Greetings Professor Tweed and Classmates,
My name is Nicole Dodd or Nikki for short. I am originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I am a senior majoring in Psychology and minoring in Women Studies. My hobbies are dancing, sketching and music. I like learning about how people interact and how our attitudes and actions not only influence our behaviors but those around us as well. While I’m not quite clear on my career path just yet, ideally I would like to continue to work with adolescents, especially teen girls and families in a non-profit setting. Before my college career, I never saw myself as a feminist but I think because a vast amount of people paint feminism in an adverse light that’s I want to dissect what feminism really is. When I got involved with the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP), I think that’s when I really encouraged me to pick up Women Studies as a minor. While I know that it is physically impossible for all who are taking WST courses to be involved with YWLP (in regards to the time slot) I think it’s a great opportunity to really put feminism in practice for young women and to diminish common stereotypes. Big issues or theories are unpacked in modern day age appropriate lessons, so that women know the difference between what we allow society to tell us versus what we really believe and act. Women’s leadership interests me due to the fact that there is a time line of history that corresponds to a sense of responsibility to take action within our daily lives as women. The majority of leadership I see today is mostly transactional, where individuals or organizations will trade a service for a reward or security. Usually one may be of a higher status than the other. I'm really interested in learning about transformational leadership, I have seen this done on campus between organizations and it can be quite inspiring. An organization other than YWLP that also inspired me would be the Black Female Development Circle. They do the best example of transformational leadership in my eyes. Walking in on first glance, you would not be able to tell which members of the organization hold titles, because the members are expected to perform and participate on goals and projects at the same level as the executive board. Their reasoning for this is to evoke individual human growth for their members which motivates members intrinsically. I would consider my leadership style similar to principles of transformational leadership, but my execution doesn't always get the same effect as I would like. I would really like to learn how to effectively lead in this sense or learn what factors contribute to this downfall. Additionally as we are expected to be challenged in this class, I hope that I can break out of my timid demeanor to be able to unpack and articulate some of the issues we will be discussing in class. I look forward to this Spring semester.
Sincerely,
Nikki
