135: Wellness and Content Creation in Graduate School with Dr. Angela Crumdy

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Welcome back to another episode of the Grad School Femtoring podcast. This is Dra. Yvette speaking and this week we have a guest Dr. Angela Crumdy on the show who will be speaking to us all about wellness and content creation in grad school. Dr. Angela is the creator of Grad Girl Wellness, a platform designed to inspire and encourage women of color to prioritize their overall health and wellness while pursuing higher education. Grad Girl Wellness began as a passion project as a way to hold herself accountable throughout her own personal development, and to be a resource for others. Dr. Angela recently defended her dissertation and cultural anthropology and will go on to be a postdoctoral fellow in the fall of 2022. Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Angela, I can't stop saying doctor, I can't say it enough. Congratulations, by the way I know you recently defended so I just had to shout you out in that way.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

I love it. Thank you for having me. This new introduction, this new title, I'm still getting used to it. But I'm very happy to be here. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about Grad Girl Wellness.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Of course, of course. And thank you for your willingness to come on the show. I think that you know what you do and the platform that you have. And the information that you share is critical. It's so important. And it's a message that I want to make sure that gets echoed and shared across multiple different audiences. So to get us started, can you share a little bit more about your background, you know, your personal backstory a little bit more about your educational career trajectory too whatever you're comfortable sharing?

Dr. Angela Crumdy

For sure. So I am a product of public schools, I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, I actually ended up getting a full ride to the University of Michigan for undergrad. And that was a great experience. But I think in a lot of ways was the starting point for why I needed to start Grad Girl Wellness. I took two years off. And then I went straight to graduate school to pursue my PhD and undergrad and graduate school. I studied anthropology with the focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. And yeah, and I'll be a postdoc in the fall.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Oh, my goodness. And it's interesting, because you said you took the two years in between undergrad and grad school. Was that intentional? Or is that like, you needed that time?

Dr. Angela Crumdy

Actually wasn't but like the way the universe works? Like, it all makes sense now, so my senior year, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I didn't have a lot of guidance about what to do after graduate school. And I actually applied to PhD programs. I didn't get in anywhere. I got waitlisted at one school. And so my backup plan was Teach for America. I know some people are like, "Oh, that's my first choice. Like, well, what?" And I was just like, "okay, like, I'll try." So I ended up getting in. And I actually taught two years in high school English and Dallas, Texas. And it was an amazing experience. And oddly enough, or funnily enough, like, my dissertation is now about teachers. So in retrospect, yeah, like a necessary detour.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

That's so interesting, because I thought, Oh, you took a gap. You know, people call them gap years. And sometimes it sounds like, oh, you could potentially take a break, or, you know, do less, because in one year in schooling, it feels like you're doing so much with schooling and work and all that. But in actuality, you did a lot.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

Those two years were rough, especially the first year, like, I was like, the lead teacher for senior English. And I was, you know, I was teaching seniors, so they were only four years difference in age. And so like, I look like a student, we are both trying to figure out what we're doing with our life. But I really just, I, I love teaching. And that's something that I maintain, and that I'm looking forward to in the future. But yeah, no, it was a whirlwind. It was an absolute whirlwind. I have so much respect for teachers.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Yes, a lot of respect. They do so much. I have even more respect now. Because I have the background of during the pandemic, starting to homeschool and realizing, oh my goodness, this is a lot of work. And it's just one child. Imagine 20 more.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

It's so much and it's not just about like, the curriculum, it's like you're taking care of people's emotion. You have to be attentive to the personality. Yeah, it's a lot.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Yeah. So with that in mind and this background, would you just like back to back going from undergrad to Teach for America to grad school? I can't imagine that you probably maybe were needing to focus on your wellness at some point in grad school. So can you tell us what motivated you, what inspired you? Was there like an impetus or something that happened that motivated you to pursue this journey of becoming what some folks call content creators and to focus specifically on the topic of wellness in grad school?

Dr. Angela Crumdy

For sure. So that that question brings me back to Fall 2017. It was grant writing season, I was trying to get money to go to the field to do my research. And I say it was like a bad breakup for all the right reasons, right. So I broke up with someone. And it wasn't the breakup. That was the issue was like all the reasons surrounding Why was even in that relationship to start with. And I started to reflect on that I started to reflect on how I was showing up in the classroom, I suffered a lot from like social anxiety. So I would have heart palpitations in class and like, questioning myself about like, what it meant for me to be there without a master's as the only Black person in my cohort. So it was just like, everything kind of came tumbling down. And I said to myself, like, I don't have the social support or the resources to like, drop out of school, I don't have a network. So I need to figure this out, right, I need to figure out how to better support myself.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

