How Do You Say Success in Spanglish?
The path to success isn’t paved for people of color. Join me as I sit down with individuals who share their stories as we learn how to say Success in Spanglish.
How Do You Say Success in Spanglish?
The Unstoppable Force of a Scientist with Soccer Cleats - Brittany Simpson
Brittany Simpson, Born and Raised in Sunrise fl. Playing soccer sinc the age of 3, Brittany attended an academic and athletic high school where she played varsity all 4 years, as well as being a part of various honor societies. She committed to Yales D1 soccer program after her sophomore year.
During College she play on the Yale Woman's soccer team for all 4 years while majoring in Chemistry. Captained her senior yea, she continued to play after graduating in England for over 2 years. She also played on the youth us national teams and finally with the Jamaican National 1st team, qualifying for the 2019 woman's world cup.
Currently she coaches girls 2013 youth team and the United Women's Soccer team. When not doing soccer, she is a senior scientist at Pfizer.
Summary:
Have you ever met someone who embodies the grit of an athlete and the brilliance of a scientist? Brittany Simpson, my latest guest, is just that—a soccer coach and senior scientist at Pfizer with a foot in two incredibly competitive worlds. As she recounts her journey from the sun-soaked soccer fields in Florida to the cutting-edge labs where the COVID-19 vaccine was born, you'll be inspired by her relentless pursuit of greatness despite the hurdles thrown her way.
Brittany's narrative paints a vivid picture of the dedication needed to perform at the highest levels, both academically and athletically. She shares the emotional rollercoaster of sustaining and recovering from career-threatening injuries, all while maintaining her academic focus and eventually leading her college team as captain. It's a compelling exploration of resilience, demonstrating that the drive to lead and overcome is just as applicable to the rigor of scientific discovery as it is to the strategy of the beautiful game.
Join us as we peel back the layers on what it takes to navigate the complex and demanding path to success. From the adrenaline of international soccer to the high stakes of pharmaceutical chemistry, Brittany's experiences underscore the importance of staying grounded, even in the face of global crises and shifting landscapes. Her story is a testament to the impact one can make when passion meets purpose, whether it's while coaching young athletes like my own daughter or spearheading scientific breakthroughs. This episode is a beacon for anyone striving to achieve their dreams in multiple arenas without sacrificing the essence of who they are.
See more at www.successinspanglish.com
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Intro Song: Regaeton Pop - Denbow Ambiance
This is Raul Lopez, and you're listening to. How Do you Save Success in Spanglish? The path to success isn't easy For minorities and people of color. Many attempt this journey with little to no guidance. Join me as I sit down with individuals who share their stories of perseverance so that together, we can learn how to save success in Spanglish. What's good, mi gente? Welcome back. It's your boy, Raul. Thank you for joining me here on how to Say Success in Spanglish. Today I have a very special guest, Brittany Simpson. Brittany, how's it going?
Speaker 2:Good, how are you?
Speaker 1:Good, good, good. Brittany holds a place dear to my heart because she coaches my daughter in soccer, but she also has an amazing story. So just to kind of give a little intro on Brittany, brittany Simpson was born and raised in Sunrise, florida. She's been playing soccer since the age of three and also attended an academic and athletic high school where she played varsity all four years. As well as being part of various honor societies, she committed to the Yale's D1 soccer program after her sophomore year. During college, she played on the Yale's women's soccer team for all four years while majoring in chemistry A captain her senior year. She continued to play after graduating in England for over two years. She also played on the youth national teams and finally with the Jamaican national first team qualifying for the 2019 Women's World Cup. Currently, she coaches girls 2013 youth soccer, which includes my daughter, as well as the United Women's Soccer Team as well. Women's United the United Women's Soccer Team as well. When not doing soccer, she's just a senior scientist at Pfizer. So how's it going, brittany?
Speaker 2:Not too bad. Thanks for having me Very, very excited.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you so much for taking the time. I mean from the moment we this is my first year doing this level of soccer with my daughter. She's fairly new to soccer. She's only been playing for a couple of years and when we found out you had a coach, I was like, oh my God, this is such an amazing person. I'm glad that my daughter has this person as a role model, so thank you for helping her out with everything.
Speaker 2:Oh, of course she's lovely. I love that team so much. They're always super excited to show up for practices games. They super excited to show up for practices games. They, they want more practices.
Speaker 1:Things like that, I just love to see, especially at a young age. So I'm excited. Well, I guess, to start off, you know, tell me a little about yourself. You know who is?
Speaker 2:uh, brittany simpson sure, yeah, thanks so much for the great intro as well. That was great, um. But yeah, just like you heard, um, I'm born and raised in sunrise, florida. Um lived there for a majority of my life. I have one older brother, so we both played soccer from starting at age three. I actually played on a boys team until I turned around 10 or 11. Then I switched over to a girls team.
Speaker 2:I always like to joke around and say that I was born on a soccer field because my dad also played soccer as well as professionally. So my parents, thankfully and I'm very blessed to say that, like, I played every sport just to try out see what I was good at. Um, but you know, secretly, we always knew it was going to probably be soccer. But my, if I wasn't, you know, at school or at my own games, I was at my brother's games, um, and if we didn't have either of those, I'm at the field, uh, practicing with my brother and my dad. So, um, soccer was definitely a big, you know, part of my life, especially being Jamaican as well. A lot of my cousins, my uncles, all of them played soccer as well, so it's all around that. But the other side of me, like you heard, I'm a scientist at Pfizer, so my mom was very big on academics. So they're like okay, you can play soccer, that's great, but you know you also have to excel in the in the classroom.
Speaker 2:So growing up I was at a private Catholic school my entire life through college and I did very hard, rigorous academics as well, as you know, sports. So majored in chemistry came straight from freshman year of college. Within high school I knew I wanted to do chemistry from, I think, sophomore year I had a really really great chemistry teacher. She was very energetic, she just made chemistry really really fun. So that kind of sparked my idea of, okay, I'm pretty good at this, maybe this could have gone to work out what kind of you know, profession I can get out of this. So that kind of got me thinking going into college of like, okay, what kind of specific kind of chemistry I want to do and how do I get to where I want to be? So did that through college.
