BOLD Innovators podcast Bristol Myers Squibb

In this month's episode, we are delighted to feature Patricia Cornet, executive director of Patient Advocacy in hematology and oncology. Hosting the episode is Bryant Powell, associate director of social media in Omni-Channel Capabilities and the host of the BOLD Innovators podcast series.

Pat leads the Patient Advocacy oncology, hematology and CAR-T team. Her primary focus is to amplify the patient voice and promote health equity perspectives within our company and the industry. She and her team develop strategies for key accounts while fostering a collaborative environment to strengthen internal and external partnerships. Their goal is to advance research, improve access and enhance patient education initiatives in cancer care. She is a founding member of Women of Color in Pharma (WOCIP), a non-profit organization that seeks to empower women of color in pharma to excel in their personal and professional development and to transform their pathway within the pharmaceutical industry.

During the interview, Pat shares an eye-opening moment from her career after returning to the U.S. from an assignment with BMS in China. She reflects on the importance of actively participating and having a seat at the table. In the past, she often found herself sitting at the back of the room and not fully leveraging her voice. She now realizes the significance of exerting oneself and actively engaging in discussions.

On urgency at work, Pat emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and self-knowledge. She suggests utilizing self-assessment tools to gain a deeper understanding of oneself. By knowing our strengths and weaknesses, especially in situations where urgency is not a natural trait, we can better navigate our professional journeys.

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking to Awara Gbeblewo, senior manager, RCO, vendor operations and engagement. This episode was hosted by Bryant Powell, associate director, social media, Digital Platform Strategy, and host for the BOLD Innovators podcast series.

Awara leads a team of SRMs who are responsible for building and managing clinical site relationships for outsourced studies in Europe. Since joining BMS, Awara has been actively involved in inclusion and diversity initiatives. She founded and led the BOLD chapter in Switzerland for more than two years, was on the leadership team of the local B-NOW chapter and is now the co-lead for the BOLD LIFT program.

Awara shares her inspiring story of perseverance in the face of setbacks and adversities. She discusses her journey from being a first-year medical school student to selling camera lenses for a decade before returning to school and pursuing a career in life sciences, fulfilling a lifelong ambition.

When asked about moments of being boldly urgent in her career and personal life, Awara credits her mother and husband, both of whom have careers that require composure while being urgent. She draws motivation from them and emphasizes the importance of proper planning and anticipation, which leads to faster acceleration and efficient execution.

Awara’s biggest life lesson is always to have a contingency plan. She says, “Something I learned is to always have a Plan B even C and D, because if your first plan doesn't work, you need to have something else because otherwise you feel really helpless.”

This season we will be focusing on a new Bristol Myers Squibb core value. In season 2, our focus was on Passion. In season 3, we will be focusing on Urgency, and how that has driven our guests throughout their careers. For BMS, urgency is best achieved with all of us working together to move forward with speed and quality because patients are waiting.

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking to Angelique Hopkins, Vice President, Enterprise Strategy, Portfolio, and Planning Analytics. This episode was hosted by Bryant Powell, associate director, social media, Omni-Channel Capabilities, and host for the BOLD Innovators podcast series.

Angelique supports total company analytics, insights, and processes, including long term financial planning as well as strategy and portfolio prioritization. Outside of BMS, she sits on the board of directors for women of color in Pharma, a BMS-sponsored nonprofit professional society focused on transforming the pharmaceutical landscape for women of color, where she draws on her unique perspective and cross functional experiences.

Angelique shares her story of how she stumbled into the pharmaceutical industry. She came to BMS as an intern straight out of undergrad and pursuing a Master of Public Health, and as she put it, “I joke that I came to BMS as an intern and they kept giving me stuff to do, so I never left.”

In this month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking to Deidra Harper, senior access and reimbursement manager. This episode was hosted by Bryant Powell, associate director, social media, Omni-Channel Capabilities, and host for the BOLD Innovators podcast series.

Deidra Harper is responsible for access and reimbursement for the oncology business at Bristol Myers Squibb. Additionally, she is the co-lead for BMS’ Tomorrow’s Innovators program at North Carolina A&T. In this role, Deidra is responsible for creating a talent pipeline for students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Deidra shares her passion for mentoring and creating opportunities for students of underrepresented communities, particularly people of color. And, as co-lead for the Tomorrow’s Innovators program at North Carolina A&T, she visits the school at least twice a year to recruit students for BMS’ cardiovascular sales internship.

This month’s episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Bryant Powell, associate director, Social Media, Omni-Channel Capabilities. This episode was hosted by Terris Moss, associate director, enterprise governance and creative director for the BOLD Innovators podcast series at the 2023 Future Pharma Conference in Boston, MA.

Bryant Powell is responsible for leading the podcast and social audio capabilities within the commercialization organization at Bristol Myers Squibb. As well, he is also responsible for increasing BMS' evolving capabilities in social listening. Bryant is part of the Communications Leadership Team within BMS’ Black Organization for Leadership and Development (BOLD) People Business & Resource Group (PBRG), where he uses his former experience in the marketing and entertainment industry to create and proudly hosts his passion project - the global podcast series, BOLD Innovators.

Bryant spoke to his passion for creating and building platforms where individuals and customers can speak about their experiences, while communicating their value and impact to the world. When trying to incorporate his passions at work, Bryant advises using the power of focus. “Double down on your strengths and brand yourself to others, what you want in your career,” he says. Focusing on his strengths and passions while uniquely branding himself as a digital content and social audio subject matter expert paved the way to where he is in his career and led to the creation of not only the BOLD Innovators podcast series, but also Bristol Myers Squibb’s podcasting ecosystem.