BSN, RN , Masters (Current)
Taloa Sharp, BSN RN, proudly represents her Choctaw and Chickasaw people. She is a second-year Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) student at Husson University. Her iyyikowa (Choctaw term meaning service to others) is grounded in connection to family and community.
Sharp began her career as an LPN in 2009. She served in Primary Care, ER, and the ICU in her community tribal hospital. The ICU has been her home since obtaining her ADN in 2015. She completed her BSN in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The systemic barriers Sharp confronted along the way prepared her for the task at hand. She was one of the warrior-women who co-founded the Oklahoma Indigenous Nurses Association (OINA) in 2021. She is a proud mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, auntie, wife, friend, servant leader, and mentor. She is a member of the ANA National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing, served as the Secretary of the National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association, and is a proud Board Member of the OINA. Sharp was also featured in the documentary by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and SHIFT Nursing, titled ‘Everybody’s Work: Healing What Hurts Us All’.
Sharp embraces her role as a healer. She moves with intention, expanding collaborations and implementing interventions based on cultural resilience. She plants seeds of hope to see her people, and all other relatives, rise above their unmet heath care needs. Her heart is her people. Her desire is for that heartbeat to be heard. She hopes to always represent her people in a good way.