Speaker 2:After my sophomore year of high school actually, I committed to Yale for soccer. It was seems kind of early and it is early Making that decision definitely came from, you know, my older brother who played soccer at Penn State and my parents were, you know, huge, huge help with that. I was looking at different schools. You know different levels of soccer, but I also knew I wanted to do really well in academics. So why not do that in an IB? You know, do D1 while also doing that? Not the easiest task to do, but let's see if I could try. You know, um, and that was my parents biggest thing. They're like, always aim high and you know see where you land from there. Um, they always wanted the best for us so they sacrificed a lot for us to go um, do what we needed to do. So I committed there um, ended up playing all four years, captained my last year at Yale which was amazing, love that team Um, and majored in chemistry.
Speaker 2:So with that I actually had an internship at Pfizer Um and that kind of directed me of okay, I know I want to do pharmaceuticals, how do I get there? You know what things that I need to do. Then I took that internship, learned a lot, came back to school, learned a lot about research and you know things I can kind of excel in and better my own skills. And after that I knew I wanted to do post-school like work, graduate work, whether it's PhD, master's, et cetera, et cetera. So I have that one side of, you know, being so driven in chemistry and wanted to be the best at that, but I also really soccer, you know. So I'm gonna continue.
Speaker 2:Both people always ask me, like you know, that's hard, how do you do that, especially at an ivy, and chemistry alone is like the craziest thing and it is. I take that. But you know, like I said, when I was in middle school, I was always doing two things I was always doing school and I was always doing sports, um, and I did that through high school and did that through college. So, even though, yes, the level intensifies, it's still. It was still kind of the same thing for me.
Speaker 2:I always knew that, like, this is just my life. I thought this was normal. You know. I didn't compare it to anything else, this is just what I knew. I was very structured. You know, I had this 10 minutes to eat my dinner and then I had to do my homework and then I had practice. Or you to eat my dinner, and then I had to do my homework and then I had practice, or you know things like that. It just seemed very normal to me and, like I said, I think that started from young age with my parents just being like okay, if this is what you want to do, let's do it Well, like let's, you know, put you in the best spot, work very, very hard to get you to you know where you want to be.
Speaker 2:So did all of that played while I was getting my master's over in England Again, kind of crazy, how did I think about it. And then, like you mentioned, I played on youth teams, youth national teams, played with the Jamaican team and ended up getting a job at Pfizer and hard to turn that down. So, of course, moved back over and now I'm a scientist there, but still have the love for soccer, of course. So, even though I'm not playing professionally anymore, I wanted to be involved as much as possible. So, you know, teaching your daughter and the rest of the girls on the team is the most fun thing for me, honestly, and teaching the college girls when they come back out of college during the summer. Again, you know, different, different kind of level, different kind of spot for me, whether being, you know, a player versus a coach now, uh, but definitely very, very fulfilling. So very, very happy about that nice.
Speaker 1:It's a lot to be like to accomplish and it's I can't imagine that drill. I mean, when I was growing up as a kid, my dad was very strict for college. College was everything. The only reason he let me play sports. Uh well, he was a soccer guy too. So but I won't go into like why I stopped playing soccer. You know, um, I sat on the bench a lot because I was a big chubby guy, so so it drew me away from soccer. I didn't, I didn't like playing soccer because nobody ever let me play.
Speaker 1:So, um, eventually you know, when I get to high school, you know we're playing sports and my dad's like you know everything I had to do was for college, so I'm going to play football because that's going to help me, could help me for college and stuff like that. So that balance was that something you learned early on because your parents were guiding you on all that stuff? Or in like, did they say you could only play soccer after you finish your homework? You know you could only or did. Did you have limits on that from your parents?
Speaker 2:You know, I don't think we had particular limits. I'm like you know you have to do this before this or you know you have this time to do this. I think it's because I always joke that my mom was very heavy on academics and my dad was heavy on soccer, so I just had one full percent on the other, 100% on the other. But it we had this very structured schedule and a sense of like you know, I have this 30 minute block. This is the only time I have to do my homework. It's gonna get done in this 30 minute block, so I just don't have the time to do any other things.
Speaker 2:And it's interesting because it's nothing I never, you know it's not like oh, you got to go do your homework. Like I was always excited to do my homework, like I just wanted to go and do it, you know, and it was like okay, I can do this. I know I have practice later, so I don't need to, you know, sacrifice this because I want to do something else, like I could just get it done and then move on to the next thing. And I, like I said, I don't think that was brought on more so from my parents. I want to say that's more so from my older brother. He was, I mean, he is one of the best role models I have in my life. We're four years apart but we're best friends. Like that's my number one best friend, and he was very, very good at keeping things in order and, you know, placing where his academics and where his sports will be.
Speaker 2:So I just kind of followed his lead of like okay, he's doing his homework, this time I'm gonna do it with him and then we can go outside and play some soccer before our practices. So I think a lot of that just kind of came from following what my brother did. He seemed to go well for him, so I was like okay, I'll do what he's doing and see how that goes.
Speaker 1:So you said you went to an athletic academic school. Is that like a special type of school or something you had to apply to, or does it just happen to be the school you went to was really athletic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. So I went to St Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, florida, and it's very heavy on well, technically, it's very heavy on like football for guys, but it's just very, very good at sports in general. So it's an application process. There's no scholarships when it comes to sports, necessarily, but there's a lot of academic scholarships. So if you test well going in versus you know your grades from middle school and things like that, then you can get in and excel through that. But St Thomas is a very interesting place. I love it with all my heart. It's a Catholic private school as well, so that also kind of helped those because I got introduced to so many.
