| Wisconsin Women of Color Network, Inc. (WWOCN) tackles leadership Part 2of 2 by Heidi M. Pascual |
On June 10, the Wisconsin Women of Color Network held its general membership meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel in
Madison. Aside from electing its new board of directors and representatives to the Networking Together Regional Board, the
group listened to a panel of four wonderful women of color who discussed the topic "Developing leadership skills for citizens
participation and advocacy: How to become an agent of change for today and tomorrow. The panelists were Rachelle Ashley,
from the Department of Workforce Development; Maria Flores, from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission;
Latisha Gray, Midwest Expansion leader, Warm Spirit; and Renee Moe, Vice President, United Way of Dane County. Shadayra
Kilfoy Flores acted as facilitator.
Maria Flores stressed the unfairness of society on people of color. "If you are a person of color, you are held to a much higher
level of comportment, or you have to show that you are exceptionally stellar," Flores said. "Sometimes, that can put a burden on
us, but on the other hand, it thus makes us rise to the challenge." She added that a lot of a leader's characteristics are innate
characteristics that women already have within them and they just need to cultivate and fine tune them.
"You also need to be authentic to yourself," Flores added. "You need to be that rock, the rock upon which others can rely upon.
Passion is another character of leadership. Power is finite. People are elected to positions and they're dragged out of positions,
or voted out of positions. But the person who has passion is a person who can be a leader for a long time, because passion is
endless." She concluded by urging women to build their technical skills and abilities as well as their management skills. "Not
every management person is a leader, but good leaders are good managers," she said.
Rachelle Ashley is Native American Services coordinator for the Department of Workforce Development. "My name was given
to me by the Ho Chunk and it is 'Rainbow woman' and my clan, Hawk clan, is the warrior clan of the Ho Chunk Nation," Ashley
began.
Reinforcing what Maria Flores was saying, Ashley said, "It is true that very often as leader you're not the person who's out in
the limelight. Very often the leaders that you see, the people out in the limelight, are the ones who have been put in those
positions by others."
She then talked about why Native Americans always go back to the time before and how things were. "If you go back to
traditions, you will find that leaders, while there was always a designation of a leader -- like there were hereditary chiefs among
the Africans as well as the other cultures here -- those hereditary chiefs, when difficulties arose were not seen as chiefs or
leaders unless it was felt that they deserve that distinction," she narrated. "And so you would have someone in the tribe or
Nation who's designated as the chief. But as the situation comes up and that person was not the person that you felt you could
follow in that opportunity, you'd have people en masse, and maybe they would, by clans, get up and choose to follow someone
else. So another element of leadership is actually having followers. Are you someone going in a direction by yourself, or are you
someone that people have faith in, that your decisions are being made in the correct way for the people at that time, and the
people are going to follow you?"
Ashley also talked about the medicine people or shamans in other cultures, who are also considered leaders. She said that
in many societies, including Native Americans -- very often the women were the ones in charge -- something that the
Europeans and other colonizers didn't recognize. "The women were the ones who had the power -- the Oneidas, the Mohawks,
and ... the Senecas, those are actually matrilineal tribes, so the property per se pass through the women, and the women were
the ones who had the command of those societies. And even when you get to tribes that consider themselves patrilineal,
passing through the men, there were still women in those societies that were in-charge of things, because it was felt that the
women were the life-givers; the women were the ones who had the relationship and very often a blood relationship to every one
in that community."
With the colonization of North America, many things changed, she noted. "When you have someone from the outside telling
you what you are, it's very hard to find yourself and to center yourself and to extend your power because all of a sudden, you have
an outside power that's telling you who you are and who your leaders should be, who's going to make the decisions for you, so
in all of our histories, we've experienced that." She lamented that the colonizers took some of the power of women in all of the
Nations; put that down to a place where it shouldn't be; then introduced a lot of vices like alcoholism, drug addiction, and all
sorts of addictions that are not native to that society, nor any of our cultures. "So all of these things are sort of distractions, and
they're very serious ones," Ashley said. "And in order to be a leader again, you find your centering, you find your core beliefs, and
you always stand for what you believe in. In that way, again, when you're centered, the community is going to recognize who you
are." Renee Moe turned 30 years old this year, and has achieved quite a great career leap as Vice President of United Way of
Dane County. "I started at United Way when I was still a student at the University, as an intern," Moe narrated. "[After] a number of
years, eight years or so, now I'm the vice president." The promotion didn't come easy, though. Moe became a marketing
specialist, then a fund-raiser at the campaign department, then she became the campaign director running a $40 million
campaign. After two years, she became the Campaign and Marketing Director. About two years ago, the vice president retired
and left a position open, and United Way did a national search and they ended up with her.
