Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Tina Hill-Edgecombe.
Hi Dr. Edgecombe, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Dr. Tina Hill-Edgecombe is a Louisiana native. Born and raised in north Shreveport, Tina has paved the way for many female students by being Northwood High School’s first African American Homecoming Queen in school history and as the first female student-athlete to receive a full basketball scholarship to a Division I University and is currently a part of her high schools Hall of Fame sports history.
While at McNeese State University, Tina racked up defensive and academic awards all four years attended. She continued to make history by becoming the first female athlete to have a WNBA inaugural season tryout with the Seattle Storm. However, Tina decided to go in another direction by making Houston Texas her home upon college graduation where she cheered professionally for the Houston Rockets for many seasons, and owned and operated a successful competitive dance studio while making history once again as the first Division I basketball athlete to dance professionally for the NBA.
Prior to her career transition, Tina had a very successful 20-year tenure in education as an educator, administrator, and adjunct college instructor in many Houston area school districts, including HISD, Spring Branch, and Aldine ISD. As a classroom instructor, she had overwhelming success teaching and leading only in the inner city and underprivileged populations where several public, private, and charter schools benefited and adopted the Hill-E reading strategies that guaranteed student success on state reading standardized testing.
Thereafter, Transform II Perform Literacy Education Inc. was formed through a collaborative effort premised to service Houston school districts and Texas Education Agency (TEA) in implementing highly effective reading instructional strategies for failing and low-performing schools. Tina went on to receive a double Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction/and Educational Leadership from Texas Southern University and the University of Houston. She also earned her Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from North Central University.
First and foremost, I am nothing without the creator’s hands, provisions, and favor bestowed daily upon me. I can affirm that any success that I have acquired or obtained is because of my faith and sports participation for the greater part of my life. I started playing sports at an early age, mainly basketball, track/field, and cheer where I cultivated some of the most dynamic and long-lasting relationships.
I learned discipline, sportsmanship, hard work, and teamwork, coupled with how to coach and be coached, passion, competitiveness, and how to take wins and losses infused with self-efficacy. I believe that being a student-athlete gives authority over self. “You learn so much about yourself and at some point, during your short or long stint playing sports, you birth resiliency.
All of those invaluable and resourceful skills and tools I have gained while playing sports have translated and become very much applicable throughout my adulthood such as decision making, setting realistic obtainable goals, navigating through challenging situations, being strategic, ambitiousness, and most importantly never giving up no matter how hard the task may be.
In essence, humbly, sports have definitely shaped my character and have played a vital role in the woman that I am today. I try to instill those same principles and values learned from sports participation into my children and I most definitely apply those same principles to my work ethic and company employees!”
In her spare time, she enjoys traveling the country with her sons to the AAU basketball club, and to her husband, native country the Bahamas, where they currently own and operate a luxury bone fishing lodge called Evaslodge.com. She also enjoys online boutique shopping and relaxing. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.
Tina is married to Jason Edgecombe and they have two beautiful children, 11-year-old, Kingsley and 6-month-old Khloe Grace. This busy entrepreneur currently owns and operates ATC HEALTHCARE STAFFING Agency, a franchised entity that is on the Forbes top 5 List among healthcare agency staffing in the world.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When presented with the opportunity to invest in the healthcare industry and become a franchise owner, of course, I had feelings of trepidation because I knew that I would have to retire from education and invest my entire retirement into something that I was not completely sure would work. I also knew that if it didn’t work, I could not just return to education with my 20 + years in tow. I would have to start over in the retirement system.
I also knew that I was essentially giving up my passion for teaching and leading students, teachers, and young adults. That information alone triggered self-doubt and was the catalyst for many sleepless nights. I had the support system being that I am married to a risk taker, so the motivation, inspiration, and accountability were there.
My husband even quit his job and invested his earnings as well to support this dream, vision, and crazy idea and joined as our marketing director. He eventually had to go back to work to support our household because in the beginning there were many months that we did not make a profit and essentially broke even while still learning the business. Like any business, challenges are inevitable however, being a part of a franchised entity alleviates many caveats that one may run into if the business were a stand-alone entity, It’s a relationship-building business.
