Bernice Delgado(she/her)

Bernice Delgado is the Dental Supervisor at Seymour Monroe Community Health Center in Washington State. She started her career as a dental assistant — a path she discovered almost by accident after visiting a trade school program at San Joaquin Valley College in Visalia, California. She spent 14 years chairside before deciding she wanted to grow into something more administrative, without leaving the field she loved. Her story is a powerful example of how you can evolve within a career rather than starting completely over. Bernice's path wasn't a straight line. After moving her family from California to Washington to create a better environment for her kids, she took a pay cut, got laid off from a dental assisting job, and made the bold decision to go back to school. While working full-time as a dental receptionist and raising three children, she earned a bachelor's degree in Health Services Management from DeVry University — entirely online, two hours of homework a night after dinner. Three years later, she had her degree and a new career direction. As a supervisor, Bernice manages staffing, bookkeeping, patient relations, provider scheduling, and team morale — all before 8 a.m. some days. She's the person making sure the clinic runs smoothly behind the scenes, from covering sick calls at 5 in the morning to calming down frustrated patients and helping her team navigate hard days. She describes herself as 'the glue' — and it shows in how much she cares about her staff and the communities her clinic serves. What makes Bernice's story especially relevant for students of color is her deep connection to the communities she works in. She remembers lining up at a firehouse as a kid to get immunizations — healthcare that felt impersonal and rushed. Now she's part of building something different: a clinic where people are seen, heard, and helped. She hires for attitude and empathy, not just credentials, and she actively recruits locally so that people from the community can have jobs in the community. Bernice's advice is simple and real: start by volunteering to see if healthcare is actually for you, don't be afraid to pivot when something isn't working, and remember that your degree doesn't have to lock you into one path forever. Her management skills are transferable to hospitals, private practices, and beyond. She did it while raising a family, far from her own support network, and she wants young people to know — if you put your mind to it and actually like what you're doing, you can make it happen.