Blog
What is leadership to me?
By Jordan Pluim
Being a leader to me means knowing who you are.
You start with being a leader of your own self and teaching people what you know.
And if you see someone who is not doing the right thing you step up to the plate and stop it. You help others in a respectful and kind way without hurting them or their feelings.
Leaders can make mistakes, it is ok. You learn from your mistakes! Sometimes it can be hard to be a leader, because sometimes you do not want to do all of the work and want to rest.
You have to learn how to be a leader and ask people and learn from other people about how to be a leader. You don’t want to follow someone else’s steps, you should be your own leader!
Leaders don’t just get to do whatever they want. They have to be respectful and supportive and listen to other people all of the time.
How have I learned to be a leader? By listening to myself, my thoughts and hopes and dreams and also by listening to everyone else.
Leaders have to ask lots of questions. Leaders don’t just lead, they learn all of the time from other people and learn how to support them in ways that they see fit.
Song of Myself
By Ian Cardamone
I celebrate myself, and sing myself.
O early morning mist,
Billowing over the mountaintops
Take me back to the small coastal town.
When life was nothing more than imagination
When creativity ran wild and dreams leapt off dunes yelling “geronimo!”
O young surf-boarder, skateboarder, trampoline jumper,
Revitalize in me a free spirit.
O racing cars,
Rushing near the bay to unknown destinations
Take me back to the small apartment near the highway
Where my heart beat faster than the zooming machines.
Grab my hand and let me know that everything will be alright.
O becoming sketcher, filmmaker, worrier,
Remind me how to live passionately.
O bright lights,
Blinding me from what is right in front of me
Take me forward to a vibrant future
Where I am free from all restrictions and belong.
Allow me three breaths
As deep as the dark blue ocean
As calming as the embrace of a loved one.
As fulfilling as the creation of art,
O actor, dancer, music maker,
Become a man and sing of me.
A junior in High School, Ian recounts pivotal moments throughout his life in the poem*. It reminds him to stay true to himself, even in the face of personal hardships and change. He encourages others to use art as a tool of self reflection as well because Ian has found it to be a useful way of “knowing oneself outside the distress of oppression”. His participation with Be Present began in 2006 when he was 3 and continues to this day.
*Inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem of the same name.
Nasrah Smith: A 35-Year Legacy of Black Women’s Leadership
My ancestral line on both sides of my family are Native American, West Indian and African- American, kind of mixed all together. I am a traditional midwife of 35+ years assisting with delivering babies in homes with parents making informed decisions on how and where they wanted to birth their babies.
I do remember 35 years ago attending my first Black and Female Conference at Spelman College in 1983. The plan was we would expect at least 100 or 150 Black women at the most. There were over 1,500 women from all over the world that came.
I remember the one question Lillie asked and that was “What has it been like for you as a Black woman?” and the room literally broke out in wailing and hollering sounds. At that time, there were no words to come before the pain of what it has been like for most of the Black women in the room that have held their voices in silence for so long.
We were asked beforehand to facilitate and watch the room to know who needed support once the question was asked. Being the numbers we expected were different than our actual attendance, we were all looking out for each other and we were all holding each other.
I see many sisters now and remember seeing their faces for the very first time during our many Black & Female and Sisters & Allies Retreats in the mountains of Dahlonega, GA.
My primary time was assisting with births and having babies myself – it was all a home-based activity. I never realized how my life early on affected how I always wanted to be alone most times, until I opened up a couple of places of my own that affected how I was in my silence.
I was in a self-help group of five sisters and we called ourselves, Wa da da tena (Sisters Again). We were the first group to be chartered as a self-help group in Atlanta, GA. During that time, we called the Be Present Empowerment Model the “process” and “self-help.” Now we look at the steps taken in the self-help process and we call it the “Be Present Empowerment Model.®”
When I came in from New York in 2005, I intentionally reconnected with Be Present so I could be focused. I am so excited to be a part of our 35-year Anniversary, honoring ourselves and our herstory. Celebration time come on!
This 35th Anniversary year marks the 5th year of the Black & Female Leadership Initiative and the completion of an 18-month Black & Female Leadership Institute. Institute participants and a diverse group of others in the Be Present network will be on the Leadership Team for the National Black & Female Leadership Conference, open to everyone, June 21-24 in Dahlonega, GA. Join us. In addition, we invite you to consider making a tax-deductible contribution to our Conference Scholarship Fund in appreciation for the 35-year legacy of Black Women’s leadership.
Nasrah has been part of the Be Present network for our entire 35 year history. She has been part of an early (and present) Be Present Support Group, is Secretary of the Board, and has been a facilitator at numerous trainings. She is a traditional midwife and trains and mentors midwives.
