There's a Way!
By students in the Fall 2021 Women in Leadership Course at Florida State University
About Our Professor, Our Class and Us
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Our professor, Dr. Chanta Haywood, believes that where is there is a WiL (woman in leadership) there are endless possibilities. She should know. She is an author, grant writer, entrepreneur, mentor and former university dean, vice-provost and vice-president. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego in 1995.
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Dr. Haywood combined her experiences and taught one of the most dynamic classes we have ever taken here at Florida State. We read books, articles and case studies that addressed various challenges women in leadership face. She insisted that we did not just talk about problems, so we also created solutions and recommendations for some of the recurring issues we noticed throughout the semester.
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Believe it or not, she even had us read a children’s book called My Way Sally by Penelope C. Paine at the advice of another great woman leader, Doby Flowers, who was the first Black Homecoming Queen at FSU! This book was a part of Dr. Haywood's desire for us to get experience with developing and executing a vision. That is connected to how this blog was born. We had a vision for a site that would show readers our responses to the complexities involved in women in leadership.
We developed this motto: “Where there is a WiL (Woman in Leadership) there is a way.” Everything we did over the course of the semester was centered around this mission and vision.
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On this blog, you will see our reactions to My Way Sally and the other articles we read to see how it is relevant to the course. We wrote articles on areas that interested us about how women navigate leadership in various fields and industries. We wrote about women in the culinary field, the music industry, education, medicine, the home, fashion, politics and more.
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Finally, Dr. Haywood wanted us to see real examples of women who are daily responding to the very issues we were discussing in class. She brought in amazing speakers and required us to interview even more women. Collectively, we interacted with mothers who lead in the home, influential attorneys, former White House leaders, the President of American Medical Association, university leaders, owners of small businesses, regional sales representatives, high school principals, founders of non-profits, and so many more.
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We pulled all of work together here so that you can see the impact that this class had on us. Many of us have never written a blog before, but we wanted to share our thoughts and views anyway. We hope that you are inspired.
Our Vision
To create a culture shift that ushers women into leadership positions worldwide, recognizes their full value, and encourages them to actively change and disrupt the current landscape of leadership.
