If someone were to ask you what leadership is, I’m sure your responses would be as varied as the responses I have heard when people are asked to define racial justice. As is true of most things in our lives, our lived experience supersedes dictionary definitions.
Leadership per the Merriam Webster online dictionary is: 1) a position as a leader of a group, organization, etc; 2) the time when a person holds the position of leader; 3) the power or ability to lead other people. Though I do not argue the definition as it appears, what leadership means to me is more convoluted.
As a child I dreamed of being president. I wish I had a quarter for how many times I heard I was insane to think this was possible. It is regrettably not the only situation in my life where I was informed my pursuit of leadership was ambiguously linked and limited due to my gender identity. So my experience and definition of leadership inevitably became linked to how unattainable I felt it was for me to achieve because I am a woman.
I have been blessed in my life to have incredibly brave, intelligent and resilient women mentor me in my pursuit of leadership. It is largely because of these women that I have continued, despite opposition, my pursuit of leadership in my community and work. Therefore, leadership for me has come to mean resilience, investment in others and in my community, and personal rebellion against a dominant narrative I have been told my whole life.
The investment the women in my life have made in developing my leadership, created a resolute determination in me to continue that tradition through relationships I build. It is with that determination that I wish to highlight women in our community in varying positions of leadership. I want to provide an opportunity to celebrate these women, learn from their experiences, and see how women’s leadership changes our community and our world.
That’s why Women in Leadership happening on Wednesday, July 22 is so important. We have many many great women leaders in our community, and we need to hear their stories, to highlight the necessity for women to hold positions of leadership in our community. Here are the names of a few of the leaders we’ll be hearing from: Rep. Jen Schultz (MN State House), Susie Bates (Women Winning), Emily Larson (Duluth City Council President), Renee VanNett (Community Action Duluth, Cross Cultural Alliance), Annie Harala (Duluth School Board Member, TakeAction MN Board Member & Regional Coordinator for SHIP), and Rebecca St George (Staff Attorney for Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa).
Thanks to all who’ve registered to attend. We look forward to seeing you there and at other events this summer.
