID, but since then just growing in that feeling, kind of jumping around. There's so many different elements and areas in public health. So behavior health, I've done women's health, I've done. Um, also like communications is where I'm at now. I was an evaluations fellow. So I'm kind of trying to hit all the different yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

You you're taking them through there, okay. You're trying to get all angles and you're not leaving any stone unturned. Okay. My girl, Sarah, serious, good, and and so can you tell the people a little bit more about what you're doing in your role now that you're working? Because you wear a lot of hats, Celine. You wear a lot of hats. I do, I think. And you see them all back there. You should feel uh and if you are listening in and you can't see, she has a whole stack of hats behind her, okay? And so we mean it literally and figuratively. But can you tell the people how it's been kind of multi-talented and leaning into so many different professions at the same time? Because you do come to this work and which is multifaceted, right? But you also have brand deals, you're an ambassador of sorts, you also do a lot of communications, and you have a wonderful platform yourself. So, can you talk about some of the things that you do, like nine to five, and then your like five to nine, and then some of the things that you do for fun, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

And I always say that too. I'm like a nine to five with the bread and butter is, but what's my play money when I can go get a bag or a trip or something like that? Yeah, so yeah, I do. Girls want to know. The girls need to I do separate it like that. I I appreciate that. Yeah, so so yes, right now, nine to five. Okay, everybody knows, like, you know, it's been crazy with the job market specifically for women of color, specifically for black women. So that's been rough. I was affected from that, and definitely when the government shut down, I lost my job with the CDC. Um, I was in health communications and laid off for six months. And stay tuned because I'm about to do a whole life after layoff kind of series on LinkedIn from the LinkedIn version and the Instagram version. We'll cut up a little bit, pulling a little heart strings on the on the Instagram side, and then the LinkedIn side, it'll be a little bit more action-oriented for obvious reasons. Um, but so yeah, like health communications is where I landed after behavioral health and particularly substance uses and um opioids was my focus. I was a regional program manager at Morehouse School of Medicine, and we had a um a grant under our behavioral health center. So um after kind of COVID kicked off, I said, you know what, I want to get out of the office, I want to do something different. And I said, Well, I'm gonna go apply to be a program manager again, but at the CDC, I was like, let me go big time. Not that MSM is not big time, but I mean CDC is like the top of the food chain when you're in school, you hear like that's where the big dogs are at CDC. So I'm like, okay, let me stretch my wings and go ahead and go. So because I was looking at Spelman every day when I went to work, so it's like I was still like at home in a sense. Yeah. And so I applied for a CDC job, and the lady was like, You seem so interested in communications. And by that time, I was like dipping my feet. I was more so a brand ambassador and like just doing like being a face of people's brands and stuff, but not so much like being a content creator. And um, I had I was doing the work already at Morehouse School of Medicine as a one of the communications leads. So doing a lot of the podcasting um that we had podcasts for the um center. We had, you know, product development, we had round table discussions, we had programs that we created, um, graphics. I mean, you name it in that communication space. I was able to like ideate it, um, execute it, roll it out. I mean, my director really gave me a lot of air, a lot of control in that area, conferences, changing those to virtual, doing all the branding and rollout of our conferences. So I was like, well, that was a side job that I did. She was like, Well, we got an opening for communications if you really want to do that. I was like, all right, cool. If you feel like that's a better fit, you say I'm gonna be bored here. I appreciate that. Don't make me bored arbitrarily so thanks for looking out, yeah. Yeah, so I applied, I got it, and that's what I had been doing up until the government shutdown. And so I was gonna pivot by this time. I'm on the internet of Celine Alexandria, um, building a platform as a content creator. Um, I have been doing uh brand deals for myself, um, helping nonprofits when it comes to their branding, their um messaging, their voice, their brand voice, their logos, their graphics, their social media strategy, their creative strategy, their sponsorship decks, um, fund development, you name it specifically, my initials for nonprofits, but I was doing that for myself too when it came to hair care brands, beauty brands, swimwear, travel companies, workout festivals. I mean, if it's in my wheelhouse of travel, fitness, and lifestyle, I'm gonna be there. And I'm I love, you know, and I have so many different sectors. I've done stuff from aka brands to Spelman HBCU brands, and just I'm I'm grateful in that sense. So I bring some of that into one of my nine to five, but also my work with nonprofits because they're looking for brands as well to sponsor with. So that's where the five to nine kind of merges into now me being in a new role with a new office in uh at the CDC, and um, yeah, I'm still in communications in a communications office, thankfully, because I was gonna go, I was applying to Netflix, I was applying to Microsoft, and I was like, Well, Lord, if I don't need to be in public health right now because it's real shaky on shaky ground, shaky girl. So I was like, Shaky, maybe I need to pivot, up root the market, uproot the branding, uproot the creative development and strategy, and take take my take my kind of talents elsewhere until things kind of get a little bit more settled. And it just so happened in divine timing was that hey, we had a position back at the CDC, so and it was hard, it was long, it was it was strenuous, and I was literally those five to nine, the side things. I started bartending while I was still at Spelman. Um, I was doing side, you know, marketing, quick marketing plans. I was back to modeling, being faces for beauty brands and stuff, like anything by any means necessary. But I guess as you say, like so many different hats that I'm able to wear, I was able to kind of pivot during this time and like put on different hats. Um, and then really kind of get my creative buzz back too. Because being a content creator, when you laid off and I lost um uh my grandfather during that time too, it was just like I can't create right now, but I know that I can just kind of prep myself and get my systems in order. So I was thinking more kind of business and strategic during that time versus just being straight out creative because trying to be cute and doing all the little fun stuff is like I don't have a job, I need my life to be settled.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

