After graduating from Michigan State University in 2020, Tia Lee had one thing on her mind: money.
Her pursuit of financial comfort, which was her definition of success at the time, led her to take on many jobs at once, she says. By 2023, Lee was juggling four jobs simultaneously: California-based program manager at Google, freelance social media manager, freelance website designer and independent fashion designer.
Her overworking caught up to her, and the resulting hospital visits forced her to redefine her personal view of “success,” she says.
“I was getting sick like every other month,” says Lee, who uses her middle name professionally and on social media. Her legal surname is Fowlkes. “I would just be bouncing back and forth between California, Michigan, Texas [for work]. But every time I traveled, I would get sick. So I associated my sickness with just traveling.”
Following months of ailments — including strep throat, unexplained vomiting, eczema, random bleeding and headaches, Lee says — her OB-GYN diagnosed her in December 2023 with endometrial polyps, a condition most commonly found among women in their 40s and 50s.
