This Is Entrepreneurship: Lisa Sloane on Establishing Credibility
On a chilly winter afternoon, we grabbed a latte at blaCk Coffee Lounge with Lisa Sloane, founder and C.E.O. of More Inclusive Healthcare. Lisa talked with us about her work improving the health of our country, and about how to establish your credibility at tables where you may not be invited to sit. She also gave some sage advice about staying true to yourself and your values, even with a quarter-million dollars on the line.
There is no single definition of an entrepreneur or the obstacles they face. As part of our year-long series sponsored by Main Street Ventures, our community chose 12 of the biggest obstacles female-identifying entrepreneurs face, and we found 12 women who spend their days conquering them. Explore the whole series here.
Interview by Michaela Rawsthorn. Photography by Chelsie Walter.
Give me your elevator pitch.
More Inclusive Healthcare exists to create more culturally intelligent healthcare. We do that by providing training and education to the healthcare industry that is focused on healthcare disparities resolution, and on improving implicit bias – or unconscious bias, as some call it. We do it by bringing together healthcare equity champions: people that, for years, have been focused on improving the healthcare outcomes for people of color, for African Americans, for people of all races, and for the L.G.B.T.Q. community. We bring them together to help them push forward their own agenda and the great work they are doing in the field.
When we look at healthcare outcomes by race and by ethnicity, by preferred language, by L.G.B.T.Q. status, and other demographics, what we know is that not all people receive the same quality of healthcare and they don't achieve the same outcomes. We exist to improve that dilemma.
We really want to see people – regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender identity, or other unique identifiers – achieve their best health possible and live their best lives possible.
How did you get into this field?
I have a master's degree in healthcare administration and an undergraduate degree in public policy. So it all started there. I thought I was going to be in education policy; I couldn't find a job in that field. I ended up at the American Diabetes Association working as a lobbyist for the State of Pennsylvania. I was charged with getting a piece of legislation passed that required supplies, equipment, and education for people with diabetes. It required insurance companies to recover these costs.
Pennsylvania was the 22nd state to pass that legislation. My job was to lobby the General Assembly in Pennsylvania, but also to build advocacy and support among people in the field for the legislation. Ultimately, it was the collective effort of people in the field, people with diabetes, and people who were diabetes educators who came together to get that legislation passed.
Little did I know: That started my career in healthcare and also in what we call “healthcare transformation.” Healthcare transformation is where we are looking for ways to create value in the healthcare industry in ways that increase the quality of outcomes for patients and decrease the cost.
You were a lobbyist. Then what?
I went to work for a community foundation. I was helping them achieve their strategic objectives, and I was in charge of a portfolio of a couple million dollars. That was fun! I liked being able to do grantmaking with people in the community, to give scholarships, to give grants to community-based organizations doing great work. That was also in Pennsylvania.
From there, I went to a Federally Qualified Health Center where my job was to start up an H.I.V. clinic. That was really great work. A woman who I greatly admire, Jeannine Peterson – she and I wrote proposals to the federal government to get funding to develop this H.I.V. clinic where we were focused on reaching African American women. This is when the H.I.V. epidemic was really emerging among women of color, especially impacting African American women.
I would encourage anyone who’s interested in building credibility to get the education under their belts.
To our great fortune, we were able to get two big grants from the federal government: one for a clinic and one for prevention efforts. Jeanine said, "Lisa, now that we have this money, we have to do something with it." So, she recruited me to come over and start the clinic.
You had this really impressive career. Then, you decided to go on your own. What made you take that leap?
In some ways, it was related to not fitting into a mold. I would say I am a fairly nontraditional person. I've had periods in my life where I was pretty much a non-conformist. So going into the corporate world was probably not going to be the best trajectory for me.
I've also always wanted to do good work. But I've also wanted to make a decent living for myself. Having my own business was one way to make that happen.
I've done okay [laughing].
But it's always an effort on a day-to-day basis. Anyone who thinks that they are going to become an entrepreneur and life is going to be easy, well, that's not the case. It's one of the most difficult jobs one can have, but it is also one of the most rewarding if you have the ability to hang in there and be introspective. You need to have the ability to learn and to not be afraid. You need to be able to admit what you don't know and hire people who are really smart to do those things you don't know.