But but that but I feel like that is something if you're not in that space and in that world, if you're just a consumer and you're just on online and you're just scrolling and you're liking things, you don't know how much effort and work and dedication countless hours, the being strategic, the time management, all of the things that go into even if you're a faceless content creator, but also if you are in front of the camera as well. And I have a newfound, I think, respect, especially because if I was dancing on TikTok in 2019, I probably would be somebody that was on there still dancing, but uh I was not, so I was in school and I I had my nose in a book, and I was like, okay, public health is really going in the direction of it, seems like everybody wants to be in public health because of COVID and because of so much that that unfortunate pandemic brought, but it did open people's eyes to how important I think the response is for health communications, how important it is to have somebody that looks like you and me delivering the messages, but also creating the vaccines to creating some of the messages that we see and hear and making sure that those that look like us are also in the communities and also are the trusted messengers. So I thank you for sharing that with our listeners and our audience because so many people just assume oh, if you're a content creator, it's this, this, this, this, this. And if you're a brand ambassador or whatever, you're just doing these things. But it takes a lot of work to get folks to tap in, to follow you, to follow not just you, but uh whatever you're selling or whatever you're influencing. So I definitely thank you for for being a bright light and being a unique public health ambassador and someone that's in content creation because it's not easy. And when we have these complex things that we're talking about on a daily basis, and we are dealing with a very scary time where silencing and doxing and changing the rhetoric and misinformation and disinformation, all of those things are very real, and they're not something to be played with, and a lot of people may lose their lives because of individuals like us not having our jobs anymore or not being able to kind of change the science or the medicine or the public health in some of these real cases that we're seeing. I mean, look at these outbreaks that are happening, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:54

They're crazy right now, and I think something that you touched on was the fact that, like, it's so real world when it comes to doxing or just anything that happens on the internet, and just like that. So when we talk about like misinformation, especially when it comes to health communications and public health, like it's so real. Misinformation can influence populations to think that they need to be drinking bleach for vaccination purposes for COVID. So it's like when we're at the CDC level and health communication sounds like, oh, they're gonna let the marketing team go first, or you know, people that you know need we we do the talking points. We I'm on the social media team.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

All that, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

I'm on the social media team for the CDC, and I was before too. And you know, that's where a lot of people get their content from these days, as far as like not just TikTok dances, but also their news, also their news sources.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Yes, their news.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

So it's like it plays a more important role than people think, and the health education and behavior change is happening on social media as well, whether they be good or bad, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:58

