“I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else's whim or to someone else's ignorance.” - bell hooks

Let's Build a Community!

Given that this is the first issue of my newsletter, I want to set some expectations so that you can make sure you're in the right spot. The following ideas and principles are non-negotiable for me, so if you find issue with any of them, please feel free to unsubscribe and unfollow me.

• My newsletter will be unapologetically Black. That means #BlackLivesMatter, #TrustBlackWomen, #PayBlackWomen, #BlackTransLivesMatter, #BlackQueerLivesMatter, #BlackHealthMatters, and all the things. I capitalize Black and will always do so, because for me being Black is being part of a racialized group, a culture, a language, an ancestry, and so much more.

• My newsletter will discuss topics of health equity, hot topics, racism, mental health, etc. I will provide a content warning for topics that may be traumatic or uncomfortable. If I miss a content warning and you feel an issue may have needed it, please let me know.

• My newsletter will likely contain profanity and sarcasm. I grew up watching all the things before there were conservative ratings, and have always identified with the Daria view of the world. Toxic positivity will not be condoned here.

• My newsletter consists of my own thoughts and views on the world. It does not represent any of the companies or schools for which I have affiliation.

• My newsletter is my newsletter. I am intentionally cultivating a community of people who support and acknowledge who I am. If I find out that you are taking any of my work and using it as your own, I will remove you from my community. This is a hard boundary.

You're Still Here? Good.

Now that the official stuff is out the way, I should probably introduce myself and give you a little background on how this newsletter came to be and what you can expect from me.

Cue the monotone introduction voice: My name is Jasmine Leonard. I am in my mid-thirties. I live in Prince George's County, MD. I have a bachelors of arts and a masters in public health from predominantly white institutions, and am currently pursuing a doctorate in public health (DrPH), which will hopefully be my last degree. You may know me as Health Equity Jazz.

Now that that's out of the way. I assume many of you have found me through Twitter or IG, and I thank you for allowing me to slide into your inbox. If you are coming from one of those places, you know that I have been talking about this newsletter for a while, and yet this is the very first communication. (Can I blame it on COVID and long COVID?)

For the past few months, I've been overthinking how to start this newsletter, and what to share about my DrPH journey and all the ins and outs of being a working professional in school. This is pretty common for me, overthinking everything.

This week it finally hit me, that if I'm going to do anything, it should just be organic and perfectly imperfect. So, that's what I promise to deliver. As I said in my non-negotiables up top, I plan to talk about it all. That might mean longer newsletters (I'll warn you), and it might mean shorter ones. There may be typos (I will blame long COVID for that), and there may be things that I get wrong. I will not promise a set cadence for delivery of this newsletter. Life happens.

What's This Member Subscription Thing?

You will notice at the end of every newsletter, there is an opportunity to join my subscriber community. I'm sure you're asking yourself, what do I get as a subscriber?

Honesty hour: I don't know yet. As I've stated before I want to intentionally build a community of people who support me and what I do. As we all know living in this capitalistic society, nothing happens for free, but a subscription does mean that you're doing more than the rest and should be rewarded for that.

So my thoughts on what you'll get as a subscriber:

• Access to ask personal questions about applying to school, public health professions, navigating white spaces, etc.

• Monthly newsletters with video sections that answer questions I have received throughout the month, routine updates about school, perspectives from my classes, storytelling of my good troublemaker activities, etc.

• Access to a bi-monthly (every other month) live Zoom to chat and connect.

• Admission to my close friends on IG, which might include sneak peeks that I can share about consulting work I'm doing, collaborations I have with your other favorite public health names, extremely hot takes, etc.

• Merch discounts.

If you have thoughts or suggestions for what you would want as a subscriber, please let me know. This is a community, which means everyone has a voice.

Wait, That's It?

Yep. This is a prequel for what is to come. The first official issue of Becoming Dr. Health Equity Jazz is in the works. If you follow me on IG (which you should be), you know that the first issue will include what I wrote in a survey response to GWU with fiery details on why I declined my admission. Along with that, you'll likely see a quick recap of my summer at Johns Hopkins University, and some links to conversations I've had with Omari over the past few months.

Until next time, always remember to take up as much space as you need.