Sassy Rebellion Week 5 - Stepping Up to the Plate
Stepping Up to the Plate
Tech Nahla Ghee has been a dedicated member of Sasstopia Women in Tech (SWIT) for the past two years. During this time, she has served on various committees and has led the “Tech Tools You Can Use” Committee for the past year. Nahla loves leading this committee because she’s the queen of new gadgets and tech tools, but she also recognizes that not every new software or tool is worth using.
There is significant drama surrounding the leadership of SWIT. The all-volunteer board is divided as half of the elected women have formed a “mean girl” clique, isolating other board members from major decisions. Many are preparing to transition out of their leadership roles, including the SWIT President, Naquayla—the queen of mean. Leading the “Tech Tools You Can Use” Committee keeps Nahla relatively isolated from the drama, though she remains aware of it.
SWIT has initiated the nomination process to elect new board members and a new board president. The general consensus is that Naquayla’s right-hand woman, Claire, will be the heir-apparent to become president because they plan to pressure members into voting for her. Claire is also the Treasurer of SWIT, making her a natural choice for Naquayla. Additionally, Naquayla believes she can lead through Claire by having her elected as president, confident that Claire will secure enough votes to win. However, the other half of the board members desires a completely different direction. While none are eager to lead the organization through what is expected to be a chaotic transition, they believe nominating new board members and electing a president from outside the current board is the fresh start SWIT needs.
Danica, the Vice President of SWIT and Nahla’s friend, jokingly suggested nominating Nahla to the board and as president. Nahla laughed it off, stating she didn’t want to get involved in the mess and drama, especially since she had only been involved for two years and felt others were more deserving. Danica disagreed, highlighting how hard Nahla had worked over the past two years to bring useful tools to the organization to aid their work and careers. Believing it was a no-brainer, Danica secretly nominated Nahla to both the board and as board president.
A week after her conversation with Danica, Nahla ran into Danita at Sasstopia Foods. Danita, also a SWIT board member and part of the “mean girl” clique, snarkily mentioned hearing about Nahla’s nomination for the board and as SWIT’s next president. Nahla was genuinely shocked, but Danita wasn’t convinced, suspecting Nahla was pretending to be humble. Danita assured her that she didn’t need to worry because Claire was a shoo-in to take Naquayla’s place. Concerned, Nahla called Danica to confirm the nomination. Danica expressed her desire to see SWIT get back on track to providing a supportive community for local women in tech, noting that Nahla was new enough not to be jaded and had worked hard to build the committee from scratch—exactly the type of leader they needed.
Flattered but uncertain, Nahla needed time to reflect on whether she was up for the task and felt she had the capacity to lead.
Later that day, Nahla met up with the Motley Crew to discuss her dilemma. They were all excited about the opportunity, but Nahla was hesitant. They suggested creating a pros and cons list for joining the board and getting elected as president. Nahla had no issue with being on the board but was reluctant about the presidency due to the existing dysfunction.
After making the pros and cons list, Nahla left the Motley Crew feeling more confused than ever. She already had enough on her plate, didn’t want to give up her committee work, and was apprehensive about dealing with backlash from the mean girls and their allies. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be the person to unite everyone and usher in a new era for SWIT. Besides, getting elected seemed like a long shot.
She turned her thoughts back to the workshop she was hosting in a few weeks with SWIT on artificial intelligence (AI). She felt she didn’t have time to entertain the possibilities of leading.
Do you think Nahla really wants to lead SWIT? Find out next week in Mirror, Mirror: Preparing for Real Talk.
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