Latisha Franklin is a PhD Candidate in the BMMB program. Latisha offers very useful tips and tricks to survive and thrive in graduate school through her initiative Gratified Grad on YouTube. In this interview, she tells us more about this endeavor and shares some tips to manage few common challenges faced by graduate students.
Tell us about the purpose and content of your initiative “Gratified Grad”.
The Gratified Grad channel on YouTube is only the beginning of a much larger movement to demystify higher education for marginalized communities and expand the understanding of inclusivity in higher education.
Our channel has 3 segments:
1) In #TeatimeWithLatisha, I talk with current students or young graduated professionals about the skills that are valuable to completing a degree in higher education. We have explored topics such as the influence of identity, the importance of technical reading and writing, and starting a business as a student.
2) In How to…Mondays, I share tangible actions that students can take to improve time management, productivity, being their authentic self, and enjoying their experience as grad students.
3) In Random Wednesdays, I share my personal experiences and reflections on topics such as imposter syndrome, therapy, and being the 2020 Homecoming Court Graduate Representative.
What made you start “Gratified Grad” and what do you find most exciting about it?
Gratified Grad was created on March 13, 2020. Preceding this date, I had been thinking about starting a YouTube channel for a while but could not pinpoint the focus of the channel. During pre-pandemic times, I often met with undergraduate and graduate students to discuss and problem-solve various aspects of their lives. The pandemic forced us to quarantine and readjust our lifestyles, therefore my interactions with students abruptly ended. It was then I realized just how much I enjoyed sharing my experiences and having thought-provoking conversations with others. I decided that a YouTube channel would allow me to connect with lots of people. Unexpectedly, this endeavor has also enhanced my own self-awareness and ability to communicate with others. Recording the content, editing the videos, and publishing the content online allowed for a creative, innovative aspect of myself to surface. I enjoy almost every part of the process of having a YouTube channel, excluding having to do the scheduling for #TeatimewithLatisha recordings. In addition to giving myself an outlet, it is a bonus when other graduate students share how the content of the channel has inspired them.
In your opinion, what are the major challenges faced by a graduate student and how hard is it to recognize them?
Stereotype threat and setting boundaries. Imposter syndrome is another challenge that is often discussed, therefore better understood. I hope people reading this take away that there are several aspects that could play into the mental health of graduate students. I would say that setting boundaries is the most important challenge because if students do not know how to set their limits, they will likely become professionals who fall into unwanted situations, burnout, anger, depression, and a host of other mental and physical ailments.
For a while, I was unable to recognize when I was experiencing these challenges because I prided myself on being such a hard worker and felt as if I always needed to push through. It has been through lots of reflection, building my self-awareness, and conversations with a therapist that I recognized these challenges upon experiencing triggers.
What are your top-most tips to face these challenges described above?
Self-education is needed on all fronts. This means students and the circle of people they are in, need to take ownership of themselves and understand the status of their own mental health and competence. I do daily “check-ins” where I ask myself how I am feeling – Do I express and realize my feelings? Am I following my own definition of being “great,” “resilient,” or “strong”? In my daily routine, I practice setting expectations that push me to grow as a student, while being realistic. The most common tip I use and share with others is giving myself grace by knowing that my best today will not look the same as my best tomorrow.
Interview by Pankajam Thyagarajan