I am a leader. I deeply care about supporting and empowering others. My journey to that realization has been shaped through the voices of others. This journey highlights for me how I, as a leader, can help others find their voice as a leader as well. Let's backtrack a few years. I had never seen myself as a leader or would describe myself as one. I continually found myself in positions central to supporting others - in high school and college I was highly involved in student council. In my early career, I worked in higher education supporting students and ultimately transitioned to working in corporations supporting employee engagement, onboarding, and leadership development. In each of these seasons, I have found fulfillment in supporting others to experience belonging and develop into more than they thought possible. Brene Brown (2018) writes, “I define a leader as anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential” (p. 4). Through the voices of others and my own inner sense of purpose, I came to find I was leader - and I care deeply about doing it in a way that supports and empowers others.

In 2021, my manager and I were discussing development opportunities and a Master’s program was brought up. I knew I eventually wanted to go back to school, but this push and the discovery of Gonzaga’s Organizational Leadership program felt like the perfect catalyst. My life has been transformed by this program - the learnings, experiences, and people I’ve met along the way. Through this program and the framework of Servant Leadership, I have come to understand the role I play as a leader in my context - one who seeks to find and develop the potential of people and processes.

This portfolio serves as a small glimpse into the impact of this program through it’s impact on my philosophy of leadership, key learnings from each course, and capstone project.