Leadership and Those Who Inspire Us: An Interview with Jennifer Dawson By: Sanjana Nagi
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,”- William Shakespeare.
Words like this have inspired many great leaders of our time, and in truth, leadership is a highly valued skill in modern day society. Some leaders are born while others work hard to develop their skills and guide us to be our better selves. No matter the circumstance of their upbringing, our society could not function without the exceptional leaders we encounter in our day-to-day lives. For this paper, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Dawson, program coordinator of the Fashion Arts and Business program here at Humber College. Jennifer Dawson was born with natural leadership skills. As the eldest of six siblings, she was born to take charge and care for those around her. Jennifer was always driven by the letter her grandmother had written to her, stating she was very compassionate and can be anything she wants to. At the age of fourteen, she became a ballet teacher, once more thrusting her into a leadership role which she took in great stride. Observing, caring, and teaching for young students became a great passion in her life, a passion that has helped guide her through her role as a program coordinator. After starting at university, Jennifer became a student life advisor, helping new and arriving students reach their full potential and confide in her when needed. She helped them learn about themselves, their passions, wants, likes, and interests, helping them decide where to go once they finished with their studies. Following her first course at university, Jennifer attended teacher’s college in Australia for two years and has been teaching students in Canada for the last five years. Both home and abroad, Jennifer has had the opportunity to inspire people in every aspect of life. This previous summer, Jennifer was invited to Nepal to give a lecture at a seminar for female entrepreneurs. “I came up with some content for what a true leader is and a few activities to motivate staff,” said Jennifer. “As well as young entrepreneurs and this was very successful in Nepal and now the woman have designed their own leadership programs. For example, I introduced the term mentorship, which we have with FGI we have an annual FGI mentor dinner and the woman in Nepal are continuing to have mentorship and continuing to put together these workshops and leadership seminars.” Jennifer’s determination to help her students reach their potential has had a personal and profound impact on her as well. While she is an exceptional leader, Jennifer has dealt with some challenges in her journey. “A challenging part about being a leader is that not everyone is always wanting to play fair game with you,” said Jennifer. “Sometimes people challenge your authority or they challenge ideas or decisions and you need to keep a positive mindset and set the tone and set your expectation so that people will follow.” What advice does Jennifer have for those who are struggling to be a good leader? “I think first and foremost you need to always be yourself because people can detect when you are not being genuine,” said Jennifer. “Hopefully you have developed the leadership qualities such as someone whom people want to be around. A leader is someone that knows how to motivate and energize a group of individuals to their fullest ability.”