Nina Frketin shares how Nightshift has grown in its first year and her three wishes for its future.
For those who might not know, what is Nightshift?
Nightshift is an online community that aims to support and put a spotlight on female dental technicians, celebrating and normalising them as leaders in the industry. That is our mission.
Nightshift is our commitment to leaving the dental technology industry better for future generations.
What is Nightshift’s mission?
We want to connect women working in dental labs and build a strong sense of community and mentorship among all.
We also want to help the whole community elevate their skills by providing affordable education and a platform where dental technicians can really share their ideas and concerns.
It’s not just about sharing all of the beautiful work that we do, but also sharing questions or concerns that may get raised or challenging situations that might come up in the lab. For example, how to deal with a difficult boss or a tricky colleague.
One year on, how has Nightshift evolved?
I didn’t have a clear idea of how Nightshift would evolve, but I sure didn’t think it would take our community by storm!
I know I wanted a community where female technicians could connect with each other, showcase their work or talk about topics that are difficult to address in other groups.
We started with educational resources with symposiums. Then I decided that we needed to provide study clubs because there are so many people that want to learn. Now we have monthly study clubs with amazing technicians teaching all kinds of topics, from technical skills to lab management.
When Nightshift was just beginning, I had people tell me I would never get a booth at Dental Technology Showcase (DTS), and I did! We also had amazing female speakers representing Nightshift – the lectures were so full that people had to stand! Seeing that made me incredibly proud.
What challenges have you faced during its first year?
The biggest challenge for all of us is time. We all work, we all speak and we all teach, so it is really hard for us. Nightshift is like a full-time job.
My partner always says to me: ‘When will you come home and not sit on the computer to do some work?’.
And it’s true because my work does not end at five o’clock, it ends at 10, 11, 12 o’clock when I finish working on Nightshift. Likewise, I know that the other girls, Deepa, Emily and Ella, are also incredibly busy and involved in so many other projects.
So, time has definitely been the biggest challenge, but we are ploughing through and we are not giving up.
Have you received any criticism at all?
There have been some negative comments online from men, but I never had to step into the conversations because other men in the community stepped up for me.
It was fantastic to see male technicians recognising and advocating the need for Nighshift in the lab community.
The majority of the community is 100% behind us, and I often have people asking to get involved and help Nightshift grow. Now I don’t need to search for speakers as they come to me! That feels like an incredible achievement.
As the founder, how do you feel the last year has gone?
I never expected this level of growth so quickly. And the amount of interest that we have had from companies that want to work with us and support us has been so cool. The fact that these companies see what we are trying to achieve and support it brings me confidence that what I am doing is a good thing.
I have also been blown away by how many messages from women I get sharing their fears, their questions and their dreams. I never thought that people would directly contact me for advice. But I am so glad Nightshift has provided this platform for people to ask difficult questions that we are scared to ask. I never expected it to become a beacon of hope for people.
This is what means the most to me and keeps me going forward. I just hope that we will keep on growing and keep getting better.
What else can we expect to see from Nightshift?
I have more and more goals for this group because it is getting so much valuable support. The community is behind us – it sees what we are trying to do and believes it is needed.
At the moment, we are going to keep the monthly study clubs going and potentially deliver another CPD-verified symposium. But my biggest dream is to create a scholarship in order to allow technicians to go to school.
I was recently in Uganda where I met a fantastic, passionate boy who was helping us with the Den-tech charity work. An idea was born when I realised that this boy wants to go to dental technician school, but because there is so much poverty there, it would be an impossible amount of money to save up.
If we could find a way to sponsor his education for him, it would change his life and his community forever as there is such a need for dental technicians. (Dental companies, I will be coming to you and asking for help, so be ready!)
My other dream is to have a Nightshift accreditation for labs that support equal pay and equal opportunity.
And lastly, I would love to build Nightshift as an educational hub so technicians can use our website for any educational needs. These are my three big wishes.
What would you say to young female dental technicians?
You cannot build anything of value without both self-doubt and self-belief. Without self-doubt, you become complacent. And without self-belief, you can’t succeed.
Work hard and push yourself, but do not silence your voice.
Lastly, dare to take. Just go for it. Don’t wait for the perfect occasion. If you want something, go for it.
