Overcoming me has been my biggest battle. Most people have outside obstacles stopping them, yet my biggest battle has been mine. However, this isn't how my story starts. I grew up in a low-income, single-parent household. My mom taught me from an early age to put myself and my emotions last to help the greater good. She told me to work hard and get what needed to be done. I didn't come from an affectionate household, so hugs and talking about emotions always made me uncomfortable, which was weird as I am such an emotional person. It wasn't until my sophomore year of high school that I started to notice my emotions taking over, and COVID didn't help. Isolating myself became my therapy. Sitting in my room and staring in the mirror, I hated how I looked. Every day, I tried to come up with ways to fix myself. My first solution was to just stop eating. I didn't realize it at first, but I had developed an eating disorder. I would starve for days, and when I would finally eat, I would binge and throw it up. I soon learned that this just made me sick. Looking at me made me hate my body. Encouraged by the media, I grabbed scissors and built a collection of scars and cuts on my legs, arms, and inner thighs. With over 43 slices on my body, I felt like it wasn't helping. So my second solution was suicide. However, I didn't start there. Instead of attending my online Zoom classes, I would sit down, make a list of all my flaws, and begin writing about why I shouldn't be alive. Crying silently so no one would hear, bottling my emotions up, led me to plan out my suicide. I planned to wait until everyone went to sleep and take every pill I could find in the house. I scoffed down 24 Tylenol in hopes of not waking up. However, panic set in when I was throwing up profusely. At 2 a.m., the crying and vomiting sounds woke my mom up. Holding the toilet bowl and crying with a razor blade to my side, my mom knew something was wrong. She asked me what I did, and even though I was embarrassed, I had to tell her I needed help. From then on, my journey began. I went to a mental health clinic and then therapy, which gave me the tools to take care of my emotions. Sitting down with my family and hearing how much they loved me showed me how valued I was in my community. I felt selfish for my actions. Scaring my siblings and my mother broke my heart. From then on, I knew I would rather be embarrassed to say I needed help than have my family be broken for life because of my death. This inspired me to find God and find my passion. I went to church, prayed, and asked God for forgiveness. Then my next task was to find my passion. I then learned I am greatly motivated to help women. My goal for my career is to help and serve women who aren't usually given the tools or access to basic health care. I plan to serve minority women as a female OB/GYN in my healthcare practice. As much as I would have loved to never have been faced with this adversity, I do believe it shaped me into the woman I am today. Instead of looking at myself as bruised and battered, I chose to say I am recovered.

Can you imagine being born in your body and not understanding a thing about it? Hello, my name is Maliah Thompson. I was born in Denver, CO, and am now living in Baltimore, MD. I am a biology (biomedical) major. I come from black and Native American backgrounds, and I attend an HBCU named Morgan State University. I come from a female-dominated family. I'm not sure if it's just genetics or because they are all single. Either way, I've always been around women and girls of many ages. Growing up and seeing my mom struggle with things my peers wouldn't even understand made me grow up pretty quickly. While my mom tried to keep the hurdles and obstacles away, I knew what went on behind the scenes. My mom played the roles of my father and mother. So once I was old enough, my mom gave me the infamous "Birds & Bees'' talk. My mom never had the proper knowledge, just teaching from experience or what she taught when she was younger. She taught me many common misconceptions. For example, "you can't use tampons yet; you're a virgin." Looking back and laughing with my friends as they had the same talk showed me that the majority of women, especially of my race, do not understand their bodies, even though they were born with them. This constant realization showed me that un-knowledged women continue the cycle by teaching more un-knowledged women. This inspired my current passion for women's health and medicine.  I have a dream and aspiration of becoming an OB/GYN and eventually opening up my very own practice. I believe my mission and purpose in life are to help all ages of women and provide services for women who do not usually have access to health care. The healthcare field today is not only underrepresented for POC; it is also a male-dominated field (especially for doctors). Walking into a doctor's office scared and confused is much more intense when you feel as if you don't relate to your physician. With my experience and race, I believe I can make a real impact on women just like me. Coming from a diverse background makes me all the more relatable. While women like me have to work twice as hard, I am ready to show that it is possible. Breaking the barriers of a low-income family, gender, and race is not a disadvantage; it is my superpower. Beating all odds, I know I can become a black, native American female OB/GYN. I plan to use my degree to not only represent and provide health care for my community but also to show young women like me that we are more than just our skin tone. Despite the barriers, hurdles, and jumps, we can preserve and show just how amazing we are as a community together as one unity.

Being black is more than skin. For me, being black is about community, unity, and preserving. I come from black and Native American backgrounds, and I attend an HBCU named Morgan State University. However, growing up in Denver, I never realized just how underrepresented I was. So choosing to go to an HBCU meant a lot. I've always felt like I was the odd one out or that my voice was inferior to that of my white peers. Further, schools weren't the only place I've seen this indifference. Health care is not only male-dominated; it is also extremely underrepresented for WOC. Walking into a doctor's office scared and confused is much more intense when you feel as if you don't relate to your physician. With my experience of feeling overlooked, I believe I can make a real impact on women just like me. I have a dream and aspiration of becoming an OB/GYN and eventually opening up my very own practice. I believe my mission and purpose in life are to help all ages of women and provide services for women who do not usually have access to health care. I plan to use my degree to not only represent and provide health care for my community but also to show young women like me that we are more than just our skin tone. Despite the barriers, hurdles, and jumps, we can preserve and show just how amazing we are as a community together as one unity.