And let's also let the audience know the differences between disinformation and misinformation. So, misinformation is something where, oh, I made a mistake, you're wearing a black and gray and white top. But if I said, Oh, you're wearing purple, that is okay, that's misinformation. I messed up. So miss meaning I miss the information, but disinformation is when people are strategically and and and knowingly providing information that is not correct, that is not true, and is causing either a panic, is pushing a certain agenda, and that is something that I just don't tolerate. Like I'm somebody who's gonna engage the trolls, and even if people troll on my stuff, I'm going to clap back because it's it's you don't know these individuals who are getting paid to do this, but they're getting paid, are literally getting paid, right? To spam and and and and flog people's stuff. But then when you think about the algorithms that those things are pushed out to, normally it's the individuals that they don't follow that they don't interact with on a daily basis. But when you engage the trolls, some of those people who were really thinking that this person was correct in that rhetoric or whatever they're saying, if you come back and say, Well, I'm an expert and here's the data that supports why this is not correct or why this is is false or not true or whatever, you don't know what message that is going to reach in terms of the audience it's going to reach because you you kind of nip that in the butt. So I always encourage people, even if you don't want to engage the troll, if you know something is is is false or is not right, like right.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

They could be doing it unwillingly. I mean, not unwillingly, um, they're unbeknownst to them too. Like sometimes people really think that what they really don't know, yeah, but a good majority of them these days, yeah, they're doing a little disinformation, but either or you know, like CDC has to be one of has to remain a trusted voice in those instances, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Right. And the the thoughts, views, and opinions that are said on this show are ours and ours alone and do not reflect the U.S. government. Thank you so much. And moving right along. So let's go to our next segment and talking about the intersection of public health storytelling and digital content creation. Why do you think that social media and online spaces have become such important tools for health education and advocacy?

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Um, I think just because they're easy, access easier to be um accessible. I think that um I think people, how we used to get our news in traditional ways. Um, I even think of like why where like the first instances where I was coming up with this career of mine, I was in high school and I was like, well, I might have been in middle school, and I saw like, yeah, it was it was middle school, I saw 17 magazine, and I was like, I want to be a physician, a black doctor, like in the magazine telling the young girls like how to take care of themselves, how to like have good sexual and feminine health. And I was like, this would be so cool to be a media correspondent. But then when um well, be in the magazines and be, you know, in print. And I thought about Essence Festival and different things like that, where I could appear. This was before Married in Medicine. So I went married to Medicine came out. I was like, wow, see, this is what I'm talking about, and even just taking what they do a step further, because I mean that's around the reality TV and entertainment, they they dabble and dabble in medicine on the show, but it's obviously that's not the main premise of the show, is to push the medicine, they you know, push the entertainment, but it was just a sense of just the representation and like some of those doctors that are on there, yeah, that actually do have these bigger platforms where they're making their own self uh a brand. And then when I saw during COVID and Dr. Fauci and different people going on to CNN and different platforms, being those media correspondents, um, it was just the way we gathered news changed. And then, like with like during COVID, I think every day was like some new thing that was coming out. There's no way that like paper or just online reports. I mean, Atlanta Journal, Atlanta, AJC, Atlanta Journal of Constitution, AJC, they um they they weren't probably even able to come up with that information as quick as someone rolling it out on Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it. Um, just the ways that we consume information and education is just so quicker. And then when just TikTok boomed, it was just like we're probably never going, no, I'm sure less than 10% of the world reads that magazine today or a newspaper for sure, not definitely right. So I think right. So I think and things change so quick, and we saw how things were changing so quick that I think that's why those platforms and just modes are just easier. Um, and even just podcasting, too. I mean, yeah, I'm a YouTube girl, I love YouTube, and I have like beauty YouTube, body YouTubes, health YouTubes, home YouTube. I got my influencer uh have different little buckets where I can save stuff on my playlist, but there's so many ways to inform yourself on YouTube University. That's what I call it. You can go to YouTube University. So those types of ways versus sitting in a classroom, people feel like, oh, you know, I can consume this and you know, be a mechanic or do hair, I can become a hairstylist and you know be lash.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