LaVerne A. Robinson: A 35-Year Legacy of Black Women’s Leadership
In 1986 I was a 33-year-old single parent and grandparent who was stressed out and emotionally and mentally in a crisis. I knew something fundamentally had altered me and I had to do something. Two significant life experiences caused my heart to hurt, be filled with disappointment and rage to the point of despair: My oldest daughter repeated the teenage pregnant cycle, birthing my first granddaughter. I walked off my job where I had personally experienced racism in the workplace. Now I had the increased responsibility of economically and emotionally supporting and nurturing three daughters and one granddaughter without a clue on how I was going to be able to provide all that they needed, with no job and no income.
I shut down emotionally and lost my voice. Thank God I had a cousin who noticed something had happened to me because I was acting different. She invited me and paid my registration fee to attend a retreat at Marin Headlands Institute in Sausalito CA, with all Black women, something she thought would help me. I took a huge risk – left my daughters and granddaughter for the first time and charged a bus ticket hoping it would be approved on an over the limit credit card. Even though I had emotionally shut down, I was silently praying and seeking help and a little voice inside of me said “go.”
May of 1986, in walks LaVerne to a room of all Black women, my first Black & Female: What Is the Reality? Retreat. I did not know what to think and I certainly did not trust myself or this room of Black women because I didn’t know any of them and past relationships taught me not to trust. The evening began, and Lillie Allen asked the question: What is your life really like as a Black woman? (which to me meant, what was really happening in my life). Oh my God, it was the first time someone cared to ask how I really was doing and the question went straight to my heart and spirit. The next thing I know I was wailing, crying, and hollering along with a room of Black women. I was accepted as the person I am, a Black woman and I was able to pour out all my stories no one else had ever listened to. Finally, someone consciously listened to me and cared about me, about who I was without any judgment or advice. For the first time in years, I felt like LaVerne again. For two and a half days, I poured out the stories of my life as a Black woman. I fell back in love with myself and I fell back in love with my Black sisters. I walked out of that Retreat a transformed woman. My mind was clear, my voice emerged, and I began to talk fluently. My heart felt much lighter because the rage, disappointment and anger lifted, releasing the despair. The “process” I had experienced at that Retreat, later called the Be Present Empowerment Model changed my life.
After that weekend Retreat, I was inspired to always want to “live” in the present moment, become a leader, an activist and community organizer. I committed to myself that I would always be a leader and part of my leadership included providing an opportunity for my family and all human beings to experience what I had experienced —The Be Present Empowerment Model (BPEM). At that Retreat, I began to experience, learn and practice Realm 1 of the BPEM, Know Myself Outside the Distress of Oppression and Realm 2, of the BPEM, Listen in a Conscious and Present State. This opened my sight and vision and I began to see the endless possibilities of opportunities for me as a Black woman and my family. Now, I knew my life dreams were possible!
I returned to my community and became founder of the Sacramento, CA chapter of the National Black Women’s Health Project, the initial organization that held the first Black & Female workshop. I worked there for four years, organizing Black women around their health. In 1991, I decided I wanted to continue being a leader, activist, organizer and bring the BPEM to the wider world. So, I moved to Atlanta, GA and in 1992, I sat with a diverse group of women to help co-found Be Present, Inc. Together we co-created a Vision Statement that lives today.
I have been an avid activist, passionate organizer and tenacious leader inside the building of the Be Present, Inc. movement/community for the last 26 years of my 32 year, herstory. Currently, I am a fulltime volunteer, Treasurer, member of the Atlanta Sisters & Allies Leadership Project, the Black and Female Leadership Team of the first Black and Female Leadership Institute, Vision Based Social Change Fund Development Team, and in a peer-led Be Present Support Group. In addition, I am a former member of the Board of Directors, Board Development Committee and staff as a National Network Leadership Trainer.
I am a passionate, Black woman with a tenacious heart, grounded soul, big Spirit and I get to “consciously live my life in this reality.” Hallelujah! I know I am Blessed and humbly grateful that I have been able to Build Effective Relationships and Sustain True Alliances, Realm 3 of the BPEM with other Black women for 32 years and part of a diverse, multigenerational group of wonderful human beings for 26 years. Together we have been shifting the world to be just, fair and equal for all, starting first with ourselves.
A Vision and Dream Come True!
This 35th Anniversary year marks the 5th year of the Black & Female Leadership Initiative and the completion of an 18-month Black & Female Leadership Institute. Institute participants and a diverse group of others in the Be Present network will be on the Leadership Team for the National Black & Female Leadership Conference, open to everyone, June 21-24 in Dahlonega, GA. Join us. In addition, we invite you to consider making a tax-deductible contribution to our Conference Scholarship Fund in appreciation for the 35-year legacy of Black Women’s leadership.
