Growing up as a child in Compton, California, LaShyra “Lash” Nolen dreamed of being a neurosurgeon and an astronaut. Her ambitions proved to be profitable leading her to become the first Black woman class president of Harvard Medical School (HMS). Born to a single mother, who earned a master’s degree while working several jobs, Lash remembers her mother encouraging and affirming her dreams. “Mom pursued life with grit and a desire to win. She would tell me: ‘I’ll see you at the top,'” Lash told Teen Vogue . Today Lash is an activist, HMS class president, and Fulbright scholar. Lash doesn’t take her position as class president lightly and knows what her achievement means for others. “For me it means opportunity — opportunity in the sense that it will allow me to create a pipeline for others who look like me to hold positions of leadership at Harvard Medical School,” Lash told Teen Vogue. When asked how she deals with excelling to new heights in the world of medicine, a predominately...