My name is Rachel Cage and I am currently studying Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the University of California San Diego. I have big aspirations of becoming a doctor, specifically an OB/GYN. As a Black woman in STEM attending a predominantly white institution, I've faced my fair share of challenges, but I've been consistent and adamant about my dreams of going to medical school. I've joined a variety of health organizations such as the Student Health Advocates where I educated my peers on a variety of health topics including safe sex, fitness, mental health wellness, and alcohol and drug use. I was also a member of the minority association of pre-medical students (MAPS). While being in health organizations contributed to my aspirations of becoming a doctor, I also had many leaderships roles that brought me closer to my community, helped me develop leadership skills, and pushed me to become a better advocate and activist for marginalized communities including my own. I served on the Black Student Union board as the Access coordinator and was the Anti-Basileus of my sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. Being both a pre-medical student and doing advocacy work led me to develop a deeper passion for medicine due to the increasing health disparities that plague our country. My grandmother was the biggest influence in my life. My dream of becoming a physician was inspired by her. She passed away during my third year of college. She was an extremely powerful woman. She was a single mother and worked as a nurse. My grandmother was the first exposure and insight I had into medicine. Her passion rubbed off on me and incentivized me to pursue my own career in health care. She was also a bible school teacher. Her combined passion for God, medicine, and family made her that much more of an inspiration for me. After her passing, I was more determined than ever to enter the healthcare field. Witnessing the maltreatment of her while she was hospitalized revealed the flaws in medicine that ultimately lead to the demise of many Black people. As Black women, we face a plethora of challenges and a prevalent one can be found in our healthcare system. Health disparities and medical racism plague our society and have for a long time. I know I cannot singlehandedly eradicate these injustices, but this is the predominant reason why I want to become an OB/GYN: to give Black women the quality healthcare we deserve.

I had the pleasure of working as a resident advisor for two years and during that time I met so many people with different identities coming from a variety of backgrounds. As a resident advisor I had over 100 residents so as one could imagine, I had my work cut out for me. Being an RA, I wanted to ensure that every resident I was responsible for felt supported while navigating college. I had a few residents that were trans and nonbinary they came to me one day stating that they felt uncomfortable because some of their roommates would misgender them, undermine their gender and sexual identity, and make other harmful remarks. I saw this as a learning opportunity for the community I was trying to create. Part of my job as an RA was to cultivate an inclusive community that embraces different identities and educates residents to make them more socially conscious so that they understand the importance of allyship and equity. Often time I'd do this by crafting programs, both passive and active. Whether they were educational, fun, self-care programs or any other type of program was up to me. I decided to have an educational program, but first I educated myself on the history of the LGBTQ+ community so that I could deliver an informative and impactful program. After many hours of research, I got some opinions from coworkers, supervisors, and my residents who identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community. After a bit of polishing and some adjustments, I was ready to advertise. I ordered catering to get people to show up. A whopping 47 people showed up (more than the number of residents I had at the time). During the program, I talked about LGBTQ+ social movements, inclusive language, implicit bias, and of course, allyship. The responses I got were very positive, but I didn't want this program to end there. Each week in my newsletter, I put one thing we could do to practice being better allies. As a Black woman, allyship is extremely important to me. I've had people show up for me and others degrade me contributing to my oppression. The same way I've seen other allies show up for my community was the same way I wanted to show up for other communities I do not personally identify with. I know how it feels to be silenced, undermined, ignored, isolated and oppressed which is why activism and advocacy work is a salient part of my life and will always be. I was taught for a long time that social activism does not have a place in the professional world and I beg to differ. In every space that I've walked into, I've made it a point to use my agency to make the workplace more inclusive just as I did my residential community. The world is evolving day by day and society with it. People of all identities deserve to exist in a world that recognizes and embraces our differences and that wants to see us thrive. The program has now become an essential part of our resident house meetings to preface the year with an inspirational look at allyship.

I didn't embrace my Black female identity until I got to college. Prior to college, I was trying to conform to society's standard of beauty (as best I could being that I was plus size). I straightened my hair every day until my hair was so damaged I had no curls left, I tried to lighten my skin, and make myself more digestible so I would be accepted. Once I got to college, I moved into Black housing and finally felt comfortable enough to be my full Black self. I stopped straightening my hair, embraced my beautiful skin and features, and became unapologetically Black. I was more committed to educating myself on my culture and a history that was never taught to me. My experiences as a Black woman have not always been positive, but they've always been empowering. Being the product of a Black woman, and having so many Black women in my life that I can model after has helped mold me into who I am today. Seeing the way in which they carry themselves with grace, lead, and strive for success was something I admired and something I work hard to achieve in my personal life, school, and in my future. Despite being a Biochemistry major with aspirations of becoming a physician, I took as many classes as I could in African American studies, Ethnic studies, and other classes that would help me develop a better understanding of social activism. Why? Because being a doctor is so much more than "helping people". My goal was to be able to serve people in my community, specifically Black women by understanding how I could use my agency to mitigate the health disparities that plague us. Although as Black women we face many of the same struggles, our lives, and our experiences are not a monolith and that's what I hope to convey as a social activist and as an aspiring physician. We all have our own individual needs and some of us have other identities that impact the way we navigate life. In understanding this, I feel that this will help me in the fight for social activism and uplifting other Black women.