LaVerne is a passionate Black woman with a tenacious heart, grounded soul, big Spirit and I get to “consciously live my life in this reality.” Hallelujah! She has been both on Staff and a Volunteer of Be Present, Inc. for 32 years.
Lillie Pearl Allen: A 35-Year Legacy of Black Women’s Leadership
Thirty-five years ago, in 1983, Lillie Pearl Allen led the Black & Female: What is the Reality workshop at the first Black Women’s Health Conference. Over a thousand Black women and girls participated in this workshop. This gathering marked the beginning of a social movement, created a legacy of leadership for justice that is inclusive of all people, and laid the foundation for the 1992 incorporation of Be Present, Inc.
Be Present is in the 5th year of our Black & Female Leadership Initiative that addresses both the lack and, too often, distortion of the voices and visibility of Black women’s leadership in the literature, historical record and dialogue on social justice movement-building. It also highlights the process as well as the achievements of using a collective leadership approach in creating a diverse national network of activists successfully moving social justice agendas in the United States.
The June 21-24 National Black & Female Leadership Conference, open to everyone and held in Dahlonega, GA, will highlight Black Women’s leadership in building inclusive movements for social justice.
This blog is the first in a series highlighting the Black Women who laid the foundation for Be Present, Inc., beginning at the beginning, with Lillie Pearl Allen:
My community activism emerged over 40 years ago from my own history and experiences. I was searching for the answers to the following questions: “How do I get to know the fullness of who I am? Not just someone’s best friend, caring mother or daughter of migrant farm workers. How do I thrive in this world and not just survive while living in a culture where people make assumptions about who I am based on my race, my gender, my class?”<
I understood that my personal well being is united to a collective commitment to dismantle all forms of oppression. I wanted to live beyond the constrictions of oppression and I wanted other people to live in that way, too. I needed to have relationships with other Black people that were not based on our hurt, but celebrated all of who we were. And I wanted to build partnerships with White people that were not based on distrust or guilt, but emerged from our conscious understanding and true action. Today I am motivated by the knowing that it is possible to live in the present moment without barrier or hesitation from any past or present oppression; and that collective action that truly reflects the diversity of our communities is possible.
My enduring passion and work is about connecting, growing and learning together. I like working with people committed to building authentic relationships and sharing our collective knowledge so that we may accelerate the shift for social justice. I enjoy hearing and sharing experiences about our lives and initiatives, challenges and opportunities; and developing partnerships to move forward on the identified strategies and actions – all in the context of love and wisdom. My life is testimony to the fact that change is possible and that it’s sustainable. As President Obama has stated, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
The social justice sector is on the verge of major change. We are in the midst of a significant transfer of leadership from one generation to another. Organizations striving to increase their effectiveness are searching for organizational practices on how to better partner with each other, as well as to develop sustainable solutions and alliances where cooperation and equity thrive. Shifting the political agenda and expanding the scope of social justice to be more participatory rests on how authentically we organize and work together across issues and constituencies. Building power depends on our collective abilities to unite a multitude of sectors and bring together coalitions, networks, and progressive funders at the local, state, and national levels.
I believe that creating partnerships that reflect values of mutual respect, trust, and authentic partnership is not only the right thing to do, it is critical for a stronger and more effective social justice movement. In the 35+ years that I have been doing this work, I have seen how the issues of race, gender, class, and power are woven through the fabric of our personal relationships, workplaces, organizations, and communities, and continue to have a critical impact on people’s lives. I believe that in order to create peace and justice for all people, it is all our responsibility to critically examine the impact of these interconnected issues. It is from this understanding that we can build better leadership models and create healthier systems that sustain us. We cannot leave ourselves out of the dynamic process of creating and sustaining change; we are and must recognize ourselves as a part of what is and must be changed. When we do, we can take responsibility and model a new way to foster tolerance, promote peace, and work toward social and economic justice.
The transformative leadership model that I created and has been used throughout the country – the Be Present Empowerment Model® – teaches how to create authentic and honest connection between individuals, between individuals and their organization, and between organizations and their coalition partners. It provides a comprehensive and expansive orientation to leadership development, one that is grounded in social justice principles and values. Through this work people are better able to see the connections between self-transformation and social transformation. As a result they become more effective in thinking creatively, collaborating with others, dealing positively with challenging issues, and creating lasting partnerships.
Lillie Pearl Allen, MPH, is the founder of Be Present, Inc. and has the staff position of Creatrix of Play. She lives in Atlanta, GA with her wife Kate of 35+ years, three grown children, 15 grandchildren and 5 great‐grandchildren.
