S4 E11 A Legacy of Inclusion with Hannah Reddick Guedenet

Let's start at the beginning.

Where did you grow up? Give us a glimpse of your childhood and early adult life.

What were the sights, sounds, and smells that shaped who you've become today?

So I grew up kind of half my life in Texas and then the later half of my life in Michigan.

And I would say that I got the bug for international travel pretty early on.

I had a best friend in middle school who's ended up moving to China, to Beijing when she was in early high school because her dad worked for the Ford Motor Company.

And so they they flew me over for a visit when I was about 14.

And, you know, I got to visit the Great Wall.

I got to eat Chinese food, which was actual Chinese food and not the American version we have over here.

And it was delicious.

And just, you know, you asked about smells like I just remember it was just such a vivid place to be able to spend some time and really get to see another way of living and another another culture.

So after that trip, I would say I knew pretty early on that I wanted to work internationally.

That was really where I felt a passion.

I traveled whenever I had the opportunity.

I was lucky to get to go study abroad in France as part of my college program.

I visited Greece, Switzerland.

I spent a summer teaching English in Bangkok.

And then after college, I moved to Guinea, West Africa, as a public health volunteer with Peace Corps.

And I would say that those three years in Guinea probably shaped me more than any other experience in my life.

Also happens to be where I met my husband, so obviously that was a good thing as well.

And I had actually never heard of public health before I joined Peace Corps.

but I found I really connected with the work.

The focus on not trying to improve one individual's health outcomes, but really looking at the wider environment that influences a population's health really, really inspired me and was something that I felt passionate about.

So this led me to get my master's of public health when I returned from Guinea.

And then really the rest of my career, I really kind of sat in the space of bridging places.