All sorts of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

So I think those are those are why it has become people had our own voices too. Like we are our own kind of if the if the people are if the people that are in power are not gonna speak for us, we could create our own vessels and platforms to do this and speak for our people and show us since they ain't gonna put us on the news or whatever, we're gonna put ourselves on, you know, and yeah, and share the good stories that's happening in our communities and the different programs. So there's a Lot of different ways I think that you know social media can social excuse me, social media is really good for advocacy and just public health in general, um, as far as like getting the word out about something or another.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Yeah. And I want to go back to something that you said earlier because when we're talking about careers and folks being displaced and just trying to figure out how you're gonna make ends meet or what's next, I think a lot of people feel pressure with their career paths right now, especially if you're in school, if you're thinking about pursuing school, if you're studying for school, and when you're looking at social media or LinkedIn, even sometimes it feels like everything is a highlight reel, and there's this linear path of success or overnight success. And sometimes people don't understand how you've grinded and you've been kind of beating the pavement in terms of getting content out or being an ambassador of sorts. So, can you talk to how you leaned in and pivoted during the time that you've been on social media and kind of in a nine to five space? And what was how did you feel or stay grounded in that kind of landscape?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

So I I mean, there's power in a pivot. I mean, when you say pounding the pavement, my knuckles are bloody, like I have bruises, like literally, like I got this the other day. I was like, oh my god. Um I I mean, literally, like pivoting is like I'm I'm the pivot princess. Like literally, I thought I was just, I don't know, God laughs at these plans we have. You know, you want to make easy plan. So I think I mean the way I say grounded is is just knowing that you really, I mean, when it comes to these kind of times that we're living in just in general, you really gotta rely on faith. And it might not just be just being a Christian or a Jew or whatever you want to be, but really just the faith of everything will work itself out in its timing. And I think that because anyone my age are younger, we're so used to getting it so quick. And I'll be honest, things came to me very quick until I tried to go back to school and go to medical school. Like I've always gotten to every school I wanted, I got the internships, the fellowships. This is the heart of the hardest I've ever had to work in as long as this ever took. Because I'm like, why am I not in medical school yet? What is going on? And everything keeps happening, whether it be COVID, whether it be I ran out of time on the test, but I knew all the information, or my grandfather passed away, and it's like I'm not gonna be able to focus on the test, or just it was it's always something every time I've been trying to take this test, and I said this is gonna be the year that you know I'm gonna push past everything and just go hard and lock in. But I mean, things happen, and I think that there's always time. I think we're put up against this plot, we're put on the pressures of society to always feel like we're pleasing others. And I mean, you know, my birthday is next weekend. I don't feel like a happy early birthday. Thank you, girl. I don't feel the I don't feel that our age, but even if it's like who's to say what 30 is to feel like versus 40 or 20. Like we think after 20 should life is ended. But I look at JK Rowland, KFC, Wendy's, all of those people, they all have in common that they were successful later in life. Even Samuel Jackson, like they all saw success after, yeah, they all saw success after like 45, 50.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah. So I mean, there's never that time of where you're like, oh, you know, you're there's and I think about it as me. If I was a physician and now versus me going into medical school now and walking into a room and like speaking to a patient, I'm speaking to a person. Like I would have been speaking to a patient if I would have gone into medical school straight at 21 when we graduated from college. Because I don't have that, I didn't have that level of experience, I didn't have that understanding of what it takes to be in community. Whether I'm on Plaza Fiesta in Atlanta while I'm in um, you know, Little Havana or whatever in Miami, or I'm back in Chicago because I went to school in Chicago too, or if I'm down in El Salvador, like all those communities look different and how they need and show up for their health, or if I'm in the West End by the AUC, everybody's health care needs look differently, and I would have just never had that nuance. So you never know why certain things are happening, and I think especially when it comes to like the content creation, because my parents are like, oh, you think you can't think that's not a profession. Like, I'm gonna use that to my best abilities to be able to serve, and it's teaching me a lot of different things. I would have never I didn't go to school for branding, marketing, creative, none of that stuff. That was not we went to the same school, none of that was at high school as far as degree, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:00

