A few weeks ago I attended a Young Women’s Leadership Summit. One of the first guest speakers to present at the conference was named Kim Katrin Milan. From the minute she began her presentation I was hooked. She wasn’t saying anything radically new but it was how she was saying it. It was as if I was just chatting with my friend over a glass of wine; so comfortable and so real. She was able to reframe what I already knew in a way that resonated with me deeply. Here are just a few of the amazing things she helped me understand about leadership, expertise and community…
As a huge advocate for alternative and community education, Kim questions who gets to hold and disseminate knowledge. This was not only apparent in her own struggles with conventional education, but in the way she decides to spread knowledge. Instead of citing scholars or famous feminists, she cites her friends and folks in her own community and all her presentations are free and easily accessible; reminding us that colonial institutions are not the only place that education happens.
Kim is heavily invested in redefining what expertise can look like. She asks: “How is it that we the experiencers are the authority on nothing?” She questions “objectivity” for meeting the needs of only one type of person (male, white, middle class, straight, able-bodied etc.). Instead she advocates for subjectivity, emotion and life experience as valid and logical forms of knowledge and powerful motivations for change. By just owning our experiences and showing up as we are makes us leaders in our own lives.
But to expand what it means to be educated, skilled or experts we must listen to others, and allow them to have the capacity to teach and learn. It is our duty as leaders to learn from others and become better allies every day, and not in ways that are comfortable or easy but in ways that are scary and difficult. Remember if it doesn’t scare the shit out of you, you’re doing it wrong!
Kim points out that we need each other in leadership more than anything. This means redefining old understandings of leadership as individualistic and power-driven. We often believe we don’t need others, that we are independent and that leadership most of all is founded on these notions. But Kim confronts capitalism by pointing out how we are constantly benefitting from the labor of people who build this space so that we can access it and feel independent. We often forget that women are doing the work that makes our “leadership” possible.
So let’s re-think what we mean by leadership. Leadership is not about standing on stage; it’s not about fighting the fight alone, or changing the world with one fell swoop. It’s about those small, seemingly insignificant moments where you affect someone’s path. It’s telling your friend they CAN and WILL be a rad feminist female filmmaker instead of saying they can’t, or it’s too hard, or they won’t make it. These so-called minute moments create a ripple effect. Leadership is impossible without community and collaboration and this starts with listening and a willingness to understand and truly appreciate otherness.
To all the amazing leaders out there, whatever shape or size – I will leave you with this final thought from Kim: Trust yourself, trust your journey, trust your intuition. Merci!
Kim Katrin Milan has been a grassroots community educator since she was 17 years old. The People Project, a movement of queer and trans folks of color and our allies, committed to individual and community empowerment through alternative education, activism, and collaboration.
To learn more about the amazing work Kim does or to access her free materials and presentations visit her website: http://kimkatrincrosby.squarespace.com/