Top guns: they are sky-high achievers. Their objective: not to be the first black or the only woman, but to be the best—period - Career Opportunities

"I am not a great planner," Rice explains. "I've always just taken on the challenges that came along and done the best I could. It is a wonderful thing to work with this president. The challenges are enormous and so are the opportunities."

DR. EMILY F. POLLARD
Plastic Surgeon

CAREER AT A GLANCE

AGE: 44

SALARY: $80,000-$100,O00-plus

GOAL: To achieve a better balance between her professional and personal life, including community service and leisure activities such as traveling and gardening.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: "Balancing the costs of delivering quality care with rising expenses (i.e. malpractice premiums) and falling insurance premiums."

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS: "I used to take a Polaroid, but now I take a digital picture to give patients a better idea of what can and cannot be done surgically."

MARITAL STATUS: Married, no children

"WHAT CRACKS ME UP ARE THE OLDER GENtlemen. You can just see the smile creeping across their faces," muses Dr. Emily F. Pollard. "One guy ... you could tell it was on the tip of his tongue: `What is a little girl like you going to do to me.' I just started laughing and said, `You don't even have to say it.' We both started laughing, and he said, `You know what? If you've been able to compete with the boys all along then you must be pretty good," Pollard recounts. She's actually a little better than that. Out of approximately 6,000 board-certified plastic surgeons, there are roughly 150 African Americans. Thirty, including Pollard, are black women.

She has maintained a private practice for more than 11 years (first in Indianapolis, then Philadelphia) after completing her residency in plastic surgery in 1991. Ninety percent of her patients are women, 75% are referred by previous patients, and she's never had a malpractice suit.

Born in Milwaukee, Pollard comes from a family of doctors and originally dreamt of a career in pharmacy. While attending Pharmacy School at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, she decided she wanted a more hands-on approach to medicine. During her third year of clerkship at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, she became interested in surgery.

Her work is divided into two areas: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Pollard offers a number of procedures, including liposuction; breast augmentation, reduction, and reconstruction; full face-lifts; Botox Cosmetic and fat injections, as well as skincare procedures such as acid peels.

One of the challenges she's faced is marketing her business with the integrity she brings to the practice. "The 11 years of training--four years of medical school and seven years of surgical instruction--does not prepare you to run a business. So in addition to keeping up with my surgical skills by attending seminars, I've had to attend seminars on how to run a business."

YASMIN L. HURD, Ph.D.
Neuroscientist

CAREER AT A GLANCE

AGE: 39

SALARY: $100,O00-plus

GOAL: To return to New York and land a professorship at a top university.

MISCONCEPTIONS: "Being a scientist is not just about having a high IQ. You have to be able to think and have a vision. It's about being innovative."