Episode 32: Developing as a Leader

Alondra Ammon, MS, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist who is also a first-generation Salvadorean/Haitian American and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Her exposure to the medical field while serving during 9/11 created a passion for serving others and eventually led to a B.S. in Kinesiology from San Francisco State University.
 
From there, Alondra went on to earn a Master's degree in OT at Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, CA. During her time as a student at Samuel Merritt, Alondra served as a mentor to middle school aged youth in underserved communities as well as Co-President of the Student Occupational Therapy Association. Alondra completed AOTA's Emerging Leaders Development Program and has since co-hosted a Twitter #OTalk2Us and presented at the 2018 AOTA Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

On this episode, Alondra talks about her work on projects that raise awareness on the importance of creating a culturally diverse and inclusive workforce to better serve clients, along with addressing topics that relate to underrepresented practitioners within the profession. She shares about her entry into the field of OT and her experience as a participant in the AOTA Emerging Leaders Development Program.

Resources & Recommendations from this Episode:

• The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women [book]
• Episode 7 of On The Air: Impostor Phenomenon [podcast]
• Military Veterans Seek to Heal Battle Wounds through Occupational Therapy [article] 
• AOTA Emerging Leaders Development Program [article]
• Senior Rehab Project podcast, Episode 262, in which Ashton Applewhite, the author of the book "This Chair Rocks," talks about how the biases each of us holds influence our interactions with others, including our clients as healthcare providers
• This Chair Rocks [book]
• Article from the Harvard Business Review recently shared as a resource on the AOTA website: How to Recover from a Cultural Faux Pas​

Connect with Alondra:

• Email 
• Twitter - @AlondraLaOT
• Facebook Page