Knowing You Belong In the Room
Earlier this year, I presented at the CUNY Women’s Leadership Conference and attended a dinner for the presenters. Initially, I thought it would be intimate, but once I entered the ballroom it had approximately 300 women. You can check out my post on LinkedIn here or if you want pictures click here to view my reel on Instagram.
When I sat down and looked around at the chandelier lights, I instantly recognized some of the phenomenal women whose faces I only saw in Zoom squares. In this moment, I said to myself quietly, ‘Kersha you beling in this room.” began to list some of the reasons in my head for the overwhelming amount of gratitude I was experiencing. I was thankful for being able to participate in the conference, attend this live event, grateful for those who have supported my journey and those that continue to support me and most importantly how God has allowed me to come this far and no longer do I shrink back and dim my light in my career.
The day before my colleague and I presented on the topic “Who Are Your Career Champions?” In my section of the presentation, I listed reasons why someone would want a career champion and one of them was because you deserve it. My explanation is simple, you have to own your career. When you own your career, you take charge and make intentional decisions to move ahead in your career. Part of this is selecting and connecting with people that genuinely want to be part of your career journey and invest in you. Some of them will be your sponsors, mentors, advocates and even be your allies. The broad term for these individuals are career champions.
When you have people cheering for you, your reputation will precede you in spaces you never thought possible. The picture above was the room I entered that I did not know existed until that day. I am beyond thankful for the individual or individuals who spoke my name.
So my question to you is, what room do you belong in and how are you going to get there? You can listen to the presentation by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc2F5uDfeE1PGyS7ZauzU43-3tmLzqIli
