New talk show features entrepreneurs, inventors, business owners.
Looking and moving more like a high-fashion model than a medical doctor, Dr. Nancy, as she is affectionately known, has joined Pratt, CEO and founder of Star Worldwide Networks, to deliver the Dr. Nancy Knows talk show, a television program that broadcasts inspiration, motivation and hope. “I want to bring awareness to viewers and share what people are doing to improve their community,” she said.
It is here that Bukola Somide has come to discuss her latest invention. Somide is a computer scientist dressed in a tutu and carrying a beautiful, smart doll she invented, named Somi. Somide explains her “incessant desire to give back to the community” and her observation that women and women of color are vastly underrepresented in her field. She started a scholarship to help young women, but then realized she would have to reach girls long before they get to college.
“I needed to work backwards to bring awareness of computer science and the benefits of it to the younger generation – the high schoolers, middle schoolers and elementary schoolers – if I’m to increase the number of young black girls who will be thriving in this field,” she told Dr. Nancy.
The entertaining and educational Somi doll teaches computer science concepts through her voice box. Somide also created “Somi the Computer Scientist: Princess can Code” storybook. “I want young girls who love princess stuff to know it’s ok to like being a princess, but it’s also ok if you want to pursue computer science.”
Raised to Reach
Dr. Nancy didn’t have a Somi doll growing up in Pennsylvania, but she did have parents who encouraged her and her four brothers to reach for the stars. She also credits her mother, “aunties” and other strong women role models for showing her that anything is possible.
Thus, Dr. Nancy has four degrees and an Ivy League education. The first two years of her undergraduate program were in communications and public relations. However, stage fright sent her in another direction to study science and medicine. Now, after 25 years of emergency medicine and trauma care, two offices in Scottsdale and a practice that spans 15 states through telemedicine, she has shed any semblance of on-camera jitters. Dr. Nancy is as comfortable in her designer dresses on set as she is in her scrubs in the emergency room.
“The more you step outside of your comfort zone, you discover gifts that you never knew you were blessed with,” she said.
Pratt agrees. “Media comes so naturally to her. She’s smooth on camera, she has that great television look and the big smile, and a genuine interest in others.”
Gaines-Dillard left the East Coast for Arizona in 2017. “It was a divine thing. I felt I had saturated the area and that there was something else I needed to do. I didn’t know exactly what it was – it was like looking through a lens that wasn’t clear. I packed up and left.”
Tapped for Greatness
She transferred from one Level 1 trauma center back East to one in the Valley, Dignity Health. “I got a tap on my shoulder,” she explained to Pratt. “The voice said, ‘Listen, my dear child, I did not move you 3,000 miles away to be comfortable and do the same thing. You need to do more.’”
Feeling an intense need to push herself, she opened Dr. Nancy’s Integrative Medicine, where she offers customized holistic care to treat the mind, body and spirit. She incorporates alternative plant-based products for health, wellness, focus and fitness, which she has developed and sold under the brand NG CARES.
“There are multiple ways to heal someone outside of writing a prescription for a man-made substance,” she explained. “We all should have choices in our medical care to be our best and live our best health now. We’re going to sit down and we are going to devise a treatment protocol plan. I want to know how your family is, what work is like, how’s your stress, what do you need help with to overcome what you’ve been battling for a while. The patient is the active ingredient. Without that active participation, the recipe does not develop.”
Recently, she worked with a schoolteacher, who was struggling with obesity. “She loved fried chicken. She didn’t really come to me for health, but for weight loss and body contouring,” said Gaines-Dillard. “She had eight sessions with the Pro-Fit Laser and was getting very good results. In four weeks, she lost six inches. We gifted her more sessions until she reached her goal of losing 14 inches. In about 12 weeks, she lost 60 pounds. When she went back to school, they didn’t recognize her. She was able to be coached and make healthy life modifications. She gave up Coca-Cola and fried chicken. Sometimes, it’s the small things that can make a big difference.”
Habits of Excellence
A typical day for Dr. Nancy starts before her feet touch the ground. “I thank my Lord and Savior for being able to see another day and I’m super excited to be used as a positive force. I thank God for my profession, my love for others and that I get an opportunity to talk to people on their most intimate, vulnerable level. What a privilege it is to be present and listen. I love advocating for others and I take that very seriously.”
She’s also an athlete, formerly a high school gymnast, track and basketball star. “I run to get mental clarity.”
And, she serves as her own motivational coach and leaves notes for herself like, “You are beautiful. You are enough. Your journey is yours and nobody else’s. Dream until your dreams come true.”
“We have to be our own cheerleaders,” she said. “If you cannot empower yourself and lift yourself up and be confident and secure in who you are, there aren’t a whole lot of people who will do that for you. You have to align yourself with like-minded individuals in all aspects of your life and you’ll never feel lonely and you’ll know people are pouring into you as much as you are pouring into them.”
Giving Back
Dr. Nancy founded Family Matters Healthcare Foundation to provide holistic health care to families in need within the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. Her practice was the first to provide COVID-19 antibody tests to veterans.
In May, she began recording the Dr. Nancy Knows television talk show, following a successful radio program airing since October. “I get so much joy about the things people are doing and how they are impacting others. To be able to use my voice to create awareness and share healing and inspirational information is my way of helping others.”
A new edition of Dr. Nancy Knows drops every Saturday at 9 a.m., and can be found at https://drnancyknows.com/ or
https://drnancyknows.com/follow/ and also at https://starworldwidenetworks.com.
For more information about Dr. Nancy’s Integrative Medicine and NG CARES, visit https://drnancysintegrativemedicine.com. QCBN
By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN
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