Iman Jervey
2023 Parity Project Innovation Challenge Winner
Project: The Comeback
“You should do the Parity Project Innovation Challenge because it gives you the chance to be innovative and be in partnership with like-minded people.”
Hi, Iman! Tell us a little bit about yourself!
I’m currently a graduating senior attending Benedict College who exhibits leadership and organization skills. I take great pride in being involved in campus organizations such as the honors program, Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society, and Student-Made.
Tell us the pitch for your 2024 Parity Project Innovation Challenge submission.
For my project submission, I decided to create a portable telehealth service called “The Comeback.” As we all know, health is one of the main things that tends to be pushed to the side.
I wanted to create something that could be placed in lower-economic communities. It would provide basic needs and resources like Tylenol and Advil and daily nutrition such as fruits and vegetables. Overall, it would make people feel like they’re coming back to health to live a healthy and fulfilled life.
Where did you get the idea for this project?
In my personal life and family, health can be something that is not really taken too seriously. A lot of my family members wait until the last minute, and then eventually, sometimes, it’s too late.
Having the basic necessities and access to health care is something that’s not talked about enough in the African-American community. So I’m creating something that is free of charge and gives people access to living a healthier life. I got the idea from my own personal understanding and dealing with family members who haven’t had access to health care and nutrition.
A portable telehealth system will be placed within 30 miles of each lower economic community, staffed by an on-call doctor at the nearest emergency room or clinic.
What are your plans for the future?
My plan is to become a funeral director. I plan to attend Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service in the fall. I’ve had the passion to be a funeral director since the age of eight. Again, from my own dealings with grief, I have a passion for helping families at one of the lowest points in their lives.
Why should someone do the Parity Project Innovation Challenge?
You should do the Parity Project Innovation Challenge because it gives you the chance to be innovative and in partnership with like-minded people.
My teacher brought this up, and, at first, I was very hesitant because I knew that it would take time to really think out a plan that could cause real change.
Throughout the whole process, I was able to connect my submission with my own life and build off of that.
This challenge definitely gave me the opportunity to think outside the box and be an extremely strategic and critical thinker. So I’m very grateful for the opportunity.
And if you win, there are great prizes in store. I’m very excited to travel to California for the Grand Boulé and be surrounded by like-minded individuals who all want to make a difference. I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in June.
I believe it’s overall worth a shot. Just put your best foot forward and see what you can bring to the table.
What does parity mean to you?
I believe parity is having overall equality.
Why is STEM important to you?
STEM is one of the few fields that are pursued in today’s world.
People are stepping out into the more challenging career fields and it really shows that everything that was done previously set us up to be engineers, scientists, and things of that nature. As someone who’s pursuing a mortuary science degree in the future, I’m very excited to be a part of the STEM fields and continue the path for change.
Who is someone who inspires you?
My family inspires me.
People in the funeral industry inspire me to start a conversation about health, and that’s one of the reasons I did the telehealth service, because it’s one of the few things that is shied away from.
There are a lot of mentors who have inspired me, but my teacher brought this into my hands to participate. Professor Dugar is really the one who inspired me to keep pushing to create something very innovative.
Do you have any advice for challenge participants?
Really put your best foot forward and do something that you have a connection to. Most times, if you have that connection to an idea, you’re able to tie it into something that will really be useful, and you have the passion behind it. When there’s passion and purpose, the judges will definitely see that.