Welcome  to  Beyond  the  Nest. University  of  Minnesota,  Rochester's  Alumni  Podcast. I,  Marco  Lands,  Omar, Director  of  Alumni  Development  Relationships Beyond  the  Nest  highlights  Raptor  alumni, their  work  and  lessons  learned  along  the  way. In  this  episode,  senior  student  success  coach  Jen  Hook sits  down  with  2017  graduate  Thia  Changer  Mani. Currently,  Thia  is  a  Senior  Business  Analyst with  Blue  Cross  and  Blue  Shield  of  Minnesota. Well,  hello  Thia.  How  are  you? Hi  Jen.  I'm  doing  great.  How  are  you? I  am  just  so  glad  to  be  talking  with  you  today. Thank  you.  Thanks  for  joining  me on  the  Beyond  the  Nest  Podcast. Thank  you  for  having  me.  I'm  super  excited  to  be  here. So  let's  start  out.  Could  you  share  your  name  and when  you  graduated  from  UMR  and  your  current  job  title? Absolutely.  My  name  is  Nia. And  the  Armani,  I  graduated the  class  of  2017  and  I'm  currently a  Senior  Business  Analyst working  on  the  planning  and  execution team  within  the  Analytics  Division  of  Blue  Cross and  Blue  Shield  in  Minnesota. How  was  like  so  many  words. I  was  trying  to  follow,  follow  all  of  those. How  long  have  you  been  in  that  role? Yeah,  I've  been  in  the  analytics  division for  a  little  over four  months  and  with Blue  Cross  for  a  little  over  two  years, and  working  in  the  health care  industry  for  about  three  years. Oh  my  goodness.  Lots  of  exciting  things. So,  let's  talk  about, well,  we  have  a  lot  to  talk  about,  right? We  can  talk  about  maybe  what  first  brought  you  to  UMR. Let's  like  flashback  many  a  year  ago.  Fun  fact. I  met  Nithia  at  a  college  fair  in  probably, I  don't  know  what  year  That  was. A  long  time  ago.  A  long  time  ago. Yeah.  I  was  going  to say  I'm  glad  you  asked  this  question  because the  answer  is  I  think  you're  the  person  that brought  me  to  Umar  as  you  said, I  remember  meeting  you  at the  District  196  College  fair  and  you  just,  you  know, had  this  big  smile  on  your  face  and  did such  a  great  job  sharing all  the  lovely  components  of  Umar, the  small  class  sizes, and  the  health  sciences  emphasis. And  so  I  think  that's  what  got  me  and my  family  into  the  door,  you  know,  at  um, R.  And  then  I  think  what  there was  learning  about  the  Chancellor's  message regarding  the  three  R's, I  think  that's  a  message  that  stuck  with  me, the  rigor,  the  relevancy  of  the  courses, and  just  the  relationships. And  as  I  look  at  how  UMR  continues  to  develop  today, that  mission  still  seems  to  stand  true. So  yeah,  that's  exactly  what  brought  me  in  Now, do  you  remember  what  was  like your  initial  career  interest  at  UMR? Yeah.  I  think  my  initial  interest was  sonography  'cause  I  was  interested in  I  had  attended  some  of the  Mayo  Clinic  health  science  fairs and  really  liked  that  program. But  my  career  path  changed  many times  throughout  the  course of  my  undergraduate  experience  as  you  know. Yeah,  I  do  know  that  and  I  love  how  sort  of, you  know,  watching  you  evolve  and grow  throughout  your  time  at  UMR. So  let's  talk  a  little  bit about  your  professional  journey. And  maybe  let's  start  with  sort  of like  where  you  are  now. And  we  can  think  back  to  sort  of  like, you  know,  how  you  arrived  at  that  point. So  can  you  share  with  us  a  little  bit  more  about your  professional  journey  and  sort  of  what  you actually  do  in  the  very  long  title that  you  told  me  with  analytics?  