Speaker 2:You know different kinds of people. You know a lot of the kids that came out of there, especially, like I said, for football. They now play in the NFL. Or you know a lot of my teammates that I played club soccer with, also once my high school. So it was like I see them play high school soccer with them, but I also play club soccer with them. So you know the team was very good. I think we won, we won, we won States all four years of my high school, I believe and then one national championship somewhere in the middle, I think, sophomore, junior year. So then you know, I still got competitive soccer through that, while you know Spanish Honor Society, national Honor Society, those kinds of things, because I needed to be in the AP class in order to get into an Ivy school, you know. So it was just a very I was very blessed to be in that space, to be able to do all of those things again at the same time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you said you committed to Yale in your sophomore year, and does that mean that there was a certain set of requirements that you needed to maintain to continue and go to Yale, or what?
Speaker 2:was that like Yep, yeah, so for you to be able to commit to colleges that early, it's like a verbal commitment of just like, okay, we both agree that you know when it's time which is, I think, senior year you do your signing day where you know I'm committed to you and you're committed to me, kind of thing. But, like you said, there is requirements, so you still have to get your grades. You got to keep your grades up. You got to test. Well, I took the ACTs at that time, so you had a certain score, you had the bank, all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Still, it's like a conditional offer in some senses. I couldn't get a C, you know things like that. It was just like this yes, we're committed to each other, but you still got to kind of get yourself together, make sure everything's on track. You can't get in trouble while you know all those kinds of things. So it that kind of stuff didn't scare me, especially committing so early, because it was like I'm gonna get in trouble with my parents if I, you know, get a c or like whatever, you're the least of my worries. I was like this is fine, it's like, don't worry about it. Um, so, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:It's crazy because I feel like it gets earlier and earlier for people to commit, but again, it's a verbal commitment, so things can change, Coaches can change. You know people that you talk to might not be there when you're actually going there. There's a lot of ifs and buts when it comes to committing that early, but you know, I was, I was very I would say I was pretty easy with picking the school that I wanted to go to, because I had very specific things I wanted. I wanted a good school for academics. I wanted a good school for soccer. I knew I didn't want to stay in Florida, more so because I can always come home and see my family, and that was about it. Like that was honestly, pretty much it. So it was just, you know, picking that and getting the best offer I could was, you know, help out my parents as best as I can.
Speaker 1:You know, that's all I wanted to do, and so what impact did like club soccer versus high school sports, like help in getting you in front of someone from Yale.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I will say that, when it comes to committing for soccer wise, that came more so from club soccer than high school. Of course, high school soccer was so great like I said, we won state champs and things like that but I was seen throughout for club um, I was on a very interesting club team where it was just us as the um, the team for the entire club. So, um, I was on this team called Magic Jacks, uh, when I was younger, and it was run by this man called Dan Borslow, one of the best people I've met in my entire life, and he basically built this team of just excellent players from all across the world. Honestly, like we had a couple of players that lived in California that played with us. We played with this woman that's her. Her name's Bunny. She's one of the best players on the Jamaica national team. She played on my club team with us. She came from Jamaica and came and played. We had two players from Sweden. So it was just this hodgepodge of a team of just amazing players, but it helped in a sense of I was seen all over the world when it comes to, you know, college coaches, national team coaches, because we just played in every tournament there was possible, honestly, and you know, of course, when you're winning tournaments, you're winning games, you're going to be pulling a lot of you know trainers and things like coaches and stuff like that to come see you. So that helped me a lot when it came to just being seen in the soccer world.
Speaker 2:But for academics wise, like I mentioned before, being in a place where you know very strict private school, you're able to do AP classes. You're able to. I did a couple like I did high school classes when I was in middle school because my brother was going there so I could go there in the morning with him and then go back to my middle school after. So I was doing my algebra and calculus class while I was in middle school beforehand and stuff like that. So it was just like chaotic, a little bit chaotic, but you know, again, I did those things like I always wanted to do those things.
Speaker 2:So I was like I want to be, you know, at the best school. I know I have to work being a minority, like a black woman, I know I have to work two times as hard just to be seen, whether it's an academic, sports or whatever it has to be. So putting myself in those quote unquote difficult situations was okay with me, because I was like, okay, if this is going to help me in the future, I'll do it Like I'll work hard. That's not. That's not going to turn me away.
Speaker 1:So what was kind of like your ultimate motivator? Was it the hopes of becoming?
Speaker 2:no-transcript. It ultimately comes down to like, if I had those, you know, as a young girl you always want to be the best. You want to be a professional soccer player. You know, I looked up to Abby Wombat and like I was like I want to play with her, um, and things like that. So it's interesting, Cause I I personally don't think those were like my driving force. I honestly think I just always wanted to make my parents proud, because they always say that you know, you're really good at this. Like if you just kind of focus on this, you'll be great. So I'm like you know what? You're right, Let me focus on this and prove to them that like, yes, I can do this.
Speaker 2:I said my mom was very high in academic. She's like, if chemistry is going to be your thing, like what do you want to do? Like where do you want to go? And I was like, okay, well, Pfizer is the number one pharmaceutical company in the world. Can I work there? And she's like if you put your mind and heart into it, you definitely can.
Speaker 2:So my dad on the other side, he's like you have to put your a hundred percent effort. And I was like you know what, if that's, that's what you think I can do. I want to get there. I want to work as hard as I can to get there. Um, so, like I said, I think it's just a base of making both of my parents proud as much as possible. Um, honestly, what's my driving force is, like I said, I have goals and ideas of what I want to do, but as long as, like, I should prove to them, okay, I'm working so hard. Maybe I don't get there, that's just life, but I'm gonna try as hard as I can, just to prove to them like, yeah, I can do it, You're right. Like, thank you for trusting me, Thank you for, you know, believing in that I could. So, yeah, Nice.
Speaker 1:And when you finally here you go, we got yeah, yeah, you're in no, um, yeah, you still have to do regular application process.
Speaker 2:So I did early decision, um, so you basically do the yeah, yeah, really early decision obviously. So when you're a senior you could apply on like early, early action, early early action I think it's called um and then you're able to get, if you know you're likely to get in, you get a likely letter, um, this also could probably be different, you know, for different colleges. This is just ivs in general. Um, so in, like October, I think I got a likely letter of just saying you know you're likely to get in, you're like you're a high prospect, etc. Etc. Um, and then decision time I think is in January or February, something like that, when you get your acceptance letter and stuff.
