Female Disruptors: Alexandra Chu of MedCreate On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Practice makes permanent, not perfect. If you keep doing something over and over again, there’s no doubt you’ll get better at whatever it is. However, if you learn it wrong and practice that, it won’t become perfect. I try to avoid this by always striving to learn more.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alexandra Chu.
Alexandra Chu founded MedCreate, an international non-profit dedicated to merging the worlds of medicine and creativity, when she was fourteen-years-old. Her organization promotes empathy and imagination as well as fosters a community of students who are enthusiastic about science and the humanities. She has impacted thousands of students all around the world through her work to bridge the divide between the two fields. Now sixteen, Alexandra is continuing to inspire Gen-Z by making an impact in healthcare and education all while juggling rigorous schoolwork and college applications.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
It’s a pleasure to be here. When I was younger, I didn’t have a fixed thought on what I wanted to be when I became an adult. I see myself as a polymath with a love (and knowledge) of biology, writing, art, figure skating, dance, etc., so I really didn’t know which field to choose. Over the years, I started wondering about what would happen if I combined some of my interests instead. This led me to start my organization, MedCreate, which combines medicine and creativity.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Reading, writing, and art are known as the “humanities,” which is often thought to have little connection to science. On the contrary, the two actually have a lot to do with each other. Medicine brings the objective research of science and the creative aspects of the arts together because it uses a lot of factual studies as well as innovation and imagination. Still, many people think that science and the arts are complete opposites. MedCreate works to dispel this belief through education and our works of writing and art.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Our funniest mistake would still probably be not being clear about the intended audience for our team applications. MedCreate is a youth organization; all of us are under eighteen. It’s stated in the bio of all of our social media and job-posting-site accounts, so I didn’t think I would need to write it again on the opportunity post itself. However, we started receiving applications from adults who were way older than eighteen. Because of that, we realized that we needed to add a sentence at the top of each post saying that we were looking for applicants between the ages of twelve and eighteen. The funny thing is, we sometimes still receive applications from people who clearly aren’t in that age group. We write the required age range in all caps and in bold in the first line of each opportunity post, but some people just don’t read it. It’s annoying sometimes, but we find it hilarious as well. Because of that experience, we now carefully word everything we publish online to make sure our message is easily understood.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
To be honest, I haven’t really had a mentor throughout this journey (my guide has mainly been Google), but I would like to take this time to thank my support system. First off, thank you to everyone on the MedCreate team for believing in me and our dream. You guys push me to be a better person, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll accomplish next. Thank you to my friends for helping me out when needed and literally being the best people ever. Lastly, thank you to my family for being there every step along the way (even if you didn’t know it).
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
People often say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Why should we disrupt an industry if it’s popular and effective? Honestly, I don’t think there’s a true answer to this question. No matter what you do, there will always be people who disagree with your perspective towards disruption. Since this is the reality of the world we live in, the best I can say is to trust your instincts and do whatever you believe in.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
- Practice makes permanent, not perfect. If you keep doing something over and over again, there’s no doubt you’ll get better at whatever it is. However, if you learn it wrong and practice that, it won’t become perfect. I try to avoid this by always striving to learn more.
- You can’t do everything by yourself. Believe me, I’ve tried. What ends up happening is that you become miserable and burnt out. It may be fun at first to do big things on your own, but we all need some help along the way.
- Know when to fake it. ‘Fake it till you make it’ works a lot of the time, but sometimes you’ll be thrown into situations when it’s better to be honest about yourself. Understand when to act with confidence and when to act with modesty.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Last March, we launched a series of virtual pilot classes for kids to learn more about medicine and creativity. Since then, our team has been working hard to improve them in order to make each class as educational and fun as possible. We’re planning to kick off the new batches of classes soon, and we’re also hoping to have some of them implemented in children’s hospitals!
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Women are often not taken seriously. Society will praise male disruptors as ambitious innovators while criticizing women for being the same. We lack supporters and people who believe in us, so we often need to work twice as hard and act twice as confident to be accepted by male standards.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I recently read The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson, and it really helped me reevaluate a lot of things in my life. The book taught me how to prioritize things I truly care about while overcoming obstacles. I was a bit skeptical at first of the ideas in the book, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it and learning a lot. I highly encourage you all to read the book if you haven’t already!
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would like everyone to know that science and the humanities aren’t disparate fields. Society often puts pressure on us to choose between the two in terms of hobbies, majors, and careers, but the reality is that we don’t need to make this choice, and we shouldn’t be forced to. Science and the humanities have a lot of connections, and at the core, they’re both meant to explain the nature of people and the universe, albeit in different ways.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. Today, I am who I am with all my faults and my mistakes. Tomorrow, I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’ll be me too.” -Kim Namjoon
We all need to learn to love ourselves a little bit more. We constantly express regret over what we’ve done in the past, and we worry about who we’ll become in the future. I’m sure that I made a lot of mistakes when I first started MedCreate. I had no experience in business or entrepreneurship, and I often doubted myself. There was even a point when I thought about quitting and shutting down the organization. However, I realized that it didn’t matter if I didn’t know what I was doing because mistakes are inevitable. Everything I do becomes a part of my identity, and I’ll always have the chance to further my actions or correct them tomorrow.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can follow MedCreate on Instagram (@medxcreate), Twitter (@med_create), Facebook (@medcreateusa), and LinkedIn (MedCreate, USA).
You can follow me on Instagram (@alex.mchu) and LinkedIn (Alexandra Chu).
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Alexandra Chu of MedCreate On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.