Yes. Yep,  exactly. As  a  business  analyst  in  the  analytics  division, my  primary  function  right  now in  this  role  is  that  of  a  project  manager. So  a  lot  of  my  run  when  I  say  project  management, it's  really  about  people  in  process  management  making sure  that  we're  delivering  on our  commitments  to  our  business  partners, being  on  the  analytic  side  of  the  house. And  then  just  making  sure  that  our  DNA  technology, data  analytics  folks  are  getting  the  information  and requirements  from  our  business  partners that  they  need  to  effectively  do  their  job. So  I  really  see  myself  as  kind, the  liaison  between  the  two  areas. What  brought  me  to  analytics  was  really  just  the  kind  of vast  opportunities  that  it  offers  since  it touches  virtually  every  part of  health  insurance  and  of  the  business. And  it  was  a  chance  to  work  with my  boss  who  I  had  worked  with  in  my  previous  role. And  we  just  had  a  great  relationships. I  was  really  excited  to  work  under  his  leadership and  to  continue  to  gain  more  skills  and  experiences. Yeah,  So  tell  me  a  bit, when  you  graduated  from  UMR, where  did  you  sort  start  in that  first  professional  position? And  how  did  that  lead  you  to  this  role  you're  doing  now? Yeah,  so  ironically  I  started  at  Blue  Cross. I  did  an  internship  there  on  the  Health  Innovation  Team. And  it  was  just  a  summer  internship.  So  June  to  August. And  as  that  opportunity  was  ending, one  of  my  mentors  at  the  company  had  recommended  that  I look  at  Prime  Therapeutics  as  a  place  to  start  my  career. As  he  listened  to  my  interests, he  thought  the  pharmacy benefits  management  industry  would be  a  great  place  to  sort  of kickstart  and  explore  those  interests. So  I  applied  to  the learning  consultant  position  at  Prime, and  that  was  where  I  started  my  career. So  I  was,  in  essence, a  systems  trainer  over  there. So  really  worked  on  training our  Blue  Cross  clients and  then  also  training  our  internal  folks. And  ironically,  a  lot  of  the  systems  that  I  trained  on  in Prime  or  the  systems  that  I now  leverage  in  my  role  today. So  it's  amazing  how  each  of  the  experiences have  built  on  each  other  and  kind  of  come  full  circle. And  then  what  I  would  say  brought me  back  to  Blue  Cross  was the  original  person  who had  hired  me  during  my  internship. She  and  I  had  stayed  in  contact,  you  know, over  the  year  that  I  was  at  Prime. And  when  I  described my  career  interests  and  just  what  I  wanted  to  do, she  had  shared  that  there  was  an opening  on  her  current  team, which  is  how  I  landed  back  at Blue  Cross  and  the  Payment  Integrity  Division spent  about  like  a  year  and  a  half  there and  then  followed  my  boss  to  the  Analytics  Division. Wow,  sounds  like  a  really  wonderful  mentor  in  your  life. Yeah,  yeah,  absolutely. I  think  the  mentors  and the  relationships  that  I've  had  have  really  helped  me, you  know,  kind  of  get  to  where  I  want  to  go. Mm,  I'm  curious  if  you  can  think  of any  times  that  you  maybe develop  some  of  those  skills  around  networking, and  maybe  any  mentors  that  you  had  at  UMR, or  kind  of  through  your  college  years  that you  felt  like,  you  know, led  you  into  some  of these  really  rich  mentorship  relationships that  you  have  now  in  your  life. Yeah,  absolutely.  I  think  there  were  many  professors. I  know  we  talked  about  Dr.  Norris. She  was  definitely  one  of  my  mentors. And  there  was  a  physician  at  Mayo  Clinic, Dr.  