Q&A With Daniel Davenport: Why We Built Lucid

For many travelers, choosing a staffing agency starts with the same promises: transparency, support, and a recruiter who genuinely puts clinicians first. Nearly every agency says those things. But words only matter when they’re backed by experience.

For Lucid’s co-founders, Suzanne and Daniel, starting Lucid wasn’t about creating an agency from a business plan or an investment opportunity. 

Instead, they built an agency after years spent traveling as clinicians themselves — experiencing the highs of travel healthcare alongside the frustrations that too many clinicians simply accept as part of the job.

What inspired you to help build Lucid, and what problem were you hoping to solve within healthcare staffing?

Every company starts with an idea, but Lucid started with a question: Why does it have to be this way? As traveling clinicians, Daniel and Suzanne experienced many of the same frustrations countless healthcare professionals still talk about today. 

Communication broke down. Paychecks weren’t always correct. Job details sometimes changed. Promises made during recruiting conversations didn’t always match reality. More than anything, it often felt like clinicians became another placement instead of a person.

Rather than accepting those experiences as unavoidable, they kept coming back to the same thought: there had to be a better way.

“We started Lucid to create the kind of company we wished we had worked with as travelers — one that does things the right way, is transparent, communicates honestly, provides the support clinicians need to be successful, and genuinely cares about both the healthcare professionals we place and the organizations we serve. Our goal has always been to build lasting relationships, not just fill positions.”

From the very beginning, the goal was to build lasting relationships through honesty, transparency, and genuine support, for both the healthcare professionals we serve and the organizations that trust us.

What was your experience as a traveling clinician, and what lessons from those experiences still influence Lucid?

Travel healthcare transformed Suzanne and Daniel’s careers in ways they never expected.

Every assignment introduced new equipment, new teams, and new challenges that made them stronger clinicians. Along the way, they met incredible physicians, technologists, nurses, and fellow travelers while experiencing communities across the country.

They also found that opportunities extended far beyond career advancement. Traveling allowed them to build lifelong friendships, save money, purchase their first home, invest in their future, and ultimately create Lucid itself.

“The biggest lesson I took away was how important it is to have the right support system. A great recruiter and agency can make your entire experience, while a poor one can have the opposite effect. We built Lucid around that lesson. We wanted to be the kind of company that supports clinicians beyond simply finding them their next assignment. Our goal has always been to help them build successful careers, achieve their personal goals, and create opportunities that positively impact the rest of their lives.”

That realization shaped the vision for Lucid. Daniel and Suzanne wanted to create a partner who supports clinicians throughout their careers, not just until the next placement is complete.

Was there a specific moment, challenge, or realization that made you think, “There has to be a better way to do this”?

People often ask whether there was one defining moment that inspired Lucid. The truth is, it wasn’t one moment at all. It was five years of repeated experiences that slowly revealed a much larger pattern.

As first-time travelers, Suzanne and Daniel trusted what they were told because they didn’t know what questions to ask. 

Over time, they learned difficult lessons. They experienced incorrect paychecks that required repeated corrections, had recruiters become unreachable right before an assignment started, and discovered that verbal promises meant very little if they weren’t included in the contract.

“At first, Suzanne and I thought we had just chosen the wrong agency. So we switched. Then we switched again, and again. Eventually we realized the issue wasn’t one company — it was that many of these experiences had become accepted as ‘just the way the industry works.’ That’s when we decided there had to be a better way.”

That realization became the turning point. Instead of accepting the status quo, Daniel and Suzanne decided to build the agency they wished they’d had from the very first assignment.

In your opinion, what does clinician-focused actually mean, and how does Lucid approach it differently?

“Clinician-focused” has become one of the most common phrases in healthcare staffing. And it’s also one of the easiest things to say. The harder part is proving it through everyday decisions.

For Daniel and Suzanne, being clinician-focused has never been about marketing language. It’s about remembering why Lucid exists in the first place. They didn’t build this company to own a staffing agency. They built it because healthcare professionals deserved a better experience.

