Online Platform Gives Nurses the Power They Need to Fulfill Their Purpose
The Nurse Power Network is an online community that strives to create offline events for nurses. The owners, Dr. Nicole Thomas and Meisha Amia MSN, RN, formed the community for “nurses that are seeking to gain control of their narrative as a nurse and who operate with purpose, opportunity, willpower, empowerment, and resources.”
Dr. Thomas was exposed to the medical field at an early age. At her high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the school’s medicinal magnet program exposed at-risk youth to different career roles within the health field.
“I knew health care was a great way for me to have consistent income,” Dr. Thomas said, “while doing something that I loved.” Going from a hospital volunteer at Earl K. Long Hospital as a high schooler to an Instructor of Clinical Nursing at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Dr. Thomas has made waves in the health field.
Nurses attending the Nurse Power Brunch held by the Nurse Power Network. (Picture taken from website The Nurse Power Network website)
Building her own resume, Dr. Thomas wanted to lead women in the nursing field and create a more meaningful career. She started Nicole Thomas, Inc. to educate and uplift her colleagues, but she knew she needed help. In 2016, Dr. Thomas reached out to traveling nurse Amia, who was writing blogs that empowered other nurses and educated them in the industry. The two joined forces to collaborate and created an event during the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. The women created The Nurse Power Brunch, which included a panel of nurses from all over the world who provided educational resources in a sold-out room.
“We were able to show different aspects of nursing to show the attendees [that] these are the areas that you can go in as a nurse,” said Dr. Thomas. “You don’t have to stay stuck in something that’s not a purpose for you.”
Dr. Thomas and Amia saw the impact the brunch had on the attendees, so they decided to create something more permanent for people in their field to turn to for encouragement. Thus they created The Nurse Power Network.
The Nurse Power Network is an online platform that wants its nurses to dominate in their fields. They want to help nurses by connecting them with opportunities, providing empowerment and necessary resources to discover their purpose.
“As you can see, in 2020, it’s not easy being a nurse,” said Dr. Thomas. “It’s sometimes because we’re unfilled and we aren’t operating in our ordained purpose. We want to help nurses find, operate and dominate through power.” Dr. Thomas also stated that nurses need a lot of support because of burn out and sometimes they feel unappreciated in the industry.
Co-owners of The Nurse Power Network Dr. Nicole Thomas (L) and Meisha Amia (R). (Picture taken from Instagram)
The online platform has over 20,000 followers on its social media pages and has curated products and events for people in the health industry. The website has educational resources and blogs to keep its audience informed about what’s going on in the industry and helpful tools to navigate the field.
The Nurse Power Brunch Week in Miami is one of their popular events. The event celebrates nurses and gives them a chance to rejuvenate, and allows their attendees to refresh from work. Since the pandemic, things took a halt on the event production side.
“We’re usually closing down entire venues and packing it out,” Dr. Thomas commented on doing events during the Essence Music Festival. “So, we took a huge hit from a lot of different angles. To run a network and to run a community takes money.”
The co-founders thought of ways to give to their community and make sure they gave them what they needed to get through their jobs during the outbreak. Dr. Thomas and Amia decided to make their brunch event digital, which was still a huge success. Their friend, Sandra, came up with a self-care box concept for their VIP attendees at the brunch. “She made the event stand out with the boxes,” Dr. Thomas recounted. “It made the event even more special despite the fact we had to move it digitally.”
The women have revamped their brunch box with the latest Nurse Power Holiday Collection. It includes the Nurse Power Brunch Box, an apparel line and sleep pillows.
“We wanted to normalize luxury and self-care for nurses. Often, the concept is that nurses only get a five-minute lunch break,” said Dr. Thomas. “We wanted to bring a product that would change that narrative.”
The owners felt that their audience wouldn’t be useful to themselves or their patients if they were burnt out or dehydrated.
Nurses apart The Nurse Power Network. (Picture by Onua Francis)
The box includes a nightshirt, a candle that is custom-poured exclusively for the nurses, a mug with hot cocoa, books and a free three-month membership to the Nurse Power Network.
Dr. Thomas believes nurses must have a secure program to support them. “We cannot make it without it,” she said. “We have a community that can identify the barriers and the issues that we face as nurses.”
To find out more about The Nurse Power Network, click here.