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| Leseliey Rose Welch, MPH, MBA |
About a month ago I found myself sitting at an enormous table, surrounded by stakeholders from every major LGBT and HIV advocacy organization in Southeast Michigan, co-facilitating what felt like one of the most important meetings of my life. The meeting’s purpose was to discuss the need and possibilities for creating a LGBT health center in the Detroit Metro Area. In front of every person at the table laid a copy of a policy brief that I authored, which highlighted the need for LGBT-centered health care in Detroit.
Despite the fact that I was only given a moment’s notice about my role in the meeting (the facilitator asked me to co-facilitate just minutes before the meeting began!), I felt completely prepared to lead the people at the table, as I had already spent several months researching and developing an action plan as part of my summer internship at the Institute for Population Health (IPH).
This was a time to be thankful for the invaluable training and mentorship I received in the months leading up to the meeting from my summer internship preceptor, HBHE alumna Leseliey Rose Welch, MPH, MBA. I worked for Leseliey in IPH’s Community Innovations department for three months, where I accompanied her to countless meetings about issues ranging from infant sleep safety to hypertension rates in Detroit. There were many instances in which I played an active role in these meetings, but I frequently learned by watching Leseliey in action.
Initially, I believed that the most important lessons I was learning concerned “hard skills” like grant writing and program implementation. During these three short months at IPH, I wrote policy briefs, health promotion materials, and even a speech delivered by an executive at IPH. While all of these skills will be undeniably useful to me in my career, the skills that served me the most in that LGBT stakeholder meeting all related to the leadership skills I learned from Leseliey. She made sure that all of her interns thought about the importance of leadership in all aspects of our work, and we even had a biweekly reading group to discuss different facets of feminist leadership.
Leseliey’s brand of leadership is characterized by persuasive communication skills, along with the wisdom of knowing when to ask questions and listen to others in the room. I watched Leseliey deliver her ideas with her trademark soft-spoken voice that effortlessly commanded entire rooms filled with busy people. One of the most important lessons she taught me was that being an effective leader also means being a compassionate leader who believes in empowering those around you to lead as well. Leseliey taught me that leadership is a skill with which very few people are born, but rather that strong leadership is like an art that can one can refine through practice, hard work, and passion.
Thank you, Leseliey, for your fantastic leadership and mentorship!
Warm regards,
Chelsea Harmell, MPH Candidate 2014
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| Chelsea Harmell, MPH Student, far left with her internship colleagues |
Has an HBHE alum been a mentor to you in your career? How so? Let us know in a comment below.
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