That was not on the curriculum, that was not on the big go card.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

So this is all self-taught and picking up books like the artist's way and just learning, getting on YouTube, and just being out in the field and learning what these things are about and using your true gifts and abilities. Like I've been painting and creating, I was voted most unique in high school. So I've been doing all this for a long time, and I'm like, well, let me make it digital now. And so for me, and then I've created my own story. I mean, literally, I you know, I've I've been in the reproductive system myself, and it started at 16, and then I'm like, okay, I'm my own, you know, person that I don't want to see this happen to. And so it's like I had to be like, okay, I have to go back and and and pull from you know from you know from behind me. Yeah, and and feel how girls feel when they're like having to come into an office and tell, you know, somebody at 15, 16, 17 that they're pregnant. Right. I know exactly what that feels like. So when a patient comes into the room and tells me that, it's like, oh girl, no, that's that's when when that's not your that's not gonna be your story, that's not gonna be your sacrifice of you trying to put your reproductive rights um, you know, up for a debate, you know. But we live in that world these days. And so fighting for those kind of things, it hits home a little differently. So I always look back at my pivot and it's like, I guess it wasn't a pivot. I guess you just was just was the path, right? But you know, you you got you know, you used to play video games back in the up, gotta go back the other way. Or gotta, you know, you you in a video game where you like, okay, I brick wall, turn around, let me find another path, let me create the path.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Right. You always gotta blow down the wall or or go through the window. Right. You gotta do what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Make a hole, make a ceiling, whatever, because literally that's what it's gonna take these days. I mean, especially to stand out. It's so many people wanting creative spaces. A lot of people is public health is saturated these days, so you gotta like let your own story and yourself kind of do that for you. But even being grounded, like you gotta run your own race. I'm a content creator, and me, I do not consume content on Instagram, TikTok, none of that. I get on there, I look for info, I get off, and I go back to creating because I find I find the song I want to use because you always gotta have little trainer songs, little gym for you. Um, and then I get right back off and I go back to creating because I can't be consuming and staying in that space. So you gotta run your own race. And this guy I went to um grad school where he always said, if you're looking at somebody else's plate, you're gonna always starve.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

Always starve, right? Because comparison is the thief of joy.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Yeah, so for me, I think that's what keeps me grounded. Like you look at people, you're like, okay, she didn't have to do nothing. She didn't have to, she got a degree and just then just sat pretty and was able to just live the life and go get the birkin bags and the pit private jets and whatever. But that ain't my story. I gotta grind, and you know, you gotta run, you gotta put your blinders on, and literally hack how the the horses do in their races, like yeah, run your own race. Yeah, I mean if you look to the side and see that's a good check mark, okay. Am I staying in line with my peers? No, that's that's a for sure good thing because you need to know you're not staying in line with them. Like outpacem, but never had them outpacing you. You know, you you gotta stay in race with your peers, obviously, but but still run your own race. Everybody is not, and first of all, we don't know what everybody's background is either. So everybody hasn't come from the same equitable, same background for this to even be like we're playing the same race. So that's how I stay grounded in in those kind of sense, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Yeah, that was great, and I hope that folks are taking notes because you've dropped a lot of gems, sis. You dropped a lot of free gems, free game for the people. And as we get ready to close out, I wanted to ask you about their the pressure. Um, because we we've talked a little bit about social media, we've talked about ambassadorships, we've talked about wellness, and how do we stay balanced in this crazy time, especially right now when things are under attack, funding is being cut, people are getting are losing their jobs, you're having to try to figure out a new path that doesn't maybe exist, or you're stemming from the credentials that you have right now. What advice do you have for folks who are listening who are trying to figure out what's next and trying to stay relevant but also doing something that's sustainable?