And so Grad Girl, it actually started off as something else. It wasn't Grad Girl Wellness. But I just started blogging, just kind of writing out like what I was doing, because it kind of happened for multiple reasons. As I was like trying to get into the fitness wellness space, I actually started following a few people who had professional degrees or like PhDs, but they were working completely as wellness or like content creators. And I said, Well, what happened during graduate school that made you not want to pursue what it is that you studied? And so that gap. And then I also said, like, I also realized, there's a lot of, there's a lot more resources available for undergraduate students, and not so much for grad students like even in terms of the research about what happens emotionally for us at this level. And so I wanted to address that gap as well. And then I said, Hey, like, I like to write, let me hold myself accountable. And maybe somebody else can can use, you know, my writing to help them get through graduate school as well. So that's, that's how it all started.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Wow. Are there any areas that in that I that you focus on, in particular, when it comes to wellness? I'm even curious about the choice of that term, because we hear a lot of different terms that can come up when it comes to taking care of yourself, whether it's nourishment, self care, community care, fitness, physical health, mental spiritual health, but but your choice of terms is wellness? I think that's, that's really interesting. Are there areas that you cover more than others in terms of your platform? And, and, you know, can you tell us a little bit more about content creation? How do you even balance your wellness as a content creator and grassy gret me in grad school that to me, like boggles my mind, because when I was in grad school, I didn't have, I didn't feel like I had enough time to then take on, well, I guess I did take on other projects, but content creation, and I think a lot of people underestimate just how much work that can be. Tell us a little bit more about that. Because in some ways, it can almost seem like they clash, being a content creator, and also focusing on your own wellness.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

It can be like a full time job and like, but I know my priority is that I have to graduate. And the thing is, for me, it's like I don't want to be a hypocrite, right? I don't want to be on the internet talking about, oh, you need to take care of yourself, do this so that you avoid burnout and take breaks and Pomodoro techniques, if I'm not doing that in my actual life. And so I like good like this is about holding myself accountable. If I need to take a break, I take a break. If I need to say hey, I'm working on revisions right now, I will come back when I'm like done with a dissertation. I'll do that. Because like I think what I want to do and what I think a lot of, of the other graduate student content creators do that I really appreciate is that they're very honest about their experiences and their disappointments. And that's something that I strive to do and something that I'm continually working on. I think that a lot of the skills that we learn as graduate students help us as content creators, right. So a lot of us are like heavy planners, you know, using these like scheduling tools to help us make sure that things get published on time. I'm a writer at heart. And so like reading the captions, like in writing, like really fun and engaging like catchphrases or email subject headings, like that's actually like really fun to me. And so I enjoy that.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

And I also like really love like working with other students. I do a lot of mentoring. And so I like to create a space and a community within Grad Girl Wellness where I cannot where I can share my resources and experiences. But other people can do so as well. Like it's not just about me. So I think one thing I really like is doing the like ask a grad girl post, because honestly, like sometimes people say stuff that I wouldn't even think about. I have like regular people who come in and like write paragraphs. I'm just like, I knew I could depend on you Like, you know, it's like a community people are here to help. And I know that like right now, like wellness and like self care like this is it's an industry, right. And it's really popular right now. But I think for me, thinking about the fact that we don't include wellness in academic spaces, it's like a problem, like even even if it is, like catchy right now, like it needs to maintain its space within these academic settings. And like, I don't really write much about professional things, like you got to grad school, I'm sure, you know, like, at least the basics of how to compose your essay and apply. And they're also like other people who are doing that work. And so for me, it's about filling a gap, right? How do we take care of ourselves as we're doing this work? And that's, that's what I'm striving to do. I mean, it's not easy. But I know, there's that it's important. And so I think that's what keeps me going.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Yeah, I think you you highlighted something really important in what you were saying just now about how academic spaces don't incorporate wellness in them. And I mean, I, I can't think of a single discipline, where wellness, the wellness of the student is the priority. Even among I think I have read somewhere, someone saying something along the lines of like, the the people that are in the helping professions tend to be exploited the most. So ironically, the folks that are supposed to be learning how to take care of others how to take care of you. They're not being taught how to take care of themselves. And I think about that, too, like the the folks that are helping students out the most, for instance, at universities, tend to be like hyper feminized, or tend to be in service professions or best service work doesn't get counted towards tenure. And so I can imagine that like having this, this platform, it's you're not only teaching, you know, others and modeling it for, you know, doing it for yourself modeling it for others, but I feel like that's also a critique of the university. And this is just an assumption, because it's one of my critiques of the university because I suffered a lot. In my own grad school journey, I noticed not the same for everybody. Some folks receive a lot of support. But I struggled and I guess I was privileged enough to have access to things like therapy, and other resources on campus. But even with that support, it was still really hard on my body and my mental health. So would do you have any thoughts to to add to that about this critique of the university about systematically how hard it is to prioritize oneself or to prioritize one's community to take care of each other?

