We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dr. Michele Cho-Dorado. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dr. Michele below.
Dr. Michele, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Thank you so much for inviting me here. I have always had an affinity towards helping children. Even before going into medicine, I loved being around kids. I babysat in high school & college and taught Sunday School as a medical student. It was no surprise that I chose a Pediatric subspecialty as a profession. I loved practicing as a Pediatric Gastroenterologist and I found it both rewarding and meaningful. One of the most difficult decisions for me was making the choice to leave practice a few years ago. But during that time, my husband and I decided to make some intentional changes to align with our own family’s vision. This included my taking a role as a Medical Director to work remotely and us moving geographically across the country. While it was a transition, both personally and professionally, this allowed us to pivot in more ways than one. Sometimes it takes a big move to make big progress, and that is what happened for us.
I ended up writing a children’s book to introduce financial literacy to kids. This idea was first sparked by my own realization that I was financially illiterate after nearly a decade into practice. While the initial inspiration was to teach our own young kids about financial literacy, this mission grew and I realized a new means to serve the pediatric population. Another piece of this is empowering children to be bold and to think big. I believe having financial literacy encourages confident thinking, which in turn promotes leadership skills. Encouraging charitable giving as part of money management, can also develop a sense of social responsibility. This leads to the nurturing of empathetic and compassionate leaders. There are so many benefits to receiving a financial education at a young age that will carry over to other aspects of life and I want to help parents provide these tools to their kids. I hope to help raise a younger generation of confident and more financially savvy children. I have always gravitated towards helping the pediatric population and now I’m able to do it in a different way while still providing valuable education & life skills.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I mentioned briefly about my career transition and mission to help educate children when it comes to financial literacy. This all stems from my own lack of financial education until much later in life. Despite spending many years studying and training in medicine, I never received any financial education. I was almost 40 before realizing that I was financially illiterate! This prompted an educational journey of learning, which allowed my husband and I to be more intentional about how we managed our money and finances. However, I definitely wish I had learned this sooner. We have young kids and knew we wanted our kids to learn these concepts as early as possible so that we could help set them up for financial success earlier in life. But there wasn’t much for the younger age group and this is a topic that is not traditionally taught in school. I ended up publishing Reach For The Stars, a children’s picture book, to introduce basic financial concepts geared towards younger aged kids. It is also meant to empower bold and confident thinking and encourage entrepreneurship.
Bright Futures EDG was founded with a mission to empower young minds by exposing them to financial concepts early. This is coupled with promoting a growth mindset, thereby setting the stage for success in all areas of life. Our platform offers a comprehensive range of resources including interactive activity sheets, educational resources and insightful blogposts. Additional books are also in the works and will be released as part of a growing series. We believe that by instilling a strong foundation in financial knowledge from an early age, children will grow into adulthood with confidence and resilience, as well as a desire to contribute and create value in this world.
To further support our community, we will be hosting our first Virtual Summit for parents at the end of March 2024 – The “Prosperous Kids” Summit, focused on setting kids up for financial and personal success. We will bring in expert speakers to share on topics such as education accounts and banking options for children, tax strategies for parents, and money mindset for parents and kids alike. We hope to support parents as we walk on this journey together to empower our kids in becoming confident leaders and compassionate change-makers. You can sign up for our newsletter as we will be sending out registration information for the summit in the next month.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Reflecting on my own journey, the three factors that I think were most impactful for me include purpose, dedication and community.
For me, I have found that if you find a cause or mission that deeply resonates with you and you identify the impact you want to make, this will give you the drive and dedication to keep going, even when it feels hard. I consider myself still early in this new journey, but I’m thankful to be apart of a mission that I hope will help many parents and kids alike. When you work towards advancing a cause that goes beyond yourself, you will set meaningful goals that align with this purpose and your path becomes more clear.
The third part of this, and perhaps one of the most important factors for me, has been the power of community. I would not be where I am without various leaders, mentors and friends who have understood my vision, encouraged me to keep going and challenged me to be better. They were the catalysts that helped propel me forward and I hope to pay it forward for those who are even a few steps behind me.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
One thing that has contributed greatly to growth in my personal and professional life has been the act of goal setting. My husband and I do this together and over the past few years, we have learned to be more specific and intentional in our framework for this. There is always room to grow, but as the quality of our goal setting has improved, we have found this to be transformational. I’m grateful to be surrounded by many inspirational leaders who have shown me the power of creating a vision and being intentional with our time/energy to align with this. You may have heard the phrase “Where focus goes, energy flows”. This is true in all areas of life and I have found this to be particularly true with our goals.
A great book that I read a few years ago, The One Thing by Gary Keller, emphasizes the power of narrowing your focus on the single most important goal (or task) that will have the most significant impact on your overall success. This can apply to different areas of your life. While I used to pride myself in being a skilled multi-tasker, I have learned that by identifying and prioritizing the most important goal (or task) in any given situation, I can achieve greater success and satisfaction. It also speaks of the “domino effect”, suggesting that by accomplishing the most important task first, it creates a chain reaction, making other tasks easier.
I can confidently say that without the exercise of goal setting, I would not be where I am today. I would challenge anyone reading this to start setting goals and BELIEVE they will happen. Be intentional in how you spend your time and where you focus your energy. I guarantee it will change your life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brightfuturesedg.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/brightfuturesedg
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/brightfuturesedg
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/michelecd/
Image Credits
https://www.siwardphotography.com/
