Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Joy Rios, Co-Founder of Chirpy Bird Health IT Consulting and Founder of the HIT Like a Girl podcast. Joy’s podcast won the 2021 Medigy HITMC Award for Podcast of the Year back in May.
I was elated that Joy agreed to an interview. I wanted so much to learn more about what she has been up to this past year and what winning the Award meant to her. Be sure to check out the video at the end of this article to hear all about the great things she shared.
Podcaster, Consultant and 5-Time Author
Joy has been working in health IT for about a decade now. Not only is she a successful podcaster, she is also co-founder of Chirpy Bird Health IT Consulting and a 5-time author and subject matter expert in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System that helps clinicians navigate value-based programs. Joy was also an art minor in college and has recently got back into doing some art and pottery after moving to Baja Mexico on Leap Day of February 29th, 2020.
The Birth of HIT Like a Girl?
One of the first questions I asked Joy was how did the concept of HIT Like a Girl come to be? Funny enough it started with an all-male panel. Joy continuously noticed that a lot of women were the engines of many organizations, yet when you attended a healthcare conference, they did not necessarily get credit for it. “These women, they do a lot of the groundwork, they keep things going, but don’t get the credit,” said Rios. After leaving a conference that got quite a bit of heat for their all-male panels (now termed the “manel”), she felt inspired to create a space for women to have the stage. “I wasn’t seeing the example that I wanted to see out in the world, so I said how can I set that example, and if I’m lucky, maybe it will catch on!”
Safe Spaces & Honest Conversations
If you haven’t listened to this podcast, subscribe and do it today! The HIT Like a Girl podcast is more than a podcast, it’s a community. It is a place that celebrates, amplifies, and learns from the many women experts that work in healthcare and health IT. The guests they invite on the show talk about all of the pieces of the health IT puzzle. Their goal is to create safe spaces, have honest conversations, and create a new normal of support and inclusion.
HIT the Trails
The idea behind the HIT the Trails project began last August as Joy thought about how to make the show bigger and better and accommodate the many women who at that time were all in completely different situations. As the pandemic lingered on, many women were working at home, trying to take care of children, and dealing with limited schedules. Joy thought she was in a unique position to be the one who facilitates and coordinated a big project but limiting the work on her guests. All they need to do is show up.
Her big idea? Taking HIT Like a Girl pod on the road. Her goal was to travel with a make-shift podcast recording studio on a 60-day cross-country, Covid-safe hiking tour where she would walk and talk with women leaders in their region. They started their trek in May by renting a trailer and ended up meeting up with more than 60 women, visited 25 states, and created amazing experiences all over the country.
Winning Health IT Podcast of the Year
I love to ask all my interviewees where they were and how they felt when they won. “It was so serendipitous and such a perfect moment,” said Rios. She happened to be in Dallas for the day of the awards staying with her cousin and family. It turned out to be a miniature family reunion for her. She loved being able to share that moment with her family and joked that she felt like John Lynn as she cried happy tears as she listened to the kind words that were shared about her and the podcast during the award ceremony.
Women Supporting Women
I asked Joy what was something that her podcast did that she didn’t expect. Joy shared, “I’m after changing the culture where women are just unabashedly supporting each other,” she is proud to be able to talk with so many women who want to support and believe in one another successes.
Bucket List Guest
Everyone has a bucket list guest that they would love to have on their show. For Joy, it is the Chief Health Officer at Google. Can you guess who it is? Check out the video below to find out and to hear more about why she chose to put this guest at the top of her list.
Advice for Newcomers
Joy and I completed our conversation by chatting about the advice she had for someone looking to dive into the audio space or podcasting space. Joy shared some inspiring words – “If you’re passionate about it and you truly care about something, stretch, do it, don’t be scared, and if you fail keep doing it anyways.”
Check out our entire interview to learn more about Joy’s work, passions, and journey over this past year.
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