Ushio,  who  I  also  considered  one  of  my  mentors. So,  individuals  like  like  those  two  were  really  great about  encouraging  me  to  kind  of think  about  those  next  steps  in  my  career. And  I  think  what  mentorship really  offered  is  just  that  relationship  with someone  who's  a  little  bit  out  of  your  immediate  purview. So  they  encourage  you  to think  a  little  bit  differently  and ask  those  questions  you  normally  wouldn't  ask  yourself. But  I  think  at  least  from a  sort  of  a  networking  mentorship  standpoint, when  I  did  my  internship  at  Blue  Cross, one  of  my  focus  areas  was  to connect  with  as  many  individuals  as  possible. And  I  did  that  through  the  form  of  meet  and  greets. I  think  that  summer  I  completed  almost  50  to  60  met  gets so  a  lot  of  times  then asking  those  questions,  gaining  more  information. And  I  would  say  a  lot  of  those  relationships have  come  back  full  circle. As  I  mentioned,  there  are  a  lot  of those  folks  that  I  work  with  today. And  as  I  told  you,  the  relationship with  my  hiring  manager  for my  internship  are  what  helped  me  land  my  current  job. Yeah,  Well,  it  is  not  a  surprise  to  me  that  you  had developed  so  many  rich  relationships  in  your  workplace. I  think  you  know  this,  right? A  lot  of  you  and  our  students, and  I  think  you  may  have  been  in  this  boat  at  one  point, feel  pressure  to  name  a  career  goal,  right? Like  when  people  say, what  are  you  pursuing? They  want  to  say  medicine, or  they  want  to  say  stenography, or  they  want  to  have  a  job  title  to  fill  in  that  blank. So  how  did  you  navigate  those  pressures? And  if  you  could  give  yourself  some  advice  looking  back, what  maybe  would  that  advice be,  navigating  those  pressures? That's  a  great  question.  I  think  you'll  recall  I spent  many  hours  in  your  office  asking  you  the  question, Jen,  I'm  struggling  with  my  life  direction. I  like  what  do  I  do?  You  know,  how  can  you  help  me? So  I  think  I  was  definitely  in  line  with  many  of the  your  students  where  I definitely  wanted  that  end  result,  end  goal. What  I  think  helped  me  was looking  at  it  from  a  different  lens  post  graduation. The  advice  I  guess  I  would  give  myself or  the  realizations  that  I  came  to  is that  we  all  start  at  that  same  point  at  UMR,  right? We  feel  that  pressure, like  the  rest  of  our  peers to  keep  the  same  pace  on  the  race. But  then  once  you  graduate  and realize  it's  really  more  of  that  marathon, my  focus  then  shifted to  thinking  about  what  are  the  skills  and experiences  that  I  want  to  develop so  I  can  continue  defining  where  I  want  to  go. And  that  was  a  mindset  shift  for  me. And  I  think  what  my  focus  now  is  success, my  definition  of  success  has  changed,  right? It's  not  about  that  end  definition, it's  more  about  the  experiences  and  growth  that  I acquire  along  the  way  and the  series  of  micro  impacts  that  I'm  making. So  when  I  look  back  at  my  career, it's  the  relationships  that  I  built, the  goals  that  I  accomplished, the  personal  development  that  I  achieved, versus  saying  I  was  this  particular  title  for this  many  years  at  this  specific  company. As  beyond  the  net  Groves,  we  would  like  to  hear  from  you. Check  out  this  episode, show  notes  for  how  to  connect  and  share  your  UMR  story. Now,  back  to  Jen  Nita, as  they  discussed  the  importance  of  mentorship. And  advice  for  current  students. Do  you  feel  like  there  was a  moment  that  you  kind  of  figured out  that  you  didn't actually  want  to  work  with  patients,  right? I  think  for  a  while. You  considered  like  physical  therapy? Yes,  occupational  therapy. But  what  was  that  sort  of  moment? Maybe  it  wasn't  a  moment,  maybe  it was  a  series  of  moments  that  you figured  out  it's  actually  not patients  that  I  want  to  work  specifically  with. So  when  I  think  about  sonography  specifically, I  think  that  moment  for  me  was  shadowing. It  was  a  great  shadowing  experience. But  what  I  realized  was, this  is  not  what  I  see  myself  doing  in  the  long  term. And  then  I  think  from  a  physical and  occupational  therapist  perspective, that  shift  for  me  happened  when  I  