Moe then discussed her personal challenge as a woman of color. "I'm biracial, an Asian and Norwegian, and I don't know if
that's because you know you're never really European, you're really never Asian," she said. "So, where do you fit? My dad was in
the military, we moved school districts all the time. When he retired, we moved to the northern rural part of Wisconsin. We're the
only family of color in the entire community. I know I was the only person of color in my entire school, until my brother came
along. Then there were two of us. And so it's always the feeling of being an outsider there. Of course, that kind of grows with you.
That becomes your culture, that becomes your personal story. In high school, I felt like I had to do more, I had to be more
exceptional to be on an even level playing field. I just got to feel comfortable with always really trying because I never felt good
enough. And I think that kind of pressure just forces you to work extra hard. Every person here probably relates to that, in terms of
just having to work extra hard to establish yourself and feel good about who you are."
Focusing on leadership qualities that many women of color possess, Moe noted that the real leader need not do all the work.
"I don't like to be the shining star. I like to be part of a bigger system," she said. "At United Way, we have so many volunteers and
so many agencies and partners that you have to recognize there's no way you can do it by yourself. And that's such a liberating
thing. It doesn't have to be all on your shoulders. That's the truth that sets you free. You don't have to know all the answers. You
don't have to know the vision all the time. The best thing is how you listen to the folks that are around the table. How do you find
people who need to tell their experiences? How do you make sure it's a broad cross-section of the community, not just the
business segment or the people you always hear from? Sometimes that even can give you a much comprehensive picture of
what's going on. So if you can be a good listener and a good synthesizer to put things together, that's really where you become
effective."
Latisha Gray is a successful entrepreneur, and independent business owner, and Warm Spirit Midwest Expansion leader, a
health care and wellness company. She helps women and men develop their own Warm Spirit businesses. Additionally, she's
a licensed real estate broker and owner of New Market Realty where she specializes in real estate investments. Originally from
South Carolina, she has resided in Wisconsin for the last seven years.
"I come from a different perspective and just another thing to add to the table," Latisha Gray said. "One of my perspectives on
leadership is really developing or becoming a CEO, and making CEO real in your life. When I look at what's going to help us to
become change agents in our community, it's really going to be by us, developing ourselves financially and becoming stronger
so that we can give to everyone else."
Gray explained the meaning of her "CEO." "The C in CEO really stands for care, and not really caregiver, even though that we
are caregivers in many cases." Gray said. "I want to offer that by caring for ourselves first, it makes us strong enough to care for
others. When we care for ourselves, we're more restored, we're strengthened, we're more empowered, and by doing that, we're
doing that, we're able to offer ourselves to others and give the best of ourselves to others."
The E in CEO stands for entrepreneurship. "Everybody is not an entrepreneur, but we can all embrace entrepreneurship,"
Gray suggested. "In my corporate job, my check was the same every two weeks. It didn't matter what was happening in my life,
my check was the same, even if I worked really hard or if I didn't work hard, my check was still the same. That was pretty
frustrating to me because I knew that I wanted to give more, I was involved in a lot of activities and in my community, and I
wanted to be able to offer more to others and the only way that I saw that I would be able to do that is to embrace some
entrepreneurial ventures." She explained that entrepreneurship could be an ownership or some type of investment. "My husband
and I were always talking about how we really need multiple strings of income and by having those multiple income strings
you're able to supplement the check that you get every week."
The O for CEO is for ownership. "Owning your own business, owning your own home, owning your own destiny," Gray added.
"If we're going to have wealth, financial independence, or become able to be philanthropists, we should have goals to help our
own people. Even though the business world is very concerned about us people of color, we have enough education and
expertise that we can really empower ourselves and our own communities. But I truly believe that if you own your own business,
if there's an employment issue and someone can't be hired, we're more likely to hire our own anyway."
