When I was younger I thought a great leader was someone loud and scary in a board meeting. Today I realize that the most efficient and effective leaders are ones who learn from others and pay attention to the needs of the team. I want to be a great leader and I've taken the time to work on my communication and people skills at every opportunity I've had. My greatest strength in life is not outshining everyone and proving to higher ups I'm better than others, it's finding commonalieites in everyone. I set out on new professional and academic adventures with he thought "I know I can find something I have in common with this person," and so far I've usually been right. In my title so far, I'm a program manager at Florida International University and I have the amazing opportunity to connect public policy students to the Miami community by bringing in speakers with leadership experience and allowing them to share their expertise and tools of the trade. It feels good to do my part in trying to pay knowledge forward. In my experience, the best leaders are the ones that lead by learning. It's nice to highlight unconventional leaders or people who have honed in on leadership in their own way. I can relate because I was always the black sheep in class and stood out by being "weird." Highlighting the "weird" ways to lead an organization feels like a full-circle moment.