was  actually  working in  a  physical  therapy  clinic  as  a  front  line  assistant. And  there  was  a  specific  encounter with  a  patient  that  I  had  where she  had  an  arm  injury  and  she was  looking  for  a  worker's  compensation  form. And  no  one  in  my  clinic  knew  really how  to  help  her  find  that  information. And  she  was  just  being  passed  from  like  office  to  office. And  frequently  as  a  front  line  individual, I  would  receive  questions  on health  insurance  and  navigating  co  pays, all  of  these  business  questions that  I  didn't  know  how  to  answer. And  I  thought  to  myself  as  someone  who  wants  to impact  the  healthcare  industry positively  and  create  change. I  can't  even  do  that  if  I don't  understand  how  the  system  works. The  best  way  to  do  that  is  to understand  the  business  infrastructure. That  was  sort  of  the  pivotal  moment  where  I realized  the  one  to one  interactions  are  necessary  and  important. But  what  I  want  to  do  is  have that  macro  impact  and  understand the  system  and  business seem  like  the  right  pathway  for  me  to  do  that. Cool,  This  is  actually  maybe  a  nice  transition to  talk  about  some  of  those  experiences  that you  had  in  your  undergrad  that  culminated. One  of  those  was  working  in  that  clinic. But  you  had  a  lot  of  experiences  after  that  that maybe  led  to  some  of  these  discoveries  about  yourself. So  let's  talk  about  some  of  these  experiences. What  were  some  of  the  experiences  that you  felt  really  did  impact, you  know,  the  job  that  you're  doing now  or  the  kinds  of  work,  you  know, not  just  what  you  wanted  to  do, but  now  that  you're  doing  the  work,  you  know, how  can  you  reflect  on  some  of the  experiences  that  helped  you  grow  into  this  role? I  think  each  experience  was valuable  and  taught  me  something  new. And  I  think  my  capstone  was  that  pivotal  point  for  me. I  did  a  variety  of  different  internships  that  gave  me exposure  to  research,  to  healthcare  policy. And  while  I  enjoyed  what  I  learned  in, in  every  one  of  those  experiences, what  I  also  think  it  helped  me  learn was  that  that's  not  where  I  saw  myself  long  term. I  liked  the  exposure  to  policy. I  like  the  exposure  to  research, but  it  wasn't  what  I  wanted  to  do. So  I  think  that  learning  was  valuable  in  and  of  itself. But  I  think  the  classes  that  I  also  really  enjoyed during  my  study  away  at the  University  of  Minnesota,  Twin  Cities, was  taking  things  like continuous  quality  improvement from  a  process  perspective, healthcare  and  microeconomics, and  then  health  policy,  law  and  ethics. And  it  was  those  classes that  really  sparked  that  interest. And  I  was  like,  I  enjoy these  business  and  kind  of  corporate  concepts, process  concepts,  and  I  want  to  explore  those  further. And  then  I  think  that  key  turning  point  was  really that  internship  at  Blue  Cross  as  my  capstone  ended, and  I  was  looking  to  find  that  next  step  post  graduation. Do  you  have  a  moment  at  UMR  that sticks  out  in  your  mind  even  today? Like  you  have  this  kind  of  salient  memory  as  I think  about  a  relevant  memory that  I  think  has  often  shaped. Even  how  I  approached  some  of  my  projects  at  work  was a  participatory  action  research  class that  I  had  taken  at  UMR. And  as  part  of  that  class, we  were  tasked  with  defining  specific  research  questions, going  out  into  the  community, facilitating  focus  groups,  and then  creating  an  end  deliverable,  right? So  like  a  research  paper  and a  presentation  to  share  back  to  the  community  as part  of  that  participatory  action  component and  that  whole  experience. It  taught  me  collaboration. It  taught  me  conflict  resolution. And  then  it  also  