The Why

Welcome to a new website, Shedding Light on Child Life, with Anisha S. Reza, MS, CCLS. I am a career changer from medicine (sometimes other say this when they were pre-med or applied to medical school, so I want to clarify that I attended medical school for 2 years). Having a longtime interest in pediatrics, I have extensive experience in healthcare settings and working with children. I am a self-proclaimed "professional student" from being in higher education for over a decade, a cumulative 30 semesters. And yes, it was as exhausting as it sounds 😅. When medicine was no longer the right fit, I realized I had remained adjacent to child life for a lot of my journey. I decided to pursue it as a career and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. While I am a new professional in the field of child life, I believe I am uniquely equipped for this important psychosocial work supporting children and families in stressful situations. Child life provides an avenue for me to use my intersecting identities, skills, and passions in a fulfilling career.

This brings me to the inspiration and launch of my website! After having trouble finding comprehensive resources for POC (People of Color) child life students or professionals like this publication, I figured I could try to fill the gap myself. With my interest in long-form writing (vs. the saturated social media market), this publication will allow me to share my thoughts and learnings with a consistent, interested audience compared to the irregularity and formality of submissions to yearly forums, conferences, and the like. I am really passionate about having those who come behind me to benefit from my hard lessons, those beside me to learn along with, and those in front of me to be honored for creating a path to follow.

Due to the trials and tribulations I have endured to be where I am as a second-generation immigrant of mixed Asian descent, I have never been more secure in who I am and what I have to offer. As much as I hope this publication is a resource to you, I also hope you may find encouragement to advocate for yourself and for those in your circles. We all have important intersecting identities that need us to be our most authentic selves to inspire change for the next generation.

With big aspirations for where my career will go and for the potential of this website to be a centralized hub of vetted resources and self-published content (i.e. podcast episodes, seminars, posts), I want to thank you for being here. My mission is to create an organic community with a thread of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) topics as I mentor students, share authentic stories and insight, and provide resources that interweave my unique personal and professional experiences.

Free content will always be available. If you don't want to miss published content, please subscribe below to get posts right to your inbox. Please visit any page for detailed information on content-specific, paid subscriptions. Or click any visible "subscribe" button to see what's available today. Look forward to:

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) newsletter and seminars
• Student workshops for writing and interviewing
• Applicable seminars for professionals in psychosocial fields on working with an ever-increasingly diverse patient population

If you represent an organization or have a group that would benefit from this author's offerings, please email childlifewithanisha@gmail.com to inquire about consulting or guest lecturing availability.

All posts and resources are curated from this author's professional opinion and expertise. Any questions, comments, or requests can be directed via email to childlifewithanisha@gmail.com.