Bill Klaproth (Host): This is a special podcast produced on site at SHSMD Connections 2025 in Dallas as we talk with this year's Rising Star Leadership Award recipients direct from the show floor. I'm Bill Klaproth. And I'm pleased to welcome Nardeep Singh. She is the Manager of Marketing Technology at Renown Health and a SHSMD Rising Star awardee. Nardeep, welcome.

Nardeep Singh: Thank you. Thanks for having me today, Bill.

Host: Yeah, it's great to have you here. And congrats on being named a SHSMD Rising Star.

Nardeep Singh: I know. I'm very excited. It's my first time at the conference too.

Host: Oh, my gosh. Well, welcome.

Nardeep Singh: Thank you.

Host: It's a great conference, isn't it?

Nardeep Singh: I know. Yeah. I've been having a lot of fun.

Host: Yeah, it's fun. It's educational. Great networking opportunity.

Nardeep Singh: A lot of good community.

Host: Yeah, that's exactly right. So, let me start with this, Nardeep. Can you tell us about your journey into healthcare marketing and what led you to Renown Health?

Nardeep Singh: Yeah, I actually have a very non-traditional journey in healthcare. I started in hospitality, worked in operations. I've always liked technology and marketing. I did a little bit of marketing on my own and I started to venture on that. And then, from hospitality, I worked food and beverage. Then from food and beverage, I went into cannabis and CBD, and I help with the infrastructure implementation of technology. Especially being such a new industry, they didn't have a lot of the things, a lot of the tools that you need, right? So, I worked with them, and then the company did really good. It got sold to a headquarter in Chicago. So, I was looking for a job.

Host: Okay.

Nardeep Singh: And I saw Renown needed a marketing technology manager. And I interviewed, I met Crystal, and we just kind of hit it up. And this is great because a lot of the new things that I had to develop and think outside the box for cannabis play a role in healthcare because in cannabis you have to think about also a patient workflow, right, for medical cannabis. So, that's how I started, and just like my passion in technology,

Host: It's really interesting. It's so fun to hear people's stories of how they get to where they get to. It's really cool. You started in hospitality, then food and beverage and other things. And here you are at Renown Health. I love it. So cool. So, can you talk a little bit about what the SHSMD Rising Star Award means to you personally and professionally?

Nardeep Singh: Yeah. I was very surprised when I got the announcement of getting the award and very excited. I think this means to me the work that I've done at Renown on looking into the future and thinking about how technology and marketing plays such a huge role on helping not just patients, but clinicians. And I always see the operational part of it, right? So where can you bring the bridge of technology information, and then how can you help your patient, and then the people behind the scenes, right? Like, the operations, the clinicians, and the admin. So, that's what this means to me.

I've been doing a lot of work in Renown on reviewing the technology tech stack that we have and thinking outside the box. And I'm very fortunate because I work with people that let me play around the box on what I bring in. We renew our CMS, we renew the way we handle some of the data flows. And just having that creativity and they let me run with it has been great. And now the award, it's a sense of direction that we're going in the right place, especially me working at Renown for three and a half years. I always felt a little bit of the outsider for healthcare. So, that's what the award means to me. I feel like, "Okay, now I am in healthcare and I'm part of the community." And it was just a great experience so far.

Host: It sounds like you found a home.

Nardeep Singh: Honestly. Yes. That's what I keep telling my team and our leader, and I say I'm very thankful for the opportunity and I finally found a spot that I feel like this is where I belong. So, that's what it means.

Host: And a sense of accomplishment too. You're talking about what the award means to you. It's got to really feel satisfying to win this award and be recognized by your peers.

Nardeep Singh: Yeah. It's great. Just like I said, the feeling of belonging and finding that place and a sense of purpose, right? You're doing all these things to help your community and not just your community, you know, within Renown, but also be part of something bigger within healthcare and help shape where the industry is going.

Host: Well, I can tell you do this for all the right reasons. I can tell you're passionate about this. So, it's easy to see why you're a Rising Star Award nominee.

Nardeep Singh: Thank you.

Host: Really, really cool. So, can you talk about a couple of initiatives or things that you're potentially proud of that you've done at Renown Health?

Nardeep Singh: Yeah. I can talk about all the technology that we're doing. So, we're really focusing on reviewing the technology that we use. And I come from retail that was my last job before I came into healthcare. And retail moves really fast, and you have to adapt to the way the consumer gets information and they want everything a specific way.