Speaker 2:But it's the same thing, same application process as everybody else still got to take the ACT, still got to do all that good stuff, because with Ivy's they don't give sports scholarship necessarily, so a lot of that had to come from. Like, those scholarships that I got all came from academic. Yes, yes, I was likely to get in because I was committing for soccer, so that you knew, you know that's where I was going, but I still had to, you know, pay for the school. I still had to get in and things like that. And you know as much as I love my parents, I got to help them out too, you know. So again, that comes with the. You know I want to focus on academics, and if this is the thing I want to do, let's see. You know the best way to put myself in the best spot to get there.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and um when, when you? Um. Sorry, I'm blanking out for a second, but when, when you finally got in, you know what I mean. What was that like? Did you um colleges? I don't know what your school demographic was like in Florida but I know, for me my demographics were black and Latino driven and then I got to college and I was like there's nobody here that's like me.
Speaker 2:We woke up like 5% of the school.
Speaker 1:What was it like for you when you went to Yale and did soccer kind of help build something for you that made it feel more like at home for you? Yeah, that's interesting. So like at home for you yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2:So, like I mentioned before, I went to a Catholic private school growing up um from all the way up until college. So I was very much in more of like a white space growing up. Whether you know outside of um anything else, it was mainly just school was like. I was the only black woman in my middle school until, I think, sixth grade and you know, obviously when you're a child you don't see those things, you don't notice it as much. But when I got to high school it was a little bit more diverse, especially with it being like application process and things like that, but still it was still heavy on white.
Speaker 2:So going into college, especially with Ivy's, there's bits and pieces that are kind of the same. I think demographic-wise, my college and my high school are pretty similar, but me being able to be especially in sports and being on teams and being on different societies in college. On teams and being on different societies in college, I was just immersed with so many different kinds of people and very, very interesting people. When it comes to just the way they grew up is very different than mine, not necessarily in a good or bad way, just very different experiences and I'm very big on learning from people's experiences because I feel like that could drive you to being a different kind of person or, you know, just trying something new and completely. I met people start from freshman year of college. I met someone that had done like an internship and did surgery on like a little baby and I'm like, where did you do that? And he's like, oh, I did it in Turkey. And I was like I don't even know where Turkey is, like what's going on. So I was like I always say like Yale was such an amazing experience because it just put me in such a space where I had so many different kinds of people from all over the world and I talked to everybody to understand it.
Speaker 2:So I think the biggest thing that well one I had a high school teammate and, honestly, childhood best friend that came to Yale with me so she played soccer with me as well. So that definitely helped kind of ground me of just like I'm just a little girl from Florida, like sunrise Florida, like this is, you know, I'm still just me. So that definitely helped a lot. But also I think I put a lot of emphasis of just focusing on, you know, the things that I can control. So I knew I wanted to do chemistry.
Speaker 2:I knew I wanted to do chemistry, I knew I wanted to do well in soccer. So I just focused on those two things. And any like extracurricular stuff I was, you know, in a painting class, I was on the dance team, etc. Etc. Those are just for fun, but as long as I kind of focus and, you know, have my goal from the start and just try to get there towards the end, that kind of helped just, you know, bring me back to life of like, this is a dream, but I see what I could do, you know, while being in there.
Speaker 1:So I mean the transition from high school to college. From just about everyone is like oh my God, this is a lot harder than I thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and to balance that and sports on top of all that, while you're used to the difficulty, challenges and you seem to have always challenged yourself extra, like I know. I wanted to do chemistry in college as well and I went to a very poor school. We didn't have AP chemistry at all, but I did take two levels of chemistry because we did have like block scheduling so I could take extra classes. So it was like my junior year and I'm in chem two and my teacher walks by and nobody's in class and she's like what are you doing here? I'm like waiting for you to take my class. She's like you're not a senior.
Speaker 1:I'm like, no, I'm a junior, and so the next two weeks I was showing her photoshop because there was nothing for me to do in my chemistry class. But we didn't have. Like you know, when I got to college I just got railroad by chemistry, you know. So the challenge is a little bit too much for you, you know, did you feel more overwhelmed? And how do we balance that for yourself?
Speaker 2:um, honestly, I, I, I didn't feel that overwhelmed, more so because, like I mentioned before I, we were, as kids, very structured, in a sense of like every time there was something that we were doing, um, like there was always a purpose. So I I didn't mention this before, but I also danced for like 18 years of my life. So not only was I doing school and soccer, I was also dancing. So it was like get up early in the morning, go to my class at high school, come back, um, go to middle school, middle school soccer practice, go to club or club soccer, go to dance or no, go to dance and then go to club soccer. Come home, homework, food, go to sleep, like that was the day. Basically more things than hours in the day, honestly.
Speaker 2:So going into college was just a bit of the same right. It was morning practice, run the class, run to lab, go back to practice, homework, study, essay, study, essay, whatever it is, sleep, repeat the next day. So, yes, it intensified 100% in terms of like level of difficulty, but it was still kind of the same movement. I guess. To me at least, yale was one of those places where it always felt like everybody was there to help each other out, which I really, really appreciated.
Speaker 2:I didn't feel that at other places that I went to go visit before I committed. So that was a big thing for me. You know, like I want us all to succeed, that's everything I got from. So if I needed help with something, it was very, very easy to approach the professors or approach the TA or something like that was very, very easy to approach the professors or approach the TA or something like that. So if you know, I was falling behind because I was writing my, my lab report on the bus back from a game. They are really understanding with that Cause they knew we're, you know, we're college athletes. Sometimes it's just impossible to you know, make a class or make a lab because I have a game or practice or something like that, definitely challenging.
Speaker 1:But again, I don't think it changed too too much for me because I was. I've been doing it for way too long. I mean when I took chemistry. I know it's a lot of classes for one class in chemistry You're doing like your three hour classes. You're doing three hours of lab, you're doing two hours of pre-lab and then you know, all this extra stuff.
