Imposter syndrome: How a pharmacist got involved in reducing food loss and waste

This past summer, I felt stuck in a bit of a rut. My pharmacy job no longer seemed fulfilling. I wasn’t living my life’s purpose, whatever that was. That’s part of the reason why I went back to school mid-career (in 2017) to complete a graduate degree in Design for Health (2020). Yet, throughout my return-to-school experience, I felt like an imposter. I felt as if I didn’t belong and was faking my way through the program. Perhaps some of you have felt this way at one point or another as well. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), impostor phenomenon occurs among high achievers who are unable to internalize and accept their success. They often attribute their accomplishments to luck rather than to ability, and fear that others will eventually unmask them as a fraud. Imposter phenomenon or syndrome is somewhat common among graduate students and also affects minority groups more than majority groups (APA, 2013). I was the only pharmacist in the graduate program and one of few visible minorities. The majority of students had recently completed undergraduate degrees in traditional design disciplines, including industrial, graphic and interior design. These students aspired to apply their design skills within healthcare spaces. I was one of few students that came from the opposite background, with years of experience in healthcare and a desire to learn about how design thinking could be applied to solve problems. Although the program did not teach traditional design skills, I did gain valuable experiences working within multidisciplinary teams on solving real-world healthcare problems. Read: Frustrating vax-hesitancy conversations inspired me to do better Like many 2020 graduates, our final school year ended with the beginning of the global pandemic. Everything shifted online, including our final presentations, graduation ceremony and career starter resources. I spent the year following graduation engaging with a career coach, revamping my resume, creating a portfolio and applying for jobs. Using LinkedIn, I set up online meetings with people from organizations I was interested in. Little came out of my networking activities. In the summer 2021, I discovered an OpenIDEO challenge related to changing global food systems, called the Food System Game Changers Lab (FSGCL). OpenIDEO is the public source platform for the global design and innovation consultancy, IDEO. I was familiar with their public challenges, having submitted to them in the past. A colleague and I had worked on a school project around changing consumer behaviour within the grocery store context. Could our minimal experience and growing interest in this field, as well as our research and design thinking skills, be leveraged to develop a submission to the FSGCL? After two weeks of online research in the more specific area of food loss and waste, we drafted and submitted a high-level proposal for incentivizing reducing food waste across the food chain within a developed country context. A few weeks later, to our great surprise, we were selected among 1,000 applicants to be part of a collective of 400 individuals and organizations as part of the FSGCL. This larger group was distilled into specific working group cohorts. We belonged to the Food Loss and Waste cohort, a group of about 80-plus individuals and organizations working and volunteering within the food industry. We both felt imposter phenomenon. Neither of us worked within the food industry, yet we had been selected to be a part of this global cohort. Despite our hesitancy to get involved, we decided to go for it. Over the next 12 weeks, we worked as a group with a facilitation guide towards developing a collective action agenda using design tools, such as the online collaboration platform, Miro. Our cohort drafted a two-pronged solution set of recommendations: 1. reducing post-harvest food loss in developing countries, and 2. reducing retail-level food waste in developed countries. We presented our action agenda at post-United Nations Food Summit meetings in September 2021 to potential implementation/scaling partners (e.g., funders, non-profits, governments). Despite feeling like an imposter much of the time, I was an active participant in the FSGCL. I organized smaller sub-group meetings to better understand the landscape of food rescue, where a few active cohort members worked and volunteered. I was one of three executive editors of our collective action agenda, a synthesis of our ideas into a set of concise principles and recommendations. I made positive contributions to discussions around engaging scaling partners, including introducing design thinking tools, such as the use of a service blueprint. Although I felt I didn’t belong, I was accepted by my cohort peers as a contributing member. The key enabler was that we were all invested in contributing towards global change. Our like-minded perspective allowed us to work collaboratively. Of course, like any large group, we had our differences (especially time zone differences!) and communication challenges. Yet, our differences were minor compared to our collective drive to affect meaningful change. Did my pharmacy background help me contribute to the FSGCL? I think so. In pharmacy, we are often called upon to go beyond our scope of practice, knowledge and skills. We field questions not just about medications, but also about public health. We work with many different stakeholders from diverse backgrounds. We contribute to the well-being of communities. Although we may feel like imposters in some of the roles that we find ourselves in, we draw on our resources to solve problems. I think that our resourcefulness and drive to make a difference can help overcome imposter phenomenon.

Imposter syndrome: How a pharmacist got involved in reducing food loss and waste

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Blog Author

NITA LAKHANI