So when I was working with my team and reviewing what we're doing, that's what I wanted to focus, like, think about not the traditional tools, but what else can we use? And also, you know, within the guidelines of healthcare. So, I was able to migrate our team to a new, more modern headless CMS that has built in AI technology to fast track the way we create content. So, that's something really cool that I was able achieve with them.

Host: Yeah. That's really good stuff. So, let's talk about SHSMD a little bit. How important has SHSMD been in your career development?

Nardeep Singh: It was the first healthcare course that I took when I joined Renown. I don't remember the title, but it's like the introduction for healthcare and you get the foundations of it. And then, from there, you know, just the sense of community, getting to meet people, just connecting with people, you know, part of the community. And I love to just learn new things.

So, I think just the educational part of it is really important. Talking about, you know, the things that I've been able to do at Renown, not just the technical part, you know, like the day-to-day of the work, but being able to share all the things that I learned with my team has been great. I've created different learning sessions for them. And we've been able to just upskill the team. And it's just really nice when you're able to see somebody in your team that they learn a new skill and then you see them apply it. And they just have that sense of like accomplishment. That's probably one of the most rewarding things I've done. And it was part of this, right?

Like I said, just seeing the content that SHSMD puts out, seeing the webinars, seeing the community, staying on top of, you know, how technology's changing and just trickling down the education piece.

Host: Well, I can see where you're going to be a great mentor to people. Kind of coming up the ladder, moving up in the profession. Can you talk about any mentors that maybe helped you along, somebody that kind of helped guide you, answer questions that you had, and kind of helped you get to where you're at now?

Nardeep Singh: Yeah. I mean, I've been really fortunate in my career. As I mentioned, I have a diverse background, right? But I've always been lucky that my leaders have been open to let me explore and learn. And right now, you know, Renown, working with my director, Crystal, and our CMO, Suzanne Hendery. They're just amazing people, because they just let you play with tools and technology. They're open to any new ideas or if you want to, you know, tell them that you want to try something different. I think just having that open door and opportunity to just explore has been great for me.

And then, also, I work with a really, really good team of peers. So, we have in our team, we have a marketing manager, we have a communications manager as well, that are part of our team. And we're really fortunate at Renown, and they're honestly true leaders of their industry in their area, and I get to learn from them all the time.

I remember walking into a meeting with one of the marketing managers. Her name is Emily, and she won Rising Star a few years ago, and just, I don't know, we're talking about something and she just mentioned like the theory of color just out of nowhere. And she's like, "Yes, theory of colors, this and that." So, you just get to learn a lot from them. They have a lot of just knowledge in healthcare and other areas.

Host: Well, that's the environment you want to be in, right? A learning environment and people that listen and hear you, and say, "Wow, it sounds like a great idea. Let's explore that," right? That really is a wonderful thing when you have leadership that fosters creativity and learning and growth like that.

Nardeep Singh: And then, you have to pay it forward. That's what I like to do with my team, just having that same environment with my direct team.

Host: Yeah. So, let's talk about paying it forward a little bit. What is your advice for any up and coming Rising Stars?

Nardeep Singh: Yeah. From the keynote today, something that I took was you have to just lead it with courage, right? So when you're new, you might be intimidated or you have to listen to ideas. I would just say, just be open and be brave and put your ideas out there. If you get a no, that's great. All you need is one yes. And then, you can always learn from a no. You can learn why it didn't work. That's some of the things that I've learned in my time here at healthcare. It's, you know, asking the questions and sometimes there's a little bit redirection, but you can always adapt and learn.

Host: That's right. Getting to yes, every no is one step closer to yes. I love that. This has been so great talking with you, Nardeep. Thank you so much for stopping by our podcast booth here at SHSMD Connections. Anything else you want add, anything else you want to mention?

Nardeep Singh: I guess I just want to say thank you to like the community. Again, I don't feel like an outsider anymore. I've always been in healthcare for four years and now officially Rising Star. So, yeah, just thank you for the knowledge of the community and all the great sessions. Thanks for the time today.

Host: Absolutely. Nardeep, thank you so much for being here.

Nardeep Singh: Yeah, thank you.

Host: You bet. Once again, that is Nardeep Singh. And we hope you enjoyed SHSMD Connections 2025. For those of you who were unable to attend, you can access the presentation recordings at SHSMD.org and make sure you check out all the offerings during SHSMD week, which is November 16th through the 22nd, 2025.

And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels, and please subscribe so you get every episode chock full of great healthcare strategists, marketers, topics and solutions. And to access our full podcast library, visit SHSMD.org/podcast. This has been a production of Doctor Podcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. See ya!