Madison. Aside from electing its new board of directors and representatives to the Networking Together Regional Board, the
group listened to a panel of four wonderful women of color who discussed the topic "Developing leadership skills for citizens
participation and advocacy: How to become an agent of change for today and tomorrow. The panelists were Rachelle Ashley,
from the Department of Workforce Development; Maria Flores, from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission;
Latisha Gray, Midwest Expansion leader, Warm Spirit; and Renee Moe, Vice President, United Way of Dane County. Shadayra
Kilfoy Flores acted as facilitator.
Maria Flores stressed the unfairness of society on people of color. "If you are a person of color, you are held to a much higher
level of comportment, or you have to show that you are exceptionally stellar," Flores said. "Sometimes, that can put a burden on
us, but on the other hand, it thus makes us rise to the challenge." She added that a lot of a leader's characteristics are innate
characteristics that women already have within them and they just need to cultivate and fine tune them.
"You also need to be authentic to yourself," Flores added. "You need to be that rock, the rock upon which others can rely upon.
Passion is another character of leadership. Power is finite. People are elected to positions and they're dragged out of positions,
or voted out of positions. But the person who has passion is a person who can be a leader for a long time, because passion is
endless." She concluded by urging women to build their technical skills and abilities as well as their management skills. "Not
every management person is a leader, but good leaders are good managers," she said.
Rachelle Ashley is Native American Services coordinator for the Department of Workforce Development. "My name was given
to me by the Ho Chunk and it is 'Rainbow woman' and my clan, Hawk clan, is the warrior clan of the Ho Chunk Nation," Ashley
began.
Reinforcing what Maria Flores was saying, Ashley said, "It is true that very often as leader you're not the person who's out in
the limelight. Very often the leaders that you see, the people out in the limelight, are the ones who have been put in those
positions by others."
She then talked about why Native Americans always go back to the time before and how things were. "If you go back to
traditions, you will find that leaders, while there was always a designation of a leader -- like there were hereditary chiefs among
the Africans as well as the other cultures here -- those hereditary chiefs, when difficulties arose were not seen as chiefs or
leaders unless it was felt that they deserve that distinction," she narrated. "And so you would have someone in the tribe or
Nation who's designated as the chief. But as the situation comes up and that person was not the person that you felt you could
follow in that opportunity, you'd have people en masse, and maybe they would, by clans, get up and choose to follow someone
else. So another element of leadership is actually having followers. Are you someone going in a direction by yourself, or are you
someone that people have faith in, that your decisions are being made in the correct way for the people at that time, and the
people are going to follow you?"
Ashley also talked about the medicine people or shamans in other cultures, who are also considered leaders. She said that
in many societies, including Native Americans -- very often the women were the ones in charge -- something that the
Europeans and other colonizers didn't recognize. "The women were the ones who had the power -- the Oneidas, the Mohawks,
and ... the Senecas, those are actually matrilineal tribes, so the property per se pass through the women, and the women were
the ones who had the command of those societies. And even when you get to tribes that consider themselves patrilineal,
passing through the men, there were still women in those societies that were in-charge of things, because it was felt that the
women were the life-givers; the women were the ones who had the relationship and very often a blood relationship to every one
in that community."
With the colonization of North America, many things changed, she noted. "When you have someone from the outside telling
you what you are, it's very hard to find yourself and to center yourself and to extend your power because all of a sudden, you have
an outside power that's telling you who you are and who your leaders should be, who's going to make the decisions for you, so
in all of our histories, we've experienced that." She lamented that the colonizers took some of the power of women in all of the
Nations; put that down to a place where it shouldn't be; then introduced a lot of vices like alcoholism, drug addiction, and all
sorts of addictions that are not native to that society, nor any of our cultures. "So all of these things are sort of distractions, and
they're very serious ones," Ashley said. "And in order to be a leader again, you find your centering, you find your core beliefs, and
you always stand for what you believe in. In that way, again, when you're centered, the community is going to recognize who you
are." Renee Moe turned 30 years old this year, and has achieved quite a great career leap as Vice President of United Way of
Dane County. "I started at United Way when I was still a student at the University, as an intern," Moe narrated. "[After] a number of
years, eight years or so, now I'm the vice president." The promotion didn't come easy, though. Moe became a marketing
specialist, then a fund-raiser at the campaign department, then she became the campaign director running a $40 million
campaign. After two years, she became the Campaign and Marketing Director. About two years ago, the vice president retired
and left a position open, and United Way did a national search and they ended up with her.
