Fellowship Reflection: Evolving Understandings of Leadership

The Fellowship has profoundly reshaped how I understand and practice leadership. In the beginning, I often equated leadership with action—programs launched, communities served, or goals achieved. But over time, I’ve come to recognize that leadership is not a checklist or a destination. It is a way of being—rooted in presence, relationship, and deep inner alignment. This shift has allowed me to lead with more clarity, humility, and wholeness.

One of the most transformative aspects of the Fellowship has been the space it created for creativity, reflection, and deep thinking—the kind of unscheduled, non-productive time that our fast-paced culture often undervalues. I learned that slowing down isn’t a weakness or a retreat from leadership; it’s an essential part of it. In these quieter moments—writing daily, walking without purpose, sitting in stillness—I’ve encountered some of my most meaningful insights. I’ve reconnected with my inner voice, allowing space for imagination, storytelling, and visioning beyond urgency. The Fellowship gave me permission to pause, and in doing so, it sharpened my ability to do deep work—the kind that plants seeds for lasting change.

In January, I was selected for and began the Creative Nonfiction Year-Long Writing Fellowship with Carolyn Holbrook—a program through the Loft Literary Center that I envisioned and wrote about in my original Bush Fellowship application nearly three years ago. This milestone has marked a return to something deeply personal: I am spending time researching, reflecting, and writing. I recently completed a chapter and shared it with my cohort for feedback—an act that required vulnerability and trust. Leadership, I’ve learned, demands space—space to create, to be seen, and to connect. It requires us to slow down enough to hear ourselves and to invite others into that process with honesty and care.

Leadership has also taken on new meaning within the context of my family and intergenerational learning and healing. This past year, I had the privilege of taking my entire family to Spain for two weeks—a trip made possible by the boldness and resources of the Fellowship. This wasn’t just a vacation; it was a living, breathing act of leadership. Traveling together, navigating a bilingual environment, training at the Barça Football Academy, learning alongside youth and families from across the U.S. and Spain, and immersing ourselves in a new culture opened up space for connection, joy, and healing. It reminded me that leadership at home—how we show up for our loved ones, how we model curiosity, courage, and care—is just as important as any public-facing role. Especially as a parent and a partner, I’ve come to see leadership as deeply relational. It means holding space for growth across generations and recognizing that our families are often the first communities where transformation begins.

Finally, I’ve come to understand that leadership is not something we “arrive” at. It’s not a title or a moment of external validation. Through my participation in the Teach For All Inner Leadership for System Change Fellowship, I’ve developed a deeper discipline—one that centers self-awareness, embodiment, and reflection. This experience has affirmed that in order to change systems, we must also commit to transforming ourselves. Our minds, hearts, and bodies are the first systems we are called to steward. When we tend to our inner world—when we understand what we need, how we connect, how we heal and grow—we expand what’s possible in our work with others. Inner leadership is not separate from system change; it is the foundation of it. And it’s this inner clarity that continues to guide how I move through the world—not with urgency, but with intention.