Thankfully, I have the support of our corporate office which is always championing our success. Essentially establishing and cultivating relationships is key. Currently, we are the only ATC Healthcare office in the entire city of Houston, so I have access to an insurmountable amount of clients and healthcare professionals that I can market to. However, the challenging part is that this city is riddled with competitors with established clients and nurses.
The struggle was definitely real starting because I had to acclimate to an entirely different career path. I had the business acumen and leadership skills from running prior businesses but I was lacking the necessary prior knowledge needed to cohesively manage the many moving parts it takes to operate a staffing agency or generate sufficient income to cover the company’s overhead. Moreover, 3 months into starting the business, I learned that I was pregnant with my daughter so that was nine months of hormone take over (lol). It was very challenging because my pregnancy was high risk and I was learning and running a new business. Mentally, at times the struggle was definitely real.
I had to overcome those challenges by educating myself and proactively learning every role and position before I could manage delegated tasks. I am most excited about my new career path in healthcare because just like in education, I get to continue to be of service to others. I take a lot of pride and it gives me great joy in hiring and staff healthcare professionals in hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, schools, and government entities so that my people, your people, and our people can obtain quality healthcare.
What’s also cool is that I get to serve where I was born and raised and where I played collegiate ball. We staff for facilities in Bossier City and Lake Charles, Louisiana. In addition, we also staff healthcare professionals in other states such as Arizona, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Nevada. This is our second year in operation. I purchased my first territory in 2021 right after the pandemic. I recently attended our National Conference in New York City and our office received the “Rookie of the Year” award for our rapid growth in obtaining clients, securing county and government contracts, increasing revenue, and validating other potential franchisee partners.
Looking back I would say it was challenging at first, but once I proactively established some systems in place, maximized my allotted resources, and took ownership a lot changed and thankfully for the greater good.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
ATC Healthcare is the established leader in healthcare staffing, nationwide. ATC empowers world-class care by providing qualified healthcare professionals across disciplines nationwide. Named among Forbes’ Best Temporary Staffing Firms for 2020, the ATC brand provides nurses, LPNs, and certified nursing assistants across a multitude of disciplines in more than 65 territories nationwide. ATC provides per diem, contract and travel assignments for hospitals, healthcare facilities and senior living locations nationwide, offering support 24 hours a day.
The daily grind me for me is securing guaranteed 13-week contracts for as many nurses that I can recruit. We set realistic and obtainable goals and work really hard to accomplish them. Again, this is a relationship building business and fortunately I am really good at establishing and cultivating relationships. I am a people person so recruiting is one of my favorite tasks. It’s a constant hustle and I absolutely live for the grind and doing what ever it takes to garner success.
As the owner I had to adopt a mindset that no one is going to handle or take care of your business like YOU! Nothing will happen until YOU make it happen. The culture of my business is maintaining high expectations. I am afforded an awesome team of individuals to work that has bought into our vision and we will continue to grow, expand, and staff quality healthcare professionals both locally and nationally for years to come.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Of course, I believe it is of great importance to network, establish relationships, and more importantly maximize and seize opportunities allotted to you. In that magic is where you find mentors. I believe the creator strategically places people in your life for many reasons and seasons. They will either be a lesson or a blessing. When you are in a business that provides a service to others you will NEED others.
Also, while networking it is important to network with people that are doing what you are doing but better. Mentorship can come out of that.
I have been extremely fortunate to have experienced positive mentors and role models along my personal, educational, and professional journey from all races, religions, and cultures. Through every experience, good or bad, I have acquired something that I can apply to or have applied to my life. A mentor can come in the capacity of relationships, friendships, and hardships. What has worked really worked well for me is having the right mindset, and always remaining open and receptive to new ideas, constructive criticism, and change. I also have a strong sense of “never let anyone tell you what you can’t achieve” and like to surround my base and space with like-minded individuals. It is very necessary to have that mindset as an entrepreneur. Moreover, having a mentor that shares your vision, and passion, or maybe champion your success or tug at your coat tail to bring you back to reality is equally important.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.atchealthcarespring.com
- Facebook: @atchealthcare
- Yelp: @atchealthcare
