Princess Power, Wise Woman, Sorceress Sage, Determined Diva and The Oracle were all in attendance Saturday at a pre-event to APHA’s Annual Meeting.

Speakers at the APHA Women’s Leadership Institute encouraged over 100 attendees to tap into their superpower and embrace a superhero name. At one point, all the attendees stood up, hands on hips, chins out and struck the confident pose of the comic book character Wonder Woman.

While this might sound like light fun, life-changing results can follow, said Anasa Troutman, keynote speaker for the event and CEO and founder of The BIG We, an organization that helps communities through storytelling, community building and strategic investment. 

Troutman said that before important meetings or job interviews, she strikes the pose. And it has improved her performances.

DC Comics superheroes share something in common with public health professionals, she said. Both devote their lives to uplifting people and communities.

But Batman had his Joker. Wonder Woman had her Cheetah. Superman had his Kryptonite. Public health professionals can be held back in their career and in helping others by arch villains. Their barriers are self-doubt, fear, harmful past events or something else.

But an inner barrier can also be a superpower, Troutman said.

“Sometimes our vulnerability is our superpower,” she said. “I know the more vulnerable I am, the more powerful I am.”

Troutman, aka Princess Slaya, said her superpower is love. 

During a panel discussion, public health leaders talked about their own superhero stories, though they did not necessarily frame it that way.

Kim Rhodes, director of the Office of Indian Affairs at the Minnesota Department of Public Health, is American Indian, part of the Anishinaabe group. She was raised by low-income parents still in their teens when she was born. 

“Public health allowed me to realize who I am and put me in amazing circumstances where people believe in me, and that helps me believe in myself,” Rhodes said.

Chris Chanyasulkit, APHA immediate past president, shared that a rocky upbringing caused her to suffer from imposter syndrome — that she was not good enough to succeed and that anything she accomplished in life was not a real accomplishment. 

Several years ago, Chanyasulkit suffered a brain aneurysm. Half of people suffering this die within three months, and most experience permanent brain damage. Chanyasulkit’s full recovery made her see the brevity of life and that she needed to face her debilitating fears. 

She has gone on to be APHA president and perform humanitarian work in Ukraine, among other accomplishments.

In appreciation for her candidness, audience members identified her superpower: authentic.

Important for young public health professionals is career development through access to exceptional mentors. Raymona Lawrence, founder and CEO of a life coaching organization and a professor of health policy and community health at Georgia Southern University, spoke about creating a broad mentoring network.

Lawrence explained that her superpower was also her Kryptonite. As a child she was diagnosed with sickle cell disease. But that pushed her to be a scholar in public health and to focus on helping people with sickle cell disease.

Her advice on choosing a mentor was concise. She said young professionals need to be clear on what they want to gain from the relationship. Also, be open to creating “360 mentoring,” which is when you have a handful of mentors from various backgrounds and demographics.

Lawrence said she has mentors from many walks of life, from students critiquing her course syllabuses to an 80-year-old hematologist. A wide breadth of mentors creates a 360-degree approach to the circle of your life.

This approach can offer “a superhero state of mind,” said Lawrence, whose tongue-in-cheek superhero name is Dr. Ray Hi-La, Her Excellence. 

The conversation will continue at APHA 2024 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Monday during a Champion Conversation called “Women in Public Health,” which will explore how women can become better mentors and mentees and part of a dynamic team.

Event keynote speaker Anasa Troutman and audience members. Photos courtesy EZ Event Photography.