Speaker 1:It's like 10 hours a week and you're just all day. Yeah, that's just the one class you know. So, yeah, I can imagine. So all I'm picturing is you have, like you know, in harry potter, with little time, turner like going back in time and getting all your classes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically because, like I said, I had the lab as well, which is five hours. It's or four hours depending on how the lab goes, but it's usually all afternoon. So it was like that. I had to hop on the bus to go to the field to practice right after. Or, like I said, we have games on the weekend, so I have a lab report that's due on Monday. I'm writing my lab report on the drive to the field, play my game. On the ride back.
Speaker 2:People can go out and do whatever they want, but I'm sitting there in the library finishing my lab report. But again, like stuff like that, I was like this is this seems right, this is what I had to do before. So it all adds up for me. And, like I said, I had the goal in mind of I want to be a chemist, like I want to do that, but I also, you know, want to be possibly a professional soccer player. So these are my main focus. Everything else, you know, can be for fun or I enjoy it. I will be try to fit the time in to do it. I did a painting class, I did drawing to kind of ease the struggle with other things, but again, like I always was, just like you know. These are the things I want to do. If this is a sacrifice I have to make right now, because it is, then you know I'm going to benefit later on, so yeah, it's a it's a great mindset to have.
Speaker 1:It's a it's a great mindset to have and it's a difficult it's a.
Speaker 2:It's a great mindset to have with a difficult thing to keep on track. You know what I mean. Yeah, Definitely had help along the way from family, friends, Like it's. It's a hard thing to kind of keep consistent with.
Speaker 1:No, and I think the consistency is the key. I mean, I think that's something I tell Eva, my daughter, all the time. When it comes to soccer is like, yeah, don't expect yourself to get from here to here in one day. It's little incremental increases, you just got to keep doing it. You just got to keep doing it. You know, yeah, I keep doing it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so well yeah, and that's what I tell the kids too. It's when, especially when we do technical sessions, I'm like it might seem tedious because we're doing, you know, touches, this touches this entire week. But trust me, from what you guys were doing last week to what we're going to be doing next week, it's going to pay off a lot. You might not see it right now because it's small games you know, each hour, each day, but when you think about it in a full scheme of things, you're like, oh, it was worth it, like I'll do that again, honestly, because it feels so much better in the end. So gotta keep that mindset as much as you can, as hard as it can be and so then you ended up becoming uh captain of your team your senior year.
Speaker 1:How was that?
Speaker 2:that was amazing, um. I, like I said, I was blessed to have such great teammates that I'm best friends with till um this day. But it was interesting because I had a lot of struggles through college when it came to injuries as well. So my oh gosh, my sophomore year I broke my dislocated and broke my ankle in our first game of the season, so I was out for the season, unfortunately, um. So that was super, super tough. My parents were there. They saw the whole thing. My brother was watching the game online. He saw the whole thing. It was the best um. And then, right before the summer, before my senior year, I tore my Achilles. So, again out for the season.
Speaker 2:So it came for it came to me to be a captain that isn't on the field for, you know, a whole team of girls, which was a difficult thing, of course, from a perspective of, like I want to play pro, want to do this, like this should be my year, this should be like the best year that I can get. Um. But also I'm now the captain like how am I going to captain a team when I'm not even on the field? Um, so, looking back early, even when I was in the moment, to be honest, I kind of sat myself down and I was like, okay, this is the state of the situation, like I'm not going gonna stitch my Achilles back together, like how am I gonna make this? You know, make the most of this? Um, and it I'm honestly, I go back and forth, but it is a thankful moment of like, yes, that happened, but I learned so, so much from just being, you know, a leader off the field. Um, I had to learn how to be captain coach, like I had to learn how to be that middle bridge between the players and the coaches and try to delegate certain things and, you know, hear their problems, bring it to the coach and try to find a compromise. Um, so all of those lessons.
Speaker 2:You know, as unfortunate as an injury is and I know a lot of people, that happens to a lot of people unfortunately um, like I have to see the good in it because it's like I'm going to. You know I can't cry every day, like I can't. You know it's going to bring me down if I think about it the other way. So I'm like, okay, how can I make this, you know, benefit from this as much as possible? So you know I had to go. I did a lot of leadership classes. I did, you know, a lot of different things to see as best as I can how can I lead this team? It was a different thing but, like I said, I'm grateful for it and it was one of my favorite seasons just because I had the best class.
Speaker 2:That helped you know, they were kind of captains All seven of them were captains for me. We kind of had we captained the team together, which was a really, really different experience than we've had the past three years. So things like that. You know, I try to see at least the benefit out of those, those kinds of things, because, you know, wasn't our best season but it's still pretty good season and I couldn't have done that without any of the people that helped me out as well, as you know my coach and try to figure out you know how I can still, you know, be involved as much as possible.
Speaker 1:And so then you ended up going to get your master's. And you were also playing soccer at the same time, so this was all in. England.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you know the persistent person that I am. I was like I'm not going to go out on an injury. Like that can't happen. So, of course, you know, throughout that year I was doing physical therapy. They told me I usually Achilles is like an eight to you know, eight months to a year recovery. I was like I'm going to be seven months. I think I'm going to work as hard as I can. Um. So throughout that whole season I was just working, working, working.
Speaker 2:I played with the team in the spring, um, I think my recovery process was like the six to seven mark, um, seven, six to seven month mark and played with the team during the spring. It was definitely hard, you know, trying to get back into the aggression and all those kinds of things, but I use that to be like okay, I capable of coming back from such a bad injury to play again. So did that, played with the Jamaican team a bit, um, and then I ended up saying, okay, I might want to do my master's and my PhD in chemistry. Where's the best place where I could do that as well as so play? Um, I have. So my dad is from England uh, he was from. He's from Crodon, england, so south, like out London area, so I have family over there. So I was like this is perfect. They speak English, like this is amazing. Um, and, like I said, we're a big fan soccer family, so we're Chelsea fans and I was like London's perfect, like let me go, let me go over there and um, go see a couple Premier League games and all those kinds of stuff. So went over there.
