The critical influences that shaped my career

By Lauren Campbell

Lauren Campbell is a graduate of the Class of 1T9. She currently works in private practice in a rural area.

I grew up in Tyne Valley, Prince Edward Island. It’s a tiny community of roughly 300 people where the primary industries are farming, fishing, and tourism. My mom worked as a curator at a local museum and my dad was a marine biologist. Unlike most of the families in Tyne Valley, we did not have generational heritage there. My dad met my mom in Nevis, a tiny island in the Caribbean, where he was working at the time. At the end of his research contract my parents married and settled down in the house I grew up in, in the heart of Tyne Valley.

Has race been an issue for me? The answer is both “yes” and “no,” I suppose. My mom and dad raised my brother and I to value education. Their opinion was that if their children could understand any given situation or problem, including racially charged ones, they would be able to live a meaningful life.

"Other people choose what ethnicity they see in you"

In my experience as a mixed-race person, other people choose what ethnicity they see in you, and their opinion of whatever ethnicity they choose will be coloured by their own life experience. Growing up in a predominantly white area, my understanding was that I was “the black kid.” When we visited my mom’s side of the family in the Caribbean, I was a “white foreigner.” If I wanted to cling to either identity, it wouldn’t really be the whole story. In any case, people were mostly kind, whatever their opinions were.

Looking back, if I am completely honest, being the only “little black girl” in school, from JK to grade 12, definitely contributed to my desire to do well in school, but it also made me painfully shy. I doubted my ability to achieve the goals I set out for myself all along the way. It’s only because of many wonderful individuals that I am where I am today, especially my parents — but every single positive influence was critical.

"Every single positive influence was critical"

At this point in time — as a new dentist with one year of experience under my belt — I have good days and I have hard days. I feel very grateful to be part of this profession, though. There are so many opportunities to find your niche. I feel blessed to be on the winding road of clinical mastery, albeit at the very beginning. My hope is that I can be another positive influence, another individual striving to live up to their potential in the “busyness” and messiness of everyday life.

Read about U of T Dentistry's remarkable alumni in the U of T Dentistry magazine: "The Mavericks" 

Photo: Lauren Campbell with her parents at the 2019 Licensing and Awards ceremony at Hart House, U of T (Matthew Campbell)