Moe then discussed her personal challenge as a woman of color. "I'm biracial, an Asian and Norwegian, and I don't know if
that's because you know you're never really European, you're really never Asian," she said. "So, where do you fit? My dad was in
the military, we moved school districts all the time. When he retired, we moved to the northern rural part of Wisconsin. We're the
only family of color in the entire community. I know I was the only person of color in my entire school, until my brother came
along. Then there were two of us. And so it's always the feeling of being an outsider there. Of course, that kind of grows with you.
That becomes your culture, that becomes your personal story. In high school, I felt like I had to do more, I had to be more
exceptional to be on an even level playing field. I just got to feel comfortable with always really trying because I never felt good
enough. And I think that kind of pressure just forces you to work extra hard. Every person here probably relates to that, in terms of
just having to work extra hard to establish yourself and feel good about who you are."
Focusing on leadership qualities that many women of color possess, Moe noted that the real leader need not do all the work.
"I don't like to be the shining star. I like to be part of a bigger system," she said. "At United Way, we have so many volunteers and
so many agencies and partners that you have to recognize there's no way you can do it by yourself. And that's such a liberating
thing. It doesn't have to be all on your shoulders. That's the truth that sets you free. You don't have to know all the answers. You
don't have to know the vision all the time. The best thing is how you listen to the folks that are around the table. How do you find
people who need to tell their experiences? How do you make sure it's a broad cross-section of the community, not just the
business segment or the people you always hear from? Sometimes that even can give you a much comprehensive picture of
what's going on. So if you can be a good listener and a good synthesizer to put things together, that's really where you become
effective."
Latisha Gray is a successful entrepreneur, and independent business owner, and Warm Spirit Midwest Expansion leader, a
health care and wellness company. She helps women and men develop their own Warm Spirit businesses. Additionally, she's
a licensed real estate broker and owner of New Market Realty where she specializes in real estate investments. Originally from
South Carolina, she has resided in Wisconsin for the last seven years.
"I come from a different perspective and just another thing to add to the table," Latisha Gray said. "One of my perspectives on
leadership is really developing or becoming a CEO, and making CEO real in your life. When I look at what's going to help us to
become change agents in our community, it's really going to be by us, developing ourselves financially and becoming stronger
so that we can give to everyone else."
Gray explained the meaning of her "CEO." "The C in CEO really stands for care, and not really caregiver, even though that we
are caregivers in many cases." Gray said. "I want to offer that by caring for ourselves first, it makes us strong enough to care for
others. When we care for ourselves, we're more restored, we're strengthened, we're more empowered, and by doing that, we're
doing that, we're able to offer ourselves to others and give the best of ourselves to others."
The E in CEO stands for entrepreneurship. "Everybody is not an entrepreneur, but we can all embrace entrepreneurship,"
Gray suggested. "In my corporate job, my check was the same every two weeks. It didn't matter what was happening in my life,
my check was the same, even if I worked really hard or if I didn't work hard, my check was still the same. That was pretty
frustrating to me because I knew that I wanted to give more, I was involved in a lot of activities and in my community, and I
wanted to be able to offer more to others and the only way that I saw that I would be able to do that is to embrace some
entrepreneurial ventures." She explained that entrepreneurship could be an ownership or some type of investment. "My husband
and I were always talking about how we really need multiple strings of income and by having those multiple income strings
you're able to supplement the check that you get every week."
The O for CEO is for ownership. "Owning your own business, owning your own home, owning your own destiny," Gray added.
"If we're going to have wealth, financial independence, or become able to be philanthropists, we should have goals to help our
own people. Even though the business world is very concerned about us people of color, we have enough education and
expertise that we can really empower ourselves and our own communities. But I truly believe that if you own your own business,
if there's an employment issue and someone can't be hired, we're more likely to hire our own anyway."
Maria Flores
Rachelle Ashley
Renee Moe
Latisha Gray