Physician, singer, and director
Meet Candace
From a young age I was drawn to storytelling. I remember sitting and listening to my grandmother tell stories, watching her eyes light up and hearing her laugh weave through the stories she shared. I didn’t realize at the time the impact her love of storytelling would have on me. Over time, that love of story became my own.
When I chose medicine as a career, that same love of story led me to the specialty of family medicine. The opportunity to build long-term relationships with patients — hearing and understanding their stories — allows for a deeper understanding of how to care for them.
One moment that has stayed with me is when a patient shared a story unrelated to medicine, and a detail she mentioned led to questions that resulted in a diagnosis being caught early.
Storytelling also led me to singing and writing songs.
After moving to Austin, Texas, I performed in cover bands and musical theater — where an R&B adaptation of Porgy and Bess caught the attention of The New York Times — and created a one-woman show, Follow the Red Lips, telling the story of my life as a musician and physician. During that time, I also began recording albums, including In My Lane, which was critically acclaimed and released by Sweet Soul Records in Japan.
Filmmaking was never on my radar. It began during a professional moment when I found myself in need of inspiration and reflecting on the women who came before me. I felt that if I was searching for inspiration, others might be as well, and documentary offered a way to share those stories more widely. I began taking film classes, immersing myself in the film community, and seeking mentorship. I initially planned to include several women doctors in the film, but after spending a week with Dr. Elders — getting to know her, her family, and her colleagues — I realized her story was the one I wanted to tell. Healer: The Dr. Joycelyn Elders Story is about the life of Dr. Elders and her rise to becoming the first African American Surgeon General of the United States. The film screened at several film festivals, debuted on San Antonio PBS, and is currently in national educational distribution with Video Project.
Healer ignited a passion for storytelling through film, which led me to my recent project, Daughters of the Soil.
Daughters of the Soil is rooted in a quiet memory — growing up watching westerns I loved, yet never seeing myself reflected in them. It began with a simple question: Who gets to belong?
