The immigrant story is an important part of the American story. However, African immigrants are often the forgotten faces and voices of the immigrant struggle and story. "Americanah" is a book everyone should read because the story of the African immigrant is just as important as any immigrant story and needs to be told. As a first-generation Nigerian American, I have never felt so seen and heard after reading a fictional story. It has impacted me to share my struggles and inspired me to lift a country of people through positive promotion of our culture. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is arguably one of the most prominent and important African writers of our generation. She artfully pens a story about survival and identity through the lens of a Nigerian couple who both leave their country for greener pastures, one going to America and the other going to the United Kingdom. The book “Americanah” is a story all too familiar for African immigrants who search for a better life outside of their resource-rich, however heavily exploited countries. When they reach their Western destinations they are met with racism, loss of culture, loneliness, and immigrant labor exploitation. Just as the main characters in “Americanah” experienced the downfalls of immigration, I have personally witnessed these downfalls within my family and friends. My family members and friends have risked their lives not only for greener pastures but as a means of survival. They are willing to go to countries to work menial jobs for menial pay in deplorable working conditions to put food on the table for loved ones in their home country. Just as the main characters in "Americanah" faced the ever-growing fear of deportation, many immigrants are trapped in Western countries seeking legal immigration documentation. Despite their best efforts, this legal documentation remains elusive. Many times African immigrants spend years toiling away in Western countries while they miss family milestones. They miss their culture, language, and sadly experience their loved ones like parents passing without the opportunity of traveling back home. "Americanah" raises awareness about the injustices of immigrant exploitation in the African community. It has inspired me to tell my story of being a product of African immigration to Western countries and create a safe space for others to tell theirs. It has impacted me to be involved in associations that promote culture and community and mitigate the negative impact of immigrant exploitation.

I am a young black woman and I am a first-generation immigrant child born to Nigerian parents. I also grew up as the first daughter of six children. While in middle school, I experienced growing up in a low-income household when my mom was laid off from her job and my dad's business failed. During this time, we experienced having our electricity shut off, never having enough for groceries, no tv because we couldn't afford the cable bill, reduced or free lunches from school, my parents constantly arguing with bill collectors, and near foreclosure of our home. It was a very trying time for my family but it only motivated me to not only achieve but to give back to my community. I am personally familiar with the plight of those belonging to underserved populations. Coming from an immigrant community and a community of color, I have always had a passion for serving my community because my various communities have always served me. I truly believe that it is a privilege to serve a community that has given so much to shaping my character, influencing my outlook on life, and has given me the drive to be the best version of myself. As a result of my passion for serving my community, my first bachelor’s degree was in public health and wanting to take it a step further I earned a second bachelor’s degree in nursing. I wanted to marry my passions for public health and nursing into creating a career that would allow me to improve healthcare outcomes in communities of color, immigrant communities, and impoverished communities. My community service record and experience as a Public Health Registered Nurse working in the community demonstrates my continued passion towards working with underserved populations. In speaking to my community service experience, I dedicated one year of service as an undergraduate student to AmeriCorps in the communities of Perth Amboy and Carteret, which are both underserved communities of color with large immigrant populations, just like where I come from. As a current graduate student, I am looking to make a last change in communities of color as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. In my own personal family experience, shadowing, and work experience, there are multiple gaps of service, lack of access to care, and lack of proper education and management of mental health disorders in communities of color and impoverished communities. Adding healthcare professionals who are also people of color in these communities greatly improve health outcomes and overall trust and compliance to treatment plans. I am completely dedicated in employing a nursing-centered compassion towards patients as an advanced practitioner in these communities. I am dedicated and committed to providing excellent services and care in helping those becoming functional individuals in their lives, families, and within society.

Igbo women (an important part of a large ethnic group in Nigeria) are said to be strong. That is until they are not. I learned this the hard way while I witnessed an unrelenting illness take away my grandmother’s strength. I had naively thought that she was invincible. After all, she gave birth to and raised eleven children in what at the time was a politically unstable Nigeria. As if that was not enough, my grandmother began lending a hand in raising her grandchildren while her youngest children were barely teenagers. She came to America for the first time and quickly learned how to navigate and adapt to what was a foreign environment for her. As a child, she enlightened my days with her wisdom and laughter. As I grew older, she relocated back to Nigeria and I visited when I could. As several years passed and I had not been back to Nigeria, my grandmother suffered multiple silent strokes. At just seventy years old, the woman who was once able to command the room with her voice and laughter could no longer speak in coherent sentences. Among other things, she could no longer walk, recognize her own family at times, and eat on her own. When I returned to Nigeria and held my grandmother’s frail hands in my own I was saddened both by her condition and by the fact that I did not know what I could do to alleviate her pain and improve her quality of life. It was at that time that I began to think of nursing as a career path that I genuinely wanted to pursue. I share the story of my grandmother because it serves as a constant motivation and reminder to achieve the goals that I have set for myself as a nurse professional. I chose nursing because it continues to foster my instinct to selflessly help others and is an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. Nursing is an incredibly important profession to me because I can address healthcare in underserved populations and communities (communities made of others who look like and share my grandmother's story) from a unique perspective. My unique perspective comes from earning a bachelor’s degree in both public health and nursing. Currently, working as a Public Health Registered Nurse, I continue to influence underserved communities, educate community leaders and members, and create programs that encourage healthy living and improve the overall quality of life. This unique perspective affords me the opportunity to serve as a nurse who does not only treat disease, but prevents it. It also affords me the opportunity to educate others on improving their quality of life. I am completely inspired by the late Dr. Ifeoma's dedication to nursing. She hails from the same Igbo ethnic group that I do and inspires me to further my education as a nurse practitioner this time specializing in psychiatric mental health nursing. I believe with my unique experience and perspective I can make an even larger impact in the lives of those who suffer from mental health disorders. In my own personal family experience, shadowing, and work experience, there are multiple gaps of service, lack of access to care, and lack of proper education and management of mental health disorders in communities of color and impoverished communities. Adding healthcare professionals who are also people of color in these communities greatly improve health outcomes and overall trust and compliance to treatment plans. I am completely dedicated in employing a nursing-centered compassion towards patients as an advanced practitioner in these communities.