MEET THE PROFESSIONAL
August 2018
Dr. Nadia Aboulhosn is a Dentist and entrepreneur in Seattle, Washington. She was born and raised in Brazil and has always been passionate about healthcare; loves interacting with patients. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy and completed 3 years of Medical School before earning her Doctorate of Dental Surgery degree at the University of Washington in 2009.
Dr. Aboulhosn is a supporter of professional networking and our mentoring program within our community. We are very excited to feature her as our professional in this month’s “Meet the Professional” series.
Below are a few questions to help facilitate this interactive connection. At the end of the page you will have an opportunity to post your own questions for Dr. Aboulhosn.
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Describe your current Occupation & Degree/s and Universities.
- University of Washington – (Doctorate of Dental Surgery 2009)
- Federal University of Pará (Medical School-3years-Brazil)
- CESUPA – Pharmacy Degree (Brazil)
Discuss a moment or turning point in your life that led you to your career path:
I’ve always had a big passion for the medical field. Early in my life I’ve always been curious about the human body and everything related to it. In Brazil, I started studying for a Pharmacy degree at age 16, but was still unsure what career would really fulfill me. When I graduated I realized something was missing. I volunteered in hospitals and it was then that I understood my passion to analyze situations and solve problems. That’s what doctors do. They have a list of facts (health history, signs and symptoms) that lead to a conclusion (diagnosis). It’s like playing detective, trying to put together all the information to solve a case.
I got obsessed because being a doctor is like being a problem solver in the science field. Then, add to that the opportunity to use your heart and brain to connect and impact patients by relieving their pain and discomfort.
At that point I knew I wanted to be able to treat patients directly with diagnostics and procedures. However, I also wanted to be my own boss. It’s easy for medical doctors in Brazil to own a clinic, but not so easy in the US. I couldn’t see myself working crazy hours mainly in hospitals, so in the US I got introduced to the field of Dentistry.
Dentistry in the US included everything I could ever dream of to bring me career fulfillment. Like magic, I found my calling where I could put together all I love: art, science, business and being able to connect and care for my patients giving them healing and the beauty of a happy healthy smile
Discuss a role model or mentor who influenced your career choice:
I’ve always been impressed with high achievers. I lived in a small town in Brazil, so when a doctor had a good reputation the whole town would talk about him/her. By the age of 15 my passion for the medical field was very obvious, so I would always volunteer to go with someone if they had a medical appointment. I loved to check out doctor’s offices and imagine myself “in my own office.” I remember visiting a reputable doctor one time with a cousin, and I stared at every detail of the clinic: the reception area, decoration, art work. All I saw was a very clear vision of my future.
At that time in my life, doctors were my role models. I used to think that being school smart was the main key to success.
However, life took me in many directions, and today I also have an entrepreneur mindset. I understand that emotional intelligence plays a bigger role in success than just being school smart. Today, I’m inspired by growth mindset individuals that understand that talent and brains are only a starting point, but with hard work and dedication anyone can achieve anything they believe in. So my role models today are not necessarily doctors, but people that started from nothing and through hardship developed resilience, building their empires not only from their talent, but because they believed in a vision and in themselves and didn’t use excuses to not move forward with their lives. A few examples of mindsets I admire are Oprah Winfrey, Jack Ma, Gary Vaynerchuck, Tony Robbins, Tom Bylieu, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Do you recall any specific challenges you encountered and overcame?
There are so many, I don’t know where to start. One thing I know is that struggle builds character and that I wouldn’t be invited to be interviewed for Network 1017 if I didn’t have tons of challenges that I overcame. Adversity is a requirement to success. I’m grateful for every challenge I overcame because it made me stronger and helped shape me.
I will try to describe a few of the obstacles I had to deal with.
I’ve always set my goals high since I was young, but nothing compared to when I left Brazil and moved to the USA. I didn’t speak English and I wanted to continue my education and become a doctor. A large challenge for me was the same that any immigrant goes through with adapting to a new culture and language. There were many people who doubted I could be a doctor while trying to adapt to my new surroundings. Even my first advisor at the University of Washington said no student was ever accepted into dental school that didn’t have an undergrad degree in the US. I was told my chances were minimal. Others would say I had absolutely no chance because, even if I went back to school and took the pre-requisites, I would have to perform better on those classes than the American students, since they couldn’t compare my education from Brazil to the schools in the US.
I was inundated with self doubt and fear because it was hard to believe I could do better than the dental applicants that had no language barrier and a degree from an American university. Still, I decided to go against the odds and focus on my dream instead of the obstacles before me. I took my minimum chances and moved forward by taking the pre requisite classes followed by the admission test that I studied for while nursing my newborn baby girl. Then when it came time to pick a school, I was only able to apply to one dental school since I was married with a 1 year old baby and I couldn’t relocate to another state.
