Divine Okafor

COMM 3136
Leadership Interview Report
I have always been interested improving the life of others. The comforting feeling of improving

ones life through sharing my own talents has been the force that has driven a lot of my decisions in life.

The most prominent decision being to pursue a career in Dentistry. While Dentistry is a fairly competitive

field that requires a lot of long hours of studying and years of additional schooling, my drive to improve

others quality of life has pushed me to persist towards this endeavor. In order to become a Dentist, one

must shadow other Dentists in order to gain hands on experience into the career field. Naturally, I wanted to

use this paper as an avenue into a Dental office and gain insight into the career field while also fulfilling my

requirements for this report. While I initially attempted to consult a Dentist with inquiries into their journey

towards their career, I unfortunately did not receive any responses and I decided to take a different

approach. Dental school offers no correct avenue or plan of study towards becoming a Doctor of Dental

Surgery (DDS), and although most Dentist began their career with a four-year undergraduate degree in

either biology or chemistry, many others opt for a more hands on approach to the field through Dental

Assisting or being a Dental Hygienist. Personally, I have considered these as temporary alternatives if I am

not accepted into Dental School directly after my time here at UNC Charlotte, and i decided to look for an

individual within this section of Dentistry to share their story with me. Jackie Smollett, a current student at

UNC Charlotte and Dental Hygienist, shared her unconventional story towards the field of Dentistry with me

and invited me to explore her past as well as the drive that pushes her to continue to pursue being a

Dentist. Jackies story utilizes each aspect of the Relational Leadership Model and allowed me to apply key

skills that I have learned this semester to my own journey towards becoming a Dentist.
It was in the 8th grade that I knew I was going to be a Dentist, Jackie states, her voice heightened

and full of excitement as she shared her young desires to help others with their oral health with her talents.

However, it was the hard times that Jackie would face soon afterwards that would detour her journey

towards being a Dentist. Although she began her high school career with a strong grade point average of a
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4.28 among other accolades, Jackie ran into troubling times her junior year and was not able to finish high

school with the strongest academic standing. As a result, she enrolled at Central Piedmont Community

College, CPCC, to pursue Dental Assisting, a program that would require less time but would allow her to

begin work in a Dental Office as soon as possible. This part of her story utilized the process oriented aspect

of the Relational Leadership Model. Jackie understood the effects of her mistakes in high school and the

setbacks that came along with them. However, she remained strong and decided to start at a somewhat

entry level position into Dentistry. She worked as a Dental Assistant for a few years and while she enjoyed

the atmosphere, she was only allowed to work supervised alongside the Dentist and was never allowed to

be alone with a patient. Soon after, Jackie became tired of the lack of freedom she had within her office and

went back to CPCC to become a Dental Hygienist, hence her process oriented nature. I knew that I

wanted to be more. I did not like having be to supervised and watched. I wanted to be responsible for

something, she explained. After acquiring her second degree, Jackie returned to the working force and

began working as a Dental Hygienist, a job that she maintains today. I know that I will be a Dentist. That

has always been the goal and I know that I will be there one day,.
Currently, Jackie works as a Dental Hygienist, providing dental care such as cleaning teeth,

conducting x-rays, and educating patients on correct oral hygiene. She credits her success in her

workplace to her great communication skills and ability to sway others to understand her point of view.

Jackie describes her daily responsibilities as being impossible without a collective group effort from herself,

the Dentist, the front desk, and Dental Assistants, as they all play a key role in each patients experience.

The teamwork atmosphere of a Dental Office incorporates the inclusiveness of the Relational Leadership

Model because it includes the significant efforts of each party involved while acknowledging their

importance to the efficiency of the office. One of Jackies most memorable experiences working as a Dental

Hygienist was when a close friend of hers came to her office in search of help with his oral hygiene. The

patient was an immigrant from China and had never been to the Dentist due to a lack of accessibility to
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affordable Dental care. As a result, he suffered from a terrible mouth odor and discolored teeth. In order to

fully recover his oral hygiene to a healthy state, he had to attend ten individual visits in which he was

consulted by the front desk, the Dentist, Dental Assistants, and of course cleaned and advised by Jackie,

the Dental Hygienist. His recovery was a group effort that required the entire office to welcome, treat, and

advise him of how to care for himself properly. He never thought oral health was important. we made

him confident again, Jackie explained. Their efforts impacted that mans life beyond simply cleaning his

teeth, but instead gave him a stronger confidence by correcting an insecurity that he had no idea carried

health risks as well. In doing so, their efforts can also be collectively described as the empowering aspect

of the Relational Leadership Model because it allows for each member of the office staff to empower one

another to complete their tasks, and also empower their patients to take pride in their own oral health.
Currently Jackie is attending UNC Charlotte in the Post Baccalaureate program in pursuit of the

pre-requisites she needs to competitively apply and attend Dental school. Although she has always been

driven towards being a Dentist by her desire to improve the quality of life of others, she was pushed to fully

pursue being a Dentist due to her mothers recent periodontal disease diagnosis. This disease causes

swollen or red gums as well as tooth loss in advanced stages. Treatment for this disease can be repetitive

and fairly expensive overtime. Jackie wants to become a Dentist so that she can take care of her mothers

oral hygiene while also helping her mother financially with the increased income that comes with being a

Dentist. This goal incorporates the purposefulness of the Relational Leadership Model because it explicitly

explains her driving force to be a Dentist and why she is so relentless in doing so.
Becoming a Dentist is not an easy task. It requires academic, physical, and emotional dedication in

order to successfully complete Dental School and even more dedication to complete residency. While

Jackie has acknowledged the importance of each of these characteristics, she is still willing to take the task

on. She hopes to attend the UNC Chapel Hills Dental program in order to stay close to her home and

children. However, she is also willing, if accepted, to attend the University of Colorados Dental School as
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well. She chose Colorado simply because she has family there and would have an adequate support

system while completing her rigorous course load. This last aspect incorporates the ethical portion of the

Relational Leadership Model because it shows how Jackies moral compass is leading her to make a

decision that will pact her and her family. Jackie values her mental health and the wellness of her family at

the same level, if not higher, than her desire for Dentistry and she is willing to make an extra effort to

ensure that both conflicts of interest are taken care of adequately.

I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing Jackie because she provided a unique perspective into the field

of Dentistry. She was able to provide me with an inside look into the daily activities of a Dental office while

relating with me on our shared joy of impacting the lives of others. I found her story to be truly inspiring as it

pushed me to explore the other paths to becoming a Dentist. Her story helped me to apply each the

Relational Leadership Model to real life situations and provided me with a foundation for my own journey to

Dentistry.