Schadrey Bonds has never lost when she’s bet on herself. Not when she was a single teenage mother trying to finish school. Not when she enrolled in community college and earned her nursing degree. Not when she applied for and was accepted into 51ԹϺ’s Executive MBA program.
Obstacles have come and gone before. She’s overcome them all, and she’ll soon set another example when she and her fellow Cohort 21 members complete the program in December.
“I truly believe my life experiences have created who I am and allow me to have insight into other’s struggles, allowing me to connect with others more easily,” Schadrey says.
Personal Fulfillment. Professional Enrichment.
In her role as a Nurse Practitioner at P3 Health Partners, Schadrey works with a “very very high needs, very underserved population” in the Las Vegas valley.
Her patients are low-income, homeless, food insecure, and often struggle with barriers to healthcare and the stability that many people take for granted. At the same time, she immerses herself in volunteer efforts, working with food pantries, homeless outreach organizations, and programs that help the homeless maintain ownership of their pets.
Schadrey enrolled in the EMBA program to further enrich herself with the business tools that will allow her to excel in a leadership role with her organization. She has always considered herself to be a very altruistic person, and returning to school, she says, will help further her impact on the community and allow her to navigate the executive level, which, she says, requires “a lot of diplomacy.”
“I don’t necessarily want to leave patient care but I want to work on building better networks to take down [patient] barriers,” she explains. “My own goal, maybe five years out, is opening my own medical practice, a primary care clinic for at-risk people.”
The Support of a Cohort
Throughout much of her life, Schadrey has relied on herself. Within Cohort 21, however, she’s found a support structure, one that allows her to glean experience and perspective within a “very safe space.”
“The most pleasant surprise is the people, all of them!” she says. “My fellow students are so strong.
“The professors are amazing at teaching but more than that they genuinely care about us. I do best in environments where everyone is treated equal, and everyone brings something to the table.”
Schadrey considers herself an example of how a person can succeed despite the challenges of their upbringing. Today she is a proud mother of three – 23-year-old Jaydin, 17-year-old Chase, and 4-year-old Alex. The trio will soon see their mother graduate, and take the lessons that she’s learned with them moving forward.
Looking back, Schadrey recalls the difficulty she had finding support as a young mother. Accessing education and healthcare was difficult, and she sees her experience reflected in many of her patients.
That lack of support still exists for people, but she’s determined to remove the barriers and is eager to provide mentorship to at-risk youth, whether that involves young girls who are pregnant or young men who have dropped out of school.
“I wouldn’t want anyone to feel isolated or alone the way I did,” she says. “It’s important to me to try not to ignore those situations.”