Leadership is Not "One Size Fits All"

Leadership is Not “One Size Fits All” by Tori Glover

?Multiracial is defined as a person who has mixed ancestry of two or more races. Growing up, I remember how different my family looked from one another: one brown, one white, one with curly hair and blue eyes, one with red hair and green eyes. My family is the definition of diversity. However, all my life I have attended predominantly white schools. Despite this, I have had no problem with achieving success.

?But, as a Medical diagnostics student on the pre-med track with dreams of becoming a dermatologist that specializes in holistic care, I knew from a young age that the medical field is extremely competitive. As I traveled through most of my freshman and all of my sophomore year online due to COVID-19, it became tough for us pre-med students to get shadowing and internship experience, which is vital. When the time came around for me to register for spring class for sophomore year, I received an email from Blue Hen Success and the first few sentences of the email caught my full attention, “Are you trying to figure out how to get a job that allows you to be your authentic female self??Do you feel like no matter what you learn in the classroom, you still feel unprepared for the work world? Do you feel like you could use more examples of successful women as role models? Do you want to connect with other female students that have similar experiences to yours?” The last line really spoke to me because a few weeks before I received this email, I had a conversation with my mother about how I wish I knew more females who were on the same path as me. This email was fate and little did I know that my view on leadership would forever change. After I read through the whole email, I immediately signed up for the program, the ASCEND Student Program.

?As I sat through the first Ascend session, I learned that success is not defined as your net worth but that it is the difference between need and want. Success starts with believing in yourself, but also executing that need or want. My mother always told me that success does not happen overnight and that leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Ascend allowed me to build upon this testament and as I interacted with speakers, such as Nicole Jeter West, who spoke on how that glass ceiling for certain leaders is thicker to break through than others, I realized that leadership can never be “one size fits all.”

?As a woman of color at a predominately white institution, I never allowed myself to be a D & I quota that stayed quiet and never spoke her mind. But being a student leader is hard and sometimes you can forget to advocate for yourself. Ascend made me realize that it is important to have tough conversations and that you are your biggest advocate. As a business owner, I had to learn how to have tough conversations and how to invest in myself quickly. I started my business T-Skincare in 2018. T-Skincare is a customized organic skincare line that creates products for all skin types. My brand is that by being naturally you, you can improve your mind, body, and soul in the long run. I thrive when I am educating people about our largest organ: the skin. Ascend embraced my business and revealed that there are women leaders out there that love supporting other women.

?Tori Glover, University of Delaware student and ASCEND participant