During my time as a Class Advisor for a leadership class, I had a moment of leadership that really stuck with me. One of my students was working for “Her Magazine” on campus. Her organization was putting on a fashion show for women at CU and she posted in the Presidents Leadership Class (PLC) group chat an invitation to invite all of us. However, some of the older PLC students responded to the message saying the “Her Magazine” was not inclusive for non-binary people. These comments started a conversation among the older students asking for accountability and cheering on those who called out the magazine. When I saw my student in person, I asked her about the group chat. This sparked a very emotional response from my student. She replied explaining how she felt very isolated and shamed for working for this magazine. She even commented the PLC did not feel like the inclusive organization it was supposed to be. In response, I offered to write the PLC professional staff a note about the incident to make sure she felt supported and listened to. I felt it was important for me to leverage my power with PLC to make sure she felt safe and accepted.

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This experience pulls strongly from a relational theory of leadership. As I have learned many times in my leadership journey, having a relationship with your constituents is one of the most powerful tools of leadership. Because I had a strong relationship with this student, she felt safe to confide in me. Because of this interaction, I believe I made her feel more included and supported in PLC. I believe that in this experience, I largely used my emotional intelligence skills to connect with the student, identify a problematic situation, and enforce a team of support for her.