Carla Bleiden

Nov 19

In our conversations, Carla dives in. There’s a sibling-like trust, with all its ups and downs, we’ve held since becoming teenage friends during our summers at Camp Alonim.

At 36, she ruminated on the intangibles of the past decade.

“I’m actively trying to learn from mistakes and patterns and things that happen … there’s a lesson in everything regardless of what it is and there’s something you’ve learned in the process. I’m wiser than I was when I was 30.”

At 37, she reflected on clarity and self.

“I just know more about myself and I feel more self aware than I’ve ever felt. … And I think that means you’re more aware of people and relationships and learning … there’s a time and a place for things, and sometimes, you don’t have to say things.”

In the same span of years, Carla’s work in HIV management and family-centered pharmacy began and has grown into her current position as Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy at USC. Along the way, there were times she felt lost. Being from a family, immediate and extended, that left South African apartheid meant understanding global injustices and the pressure of fortunate circumstance, the weight of despair and paths toward hope. On the tumult of the personal—on our most intimate relationships and what’s universal to human love—she has seen her share of shift.

There was a time, she says, when “change was not on the radar.” But there’s a point where you know a relationship “cannot continue the way it is.” And so, we ever “move toward making that positive change.”

Carla shared wisdom on aging and what it means to be present.

“When you’ve got that fear of aging or what it means, I think that makes it very hard to [age] well.”

“… [At 37], my interactions are more positive, more intentional, and more present. I think that's something that I've been trying to do for years …I am able to be more present for people and in conversations, not going to the next thing I have to do on my to-do list.”

Sam Comen