I am going to start with a question… Am I a leader? Truth be told, I do not really consider myself a leader and that should be the first step to actually become one: to acknowledge your leadership. However, I do see myself as a future leader; a leader in progress, for I see everything as a process. After all, I am getting close to finishing my college teaching degree and I have experience tutoring, so I should start seeing myself as a role model, a mentor, and an educator because that is what I am for the few students that I have encountered during my teacher training. If I don’t set my mind to it, how will I ever become a true leader? That is something important to take into consideration as leadership advice: set your mind to it, own it, and work hard to earn it.

Building a career as an educator is my goal in life... And here I am following my own path to accomplish that goal step by step. As I'm writing this piece, I'm making the decision to follow my own advice. From now on I will call myself an educator, and a leader.

When I think about my life and my background, there is nothing about it that I find groundbreaking enough to be written in an autobiography. I was a middle-class white girl from Argentina. Today I am an upper middle-class, privileged young woman who has been lucky enough to have a college education and had the chance to travel and see the world. My story is not very different from many other girls of my age and social circle, and I cannot say that I have overcome many obstacles in my life. I am a lucky girl, that I know for sure. I do realize my privilege and the opportunities that come with it. As a result, it is hard for me to think about the challenges I've encountered without comparing my experiences to others' who have had a tougher life. However, I am telling my story – a story that might be seen as ordinary – but a story that is also somehow relatable and inspiring. That is what makes it extraordinary – because every life story is extraordinary.

"You don't have to be the best, but you have to be passionate about it, because if you love what you do, you will do your best."

My story begins like many other stories. For me, my mother was my leader. I looked up to her because I thought she could do anything. I grew up watching her work hard as a veterinarian and a college professor while doing research to get a PhD and also raising three children during a time where sharing house chores between spouses wasn't really a thing. Now that I'm a grown up, I realize how hard it was for her, but at the time I could only see her as invincible. She was my hero… I didn't know that she was putting so much weight on her shoulders. I didn't know that was unfair. I'm fortunate to have had such a strong woman as a role model. I owe her so much and I appreciate everything she has taught me. I'm just like her in many ways – sometimes even in undesirable aspects. The one thing I'm grateful for is that she never forced me to follow in her footsteps. She has always encouraged me to chart my own path in life. Even though she was strict and would push me to do well in academics, she would never force me to do anything that she knew I didn't like because she knew that the only way for me to be successful was to love what I was doing. My mom's motto was: “You don't have to be the best, but you have to be passionate about it, because if you love what you do, you will do your best.” That motto stuck with me and it has kept me going through my life, especially during college.

As a result, I have decided to follow my mother's advice, and I chose a career path that might not be the most profitable or prestigious (especially in the Argentinean educational system) but is definitely something I'm passionate about and proud of. I chose to become a Spanish and Literature professor. How did I know this was the right choice for me? That is where my leadership journey truly starts…

I can recall two life-changing moments in my life. Moments that made me reconsider who I was, what I wanted, and that showed me the way to where I needed to go. One of those moments, a milestone in my life, was my exchange year in the Netherlands when I was in high school. At a young age, I had decided that I wanted to live and study for eleven months in a country very far away and very different from my own. I took a chance and traveled to a foreign country all by myself to live the most frightening (yet challenging and exciting) adventure of my whole life. I was so young and brave, and I learned a lot from that experience. When I was living abroad, I learned to manage by myself in unknown cities. I learned Dutch and I perfected my English. I met a lot of interesting people and I also spent a lot of time alone with my thoughts. That was when I found myself and realized what I was meant to be. It had been right in front of me since the beginning. I wanted to learn more about languages, art, cultures, and literature and I wanted to teach about it.

Before going on exchange, I didn't know what degree to follow after high school. So right after I came back home and finished school, I started college to get a teaching degree in Spanish and Literature, and I loved it. I knew it was the right choice from the very beginning. But after going through my fourth year (junior year) I found myself at a crossroads. I had to pick a major. I had to decide whether I wanted to do linguistics or literature, I had to start looking for an internship or a job to gain experience. But I was lost. I did not know what to do. This is when the second big strike came: the pandemic started.

The pandemic was a big deal for everyone. It was rough, it was dreadful and scary, and it changed us in many ways. During the pandemic, I developed anxiety issues. It was something that I had been living with but that I didn't acknowledge as a problem until I talked about it with my therapist. It's not severe, but it can get bad sometimes and I still struggle with it; I'm learning how to deal with it. As my therapist suggested, I had to allow myself to take it easy that first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020, I didn't strive to excel in school; I just calmed down for a while and let myself go with the flow, for the sake of my mental health. It helped a lot. After that year, I continued studying and I learned to master virtual lessons, not only as a student but also as a teacher.

2021 was a better year for me – a great year, in fact. I was doing great in school, I had controlled my anxiety, and I started my first job as an online Spanish tutor. After all I had been through the previous year, I found out what my dream job was. I wanted to teach Spanish as a second language. After teaching kids and adults for a couple months, I proved to myself that I was good at teaching and that was my true vocation. I enjoy teaching so much and I love seeing progress in my students. I found my true passion and I'm following the right path to be exactly what I want to be in the future. I can picture the future “Pilar” as an educator and a leader to my students, and that makes me feel proud because I have taken the opportunities I have been given and I have also created new opportunities for me to grow. Another useful piece of advice that I have learned is that being a leader is often about finding the silver lining in adversity and taking every situation you come across as a learning opportunity. Sometimes the opportunities are right there and you have to take them and make the most of them, but other times you will have to go seek opportunities on your own. Being a good leader is not about being wise; it is about being eager to learn and having a craving for new learning experiences because the way to acquire wisdom is through experiences you dare to seek.

"Being a leader is often about finding the silver lining in every occasion and taking every situation you come across as a learning opportunity. "

That is my story. Perhaps it is not astonishing movie material, but it is true and it is relatable and, after all, that is what matters. I didn't have to go through many difficulties in my life, but when I did I learned how to face them and how to gain experience from challenging scenarios. I thank my parents for that. They made a huge effort so I could have a good life and a good education, and I have learned a lot through their example. They taught me to be hardworking, persistent and determined. They also taught me to be humble and thoughtful to others. From my perspective and my experience, the best characteristic of a leader is empathy.

Teaching is all about being empathetic. I dream of the day I get to be the teacher who has made a positive impact on her students. As I always say whenever people belittle the teaching profession: as long as I can make a difference for one student in my class through my work, I will be satisfied.

The most important lesson I learned about leadership is that it is necessary to know your own limits as well as being driven and proactive. A good leader must be able to notice when it's better to take a break and get some perspective. This is applicable individually, but also in groups and teams. When it comes to teaching, a good teacher should be trained to recognize their students' limitations and be respectful of others' learning times and capacities. There's no point in trying to be productive when you are in a bad place mentally and emotionally. A good leader in the classroom must care about others’ wellness, and caring about mental health is key in promoting meaningful learning. This is something I could only know after going through rough patches regarding my mental health. After experiencing this firsthand I can now utilize what I've learned from bad experiences to help others.

"From my perspective and experience, the best characteristic of a leader is empathy."

The story about my development as a leader may seem too autobiographical; it might even be seen as personalistic. However, I believe it is relevant to highlight how our personal growth is directly connected to the impact we make in the world. In order to be a good educator and a decent professional, I need to be a good person first and that is something I continue to work on every day. Every step of the way is important. Becoming a true leader is something you can only achieve by growing as a human being.

"Becoming a true leader is something you can only achieve by growing as a human being."