by John Ade
Nurse educators are nurses who choose to lead and guide the present and future generations of nurses as unit educators, instructors, professors, and clinical instructors. These strong individuals like Olubukola Mary Akinpelu has played an important role in healthcare and the future of the nursing profession.
Not everyone can teach and mentor others well. Nurse educators are essential members of the healthcare field since they help prepare aspiring nursing professionals to enter the world of healthcare. They guide and educate the next generation of nurses with patience, empathy, and passion.
It is the birth time of a great woman. We write this editorial for her honor.
Olubukola Mary Akinpelu also known as Mylifeassugar, a Nigerian-born United States Navy Sailor, Nurse Educator, content creator, and the author of ‘The Ultimate Nursing School Study Guide’ book. She birthed her book out of her experiences in nursing school to help current and prospective nursing students study and pass the NCLEX.
She was born 20th September and hails from Lagelu local government in Ibadan in Oyo state to the family of Mr & Mrs Akinpelu. She attended East Gate Primary School and completed her secondary school at Federal Government Girls College, Oyo. The content creator also attended Houston Community College before proceeding to Lamar University but got licensed by the Texas Board of Nursing and has worked in various hospitals after school as a registered nurse.
Olubukola was known for her contributions during the COVID-19 lockdown. When she started creating health care content basically focused on nursing. She started because people, especially nursing students, were in need of it. She went through nursing school, and she knew how difficult learning in class was, not to mention having to learn online during the lockdown. She started doing it to help nursing students, prospective nursing students, and new nurse graduates just to help them navigate the world of nursing. She would say that has been the most rewarding thing she has ever done as it has become something bigger than she had imagined attracting over a million followers across her social media platforms.
The name Mylifeassugar came from her nickname, Sugar. Everyone around her calls her sugar, so when she was about to give a name to her content creation, she decided to give it a name that revolves around her life.
She has been able to build a strong community of people who look forward to her new content every other day. Her community also looks up to her to help them through nursing school and their nursing career generally.
She is a nurse who has succeeded in bringing like minded nurses from different parts of people around the world especially Nigerians together by creating platforms and writing nurse education guides which are currently used in some higher medical institutions of learning.
As a young, vibrant, and dedicated nurse. She has left a footprint in nursing by contributing to the improvement of public perception of who nurses are , what they do, and what they represent. Her dream is to see nursing becoming the most respected profession in Nigeria.
Mylifeassugar as popularly referred to her by her fans or students. Her role as a content creator and the esteemed author of the bestselling ‘The Ultimate Nursing School Study Guide’ underscores her multifaceted influence in the nursing realm.
Olubukola is listed among the top 3 practicing Nigeria born US based nurses and she happens to be seen as the first nurse educator in her local community. She worked several years in a Nigeria hospital before migrating to the US to enroll in the US Navy.
Eager to encourage greater equality for African Americans and women, Olubukola Mary Akinpelu pursued a nursing career that supported these aims.
After she finished her training, Olubukola decided not to follow a career in public nursing due to the overwhelming discrimination often encountered there. Instead, she pursued a career as a private nurse to focus on the care needs of individual clients.
In fact, for 8 years, olubukola worked at a Hospital for Women and Children before being accepted into their professional training program.
She joined the professional organizations of the day and continually pushed for increased memberships of black women with groups like the Phi Theta kappa honor society.
Olubukola pioneering spirit has been recognized with numerous awards and memorials. In 2021, the Nigerian Books of Record recognised her in honor of her achievements, In 2022 and 2023 she was awarded by JOM Charity Awards and Yessiey Awards.This award is given to nurses or groups of nurses who promote integration within their field.