Today we’d like to introduce you to Juliet Bradford.
Hi Juliet, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! It is my pleasure and honor to speak to you! My name is Juliet Thomas Bradford and, in a nutshell, I’m a wife, mom, speech-language pathologist and SISTApreneur! I live in West Palm Beach, Florida with my husband (and college sweetheart!) Anthony. We met in college during our sophomore year at Hampton University and have been married for 26 years. We are the proud parents of two college students (they’re both graduating in December!) and a fur baby whom we rescued, named Zoey.
I’ve been a speech language pathologist for 28 years and have worked in a variety of settings, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, public and charter schools (K-12), and private practice. Currently, my husband and I own Creative Solutions, a comprehensive healthcare company. Our services include In-home nursing care, rehabilitation services (OT/PT/ST), vocational rehabilitation, respite care, medical equipment and supplies. In 2020, our services expanded to include school placements for nurses, speech-language pathologists and now mental health professionals. Creative Solutions proudly serves the following South Florida counties: Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Martin, Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Monroe. Our company is unique because we don’t just do one thing. In my role as Vice President of Rehabilitation services, I oversee recruitment, marketing and strategic operations for our Palm Beach and Miami locations.
Before I knew what a speech language pathologist was, I originally wanted to be a news anchor. But fate had other plans. I explored other majors dealing with communication but ended up sitting in on a Communication Disorders class while in undergrad which dealt with helping people with disabilities and resulting difficulties with communication. Ironically, while taking this course, my five-year-old cousin, Shane, was hit by a car while riding his bicycle and suffered a traumatic brain injury and lost his ability to speak. I felt it was divine intervention that led me to that class and God directing me into the field of speech pathology. I just knew I was going to be able to help him speak again! Unfortunately, I was unable to help Shane (he passed away), but I have made it my business to help as many as I can with speech and language disorders communicate and advocate on their behalf.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
First and foremost, I LOVE being a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)! But admittedly, the road to becoming an SLP has not always been easy. Throughout, however, I have remained faithful, worked hard and have had wonderful mentors, friends, and family that have helped me along the way. In order to become a speech language pathologist, you must earn a master’s degree and pass a national examination. It is at least a 6-year commitment before you can practice. I learned early on in my journey that no woman is an island! As I get closer to completing my doctoral degree (shout out to Rocky Mountain University!), that continues to ring true. As an older student (I was using a typewriter and microfiche when I was last in school!), so learning technology has been a MAJOR challenge! Also, as a business owner, founder of a non-profit organization, wife, mother and active community member, being able to find balance has been invaluable. I went “all in” in the beginning and almost burned myself out. I had to figure out how to make time for self-care while still meeting my school and professional obligations.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
S.I.S.T.A.s (Sisters in Speech Therapy and Audiology) is a 501c3 organization that I founded in 2015 to be a support community for female and minority Speech Pathologists, Audiologists, Assistants and students with a mission to network, inform, share information, inspire and celebrate who we are as women of color desiring to make a difference in the lives of individuals with communication, swallowing and hearing disorders. This was necessary because minorities make up less than 10% of speech language pathologists and audiologists in the U.S and despite efforts from our national governing body for our profession, the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), there continues to be a disparity in the number of minorities entering and staying in our field. S.I.S.T.A.s was formed to address these issues of recruitment and retention. Since 2015, our organization has grown to over 5300 members across the United States, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe!!! In addition, we have six professional and three collegiate chapters with others on the way! We are focused now more than ever to do our part to increase the low number of minorities entering the fields of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology through forums, engagement, events and financial assistance while addressing our five main targets: Recruitment, Retention, SISTAhood, Service and Scholarship.
S.I.S.T.A.s has two signature programs, the SPARK program –a 10-month program which introduces high school students to the fields of speech pathology and audiology(recruitment) and Big SISTA/Little SISTA, a mentorship program that matches veteran clinicians with new clinicians or graduate students attending predominantly white institutions (retention).
S.I.S.T.A.s also awards the My SISTAs Keeper scholarship each year to deserving young women pursuing the required master’s degree to help reduce their financial burden.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I’m a Christian. I don’t believe in luck, but I do believe in Jesus! I pray a lot and I’m convinced that God gave me the vision to start S.I.S.T.A.s and continues to bless us as we grow and try to make an impact. To me, S.I.S.T.A.s is my purpose and has allowed me to combine everything that I am passionate about. S.I.S.T.A.s is my way of making a small contribution to the field that I love. If we as an organization can help to increase the number of minorities entering our field and can be a source of information, encouragement and inspiration, we have accomplished our goal!
Our motto is: We celebrate our uniqueness and similarities while at the same time recognizing that it is up to US to educate our community, support each other, celebrate each other, as well as cultivate and inspire other minority young women to enter and succeed in the fields of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. We ARE our SISTAs keeper and long live our SISTAhood!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sistasinc.com
- Instagram: #slpsistas
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1478893145754821
Image Credits
Noelle Bradford
