The Raddest Girls On The Planet: @IAMNURSEMO

Dear Rad Girl,

If you've been following my Diary (blog) over the past 3 years, you are familiar with this segment #theraddestgirlsontheplanet . In this series, I feature Rad Girls that are energetic, ambitious, fun, loving, uber talented, kind and artistic... I search all around social media for the raddest girls on the planet and I've came across some amazing girls I would love to share their stories with you. This is a very special segment because we have someone not in the arts field but in the medical, a travel nurse, a speaker, all around ultimate Rad Girl, Monique Doughty RN, BSN!!!! We’ve been loving her for the past 3 years and finally got a chance to speak to her (our bohemian travel crush/soul sister!!! Philly girls are just phenomenal!!! Nurse Mo spoke with one of our Rad Girls, Quiana. Here is their beautiful conversation!!

Q: What inspires you?

My younger self. I have a lot of sources of inspiration. But when I was younger, I didn’t think that I would be living in Indonesia or featured in magazines. I grew up in Philadelphia in a humble home. Not a lot of financial resources. My inspiration is God. I know he has amazing plans for me. He wouldn’t bring me this far to leave me. That is my inspiration. Beyond that is my family and the million little brown girls that don’t think they can be successful. I want to encourage people to think bigger. I think limitless now -- manifest big and pray hard. Likeness attracts likeness. How can I support you -- how can you support me in this? It’s nice to give and it’s nice to receive, but we don’t receive if we don’t ask. I created my life from thin air. From a societal perspective I wasn’t supposed to have the experiences, the moments, the feelings, the things that I have… and I do. It’s because some part of me believed that I could.

Q: What is the coolest trip you’ve been on thus far? 

HAITI. Haiti was cool for me. I’m a spokesperson for Emerald Health Services and I had to use the proceeds from one of our events for a charitable contribution. So, it was really cool to gift that money to a cause like Haiti. When I got there I was also able to give my time.

Q: What was most impactful about your trip to Haiti? 

It was life changing for me… what the news depicts about it being the first independent Black Country and the beauty I saw with my own eyes. It has its issues, don’t get me wrong, but the people are so kind. I met the most amazing children in my life. I met women who didn’t know how old they were. I met women who didn’t know they were pregnant. I met older people who had cancer, melanoma, and things like that. And through such hardships, the only thing that everyone said to me consistently was “God is so good, I am so blessed”. To me, that mindset was pretty amazing.

Q: So you’d say that traveling helped broaden your perspective? 

Yes. I have always wanted to go to Kenya. I had never been to Africa and I was able to go to Africa this year. I went to Kenya on a hosting trip for the first time. Not only did I host women for the first time, but also internationally! It was amazing to smash so many goals of mine at once. Some I didn’t even realize were goals. It was really cool to see the Motherland.

Q: And now you are in Indonesia? 

I love water and being in the Ocean is amazing. This trip to Bali is very special to me. I came to Bali to host a trip for a group of 24 female nurses. Lots of them have never traveled outside of the US before. This is the longest I’ve ever been away from home out of the country and I’ve accomplished overcoming my fear of being away from home for a long period of time. I’ve also been able to manage my business successfully while I’ve been here. I haven’t been sick, injured or harmed. It was like overcoming a fear that I didn’t really have but that society had for me -- afraid that something would happen to me. Society instils fear in us, then we don’t get those amazing opportunities. I’ve grown spirituality and professionally, enjoyed romance, joy, inspiration and every element of growth. Comparing how I grew up and things I was exposed to, I’m enlightened to now have the privilege to care about issues like energy, health and my well-being. I’m not worrying about my safety, my next meal, or keeping a roof over my head. Life is really a privilege.

Q: Best advice to give to young rad girls?

Find yourself and be that, unapologetically. The hardest part is finding yourself. But once you figure out who SHE is, you will begin your journey. It may require solitude, pain and accomplishing challenging goals. It takes a lot.  It took me to until age 27 to know myself and I am still getting to know myself, but there is no better teacher about yourself than you. Take classes, workshops, get therapy. Get to know yourself. It’s important to invest in yourself. It will transfer in all areas. You yourself will hurt less and hurt less people when you know yourself.

Q: Best advice you've ever received?

Be gentle with yourself and trust the process. I was gifted those words and I share them with a lot of my clients. I want them to know you don’t have to be superwoman and you’re actually doing better than you think. Nothing good comes from you being so hard on yourself. If you can’t acknowledge where you are, you can’t get to where you’re going.

Q: Favorite thing to do in your downtime?

Anything with water! I love to swim and go to the beach. I’ve been doing this float therapy. Water makes me feel really good, makes me feel light. I’ve always been a fish!

Q: Tea or coffee?

Definitely a coffee girl and a green juice kind of girl in the morning. I like watermelon juice as well.

Q: What do you love most about your career?