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Yeah, um I think the first thing I would say is what's seeking, what's seeking, what you are seeking is seeking you. I would definitely say that first. And then also, um, I had non-negotiables when I was laid off. My non-negotiables was I joined the 5 a.m. club during COVID and I was not giving back my card because I'm laid off. I'm gonna get up at 5 a.m. I'm gonna still have a routine, and my other non-negotiable was that I was not gonna give working out, give up working out. Whether that I might have to let go to LA Fitness or the class pass. I didn't have to, but if I had to, I would have done that, but I still would have been at Pete My Park here in Atlanta or wherever I was because I was still traveling, thank God. But I would have been wherever doing push-ups outside on the monkey bars, whatever. I wasn't gonna give up, wasn't gonna give up wellness because I enjoy working out. I wasn't gonna do that, and I was still gonna get up and still feel like I was productive, you know, and I'm teaching. Yeah, I wasn't sleeping until 12. Um, and also another thing was I got back to, and everybody I think should do this in these times, like get back to your childhood joys. Like talk to your five-year-old self because those those people, little people inside, even if you have kids, like their imagination, my imagination was crazy at that age. Like, I would come up with stuff, create stuff, paint stuff, make clothes, and all kind of stuff. But becoming an adult, you take a lot less risks as the older you get. And I think going back to our imaginative selves and just our joys. I used to do ballet, I used to do tap, jazz, ballet, and acrobatics. I used to swim, I used to play tennis, and I was like, I'm gonna go back and do all my childhood joys. I even started doing Legos, and so a lot of people do Legos, I do Legos. I got a big old Lego set right up in. So I think that yeah, we have to um kind of go back to those creative spaces and like I hit make sure I'm hitting everything when it comes to okay, how am I doing in the hair department? How am I doing with my you know, wellness and my you know, body? How am I doing with skin? How am I doing with movement? How you know, I hitting all the wellness pillars, how am I doing financially? Like checking in and make sure, like just like in a car, like uh if is it all four tires on? Is you have is the engine running? Is the you know uh transmission still good? Not just so, I mean, I mean, you could just go crazy trying to find a job every day. I mean, you will go crazy if that's all there is. Um, and so I yeah, those those were the the biggest things for me that I can definitely um the definitely think of. Yeah. I think it's one sitting in front of me. I had this little thing, I'll read it. By the way, I figured out the purpose of life is to show up with here to have fun energy, no matter the occasion. Yeah. I keep that like above me right here. So I mean, I do like to go out a lot. I'm not a party girl. That's such a bad, that's a bad time. They make it a bad term. I have always been a party girl because I used to work in nightlife. In nightlife, right? That's my energy. Like, I'm here like, you know, we say we here for the vibes, I'm here to have fun, and I I want to, you know, we say that all the time, but yeah, that's the that's you have to keep that energy. True, yeah, no matter the occasion, like yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

And and I will say, as somebody who's a social butterfly, who loves to is an extrovert who loves to go out and be social, you sometimes thrive off of those environments. So when you are dealing with the job loss, you're dealing with not having the financial means to do all the things that you love to do, to travel, to go out, to even go to the gym. You have to find new ways to do that and using your resources, like things you like you said, YouTube, going to the free parks, finding free things to do. There's a lot of content creators that focus on free activities because they know outside is 11 million thousand dollars, gas is 11 million dollars right now. So you can find ways to save money, but also have a good time, get those endorphins flowing, and also remind yourself of who you are and why you do this work, or why you're passionate about a certain community, or you're not going to let the current circumstances be your story and be the end of your story. That is so powerful. So, thank you so much for sharing that little other little gem once again, just sharing gems for uh today. So, um, one of the questions that I always ask all my guests is where does public health show up in your work, even behind the scenes? Can you let our audience know?

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Um, where does show where does public health show up in my work? Um, it shows up in about 90% of my work. Uh-huh. Um, I'm a very public health, health, wellness focused person just in regular life when it comes to environment, as far as you know, air pollution and using outside resources and um composting, not just in my job. You know, like a lot of the things that I do are in public health spaces, and we have actually some content coming up, so check that out. Um, when it comes to like CDC, but it's about where does public show up? Public health shows up in the schools, in your work environment, in your communities. And so that's not just a nine to five thing for me. But yeah, it shows up, it shows up in like definitely the spaces when it comes to for equity for me, especially. Um, I'm really big on equitable spaces and people um unearthing uh inequities that we just do a lot of people do not know of, especially when somebody goes and funds um and gives people money to go to private schools. Well, that's defunding public schools. So it's like there's so many different ways to kind of um and if y'all don't know what I'm talking about, there's definitely something that's going on right now. Um, and one of your favorite rappers is a part of it, but anyways, um so the next episode so you can figure out who she's talking about. So, but yeah, so um, so yeah, it comes up in so many ways. And what was your uh last question?

