Today we’d like to introduce you to Tricia Ysabelle.
Hi Tricia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was little, I lived with my grandparents in the Philippines. My grandma worked at the public hospital right across the street from our house. She was the nurse supervisor there but she never pushed me right into nursing. Instead, she encouraged me to do many different things: sing, act, dance, recite monologues. She was the first one who encouraged me to pursue creative spaces. At six years old, I ended up moving to live with my parents in the US. While they allowed me to pursue extra curriculars in musical theater and choir, they firmly encouraged me to pursue nursing. Having a grandma work as a nurse in the Philippines where autonomy wasn’t that great and a mom who worked in nursing administration didn’t give me the best picture of nursing. It wasn’t until I started volunteering at the local hospital that I realized what a special job nursing was. When I volunteered, I realized nursing had many avenues: adults or children, outpatient or inpatient, clinical, legal, or administration.
As the opportunities started to present themselves, I found myself drawn to the ICU. Nurses in the ICU work hand and hand with doctors, manage critical patients and are always moving on their feet. While I was gearing up to find a nursing school, I knew I wanted to stay local and go to UCLA but I couldn’t find much information on the program. Luckily I had a cousin who went to UCLA who knew someone I could ask. I got into the nursing program and enjoyed my experiences at UCLA. After I graduated and found a job in the ICU, I started to miss creative projects I would do at university. In 2018, I decided to create my first YouTube video explaining how I got into the UCLA SON and it was well-received! At this time, I didn’t think much about creating a YouTube channel but I really wanted to find ways to keep exploring my creativity. When the pandemic hit, I knew that I had to do something to keep myself busy. I revisited the idea of creating a YouTube channel and shared my journey to become an ICU nurse at a large teaching hospital! The channel has been well received and it has helped keep me afloat during this time!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Some of the struggles I’ve had in creating my channel is really facing impostor syndrome. I worried a lot about what my friends and family would think of me. I worried a lot about not being a “real youtuber” so I’m not quite qualified for this job. Even to this day, I still do struggle to show up in these online spaces but it’s really just about balancing and fighting the critic in your brain. Ever since I’ve started this journey, something that’s helped me to fight my impostor syndrome and inner critic is just being consistent and always creating videos every week with no expectation of them being watched. I put them out because I enjoy the work, not because I have to.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a Surgical Intensive Care Unit Nurse but I also am a self-proclaimed “online big sis”. I help nursing students or aspiring nurses find their way to get to where they want to be. I have read essays, given advice, or just shared my journey on how I’ve gotten to where I am today!
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear Struthless – Youtuber who makes videos on Impostor Syndrome and dealing with other bad habits. I also listen to positive affirmations on Spotify in the morning! No specific one just type it into the search bar and select one 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: www.triciaysabelle.com
- Instagram: triciaysabelle
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TriciaYsabelle