Empowering nurses and showing them that they have freedom and they can do whatever they want. I want to help them create the life that they want. I like to go back to the bedside nursing when I feel disconnected from my craft as a nurse or need financial support. Sometimes the world of influencers and being a motivational speaker can be a lot. One simple remedy for me is to take care of someone else. It’s very humbling for me. I’ve been through a lot of past traumatic moments in my life with relationships, partnerships, and friendships and one thing that got me out of my head was focusing on someone else for 12 hours. I couldn’t tend to my own needs and be alone with my own insecurities. It’s not running from my own problems but having a person to give my love to for 12 hours, for 3 days a week is a gift; and everyone doesn’t have that outlet.

Q: What was your first job?

Wow okay, my first job was when I was 14 years old. I got a work permit. As soon as I was able to work, I wanted to work immediately. I’ve always been an independent women who wants to do different things. The reason I got a job was because I wanted new bedroom furniture. I wanted a bunk bed. This was my first memorable job as I think about it. One of my favorite things to do with my dad growing up was to read the newspaper. So I would always read the classified ads. It read, “Seeking a camp counselor for emotional support for behavioral, problematic children”. It didn’t have an age but it said you need to have good communication skills, organizational skills and I said, “I can do that”. I called and told them I was interested.  I created a resume with my community service skills because I didn’t have any work experience. I didn’t put my age on there; I knew self-consciously I was too young. When I showed up they were in shock that I was a 14 year old girl. They couldn’t believe it because basically who I would be working with were children my age. I ended up getting the job. It was really cool because I had to conduct myself as an adult which was cool for me because I wanted to be an adult anyway. It was a good experience for me. I learned a lot. I learned that I loved taking care of people; that I loved working with people and I also loved shocking people.

Q: Dating tips? 

My view on love is that you don’t possess someone, you experience them. You get to have this amazing experience with them but you don’t own them, only God does.  If you get involved with someone and he requires time to figure out what he wants, allow him that space. Love, like all things, requires air to grow. I like to be very clear about what I want and what my expectations are from the beginning.  I feel that if a man gets scared away by that, then he’s not my man. When a person may require something it’s not a blow to you. If a person needs space or time, that doesn’t mean you’re not good enough. That is not a reflection of you, it’s a reflection of them. Often we make ourselves believe our worth is based on his/her value or opinion. That is not okay. You will always feel lonely if you don’t realize you are ENOUGH on your own. One of my previous partners would say “You are love, anything I bring you is a gift and its external and that’s great, but you are love already”. I had the blessing of being with a man who was very emotionally secure and mature. He taught me things about myself. I’ve also been to extensive therapy, inner child work, and I spent a lot of time alone to figure out what I want and what makes me feel like the happiest version of myself.  So, when someone leaves my life or enters my life I can take it for what it is. I’m not losing or gaining; I’m experiencing. It’s a beautiful thing. Sometimes being in a relationship, whether a new relationship or a friendship, is removing your need to be pleased so you can allow the other person to express themselves fully to develop the relationship together.

Q. Travel Essentials? MUST HAVES? 

I would say my must haves are quite interesting. I like to pack light. On this trip I packed one suitcase and one carryon for two months and it is way too much stuff! So definitely pack light. My apple ear pods… I love. My laptop is a must; I work from wherever I am. I definitely need my phone. My backpack holds a lot of stuff, but it also has emotional support for me because it’s been all over the world with me. My five-minute journal. I use every single day. I write a list of what I’m grateful for, a mantra for the day and at the end of the day I reflect on what could’ve been better about the day and what I’m grateful for again. I always bring medication with me because I’m a nurse. On the beauty side of things I like Osea face products. It kept my skin on glow-glow for the last three years. I’m quite minimal on beauty products, but I’m into skin care. I like to bring oils from one of my family member’s own beauty line and I like to use those in my hair. I bring two crystals; one for anxiety and rose quarts for my heart to keep my heart open to new experiences and protect me from everything. I love Shea Moisture products. Those are the main items I can’t go without. Everything else I can forget and I would be fine.

Q: What does it mean to you to be the raddest girl on the planet? 

To me that’s a perception, but I think that people dig you when you walk in your truth unapologetically and being yourself and owning it. I think it’s such a compliment for you guys to call me that. I do think I’m pretty cool. It’s pretty rad. I think I’m rad because I’m being myself. I think I’m rad because I feel beautiful everyday waking up taking 11 minutes to get ready from the shower to the door. I feel just as confident when I have a full production team to make me look like a baddie. I think I’m rad because I’m confident and I know myself and I help other girls find ways to be rad, the raddest version of themselves. I think that’s what makes me rad. That’s what it means for me.

Now, those were some GEMS!!! Thank you Monique for being apart of our segment!!! Rad Girls please be on the lookout for more from www.iamnursemo.com !!!

xo

Laney