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Um, the second part of it, and like even behind the scenes. So, yes, your nine to five is obviously in the public health space, but what about in your five to nine and on the weekends and maybe in your daily life? How does it show up too?

SPEAKER_01 37:57

Um, I'm really like I was saying, I'm really big on wellness. I think that us moving, I think that us, our skin, um, our hair, our nails, our physical appearance, that's not just for like vanity purposes. I'm really big on black women moving. If that means 10 to 12k steps a day, you have no clue how easy it is to get there. You just get up, get up from the computer, um, just you know, walk around before you go to work, take calls walking around. Like, hey, I'm not gonna sit at my desk. I have a sending, I have a standing desk and a walking pad. Just getting a simple walking pad if you have the means to, they're under $100. There's different ways, and I like to show people that wellness is it's easier than you think, and like it's become such this commodity, it's become so capitalized, it's become so this price tag on Pilates. I was on, I was a Pilates girly when Lori Harvey, nobody was talking because I was the first person and just blew up after that. But I was doing it before that, and I was you know, with a little with a little uh video on YouTube. There's so many different ways that wellness looks, and that's something a journey I'm taking myself on is to um fill out all the pillars of wellness. So I encourage any of the listeners that are watching or listening to check out all the pillars of wellness, not just oh, I'm gonna go in the gym, I'm gonna get you know cute for the summer, summer bodies are made in the winter, all that jazz. That's cute, but there's other there's other ways of wellness. Sleep is a part of wellness, and we're really big on sleep depriving ourselves. And I have a strong deadline, like you know, who I'm dating or my mom or anybody be like, Oh, you're a granny going to bed. I'm going to bed because our cells regenerate at night, y'all. Yeah, so I have to start my process. And also, black women deserve rest. Hello? That part too. Respire physically and figuratively, like literally take the capes off, put them down, put them in the closet, burn them, like burn them, like whatever. Okay. Yeah, like literally. So, yeah, there's wellness. I have wellness rest decks too. Like when I do um sessions that I got, I always bring decks when it comes to different things that we might be talking about, have a rest deck. Um, but also the health equity collective is a part, is an association, it's a collective for public health professionals to be able to kind of just go out in the world and share this type of information. So, yeah, I outside my sneeze was like, Okay, girl, you done.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

No, you're fine, you're fine. So, if folks want to follow you, get in touch with you, you know, collaborate with you, can you share your your socials or your handles for the folks that are that are joining today?

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yeah, sure. So LinkedIn is Selena Craig, and then on Instagram is Selena Alexandria. Um, and I will be getting on YouTube shorts and TikToks pretty soon um just to have uh more of a a spread um of being diverse as far as all the platforms. Um, but yeah, those and then I have a website, Selena Alexandria.com. You can always link, um, I mean, you can always book like chit chat time with me, whether it be creative strategy or talking about fun development for your you know nonprofit or um just mentorship. I mentor a lot of um college age and high school girls um as well.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

So um yeah, those are the ways I'm pretty Google, so she is, and she is always such a light and a joy, and I want to thank you for coming on the show, for giving some of your energy and the vibes because the vibes are always there, but also to continue to do what you're doing, you're doing great, and from one black queen to the next as we kick off the summer prize season, black women resting and prioritizing ourselves. Make sure that you love on one another and continue to uplift each other because we truly are all trying to just survive. And um, I appreciate you coming to not only share the the highlights that you've done over the last couple of years, but also some of the lows and some of the ways that you've tried to navigate this some of the current circumstances, but also some of the past circumstances. So, thank you for sharing that vulnerable uh that vulnerability with our our listeners. So thank you again um for being on the Real Talk Real Impact podcast. So keep showing up, keep asking questions, and keep pushing for better. And until next time, we'll see ya. Thank you. Bye.