My whole life I have been raised to strive for being a leader in everything that I do. My mother is one of the best examples of a leader that I have come across and because of this I have been presented with a plethora of opportunities to prove myself as a great leader, as well. From a very young age I have been involved with many organizations, thanks to my mom, that have given me the opportunity to start holding leadership positions and begin growing my leadership qualities. Starting this journey at such a young age has given me the advantage of time and practice that some others do not receive. Since working on improving these skills and taking advantage of these opportunities has been engraved into my lifestyle, I have always known that with whatever I end up doing I want to be seen as a great leader.
This dream of becoming a great leader all started because my idol, also known as my mom, paved a pathway for me to grow and succeed. My mom holds an important leadership role at the hospital in which she works. Working at a hospital has given my mom and I easy access to joining committees for organizations such as: The March of Dimes, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, Alzheimer's Association, American Cancer Society, and other smaller volunteer events held by the hospital. I started volunteering for these events around the year 2011 and by the year 2016 I had worked my way up to holding committee positions for each of these organizations. This was my first real taste of being a leader outside of simple social situations, and I loved it. My two favorite leadership positions for these organizations had different titles but were relatively the same role and have guided me into recognizing what I may want to do after college. In 2016, I was both the Publicity Chair for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and the Social Chair for The March of Dimes. While holding these positions I was tasked with the responsibility of marketing these events as a worthwhile experience for the public, as well as spreading the word of these events. This introduced me to the field of marketing and has since then inspired me to hold positions similar to these in the other organizations I worked/work for.
After going away to college I was gifted with the opportunity to experience being a leader in a way that I had not yet been before. I was searching for a way to continue growing my skills and found that opportunity through my sorority. Sorority recruitment is a very emotional and vulnerable time for the women participating, because of this the position of Recruitment Counselor (Rho Gamma) became a vital role. Becoming a Rho Gamma has not only been my most important leadership role but it has also been the most eye-opening experience that I have had yet. In order to become a Rho Gamma you have to go through one semester of self-reflective and leadership building classes. During this time I had to reflect on what it meant to be a true leader and what steps I needed to take in order to get myself to that point.
When I started that self-reflective experience I had already considered myself a pretty decent leader; however, going through that course changed the way I think and handle situations as a leader for the better. Before that class I only considered a leader to be someone who was in charge, knew how to get things done, and had people follow in their footsteps. It was not until I had to reflect on the characteristics of the leaders in my life that I realized everything that goes into being an effective leader. I now think of a leader as someone who not only accomplishes what I have previously stated but also someone who uses emotional intelligence, compassion, and acts as an equal rather than a superior. In order to be a successful leader you have to be someone who is approachable and willing to hear and take into account what your followers have to say. If I had not made these realizations I do not think that I would have been able to successfully guide these women through recruitment and I would not have the leadership skills to obtain my goals in life.
As I briefly mentioned earlier, my leadership experiences have led me to becoming interested in the field of marketing. Since incorporating my leadership skills has always been important to me while holding positions I do not plan on changing that when I enter into my career. Although it may take a while to work my way up to holding a leadership position in a marketing firm, I plan on utilizing the leadership skills that I have already obtained in everything that I am tasked with in order to prove and prepare myself. In any job it is important to make the most out of your position and work on improving your leadership skills. While working the entry level positions I plan on taking advantage of having superiors and learning from their behaviors. In order to successfully do this I plan on analyzing their behaviors to determine what qualities I need to add to myself in order to climb the ranks and get to where I want to be. I not only want to become a leader in my career to accomplish my own goals, but I also think it is important to inspire others to achieve their goals. Part of being a leader is inspiring your peers and helping everyone around you work to the best of their abilities in order to help the group function. This is a smaller leadership role that I can use to constantly practice my leadership skills before I obtain a job title that is considered an actual leadership position.
It is not necessary to hold a superior title in order to be considered a leader. Being a leader is something that you can and should work on doing in your everyday life. I am lucky enough to have started my leadership building journey at a younger age and to have an idol who is as great of a leader as I hope to be. One day I hope to hold an important leadership position like my mom. Although I am not there yet, I plan on using every experience that I encounter as an opportunity to become a better leader along the way.
