The Power of You

 A few weeks ago, I was obsessing about work and feeling very overwelmed when I received an email invitation to attend The Women Of Color  Conference .  Work is very busy right now, so professional development is one of the last things I would consider doing, arguing that missing a day of work means working two extra days to catch back up.  The conference caught my eye though, because the theme was: 'Balance - Family, Work, Life. I was feeling very out of balance.  So I registered.

The night before the conference I was looking at the map to make sure I knew where I was going, I began to feel a little nervous. The little voice in my head said, you are attending a 'Women of Color' workshop?  Yoohoo, you are NOT a woman of color!  Yes you grew up in Detroit, were a minority in your high school, but you are a very pale girl, with average caucasion features and make no mistake, you are a 'white girl'.  You will be discovered!

I worried that my attendence might be offensive to the women of color that were attending. It wasn't my intention to be offensive, rather to be inspired.   I quieted down the voice in my head, and said of course, you can attend; this conference is about diverse women from every walk of life and color.   I was still a little nervous as I headed into the conference center but I signed in, picked up my materials and headed to the auditorium anxiously awaiting the key note speaker. 

Now is a good time to mention that this will be a (2) part blog, I really want to share my experience at one of the sessions, but first I need to lay some foundation about the conference as a whole.

The keynote speaker was a vivacious young black woman at the tender age of 30.  I was struck by her confidence, what she had achieved at such a young age and some of the barriers she overcame in her life.  I admired that she grew up in Detroit and planned her future around policy and politics to help the working class people of Detroit.   She took questions and gave advice to the audience to woman much older and some close to her age.  To be honest though, I was less inspired by her as an individual and more inspired by the participants in the audience. There was camraidere, an overwelming chant of their faith in God and shere confidence in sharing their thoughts without regard of who agreed, disagreed or even listened.

The first session I attended after the key note was a leadership session.  "Three Invisible Elements you must know to suceed' (blah blah) I entered the room naively thinking I would come out with all of the answers to solve my work problems. I was certain that the instructor would provide a road map and I could go back to work and be more successful.  I was surprised to discover that again, it was less about the instructor and more about the participants.  We did lots of group work in this session, typically I am not fond of group work.  These women in the room,  mostly in clerical to mid-level-management positions were brave and smart and savvy in their responses to questions and problems given us to talk through solutions.  The conference was starting to have an affect on me, my judgements, expectations, preconceived notions and habitual thinking was starting to break down. 

After the first session, I bumped into a young woman that works in my building.  I didn't know her well, but she was part of a reorganization and LEAN project that I worked on a year or so ago. She is in the early stages of her career.  I was happy to see a familiar face, we had lunch together and with several other women.  I practiced my listening skills and let her talk to me about her work and her family, I shared a little as well, but was more interested in hearing her story.  She decided to skip her session and attend the next one with me, I was delighted that she did. 

There were some themes that I was starting to recognize:
1.) Women of Color share a strong faith in both God and eachother
2.) Women of Color support and nurture eachother
3.) Self-Care is not just important it is REQUIRED
4.) How we make people FEEL is our legacy
5.) Life is about creating yourself

I leave you with this quote for Part 1.

There is no such thing as a 'self-made' man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success. George Burton Adams »