The healthcare industry is dominated by white men. How did you as a woman – specifically, a woman of color – open doors and show that you could speak about healthcare issues in a credible way?
I have a body of work behind me, a series of successes. Doing the work for the American Diabetes Association showed an ability to work with people who may have differing opinions by finding some commonality, understanding what end goal they wanted, and seeing where our interests converged.
I would also say going back to school helped. I got a master’s in health administration, as I mentioned. I did that for a couple of reasons: One is that I wanted to build my skills and expertise. And I did that. I came out with a bag of tricks. But also, I wanted to build and establish a network. That was one fast way to make it happen.
So I applied to The Ohio State University Master of Health Administration program. It’s one of the top 10 programs in the country. It was a major way to build my credibility.
I would encourage anyone who’s interested in building credibility to get the education under their belts – because it’s a major part of not only building credibility but also of establishing that network. You’ll have other people in the industry be able to recognize that you have met the minimum requirement to work in that industry by getting an advanced degree in the subject you are approaching. It’s not the only way, but it’s one way to establish that network and to establish some credibility.
Have you ever had to be an advocate for yourself to establish credibility?
Entrepreneurship is all about sales. You have to get accustomed to selling. My approach to selling is really about building relationships. It’s about not being afraid to approach people that you don’t know. To get to know them. To help them understand what you do. To be genuinely interested in what they do. And building the relationship from there.
I may not necessarily sell to the people I build relationships with, but I am increasing my sphere of influence. If that person believes in me, believes in what we are doing and sees the value in it, or simply likes who I am, they are going to tell other people. They are going to talk about my company when they meet other people who might be interested in what I am selling.
Developing that sphere of influence through relationship building is really important and really valuable.
I want to say something else related to credibility: I want to encourage women to walk away from deals that compromise their integrity, are outside what they believe in, or are outside their values. Be willing to walk away from deals where individuals may not have the same integrity that you have or may be willing to steal your work.
I've had periods in my life where I was pretty much a non-conformist. So going into the corporate world was probably not going to be the best trajectory for me.
I’ve been in that situation. It was early in our business. We had a deal lined up for $250,000 – it wasn’t small. In fact, it was the largest deal I would have accomplished at that point. But this company wanted to take credit for our work. They wanted to take what we were building and claim it as theirs. I decided to walk away.
It was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do. The company that was taking credit was actually playing middleman to another company that wanted to buy our work. Weeks after we walked away, the company that wanted to buy the work approached us directly. It turned into a four-year relationship that served as a foundation for a lot of the solutions we developed for the industry.
Is there any advice that you would give to your younger self?
My advice to my younger self would be that I am perfectly imperfect. And to not worry about the future. The universe will align, and things will work out as they should.
Who is a woman who inspired you?
I really like this question. I’m going to point to a group of women, not just a single woman. There are so many individual women who inspire me it would be impossible to name them all.
Last year, I was invited to join a group of women called the Queen City Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. This is a group of Black women who are doing amazing work. They’re linked in friendship and service. We have two local chapters here, but The Links, Incorporated, is a national organization with affiliates doing amazing work for their communities and for countries abroad.
Being invited to join that group was one of the greatest honors I have had in my adult life. I look to the women who are part of The Links, Incorporated, locally – Cincinnati mainstays like Karen Bankston and Delores Hargrove-Young – and others who have not only accomplished so much professionally, but also maintained values that are fundamental to any community: that we reach back. That we mentor others. That we help others grow. We just help our community and we are true to each other.
[Editor’s note: Lisa wanted a chance to recognize the woman who made her jewelry, Marilyn Jackson (Jewelry by Snooks). She says it’s important to her because, “It’s so hard to succeed in this world as an African American and as a woman if you are trying to do things outside traditional boundaries,” she laughs, “or even inside traditional boundaries.” Lisa tells us it’s important to promote people who are doing great things: “Marilyn Jackson is doing amazing work as an artist; when I wear her stuff I feel powerful. I want other women to feel that way, too.”]
There is no single definition of an entrepreneur. Check out our year-long series, "This Is Entrepreneurship." Sponsored by Main Street Ventures.