In Search Of Better...Leah Hager Cohen

"Our civic life is heavily marked—indeed, pocked—by debates in which each side is so certain of its position that any movement is effectively impossible. For that matter, debate—in its original sense of “to consider something, to deliberate”—is impossible. We wind up with so much sound and fury and nothing gained."

--Leah Hager Cohen, I Don't Know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance

#LeadershipTuesdays: Becoming An Effective Leader...Aja L. Brown

“I think every leader must possess vision and they absolutely have to have a heart of service. And in order to be an effective leader you have to mobilize other leaders around you.”

Aja L. Brown, Mayor, Compton, California, 2013 --

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. In this Leadership Tuesdays' article, we meet Aja Lena Brown, the youngest mayor of Compton, California to be elected. At 33 years old, she is the Chief Executive Officer of a city with a population of more than 96,000 people (2010 Census) and a total 2014/2015 budget of almost $53 million.

Although Compton has been notoriously known for gang violence and gangs including the Bloods and the Crips, the devastating 1992 Rodney King Riots, rappers like Ice Cube, and its most famous athletes--Venus and Serena Williams, the world of professional tennis' winningest sisters, Mayor Brown is on a path to change the image of her city. She was profiled in a 6/10/15 Forbes article on leadership, "Brewing Success One Cup Of Coffee At A Time",  by Don Yaeger in which she offered the quote listed above. This millennial is casting a new vision for Compton that includes a community rich in culture, family life, and low levels of unemployment. She told Forbes that,

"An effective leader is able to reach people in their natural environment and extract their experiences and knowledge about the issues that impact them.  By this, you can show that you care about people not just from words, but by spending time and making sure they have the resources that they need.”

Mayor Brown is doing just that and seeing results. According to the article, crime is down by 34 percent, unemployment has decreased by 5 percent and more than 1200 new jobs has been added. She is committed to making a positive change in her city by believing in its residents, staying connected to them by regularly meeting with them in informal "meet and greets", and casting a vision of a better future for all. We salute Mayor Brown and wish her and her city well!

To view today's article click here. For more information on Leadership Tuesdays or WOMEN AT LIBERTY, click here. 

Nona O.

Setting Our Priorities...Bell Hooks

“When we black people commit ourselves to living simply as a political action, as a way of breaking the stress caused by unrelenting hedonistic desire for material objects that are not needed for survival, or essential to well-being, we will not be talking about Ebonics. We will be out in the streets demanding that the public schools have enough teachers so that all kids, cross color, can read and write in standard English and in Spanish too.”

--Bell Hooks, Black Genius: African-American Solutions To African-American Problems

Leadership Tuesdays: Political Leadership That's For The People...Peggy Noonan

We must try again to be alive to what the people of our country really long for in our national life: forgiveness and grace, maturity and wisdom.

…Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls. 

-Peggy Noonan, Patriotic Grace: What It Is and Why We Need It Now