Meet Sheila Thorne

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sheila Thorne a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sheila, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?

As a Black woman, I am daily in rooms where I’m the only one who looks like me. The foundation for my success comes from my upbringing by strong, spiritual parents who grew up in the segregated South, live through the Jim Crow era and survived. They instilled me every day a strong sense of self and encouragement to be the best that I can be in whatever I did. First and foremost, their message was to hone my skills and continually be curious, an avid reader and to find my passion.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

After a successful career as secondary school foreign language teacher, I decided to use my linguistic, organizational and people skills in the private sector. I landed a position as Administrative Director in small marketing company that had an impressive roster of French clients interested in penetrating the American market. I quickly moved from an administrative role to join the marketing team as an Assistant Account Executive and learned marketing on the job. From there, I moved to another larger more mainstream marketing and communications company where there was a clientele of the top 50 pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies. With a mother and sister as nurses, health, medicine and healthcare were comfortable spaces for me. However, I was struck by the cultural deficit and void in their outreach, engagement and media plans that would target communities of color. At the same time, U.S. demographics were shifting dramatically, and communities of color were no longer niche markets but viable markets ripe for big pharma seeking innovative strategies to build new customer bases and organic growth. I was determined to change the paradigm of marketing, outreach and engagement of communities of color who suffered disproportionately from chronic disease and premature death, even among the middle class and insured!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Increase knowledge about the prevalence, morbidity and mortality of diseases and conditions that disproportionately impact Blacks, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans

Increase knowledge of clinical research protocols and drug development

Increased understanding of the U.S. healthcare system

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

The most persistent and pervasive challenge has been the lack of cultural education in the healthcare industry and the unwillingness and resistance to embrace new consumer markets and efforts to educate healthcare professionals to become culturally competent. The industry has continued to be stuck on stereotypical images of people of color and the lack of recognition that you can make money and serve society to improve the health of the underserved, marginalized.

I continue to write, speak and network with key thought leaders among industry leaders to enlighten them and enliven receptivity of my messages. That is how I have always secured new clients driven case histories of programs that I have created and executed across a broad range of therapeutic categories for communities of color.