“Lucid was built as a solution to the challenges we experienced firsthand. That’s why doing what’s right for clinicians isn’t just one of our values — it’s the foundation the company was built on. … That philosophy influences everything we do. More than 60% of our internal team comes from clinical and healthcare backgrounds, including all of our recruiters and account managers. We intentionally built a team of people who understand healthcare because they’ve lived it.”

Growth matters, but it has never replaced Lucid’s purpose. We’ve always believed that if we consistently do right by clinicians and clients, the business will grow naturally.

How has being a clinician shaped the way you recruit, support, and advocate for healthcare professionals?

Travel healthcare comes with countless moving pieces: contracts, licensing, credentialing, housing, compliance, extensions, and unexpected challenges along the way. Having been there ourselves allows our team to anticipate questions before they become problems.

Just as importantly, past experience reminds our team that every traveler is a person first. 

For Daniel, supporting clinicians through issues outside of the contract while on assignment is just as important as advocating for better pay.

“One example that has always stuck with me is when one of our travelers had his motorcycle stolen while on assignment. We knew how stressful that must have been, so we gave him a bonus to help him get through the situation. Another traveler unexpectedly had to stay several hours late at work and missed a special dinner with their partner who was visiting from out of town. We sent them a gift certificate to a nice restaurant so they could enjoy another evening together on us. Those moments aren’t about the money — they’re about showing people they’re valued.”

Advocacy isn’t limited to negotiating contracts. It’s about building relationships that continue throughout a clinician’s career. 

A core part of our culture at Lucid is to show up for our clinicians every step of the way. We celebrate their success, support them through challenges, and always try to do what’s right for them.

What are some of the most common frustrations you hear from traveling clinicians, and how does Lucid address them?

Compensation continues to be one of the biggest topics in travel healthcare. Many clinicians understandably compare today’s assignments to the extraordinary rates seen during COVID. As the market has normalized, conversations about compensation have become more challenging.

Daniel believes that transparency around tough conversations makes all the difference.

“Where we believe agencies often fall short is in communication and transparency. Travelers deserve to understand why rates change and how their pay package is determined. We believe honest conversations build trust, even when the answer isn’t always what someone wants to hear.”

Rather than avoiding difficult conversations, we believe clinicians deserve to understand how bill rates influence pay packages and why compensation changes over time. Honest explanations build trust, even when the answer isn’t exactly what someone hoped to hear.

Looking back at where Lucid started and where it is today, what are you most proud of?

Daniel and Suzanne launched Lucid without staffing industry experience, outside investors, or private equity backing. They were clinicians learning every part of the business while continuing to work travel assignments themselves. 

Building the company meant countless late nights, long weekends, and years of believing that doing things differently would ultimately matter.

Today, they’re proud that Lucid’s founding values haven’t changed over time.

“What makes me most proud isn’t how much we’ve grown — it’s how we’ve grown. We never compromised the values that Lucid was built on. As we’ve expanded, we’ve continued hiring clinicians to recruit clinicians, we’ve remained transparent with our travelers, and we’ve focused on doing what’s right instead of what’s easiest or most profitable. It turns out there’s a real demand for a company that genuinely puts people first.”

More than anything, we hope clinicians feel like they’ve found a staffing partner they can trust for the long haul. We want Lucid to be the first agency they work with, and the last one they ever feel the need to leave. 

That means treating every clinician fairly, communicating with honesty, and showing up with the kind of support we’d want ourselves if we were still on assignment. If someone looks back on their experience with Lucid and thinks, “That’s how every staffing company should operate,” then we’ve accomplished exactly what we set out to do.

Built by Clinicians. Guided by Purpose. It’s What Makes Lucid Different.

Lucid exists because two traveling clinicians believed healthcare professionals deserved something better than what they experienced. 

Every conversation, every recruiter we hire, every relationship we build, and every decision we make traces back to those years spent working assignments ourselves. Our goal has never been to ask clinicians to trust a slogan. We’d rather earn that trust through honesty, consistency, and the way we show up throughout your career.

If you’re looking for a staffing partner built by clinicians who understand the journey because they’ve lived it, we’d love to work with you.

Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can support your career!