A Conversation with Lead Catalyst Mashona Council
In order to shift culture, you have to be willing to bring your whole self. As a leader, knowing yourself, your team, and the organization is an important role. What does it mean to bring your whole self? We asked Catalyst Mashona Council, a seasoned facilitator and project lead for the Wallace Foundation.
"Your whole self is being able to acknowledge and recognize what your strengths and weaknesses are and having a heightened sense of self-awareness that you bring into whatever space you're in, which then allows you to express your needs, joys and discomforts in order to be fully present".
Mashona has found being in the consulting space, particularly coming off of the COVID pandemic, has allowed more people to lean into bringing their full selves, with the understanding that the present is all we have. Regarding the current state we all are in, she stated, "We can't control it; all we can do is be present in it and be responsive. This is what is and how you find full joy in the here and now". It was this thinking that allowed Mashona to settle into who she is as both a leader and a lover of nature; live off the land her family owns in Orange, Virginia during the summer of 2020, and still bring her best self as the lead Catalyst with the Wallace Foundation.
This month, HTI finished the last of four convenings of the Youth Arts Initiative learning community, a multi-year initiative funded by The Wallace Foundation, which supported Boys and Girls Clubs and the field of youth development in general in providing high-quality arts programming.
In the words of a Wallace member "HTI got everything right" and Mashona is especially pleased that during the work they were able to help the Wallace team see themselves as a part of the community, not just the holder of the community, which brought out a heightened sense of awareness, intentionality, trust-building, modeling, and culture change.
Mashona's Key Takeaways/Reflections:
- Having the resources to do the work and the value of the work and experiences as well as the understanding that it doesn't take a lot of resources to make a connection.
- How real energy is, working on projects and with people you enjoy working with, her strength as a leader, and her willingness to step up differently when needed.
Self Care Practices
For Mashona, self-care is her awareness of what she needs in the moment, which may be a nap because she's feeling irritable or taking the dog out for a walk to get some sun. Knowing all the things that bring her joy and peace and knowing in the moment what she needs has helped her to bring her whole self to the work she loves.
|