Organizer Spotlights

This week's organizer spotlight features Susan Butler-Graham, an organizer with Mothers Out Front (and participant in the 2021 virtual WiLD Academy): 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? I've learned to ask for help. Contrary to what I learned growing up, no one is expected to do this work alone. In fact, it's impossible to do alone. Being an organizing leader means bringing the difficulties and decisions to the rest of the team, and solving the problems together. That's both freeing and empowering. It's not easy for me to ask for help, but it's [...]

This week's organizer spotlight features Samia Karimi, an organizer with ARTogether (and participant in the 2021 virtual WiLD Academy): 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? Perhaps the most frightening thing about leadership is diving into pure uncertainty. You have to get comfortable about making decisions without knowing all the facts, without knowing the right people, without knowing where you will end up, or without knowing whether the people you are trying to help may no longer be alive next month. These past few months, I have been diving in head first, along with [...]

This week's organizer spotlight features Lauren and Caleb Langworthy, farmers and organizers in western Wisconsin (and participants in the 2021 virtual WiLD Academy): 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? We’ve learned the importance of developing leadership capacity and intentionally delegating areas of responsibility by “falling off the bike.” It is easy to hold on to the responsibility and burden of an organizing project with good intentions—thinking that you’re protecting the time of others. However, the independent mindset that is ultimately at the root of these behaviors is detrimental to the act of organizing [...]

This week's organizer spotlight features Ashley Daniels, an organizer with the Carolina Federation (and participant in the 2021 virtual WiLD Academy): 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? I've learned (repeatedly) that the fissures and deep disrepair experienced in organizing is 9 times out of 10 caused by isolation. The times that I've felt inadequate or unbelonging to a movement was because, in isolation, I had begun to create stories about how others might be assessing me. Likewise, the times that I've connected with people who had been removed from the group, they were [...]

This week's organizer spotlight features Dreama Caldwell, Executive Co-Director at Down Home NC: 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? I have learned the importance of trying again after the fall, using the lessons from before to keep me from making the same mistakes. I am not afraid to own mistakes, be incorrect, admit to giving incorrect advice, or make choices that can be seen as failure. I understand that failure is just a lesson and success occurs when the lessons are applied. It is all a part of growing. It also shows courage [...]

This week's organizer spotlight features Maya Bueso, a student organizer with Our Future Our Fight. 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? “Falling off the bike” to me personally is a learning experience to later reflect on and better myself in the skill I’m trying to learn. As much as it is stressful to “fall,” I’ve started to take it as a learning opportunity to learn what to do better the next time I “ride” my bike. New skills take lots of time to perfect, and that’s why it’s totally okay to have those [...]

This week's organizer spotlight features Aaron Jamal, an organizer with Carolina Federation: 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? I’ve fallen off the bike many times in my 11 years of organizing, and have learned a few lessons along the way: joyful discipline is a precondition for victory and long term commitment. Leadership is as much about your own development as it is about someone whose leadership you are deeply invested in. 2) What sustains you? Where do you get the energy to keep going? I have sustained myself through a revolutionary politic of [...]

This week's organizer spotlight features Laura Abellera, an organizer with Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT): Photo Credit: Blessing Opeyemi Photography 1) What have you learned from “falling off the bike” as a leader? It's important for organizers (especially youth organizers) to know that working in the realm of social justice requires constant learning, growth, humility, and resilience. Unsurprisingly, I have learned SO much from the young people that I get to share space with and they are my motivator to keep challenging myself to be a better human being. I think the biggest thing I've learned is to challenge [...]

This week's organizer spotlight features Lisa Jones, the lead organizer with Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH): 1) What did you learn from the challenges of being an organizer in 2020? I would have never thought organizing could be done by distance but, in some circles, it can be done. For those of us with computers and access to the internet, it was not difficult to make the shift to virtual. In this virtual organizing environment, it was clear that having technology is a barrier and makes it difficult in organizing those most impacted by systemic racism. 2) What [...]

This week's organizer spotlight features Anna Dvorak, a labor and political organizer: 1) What did you learn from the challenges of being an organizer in 2020? While we've experienced so much trauma and loss over the past year, I've learned the importance of giving myself grace and have tried to re-focus my mind towards gratitude as often as I can. I'm extremely grateful for all of the new connections I've made, the mutual aid programs I've been a part of and the new hobbies I've been able to take up during the past year. 2) What sustains you? Where do [...]