Speaker 2:I actually went a little bit north though. I went University of Nottingham, um, I did my master's of research. So, strictly, lab work, you know your typical nine to five, basically what I do now, typical nine to five kind of thing in lab. But I was like, okay, how can I play as well while I'm here? So played with the school team and also trained with Bristol City, trained with Leicester, played against Austin Villa and things like that for the women's side. So did all of those kinds of things, just because I was like I'm not gonna let an injury take me out, because my goal was to be a professional soccer player, like I want to, I want to make it, I want to um work as hard as I can to get there. So I I did.
Speaker 1:I think I really, really wanted to, just walk up to the like to a club and say, hey, I'm interested, or like, how does it?
Speaker 2:no, yeah, so is there a link in for soccer, like what's going on honestly, kind of being in the soccer world is an interesting thing because it seems so big but it actually is kind of small in some ways because everybody just knows each other. Um, and it just so happened that the one of the assistant coach or uh, I believe it was upenn university of pennsy of Pennsylvania, who I played against before and she seen me play she happened to be one of the coaches for a London team over in England and she was like ah, she was like oh, you're coming, like this is
Speaker 2:this is the team you can come play with us, or things like that. And then the coach that was at the time she didn't end up being my coach, but before the so the school that I went to that I was playing with their team, she's currently, uh, the national coach for Northern Ireland. She was the assistant coach for Chelsea women's team, uh, so she also had a lot of connections. So she was like, yeah, send me a highlight tape. I sent her that. I have like a soccer resume, um, I sent her that and she was like, oh, yeah, come, come play, like you can come play with us, um, and a couple tryouts here and there and stuff like that. So a lot of connections in some ways. But, like I said, it's the soccer world is. Everybody knows each other, um, so reach out to my coach, my coach reached out to somebody else and then all of a sudden I'm like on a team doing something else, uh, but yeah, so.
Speaker 1:So what is one of the things that pops up a lot in here? Networking, networking is really important. Yeah, yeah, it's one of the things that pops up a lot in here Networking. Networking is really important yeah it's huge, it really really is, and you kind of yada yada'd your Jamaican team. What was your experience with that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the Jamaican team was amazing. So I played when I was younger and I was playing against them when I was on the US national team. When I was younger, younger, and I was playing against them when I was on the U? S national team. Uh, when I was younger.
Speaker 2:But as I got older I knew that you know my family's mainly Jamaican, british, um, and I want to play for Jamaica, cause I feel like that just felt more meaningful for me. Um, so when I uh one of the coaches at the time, he again a lot of connections, a lot of little things at the time. He again a lot of connections, a lot of little things. He was the head coach of a team in Orlando and we played against his team so many times we've beaten, we've lost. It's just they were one of our rivals growing up so he already knew who I was as a player. So when I mentioned, I think my father mentioned to him that I wanted to change over and play for the Jamaican team.
Speaker 2:He ended up being the head coach for the Jamaican team like a year or two after he called me up while I was at college and stuff like that. So I played with them for a couple of qualifying games. I couldn't go to the last one because, like I mentioned, I tore my Achilles, so that last one I couldn't go to and that's also part of the reason why I worked so hard to get back um into uh playing after my Achilles, cause that summer it was the world cup Um. So I went to South Africa with the team, played with them there. Um I unfortunately couldn't play in the actual world cup because of the Achilles. I wasn't well um cleared to play. But again, even doing the qualifying match, even doing all of those things and training with the team, was more than enough um experience and meeting such lovely people. So very, very grateful for that that's, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Um, and so, going back to grad school, you're doing your lab, you're doing this stuff and then I guess you graduate is do you decide to come back to connecticut or?
Speaker 2:yeah, so that was around when COVID started. So there was a lot of things shutting down. I couldn't go in lab anymore and I was applying to PhD programs. But I also reached back out to my old lab head at Pfizer when I did the internship and I was just wondering if there was any jobs. I don't know, maybe something pops up, cause I knew from that experience I wanted to come, either come back to Pfizer or go into pharmaceuticals in general. So he mentioned there's a couple open positions. You know, if you apply, just let me know. And I applied for that and I also applied for PhD programs.
Speaker 2:And even though I did get into PhD programs, especially over in the UK, and I was thinking about staying so I could play a bit more, um, I knew that I missed a lot of my family, my mom, my brother, um, and being closer to them met a lot, especially during that such a hard time for everybody. Um, so chose to. I fortunately got the job at Pfizer and just moved back over um cold state of connecticut, um, but you know it was still part of home to me because I went to school here, so I still knew the area. I still had a lot of friends here. I still had, you know, things that I knew that I could do around here, um and again a couple connections of getting me to ct, rush to play and, um, coach there and get to know the team. It still connected me to soccer even to play and coach there and get to know the team. It still connected me to soccer, even though I chose to not play professionally anymore.
Speaker 2:I knew I wanted to do something. So I was like, okay, if I work at Pfizer, that's amazing. I had my goal of being professional. I did that. So now let's, maybe this is the time for me to make my goal of being a professional chemist to some extent. So, you know, didn't want to lose the soccer side. So you know, that's where the coaching comes in. But this is, you know, I'm on the path of, you know, getting to that other goal that I also set for myself when I was younger. So that kind of, I think, geared me to making that big decision of coming back over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when it comes to being like a scientist and a chemist, you know, I think it's kind of a foggy world for most people. They don't know like, yeah, how do you become a scientist, how do you become like, what does that mean?