I got accepted at the University of Washington, one of the top dental schools in the country and I was the first one accepted to the class of 2009. By the time I started school my daughter was less than 2 years old. The feeling of a mom’s guilt leaving a child long hours in Montessori School wasn’t easy. At the same time I faced intense schooling with high level classes and had to do mom and Lebanese wife duties. I lived in a 5 bedroom house with no house keeping help. I remember one quarter I had 15 finals and my daughter was sick. I don’t ever remember sleeping more than 4 hours a night, and sometimes less during those four intense years of school with a toddler.
The weather in Seattle is extremely cold, and for someone that came from Brazil it was a huge struggle to take a 1-2 hour daily bus ride under cold, rainy, and windy days. I was so determined that nothing would stop me. Even being sick I would go to class.
When I graduated dental school in 2009 not many jobs were available due to the recession. My dream of owning a private practice seemed far from happening. Luckily, I was hired at a community clinic since I can speak 4 languages.
Then, more challenges came 5 years later when I decided to take a leap in my career and leave a comfortable job to face the unknown of the business world and open a private practice. My business partner and I took over a dental clinic of 8 dental chairs from two retiring doctors that was already on its way down and had multiple problems. Endurance and very hard work came to play again, and we were eventually able to break through and create a thriving business. The practice has been so successful and garnered such a great reputation that we will be opening up another practice in Downtown Seattle in October 2018. The practice will be a high tech startup dental clinic with 8 dentists and staff to support every specialist in the dental field.
Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?
I would like to integrate dentistry using technology with the best team culture ever. That means having all dental specialists work together in the same building to benefit our patients in many different ways.
Hopefully in 10 years my business partner and I will have 5 dental group practices in different areas in Washington.
Many of you may think that achieving more financially is my motivation. Actually, the reason I’m being able to persist with my vision and act on it is because I’m not focused on my needs, but on contributing to something beyond myself.
For me, to be able to give back to the amount of people I want to forces me to come from a mindset of abundance. If I decided to have one dental clinic, I could save enough money and live comfortably with my family. However, if I want to give back in scale, support and help the people I love, and expand to serve more in my community, I can only do that by growing the business. It’s “my why” that gives me the strength and the vision to scale.
What advice would you give to someone starting out in your field?
Try out different things, especially if you are young and just getting out of school, because the main focus should be to find what it is that gets you excited to wake up everyday. Find your true passion. The reason I say that is because if you set your goal high, it will get difficult, you will fail, feel frustrated, get embarrassed, and the main thing that will keep you moving toward your dream and not giving up is your passion and obsession for becoming what you envision for yourself.
Whatever goal you want you can have it. If it is to be a dentist, own a private practice or anything you want, you can have it. The only thing you need to do is DECIDE to have it; then your success is inevitable, as long as you are willing to put in the work and take the action to make it happen, and also put in the the work in yourself to counter your self doubt and fears. If you try something and it doesn’t work, you need to be willing to be criticized and still persevere. The most valuable thing I learned in my journey so far is that if we embrace setbacks, failures, and mistakes and learn from them, they become the most valuable tools to help you be successful. Once you break through a hard moment, you understand hardship is part of the process and it won’t stop you.
Do something that pushes you to your limits and beyond and NEVER give up, and I promise you as hard as things can get, the answers and the open doors will appear if you stay focused on your vision.
Many people who achieve their goals become very successful but continue to be miserable, and the reason is usually due to lack of gratitude and perspective. If you are looking for deep and fulfilling happiness, contributing to something bigger than yourself and giving to others is what will bring purpose and meaning to your life.
Let your fear of regret of not taking action give you courage to face challenges, because often the moments in our lives we are most proud of are the ones where we overcame adversity to accomplish something worthwhile.
Tell us a little bit about your hobbies outside of your field:
I’ve been going to the gym since I was 16 years old. It’s not actually a hobby because I do not like to workout, but I’m a big believer in health, discipline and commitment in order to have the energy to continue to do the work I do. I love to listen to podcasts or audiobooks.
I love to travel and I make sure to work hard and play hard as well. My family and I are very adventurous and love water sports or anything that involves adrenaline. I’m a certified scuba driver and I travel mainly to sunny beaches to compensate for the rain in Seattle.
I’ve also volunteered since I started pharmacy school at the age of 16 years. The feeling of purpose and fulfillment is so deep and rewarding that it became addictive. My team at the clinic has set outreach programs throughout the year. It’s a great team culture to adopt and its beyond joyful to serve together to something bigger than ourselves.
A Q&A form will be uploaded shortly. In the meantime feel free to send any questions you would like to ask Dr. Nadia Aboulhosn to admin@network1017.com
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