{"id":16377,"date":"2023-06-06T13:48:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T13:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/?p=16377"},"modified":"2023-06-07T13:29:55","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T13:29:55","slug":"mom-of-9-crushes-coursework-throws-herself-into-startup-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2023\/06\/06\/mom-of-9-crushes-coursework-throws-herself-into-startup-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom of 9 crushes coursework, throws herself into StartUP challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published May 26, 2023 on news.fiu.edu.<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by Irene Ferradaz<\/p>\n

The long-touted ideal of \u201cwork-life balance\u201d can sometimes ring hollow. For many of us, the drive to give our all at work often competes with our desire to actively participate in family life, making it tough to find harmony between the two.<\/p>\n

For biochemistry major Camille Plummer, dividing her time between academic pursuits and raising nine children between the ages of 5 and 21 has nothing to do with achieving bliss; it is simply a way of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenges in life are there to teach us to be better, stronger and point us in the right direction,\u201d says Plummer. \u201cThe mantra which internally motivates me comes from Romans 8:28 in the New Testament which says \u2018all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps unsurprisingly then, Plummer fully embraced another challenge, this one created out of a partnership between the innovation hub known as\u00a0StartUP FIU<\/a>\u00a0and a global pharmaceutical giant. The semester-long\u00a0GSK Innovation Challenge\u00a0tasked\u00a0undergraduate FIU students from a variety of majors to delve into the causes of health disparities in Hispanic and African American communities.<\/p>\n

Rising senior Plummer was drawn to participating\u00a0because of her familiarity with the pharmaceutical company\u2019s inhaler, a product that helps her live with asthma.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment I heard\u00a0StartUP FIU<\/a>\u00a0was hosting the\u00a0GSK Innovation Challenge, I knew I had to be a part of it,\u201d she says. \u201cSince GSK\u2019s products have been essential in keeping me healthy, it is a privilege to be able to work with them to better understand and, hopefully, help dismantle health disparities in traditionally underserved communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students broke up into teams that leveraged one another\u2019s strengths and educational backgrounds. Joining Plummer were Madeline Chamorro, a chemistry major, and Andres Barcelo, who studies architecture.<\/p>\n

First order of business: conduct customer discovery, an immersive technique that allows them to learn more about their users through a series of in-depth interviews. By better understanding people\u2019s goals, ways of life and cultural norms, students could gain a grasp of the problem at hand \u2013 in this case, lack of vaccination among minority populations for the painful shingles virus – and develop potential solutions, such as improving education and awareness among the target groups or increasing access through various means.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere at StartUP FIU, we teach students to think through problems with an innovative lens,\u201d says\u00a0Emily Gresham<\/a>, assistant vice president for research, innovation and economic development and co-founder of StartUP FIU. \u201cThat involves asking the tough questions, truly understanding your customer and designing solutions that are in line with their wants and needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teams and individual students benefitted from the input and guidance of mentors, some of whom are employees of GSK and others who work at FIU. Plummer especially valued the support provided by\u00a0Robert Hacker<\/a>, StartUP FIU director.<\/p>\n

Among the key lessons Plummer took away from the experience: the importance of cultivating a flexible mind, embracing failure as a way to improve the next time and recognizing that not everything has to be perfect in order to succeed.<\/p>\n

Plummer moved to the United States from her native Jamaica with her husband and children more than a decade ago.\u00a0At the time, she held a degree from her home country to work as a diagnostic radiographer. In the United States, however, regulations required that she complete a new degree here to sit for the required licensure exam and continue her career in Florida.<\/p>\n

Today, she is well on her way and credits the collaboration of her husband. \u201cHe is the keystone that holds everything together,\u201d she says before bursting into a laugh: \u201cThe only thing he doesn\u2019t do is breastfeed our children!\u201d<\/p>\n

Her next goal: get into medical school.<\/p>\n

Plummer says she especially wants to show her four daughters that education is the key to a fulfilling life and that nothing should stop them from achieving their goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to understand that they don\u2019t have to choose between being career-women or being mothers, to know that it is possible to earn that diploma no matter what else is going on in their lives,\u201d she says. \u201cThey have the power to make their dreams come true and I want to be a living example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published May 26, 2023 on news.fiu.edu. Written by Irene Ferradaz The long-touted ideal of \u201cwork-life balance\u201d can sometimes ring hollow. For many of us, the drive to give our all at work often competes with our desire to actively participate in family life, making it tough to find harmony between the two. For biochemistry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369],"tags":[547,12],"class_list":["post-16377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-spotlight","tag-camille-plummer","tag-fiu-alumni"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16377"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16382,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16377\/revisions\/16382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}