Speaker 2:yeah, what does that mean no, yeah, I am chemistry, I love chemistry, I'm a big person that does puzzles. I I like jigsaw, like any kind of crossword, something that you can solve, basically. And chemistry is an interesting thing where you're presented, you know a structure that you have to figure out how to make. You know a lot of these things are very, very new and you know first in class is what we call it. So it was one of those things where, like this is something I can be very creative and it's very difficult. It's not for everybody. You definitely have to have the mentality of being very persistent because 99% of the time your reactions don't work and that's a very stressful, very hard thing to kind of just like ingest every day. But when you think about the big picture of like okay, if this thing actually works and, you know, goes through the clinicals and becomes a drug in a couple of years, that's amazing, like that's going to affect a lot of people. So, again, that you know end goal, that outcome is what I usually gets me out through the day. Honestly, that's my day to day. But thinking about, you know, becoming a chemist, being coming a scientist you know scientists is a very broad thing, cause you could be a scientist and like a lot of different things, um, but being a chemist in general it's. You know, like I mentioned, it is difficult, but I always think it's very fun Cause, like I mentioned, I'm a puzzle person.
Speaker 2:I like to solve problems, I like to, you know, try to talk and figure it out as best as I can. And, like I said, my chemistry teacher in high school is what brought me here. She made chemistry so so fun. She connected it to our daily thing. She said you know, you like cooking, it's basically cooking to some extent. So, thinking about how joyous she was, I was like, okay, maybe I can actually do that.
Speaker 2:So, having that from there moving into college, doing it all four years, trying to get connections there and now doing it Pfizer, it's like it's, it's amazing. I love my job. I kind of make my own schedule to some extent, where you know I still have to watch my games and Premier League and all that good stuff, champions League. So you know I plan my meetings and I'm in lab the most part. So I am on my feet, I work with my hands. You know, your typical if people think about like chemistry, you're in your lab coat, you have your goggles, you have your gloves, all of those kinds of things. But it is a great community and great, great people that I work with, so very happy to be there.
Speaker 1:And is it still something you're thinking about for PhD?
Speaker 2:I am.
Speaker 2:It still trickles in the back of my mind, but it's interesting because I have this battle between, you know, staying where I am and kind of just learning through experience versus a PhD. I think there's very big benefits to both through experience versus a PhD. I think there's very big benefits to both. But currently I've been learning so much over the past three, four years that I've been with the company Just, you know, being moved to different projects, working on different things and working with different people where, like you don't get that as often with a PhD, where you're very highly focused on one thing. So I've been enjoying this so far.
Speaker 2:I always say that, like you know, I'm probably at the point where I might not go back, but again, like I always thrive to be the best that I can be, so if I, you know, next year, in a couple months, I feel like it's probably the best thing for me, that can kind of move me up a little bit faster or get to where I want to be, then I'll go for it. But currently I'm very happy of, you know, learning from all just inaction on the job kind of thing. So it's been nice.
Speaker 1:Nice, I mean um. Like you said, people think scientists they don't really have an idea. So it's nice to kind of get kind of idea of what the hell the scientists do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's very much like you expect of like a little beaker. You know, sometimes you have a little color change. You're basically mixing together to try to make something else. Yeah, it's, trust me, it's very, very complicated, but on a grand scheme of things, it's it's. It's very simple.
Speaker 1:And you? You started working during COVID.
Speaker 2:You said Yep, so right in 2020, I believe, is when? When did I graduate, oh goodness? So I started working at like middle to end of 2020. So right in the midst of COVID, basically. So that was a very challenging, challenging time because, as I mentioned, I'm in lab for the most part, so I'm in person, I go in office all the time. So it was a lot of restrictions when it comes to how many people who's qualified to be onsite. So we're not risking anything six feet apart, which is also difficult because I work right next to somebody. Like our lab hoods are right next to each other, but I had to be moved on the other side. There's a lot of there's a lot of safety reasons why? Because I can't be in lab by myself. Just in case something happens, someone has to be there, but six feet apart. There was a lot. It was. It was very, very difficult and very stressful time for many reasons, but I mean it's already a very restrictive job.
Speaker 1:Like you, have very set rules that I need to do this a certain way, and any additional variables just complicate things.
Speaker 2:Complicates it completely Exactly. So it was stress already packed on more stress that I was there already. So it was definitely, um, an interesting time. Thankfully we're in a lot better time now, um, but yeah, like I I'm. It's interesting because I also can compare it to when I was an intern, where there was, you know, bustling of people all over the place. It was very lively, you know. We had events, we had interviews, we had a bunch of stuff going on, whereas when I started actually on the job, it was silent. There was like six people in my little area. So, yeah, it was definitely an interesting situation, but, again, grateful to be able to start and have an impact on that whole pandemic.
Speaker 1:So yeah, what kind of things were you working on? Was it even co-related, or was there other things that you were working?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I didn't work on like because at that point, so a lot of the times it's kind of hard to explain but the drug process is very long. So it usually takes like five to 10 years for anything to come out. So for Pfizer to be able to get that out super, super quickly was a lot like it was very, very hard to do. A lot of people had to be involved. So I was involved to like some extent when it came to more like the analytical side of things, but like it was already moving through the process where I am.
Speaker 2:So the things that I usually work on, like what I'm working on now, is very early stage. So we make very small amounts of compounds and things like that to be tested and like on rats and things like that. So it's very more so small scale and then when things come back, data comes back very good. Then it can go larger scale and it goes into the clinic, et cetera, et cetera. So there's a lot of different places in hand. So that's why I said there's a lot of people involved, um, but I'm more on like the early stage of trying to discover stuff. So it's a bit harder because, like I said, a lot of the times it's new space, um, and you're kind of, you know, piecing things together to make it make sense, um. But yeah, it was interesting because the people around me, since they were working there before, were highly involved with it, so I was just watching them and seeing what's going on and seeing how the process goes.
Speaker 1:But yeah, Nice, and so now you're doing that and you're also coaching. You know what impact has coaching had on your life on your life.
Speaker 2:Oh, coaching has been amazing. That guy I at first, when I first started coaching, I was coaching. Well, to be honest, I was first starting coaching in Florida, um, with like a U11 team of the old club team that I used to play for and I was just in and out. I was more doing training. Um, because me, growing up training with my dad, my dad was my coach for when I was younger, until I moved to the girls team and he trained my brother and I throughout our entire life. Basically so, being a coach at first I was like, okay, let me just do training and kind of get to know the girls and see how the club team is, etc. Etc. And then, you know, someone reached out and was like why don't you coach the team? Like I feel like you'd be really good at this? Um, it was like, okay, I'll try it out.