Dr. Angela Crumdy

Yeah, I think about this a lot too, because I asked myself the question, well, am I expecting too much of the university, right, like, cuz I mean, one, on one hand, it's a business. It's an industry. Right?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay. Well, actually, I think you're saying it, knowing that I know this, but that so the folks that listen to this podcast are mostly undergrads and early grad students. So I don't think that people realize just how much the university system itself is a business. It is a company. It like prioritizes profits over people. And it's not substantially better than other professions that do get critiqued outside of academia. Yeah, so anyway, I just wanted to expand on what you said there because I want to make that clear that as much as academia can be a space of learning and a space of growing. And a lot of us are really grateful to have access to higher education. It still is not perfect, you know, it's still capitalistic, still neoliberal, it still has a lot of issues. Yeah, upholds everything else that we know that is problematic white supremacy, sexism, ableism, classism, etc. Yeah.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

All of the isms, right? Yeah. Yeah. So there's that tension, right? Like we willingly enter these spaces, knowing that there's a possibility for our wellness not to be prioritized or our safety not to be prioritized. And yet a lot of us enter these spaces hoping to change change that but that requires, like a sacrifice on our part. And so on one hand, you know, the university is designed to do what it's designed to do. But on the other hand, we spend so much of our lives in the schools and in the in these institutions and building relationships. I for me, I've spent most of my life in a school or whether teaching or as a student or doing both. And so I think that while Oh, I want to say there's some rigidity to the university space, I think there's also opportunity for us to create change, and to demand what it is that we want. But at the same time, while we're waiting for that to happen, we can create spaces for ourselves, right? We can create ourselves and say, This is how we want it to be designed. Or we don't even want to be involved with the university. Right? Yeah. So I think that we kind of have to take care of ourselves, unfortunately. But that means we get to do it right, the way we want to and with the people that we want to do it with.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I'm curious now, because you're on your way out. You're wrapping up your own doctoral program, and you're about to start or transition into this new opportunity. Your postdoc, what is the future of of Grad Girl Wellness? Or what do you envision for it? What do you hope to do with it in the future will there when is this going to continue? I hope so.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

Oh, yeah. Grad Girl Wellness is here to stay. I'm actually I have a lot of plans to kind of level things up. I think I just really, these last two years have been rough, writing the dissertation and just trying to figure out what I was doing after graduate school. But now that I have, you know, a couple of months to breathe, I have some big plans, like I want to, you know, further develop the podcasts, I want to create more resources for people to reach a broader audience and talk about different aspects of wellness in the graduate in the graduate school experience, you know, finance, personal wellness, emotional wellness, spiritual wellness, and like how all of those things relate to us specifically, as students. Definitely more events, more collaborations, like what's happening now. But ya know, I want Grad Girl Wellness to grow. And to I'm excited to see the possibilities for this.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

That's really exciting. Well, I'm excited to witness you and witness the platform as it continues to grow over time. So for folks who are listening, and maybe they themselves are in grad school, and they might be struggling to take care of themselves, or if not that, maybe they've been thinking, I want to start something I want to become a content creator, I want to start some sort of like, platform, but they're just not sure how to start, what kind of advice do you have on both ends, and for folks who need a little more wellness in their life, and for folks who need a little bit of a pep talk to help them get started on that content creation passion project.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

So I would say for the folks who need a little bit more wellness in their life, I would say start with something that you enjoy, like, if you like salsa dancing, if you like eating chocolate, and binging Netflix, like do that like without guilt, because that's it make time for it, right? Protect that time, because you're more likely to do something that you actually enjoy. So don't go out and like getting massages, because everybody else is telling you like that's what you should be doing. Take time and figure out what it is that makes you feel not only like rested, but restored, and then protect that time and do it as regularly as you can, as long as it's like economically feasible, because I do understand it's something we have to take into account. But it also doesn't even have to involve money, right? Sometimes it's meditation, and you can find those on like YouTube or I love I think her name is like bright and lightly salted. And she's she's a yoga instructor and YouTube free like that's, that's what I do light a candle and just have my little 20 minute flow. So I would say find something that you love something, find something that you enjoy.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

For the people who are interested in becoming content creators or just kind of creating a new space, I would say start where you are, start with what you have. Grad Girl Wellness did not start out being what it is today, by any means whatsoever. So don't underestimate the resources and the tools that you have. Now, if you you can write your grad student, start the blog, do one blog, and you'll start another and you'll build momentum. And I think that's the thing. That's hard to keep a perspective on because it takes time. It really does. So once you get that first blog, then you can say, Okay, I want to do this differently. Then you add a picture, then you start linking to things and so it's a progressive, it's a process, but you have to start in order to get where you ultimately want to be.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

That's great. Okay, last question for you is for folks that want to connect who wants to stay in touch? Who wants to support Grad Girl Wellness, how can they reach you? How can they support your platform?

Dr. Angela Crumdy

Of course Well, welcome to the community. On Instagram, so on Instagram, the handle is @gradgirlwellness. There's also a Facebook page called Grad Girl Wellness and we are on Twitter @gradgirlwell and then there's also a website www.gradgirlwellness.com. There's a podcast, The Grad Girl Wellness Podcast, and you can find this on major streaming platforms. And then if you want to like be connected to us just on a regular basis without having to deal with social media, we also have a monthly newsletter so you can find the links to that on the website and on our Instagram page and on the Twitter.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

That's great. I am going to make sure to add all of that to today's show notes. That's it for today's episode. I want to just take another minute to thank you so so much, Dr. Angela, for joining us. I've been wanting to have you and I don't know why I was waiting. But I think I was waiting so that I could be able to call you doctor. It worked out, it aligned.

Dr. Angela Crumdy

For sure. No. And again, like thank you for having me. Thank you for the work that you do to create spaces for people to be successful in higher education and I appreciate it.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Thank you.