Aboriginal - Girls Action Foundation

young woman should be the master of her own ship, the guide down her own yellowbrick
road, and the ruler of her own body. I believe that this, the leadership of oneself,
is the most precious because it is often the most difficult to cultivate. In comparison,
the ability to sway the minds of the general public as an elected official is easy; all you
need to be is well-versed in the art of rhetoric with a gleaming toothy smile. But to lead
oneself away from the societal norms that stifle more than they normalize causes many
to fall right back in line and follow. So, as young women, we must remember that:
Leadership is a calm voice that is ripe with self-assuredness; it is never boastful or
cocky and it is always willing to ask for help.
Leadership is a set of starry-eyes because it’s impossible to be too optimistic.
Leadership is a pair of strong hands that never let go of the potential you will always
possess.
Leadership is a quick pace away from those who will try to lead you down the wrong
path.
Leadership is standing up for yourself and the things that you love and never being
afraid to fall because remember, if you fall, those strong hands will pick you right
back up again.
Quite simply, leadership is the love child of knowing who you are and being proud of who
you are. Our faces are all different but their origins shouldn’t separate us because as young
women we’ve all tasted defeat and had tears stream down our beat-red cheeks; we need
to remember that those tears flowed away freely and were left behind. But the memories
of all the smiles and laughter lay etched just beneath our skin and we need to promise
ourselves that when the day comes and the lines of our lives shine through our skin that
we won’t try to cover them up. We need to remember that as women we disappear in
reverse when we start to strip away our own beauty and try to reflect the supposed ideal
of femininity that is ever-beckoning for us to come hither. The ideal requires us to pluck
and blush the unwanted away - that ideal isn’t real. But the flesh of our faces, the sound
of our voices and the steps that our feet can take will surely lead us away from what we’re
supposed to make of ourselves and lead us down the path we want to take for ourselves
- if we find the courage to just let them. Thus, to me, leadership is finding the root of who
you are and letting it blossom and grow into something remarkable.
Kristen Bos
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