18. Ethan Nkana
The life of a black man in corporate America and starting a sports marketing agency for doctors.
This week on the show, I am sharing with you my conversation with Ethan Nkana.
I reached out to Ethan as a fellow Denverite and entrepreneur and I was thrilled that he was able to come on the show and share his story with us.
Ethan began his career in hospital administration as a Human Resources intern after earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration & Public Relations. Over the next decade, Ethan would grow his skill set to include leadership roles in hospital finance, physician contracting and compensation, hospital operations, and healthcare strategy.
He earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Dayton.
And in 2020 before the pandemic Ethan found himself jobless for the first time in his career after having spent 10+ years working in hospital leadership.
Which ultimately led to him starting RMPA (Rocky Mountain Physician Agency), a sports management agency whose clients are physicians instead of elite professional athletes, because physicians are at a distinct disadvantage when negotiating contracts and salaries with hospital executives.
Ethan is a real kick ass person above all else and I was able to talk to him about so many meaningful topics such as moving to Puerto Rico in his childhood, creating a career in hospital admin and leadership and world that he had to live in that was different from the world his white counterparts inhabited and ultimately we got to talk about Ethan starting RMPA and how that has enabled him to live his life as the fullest and best version of himself as the Jerry Maguire for Doctors.
Ethan and I joked before recording that he woke up on a different side of the bed today and was ready to go off. And I’m so grateful that he did because he shared so much vulnerable insight from his story that made a really powerful impact on me coming away from our conversation.
I keep thinking about how important it is for us to all understand the different experiences that other people in the same room are having. Ethan and others like him have to do twice as much to be considered equally, be recognized and seen for their own talents. And that is not something that I will ever have to experience, but by continuing to talk about this we are able to influence the narrative, and make it more normal to question and challenge the status quo.
Thank you again Ethan for sharing your story on the show and giving your time to me today. I connected with you so much as an entrepreneur, an activist and a person so I’m glad that we had the chance to talk on this episode.
