Strength in Community

A Local Leader Lab Q&A with Mia

“Coming together reminds us that even in these darkest of times, our voices are still needed and important.”

What inspired you to get involved with the Local Leader Lab?

At some point in my life, I would love to run for office. But I don’t know where or what that would look like. It’s a very chaotic time right now all around the country, and it can feel helpless. For a lot of us, we’ve been involved in advocacy in different forms for a number of years, but it feels like we can’t move the needle on things right now.

The Local Leader Lab has been a really great way for us to feel a sense of purpose again, and focus on a small issue in our community that we can act on right now.

What have you learned from the other women in the Lab?

I’m one of the younger ones, as a recent grad, so it’s been really cool to see people’s different work experience and what they do in their daily life. That’s been really inspiring for me as well, just to feel that community The women in my cohort are brilliant.

Despite feeling a little defeated about what’s going on in our country right now, when we’re able to come together and focus on our small local issues, it really reminds us of why we’re doing what we’re doing. And the possibility for change that we can make.

Politics has obviously long been a male-dominated field, so it’s reassuring to know that all of us women here want to make a difference and that some of us are ready to take that next step and run for office.

What has helped you feel more motivated as you’ve moved through the Lab?

Getting to interact with other women who are passionate about issues and want to make a difference has been really helpful for me. Before we started, the idea of choosing a project and seeing it through was really daunting, but when we’re all sharing our different ideas, it’s really helpful and inspiring and makes it feel a lot more possible. Knowing that there are other people that relate to me really has been a nice experience.

I took a step back earlier in this year, because it felt like, what’s the point, with everything going just completely sideways? But even in the first session, having a shared purpose reminded us that even in these darkest of times, our voices are still needed and important.