CPH 24 - Centering Culture, Championing Community: A Conversation with Dr. Joyce Senior
Release Date: 09/30/2025
CPH 42 — Strong Boundaries and Women’s Health in the Soft Life Era: A Conversation with Dr. Zupenda Davis
Courageous Public Health
In this episode, Dr. Zupenda Davis shares what it looks like to choose yourself — in your work, your relationships, and your health. From setting boundaries that protect her peace to speaking openly about women’s health and menopause, Dr. Davis brings a vision of public health that centers the whole person. This is a conversation about courage, freedom, and what becomes possible when women stop shrinking and start naming what they need. Meet Dr. Zupenda Davis Dr. Zupenda Davis is the Assistant Vice President of Student Health and Wellness at Stockton University, where she has strategic...
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CPH 41 — Pull Up a Chair: A Conversation with Indya Hairston
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In this episode of the Courageous Public Health Podcast, Indya Hairston—Johns Hopkins DrPH student, founder of Community Speaks Consulting, and advocate for Black women’s reproductive and maternal health—shares how courage defined her pivotal year of 2023. She talks about moving across the country for a fresh start, applying to only one doctoral program because it aligned with her purpose, quitting a stable nonprofit job to launch her consulting firm without guaranteed income, and choosing faith over fear at every step. Indya reflects on taking up space as a Black woman in environments...
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CPH 40 — Purpose, Possibility, and Black Men’s Health: A Conversation with Dr. Krista Mincey
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CPH 39 — Finding Your Happy and Your Health: A Conversation with Ashley Carter, MS, RD, LDN
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In this episode of the Courageous Public Health Podcast, Ashley Carter, MS, RD, LDN—registered dietitian, co-founder of Eat Well Exchange, and unapologetic foodie—shares how courage has shaped her path from youngest child to first in her family to leave home for college, and from secure government job to full-time nonprofit founder. She talks about building Eat Well Exchange to teach communities how to eat healthy with cultural foods that feel like home, and what it took to trust herself enough to “let the boats get close” and finally make the leap. Ashley also reflects on what it...
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CPH 38 — Courage in the Questions: A Conversation with Dr. Sandte Stanley
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In this episode of the Courageous Public Health Podcast, Dr. Sandte Stanley—public health scientist, sociologist, and founder of Atlas Collaborative Consulting Network—shares how courage has guided every step of her journey. She talks about discovering public health through an ACES internship, navigating personal loss during graduate school, and later earning a PhD in sociology so she could ask the structural questions that public health can sometimes overlook. She also reflects on how her identity as a Black and Native woman shapes her experience in professional spaces—where her...
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CPH 37 — What This Year Taught Me About Courage: A Solo Episode with Dr. Kristi McClamroch
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In this episode, as we wrap up 2025, Dr. McClamroch reflects on what this year’s conversations have revealed about courage in public health — and what that means for her work with women leaders and organizations. Because if this year taught her anything, it’s that courage isn’t optional anymore — it’s part of how we change the landscape of public health. Conversation Highlights Seeing Courage in Real Time — Dr. McClamroch reflects on the moment guests begin to recognize their own courage during interviews, and how that shift opens something powerful in them. The Patterns Behind...
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CPH 36 — From First-Gen to Trailblazer: A Conversation with Dr. Maram Museitif
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In this episode, Dr. Maram Museitif shares what it means to be a first-generation college graduate, a Palestinian American public health doctor, and the “empathy princess” in systems that weren’t built for her. She talks about fighting for the chance to go to college, becoming the first doctor in her family, and then watching her sister, niece, and cousins follow—turning one act of courage into generational change. She also speaks honestly about being a visibly Palestinian, hijab-wearing woman in predominantly white spaces—about being misjudged before she even speaks, even being...
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CPH 35 — Do It Scared: A Conversation with Dr. Bertha Hidalgo
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CPH 34 — From Breakdown to Breakthrough: A Conversation with Keylynne Matos-Cunningham, MPH, M Ed, LPC-A
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CPH 33 — Boundaries, Belief, and Becoming: A Conversation with Dr. Janelle Taveras
Courageous Public Health
In this heartfelt and powerful episode, Dr. Janelle Taveras shares how courage, faith, and self-worth have shaped her journey as a public health professional, evaluator, empowerment coach, and mother. She speaks candidly about learning to honor her value in toxic systems, choosing boundaries over burnout, and embracing her full identity—rather than watering herself down to fit into spaces not built to receive her. Dr. Taveras also reflects on integrating her faith, her purpose, and her passion for uplifting others into a life that feels whole, aligned, and authentically hers. Before we jump...
info_outlineIn this luminous and energizing conversation, Dr. Joyce Senior shares her journey from Costa Rica to Oregon and from nutritionist to nonprofit co-founder, program manager, and consultant. She reflects on living her core values—love, service, well-being, and growth—while navigating what it means to be an Afro-Latina leader in U.S. public health. Whether she’s hosting living room dance parties, translating health materials, or co-creating culturally centered spaces like My Hair, My Health, Dr. Senior embodies public health rooted in joy, justice, and intentional legacy.
Meet Dr. Joyce Senior
Dr. Joyce Senior is an Afro Latina, born and raised in Costa Rica. She is an energetic professional known for managing public health nutrition and health equity programs. As a program manager at Oregon State University, she has led the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program since 2017 and was a member of the SNAP-Ed state leadership team since 2021.
She is the founder of Dr. J Senior Consulting LLC, providing English and Spanish translation and cultural competency consulting to various sectors including higher education and nonprofits. In 2021, she co-founded My Hair My Health PDX, a health and wellness nonprofit supporting Black women and their families in Oregon.
Dr. Senior earned her Ph.D. in Food Technology from Clemson University in 2015 and a PMP® certification from the Project Management Institute in 2022. She aims to leave a positive legacy, guided by her core values of love, service, wellbeing and growth.
Listen To This Episode of The Courageous Public Health Podcast
Conversation Highlights
- Living Her Core Values — Dr. Senior names love, service, well-being, and growth as her foundational values—and she actively centers them in both her professional and personal life.
- Courage to Begin Again — She shares the courageous journey of leaving Costa Rica to pursue graduate school in the U.S. and carving out a life rooted in service and purpose.
- Creating Her Own Table — Dr. Senior describes co-founding My Hair, My Health, a wellness initiative for Black women that blends beauty, culture, and community healing.
- Reclaiming Her Power — From founding her own consulting business to challenging Eurocentric beauty standards, Dr. Senior shows how Afro-Latina women are reshaping public health.
- Vision for the Future — She calls for interdisciplinary, community-driven public health and urges listeners to invest in education, challenge false divisions, and build lasting legacy.
“As an Afro-Latina, I am constantly redefining beauty—not by European standards, but by the fullness of who I am.” — Dr. Joyce Senior
Stay In Touch:
Dr. Joyce Senior on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjoyce-senior/
Dr. Kristi McClamroch on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristi-mcclamroch/
www.CourageousPublicHealth.com
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