taught  me  the  value  of  being  able to  take  that  work  back  to  your  end  audience. And  I'm  actually  in  a  project  at work  today  where  I  think  back  to  that  framework and  I'm  applying  it  the  exact  same  way  where there's  a  change  management  effort  we're  undergoing. And  we're  working  with those  teams  to  understand  what  are  your  pain  points. We  develop  the  research  questions and  we're  letting  them  know  that  we  hear  you, we  validate  this  feedback  and  we're going  to  bring  it  back  to  you  and show  you  what  we've  done. So  that  is  definitely a  prominent  experience  that  stands  out  of  my  mind. Oh,  I  love  that  one.  That's  great. I  forgot  about  that  class. Yeah,  I  know.  I  was  just thinking  about  it  recently  and  I'm  like,  wow, that  I  was  actually  rereading  the  paper  and  I'm  like, this  is  amazing.  This  is  so  good. That's  awesome.  So  I  feel  like  the  way  that  you  described entering  your  first  professional  job so  far  sounded  pretty  seamless. But  I  remember  that  it  was maybe  a  little  stressful  at  the  time. So  I'm  curious  if  you  have  some. For  UMR  grads  that  are  launching after  and  looking  to  get  right  into  a  career  field. What's  some  advice  that  you  have  on the  job  search?  You're  right. It  was  a  difficult  process. There  were  many  rejections  in  the  process. But  I  think  what  I  grounded  myself in  was  that  you  only  need  one  acceptance. So  I  actually  kept  a  tracker  of  all  of the  jobs  that  I  applied  to  and I  stick  it  on  there  as  my  medal  of  honor. I  made  it.  I  got  the  one  acceptance. So  as  far  as  advice  goes, however  I  would  say  tap  into  your  network. All  of  the  people  that  you've met  with  and  connected  with. Even  if  it  was  a  one  off meeting  grad  or  something  in  your  internship, it's  not  even  maybe  through  your  network, but  through  your  networks  network that  you'll  come  upon  those  opportunities. And  as  you're  immediately  looking  for  jobs, there's  absolutely  no  harm in  starting  with  an  internship. That's  exactly  what  I  did  post  graduation. And  know  that  depending  on the  type  of  internship  that  you  get, it  can  very  well  be  that  launching pad  into  a  full  time  career. There  are  many  interns  at  Blue  Cross that  have  had  that  experience, and  sometimes  it  may  not. But  as  I  shared  with  my  experience, my  mentor  during  that  internship was  able  to  connect  me  and  provide a  letter  of  recommendation  that  helped  me get  my  foot  in  the  door  at  prime  Therapeutics. Definitely  leveraging  the  power  of  the  network  and  not giving  up  knowing  that  those rejections  aren't  necessarily  you, just  that's  part  of  the  process and  it  just  takes  that  one. Yes,  love  that  advice.  That's  so  great. So  when  it  comes  to  networking, obviously  now  you've  talked  a  lot  about  how networking  has  influenced your  career  journey  and  your  path. Are  you  part  of  some  professional  networks  now? Are  there  ways  you  feel  like  you  can  kind  of  give  back  as somebody  who  might  mentor others  or  where  are  you  at  right  now? Yeah,  absolutely.  So  last  year I  did  a  mentorship  program  at  my  high  school. So  great  experience  to  help  give  back and  share  with  high  school  students  that  I've  learned. And  then  in  the  workplace, I  am  a  part  of  a  few, what  we  call  Associate  Resource  Groups. So  there's  a  group  called  the  Professional  Growth  Network and  then  the  Asian  Circle  Group. So  it's  been  a  great  way  for  me  to  learn  from my  colleagues  and  stay  in contact  from  a  professional  development  standpoint. And  then  the  final  opportunity  I'm involved  in  is  the  mentorship  program  here  at  UMR. So  I  have  a  ment,  and  it's  wonderful  to  be  able to  share  with  her  some  of  the  experiences  and, you  know,  successes  and  challenges  that  I  went  through. And  just  watch  her  as  she  grows  on  her  journey. Super  cool.  