Speaker 2:I did older girls just because, again, you know, I just came out of playing professionally, I can get them to give some advice to that aspect. But what drew me to be more so a coach for like the younger girls was I was so, so excited to go to practice when I was younger. I loved going to practice Of to go to practice. When I was younger I loved going to practice. Of course you get to hang out with your friends and things like that. But just learning something new, trying, you know, new skills at practice Um, I was a defender, so I was like maybe I could score today. Things like that that you know you don't usually do. Um, I just I was like, okay, my brother taught me this, how can I bring this into my game? Things like that. I I wanted to be able to provide that excitement for girls that when I was that young, like that age, so doing it, like with your daughter and the team that I have now, it's been so, so rewarding and super fun.
Speaker 2:Because my biggest thing as a coach is, you know, skill can always be taught. You can learn that. You're going to learn that throughout your entire soccer career, basically. But you know the love for the game is a very hard thing to achieve. So you know I'm going to be a hard coach. I'm going to make sure you know they're learning and they're I'm teaching them things, but I also want them to love it. I want them to enjoy practice and the games. It's not necessarily about winning and losing Everybody loves winning. But as long as they understand the game, as long as they, you know, think they played well that day and they know why, like things went wrong, etc, etc. That's gonna go a long way and especially when they get older, that's gonna play a big part in their soccer career. So that's been one of my favorite things, just to see how the development goes yeah, no, and it's been great.
Speaker 1:I mean from a parent's side of point of view, like when it's funny because I had eva come there. She had only been playing like a year of soccer at that point when she tried out for you guys like a little over a year, um, and I kind of did it because some of the other girls were doing it and they were like oh yeah, and I'm like, and I just kept telling her you might not make it.
Speaker 1:So just accept that you might not make it, but I think it'd be good to practice going to trials yeah, it's like a new learning experience. She's so nervous. Yeah, she's like okay and she just went and just played and you know, then we got the letter in and I was like Anita, I don't think we can buy a car right now because we're gonna have to pay soccer, you know we're gonna have to hold off a bit on buying a new car.
Speaker 1:We got a new bill that we're gonna do and, yeah, we've been with you for like half a year a little over half a year and the progress has been tremendous, like even when we go back to rec you know, the town soccer the, the other coaches who have seen here like oh my god, she went from barely able to move forward to like just control stuff and I'm just like, yeah, and I still think she has stuff to improve on. So it's just amazing. So you know, you know I I really appreciate all the work you put into it and I see firsthand experience. You know how much she's grown from it, and like even just her head swivel, just like being on the field where she can know, Ooh, I got to come.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look at her. No, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, usually around you know, near the end, when we start talking, you know, I always like to come back and ask you know, if you could go back and talk to a younger version of yourself. What's something you'd tell yourself? What advice would you give yourself?
Speaker 2:Oh, I would say such a good question. I think you know as persistent, as, like I claim to be, or I hope to be, I think still like, I would love to tell myself to keep going and keep pushing. There is going to be a difficult path, like I went through a lot of stuff. I lost my father in the midst of college time. There's, there's just a lot of things that are going to happen, but you have to keep going. Um, there's always, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel, kind of thing. Um, and like you know, life is going to be hard and most of the time, as much as you can plan, it's probably not going to go the way you think it's going to go, um, but it's going to go the way it's supposed to. So it, you know it's, it's hard, but you got to keep pushing. You just got to keep going. I told myself that today. I want to tell myself that before and, you know, hopefully in the future, keep telling myself that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, awesome, yeah, and I love the way you said it. It's not going to go the way you expect, but it's going to go the way it's supposed to Me, and my wife kind of do that all the time, like you know, if it's meant to me, it's meant to be. Let's just yeah leave it in god's hand and keep moving forward. You know so exactly um, and so, ultimately, you know, you know how do you say success in spanglish oh, that's a good one too.
Speaker 2:Um, no, yeah, I, that's such a good question. I think it's just a matter of, like I mentioned before, success to me is just making my parents proud, making my family proud and, honestly, making myself proud, um, thinking about how much I've gone through and what I, my little self, planned to be and I was able to at least accomplish it. Not necessarily in the way like you said, like not in the way that I saw it, not nearly the way I saw it. They think I was going to go, you know, to Yale specifically. I didn't know I was going to go. You know, take Yale specifically. I didn't know I was going to do Pfizer and all that stuff. But you know, I'm making myself proud and making my family proud, especially my parents and my older brother. Like that's that's success to me. Like I did it, that's that's all I wanted to do and hopefully I could get there. So, yeah, nice, and.
Speaker 2:I guess my last question is what is your real opinion of Harvard? So they're fine, I guess no, no, I have some friends that went to Harvard too. They're, they're fine. But you know, bulldogs is really like the way to go.
Speaker 1:I went to Boston University, so I have a lot of friends from Harvard as well, so I always know oh, it's Harvard Yale, it's Harvard Yale. They go okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's funny because it's like, oh, it's the rivalry. But personally we always are fine, everyone's friends, we're all good. But no, it's all about Yale, it's all about the Bulldogs. I'm through and through.
Speaker 1:Yale through Yelly till I die. So blue and white only Awesome. Well, uh, Brittany, thank you so much for taking the time and sharing your story. Uh, you know you, you've gone through so much and you're a great motivation to you, know the girls on your field, and so I really appreciate you taking the time to come out here and talk to me.
Speaker 2:So, thank you so much. Oh my gosh, no, yeah, thank you for having me. This was great. I love this Awesome. Yeah, well, thank you so much. Oh my gosh, yeah, thank you for having me. This was great.
Speaker 1:I love this, awesome. Yeah, well, thank you so much and obviously, for everyone else listening, thank you so much for tuning in, as always. I hope you'll join me again next time as we continue to learn how to say success in Spanish. Thank you.
