As a partner organization to the Bush Foundation, Pollen often features, profiles, and promotes the work of Bush Fellows. The Bush Fellowship Program is distinctive in its flexibility, allowing individuals to articulate what they need to become better leaders and then providing them with the financial resources (a $100,000 grant), guidance, and networks to make it happen.

Applications for the 2017 Bush Fellowship are open August 30—September 29, 2016 and Pollen wants you to consider applying. Don’t think you’re Bush Fellowship material? You are. Four Pollenites share their experiences applying for the Bush Fellowship and who encouraged and supported them along the way. Find strength, humility, and inspiration in their stories—and then start dreaming about how you can become an even more effective leader to make big impact in your community.

IRENE FERNANDO
FELLOW PROFILE  |  POLLEN PROFILE

My ‘Bush Fellowship Story’ is similar to many others. When I first heard of it, I was impressed with the amazing accomplishment and poise of the Fellows, while also taken aback by the prestige of the whole thing. Time passed and a question began popping up: “Would you ever consider a Bush Fellowship?”

Also like many others, I immediately dismissed the question. “What? Who? Me? No… wow, thanks for asking, though.” For some reason, I didn’t see myself as a Bush Fellow ‘material.’  Looking back, I am not sure exactly what prompted that feeling, but I know it was there.  

In 2013, someone pushed back: “Why wouldn’t you consider it?”—a great question for reflection. So I did reflect, and it took awhile. I reflected on my leadership, my hope for the world, and my role in contributing to see this hope turn into reality.  And one year later I applied.  

In order to invest in the outcomes we seek in the world, we as leaders have the responsibility to also invest in ourselves. That’s what the Bush Fellowship provides—a chance to prioritize investing in the most powerful tool in our toolbox: ourselves. We need to invest in our mindsets, energies, perspectives, experiences, skills, networks, and gifts. We must prioritize this—yes, above competing priorities—for the benefit of ourselves and the world.  

For anyone considering applying, hear this from me: You ARE Bush Fellowship material—because we are an intricate, diverse, complexly beautiful tapestry, and we would love for you to add your threads.

DAVID WHITESOCK
FELLOW PROFILE  |  POLLEN PROFILE

The “brain drain” was in full effect when growing up in North Dakota in the 90s. Most of the talented youth were leaving the state for college and work. I wanted to join them. Not that I was talented, but I still wanted to leave. I wanted to leave wherever I was in hopes of escaping the disease of addiction that was ravaging my life. Despite that struggle and despite a mildly promising career in radio, I was not interested in remaining in North Dakota. By 2005, addiction led me to the small, dusty, pheasant-filled town of Winner, South Dakota for a radio job…and eventually a fifth DUI that began a process of healing and a journey of finding myself.

Over the next ten years, I would return to college and earn a B.S., M.A., and J.D. At the University of South Dakota. Professor Sandy McKeown would help set the destinies of my life. The path I began to take brought me into leadership roles both on and off campus. Landing at Face It TOGETHER was not an accident. I was connected to the founders early in the organization’s creation. But at the outset of my tenure, I was still finding my way as a leader in the organization. That’s when our team suggested I apply for the 2014 Bush Fellowship. I did not make it through the first round. At about the same time, however, I attended OTA Sioux Falls. The notion of still wanting to leave the Dakotas remained in the back of my mind somewhere, but the message of that event hit me right between the eyes: I am a Dakotan. My talents, if improved upon and applied in ND, SD, and MN could have a tremendous impact on individuals much like me—those who are lost and suffering from addiction.

It was a conversation with a colleague that convinced me that I should apply again. He made it clear that “David, Inc.” was to be my focus. By building “David, Inc.”—giving my life a strategic vision and mission statement—I could engage and lead others to transform addiction care in our communities. I followed his advice and was named a Bush Fellow in 2015.

That last year has been a rewarding, enlightening, and even frustrating year. One of my main desires was to improve my executive level skills and attend a world class executive education program. I’ve been unsuccessful in that endeavor. But, that experience of failure, coupled with other experiences while expanding my knowledge and network in the data science community, has led to a refocused effort for the last year of the fellowship. I value the positive experiences the fellowship has brought me, but ultimately I am grateful for what is being learned through failure and how that is informing who I am as a leader.

JENNIFER ALMANZA
FELLOW PROFILE  |  POLLEN PROFILE

I had spent years contemplating how I could take the next steps in becoming a midwife. Being a midwife is a sacrifice on many levels; you don’t make much more than a seasoned labor and delivery nurse, school is a three-year, full-time commitment, and comes at a price tag of about $100,000. I was peripherally aware of the Bush Fellowship. I had really smart and accomplished friends who had applied several times but who had been denied. In short, I didn’t think that I would have a chance.

So in 2015, when a good friend, Liza, forwarded me the email with the call for applications, I glanced over it and moved on. Then she called and asked if I got the email. Then she offered to help me with edits. Liza gave me the permission to dare that I wouldn’t give myself. She pushed me to stop shrinking myself and to follow my potential. She made me question, “What if?” What a terrific friend, right?

Needless to say, I’ve had almost a full year in the Bush Fellowship. The growth has been exponential. I was thrust into a world that I didn’t know existed and that I certainly didn’t feel at ease in. As a very private, introverted person, the world of networking, scaling-up, and free-wheeling was not a world that I had ever sought out. However, it is the world that Bush Fellows necessarily learn to navigate (however awkwardly) in order to make the impact they are seeking.

The fellowship has a way of finding your potential and growth opportunities and pulling them out in front of you to look them squarely in the eye every day. The whole process seated me deeper in my sense of self, in my sense of worth, and my understanding of the Universal Flow. Once I chose to set the process in motion, the right people started showing up, opportunities started to present spontaneously. I will be forever in debt to the Bush Foundation. This fellowship has given me the opportunity that so many birthworkers in my community so fully deserve. The impact of educating one birthworker of color has the potential to impact generations to come. I am hopeful more in my community will consider pursuing this fellowship.

If you are wondering how your life will accommodate this monumental change, if you are scared that your supporters, your family, your job will not accommodate this growth, apply anyway. The process is cathartic. It will drive you deeper into your purpose. All of those pieces that are holding your current experience will certainly shift and change, that is a necessary part of the process. To say it is easy is a lie, but nothing worthwhile is usually easy.