‘Be all that you’re meant to be.’ A Q&A with Black medical student, poet, and writer, Janita Aidonia

Janita Aidonia is used to new places and new people. She moved several times across the country as a child and a young adult, including Colorado, Texas, New Orleans and now, Philadelphia. But one constant in her life has been writing.

“I’ve been writing since I was very little. Mostly anything that I could think about,” she said.

She’s now a second year medical student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, studying to become an OB-GYN, with a possible focus on oncology. Aidonia cares deeply about serving Black and brown communities and connecting with and caring for other women. And even while she pursues her medical degree, writing is still an integral part of her life.

» READ MORE: Finding the Words: For National Poetry Month, we asked four local Philly poets to break down the fundamentals of poetry

This Saturday, Feb. 17, Aidonia’s recently published anthology of poems, Poetry: Janita Aidonia Collection, will be featured at the Center City Barnes & Noble’s monthly Saturday Spotlight, located at 1708 Chestnut St. From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Aidonia will hold a book signing.

Aidonia spoke with The Inquirer about her poetry book, uplifting other people through her work, and the symbiotic relationship between medicine and writing.

This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

I never thought of it as two separate things. I don’t want to sound cliché, but writing is part of me, like air, how I breathe. But medicine is something that I have to work to do and learn to do. But I feel like it’s part of my purpose.

Writing is just something that I’ve really always done. As a younger child, I was often afraid to maybe have an opposing thought or speak up in certain spaces. So I think writing has always allowed me to be my most authentic self.

I think it’s 1,000% a symbiotic relationship. I feel like I’m a better writer when I am in school, oddly enough. Some of my greatest reflections have come from moments when I was doing a lot of work, not when I’m resting. I would be in biochemistry class and I would think of something and have to jot it down in my notebook for later.

Maya Angelou for sure, I read one of her poems in church, and that got me into poetry. I just think her passion about love, loving yourself and loving people and the goodness of life is really inspiring. She was just revolutionary in that way. She saw the good in things and in life, in spite of what she encountered.

Another person is Alex Elle. She really just speaks about living life in an honest way and still being able to be kind. She also talks a lot about healing and a healing journey, so she’s very inspiring.

And then of course, Langston Hughes and bell hooks. A novel I read about a physician was called Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. I think sometimes hearing those stories about people serving others and people healing and people doing good work inspires my writing.

» READ MORE: Five Philly poems for National Poetry Month

A lot of what I do is to hopefully inspire others to live in their most authentic selves, and also to uplift other Black and brown individuals.

The book is really about my story post-undergrad. I graduated from college in 2020. This project is really speaking to me at different seasons of my life. And it really emphasizes how God’s love was there all the time and how He helped me through. Maybe it was overcoming a hard thing or my experience of getting into medical school or navigating being a young person in my twenties. Navigating romantic love and unpacking life.

We are often given many gifts and are inspired to do many different things, and sometimes we might be scared to do them.

So to anyone, if they do have these gifts or these ideas, do them. They aren’t given to us by mistake, God doesn’t give us ideas or dreams by happenstance. Be all that you’re meant to be and do all the things that you’re meant to do.