I  feel  like  there's  probably  a  lot  of UMR  students  right  now  who  are going  to  be  listening  to  this  podcast. Do  you  have  some  advice  for  that? I  mean,  you  know,  that's  kind  of  a  broad  question, but  what  advice  do  you  have  for  UMR  students? One  of  the  quotes  that my  sister  shared  with  me  that  she  learned, or  concepts  I  should  say  from  her  leadership  minor, is  that  you  are  what  they  have  been  looking  for. Knowing  that  UMR,  it's  a  rigorous  institution, the  paths  that  students  are  pursuing  are  rigorous. Just  know  and  feel  confident in  your  choices  and  in  the  path  that  you're  pursuing, and  that  it's  okay  to  change. As  I  mentioned,  we  all  start  at that  same  beginning  line  in  the  sprint  that  is  undergrad, but  know  that  will  transition  into  a  marathon. And  everyone's  starting  point  is  a  little  bit  different. And  I  think  that's  sort  of  the  advice  that  I  have, especially  as  you  look, you  know,  post  graduation. To  recognize  that  your  journey  is  unique. And  that  is  an  accomplishment  in  and  of  itself. Just  because  you're  not  at  the  same  stage  as your  peers  doesn't  mean  that  it's  good  or  bad. It  just  means  that  it's  your  journey  and  you  are, you  know  where  you're  meant  to  be. Love  that,  that's  so  wonderful. It's  a  great  advice.  I'm  taking it  in  myself  right  now.  I'm  listening. I  love  it.  So  what's  next  for  you? What  do  you  think  you, as  you  grow  in  your  professional  life? Where  do  you  think  you're  going  to  grow  next? Great  question.  A  question. I'm  still  trying  to  answer  myself. Right?  What's  the  five  year  plan  right  now? At  least  at  work,  I'm  just  taking  it  one  step  at  a  time. I'm  really  enjoying  this  new  space of  analytics  and  the  project  management  area. Ultimately,  I'd  like  to  move  into a  strategy  consultant  role  within the  division  and  work  on some  more  strategic  projects from  an  education  perspective. Something  that  I've  been  considering recently  and  exploring  my  options  is  thinking about  an  MBA  program  and  how  I can  use  that  to  supplement  my  work  experiences. I  think  I  almost  did  it  in  a  bit of  a  reverse  order  where  I've gotten  the  practical  and  now I'm  looking  for  some  of  the  frameworks, models,  and  theories  to supplement  that  so  I  can  better  apply  it  at  work. So  I'm  curious  nifi.  If  students wanted  to  get  in  contact  with  you, would  they  be  able  to  do  that? And  how  should  they  get  in  contact? Yeah,  absolutely.  I  welcome  students  to  reach  out to  me  if  they  have  any  questions or  want  to  talk  through  anything, and  they  can  reach  out  to  me  either  at  my  UM and  e  mail  or  my  personal  e  mail. And  Jen,  I  think  you  have  both. So  a  freedom  to  provide  both. We  can  post  those.  Absolutely.  It  was so  wonderful  talking  with  you  today. I  feel  every  time  I  talk  with  you, I  leave  feeling  just  richer  from  hearing your  wisdom  and  on  light,  thank  you. So  we  appreciate  your  time and  it  was  just  so  great  connecting  with  you. Likewise,  it  was  an  honor to  be  able  to  come  and  share  this  feedback. And  again,  really  excited  to  be  here  and welcome  anyone  to  reach  out  with  more  questions. Thanks  Smitha.  Thank  you  Jen. Thank  you  for  listening  to  the  Beyond  the  Ness  Podcast. A  Raptor  alumni  flourish. Their  stories  and  experiences  help  illuminate the  endless  opportunities  that exist  across  the  healthcare  spectrum. Beyond  Ness  will  be  back  in the  new  year  with  a  new  season  featuring conversations  between  Raptor  alumni  and  UMR  faculty.