Leadership as Resistance

Why it matters

Being the “first” or “only” can feel like both a privilege and a weight. (your credentials as a human and as a professional)  For many black and brown leaders, and especially woman, the role comes with scrutiny, pressure to perform, and a constant push to “prove” while holding onto our humanity. Most of our workplaces weren’t built with us in mind and yet we lead anyway.

By writing this blog, I want to invite you and us, to see leadership not as fitting a mold, but as transforming the room. For me, and I invite us, to use our leadership not as a title, but rather as an act of resistance.

What we’re resisting

Often, “good leadership” is framed by traditional corporate norms, productivity over people, dominance over dialogue, competition over community. This always made me feel like we have to perform to be considered a leader or reputable. Leadership As Resistance, says we don’t conform to belong. We belong. Period. We build new ways of “working” that honor who we are and where we come from. You can practice this right where you are, in your current role. 

Why leadership as resistance matters

1) We can deconstruct tired frameworks. Our presence as black and brown leaders who show up with curiosity, question what exists, and then offer to imagine something different disrupts business as usual in boardrooms, nonprofits, government, and especially as entrepreneurs. Reimagining leadership helps us claim our right to shape decisions that impact our communities.

2) We honor a legacy (and make way for the next). Our leadership is rarely about individual ambition. It’s survival, representation, and pathway-building. When we lead, we open doors and refuse to let them close behind us. Representation is not symbolic; it’s transformative when backed by power and resources.

3) We heal ourselves and our systems. Many of us carry workplace trauma exclusion, gatekeeping, and erasure. I watched my father be overlooked for roles he was overqualified for, not because he lacked skills, but because systems favored others. He was the hardest-working, most qualified, and was still rapidly overlooked. That reality still breaks my heart. Reimagining leadership interrupts those patterns. Our leadership can be a practice of healing and a promise to those who came before and those coming after.

A Story: Choosing Self Over “Fitting the mold” 

We are steady told to blend in so we’ll be “taken seriously.” I felt that pressure big time as a young leader. To be honest, sometimes I still feel it. Let me share a little story. One day, I was headed to speak at a conference held for young professionals of color. Ya’ll, I was so excited and frankly I was honored. My outfit was on point, slides ready…and then I saw those kitten heels at my front door. The dread hit. I glanced at my Chuck Taylors and decided, “I’ma rock these.” I put them on and felt so comfortable. Then I quickly took them off. I was second-guessing myself. I wanted to be “taken seriously”. But I told the mirror: you won’t be fake today, put those Chucks on girl. On the drive, I doubted myself the whole time. But those sneakers grounded me and reminded me of who I am. I rocked them the same way I did when I was young.

When I “go to war” professionally now, I wear my biggest hoops, my cadenas (necklaces), one with my Abuelo’s photo and one with the Puerto Rican flag (“Pa’ Que Tú Lo Sepas”) and yes, my beloved sneakers. I feel grounded. My ancestors are with me. That’s my resistance. Yours might look different. The point is to choose one thing that brings you closer to yourself.

Ok ya’ll I know that some of us are navigating systems that do not allow you to show out in the same ways I mentioned above. But I want you to consider that sometimes leadership isn’t about grand gestures or big titles it’s about the quiet ways we choose to disrupt what no longer serves us. 

In corporate spaces, in meetings, in our daily interactions, we hold power in our words and presence. The invitation isn’t to play small, but to practice small acts of disruption that shift the energy in the room. Ask the hard questions. Get curious instead of judgmental. Challenge what’s “always been done” with a posture of possibility. Using our power and influence, intentionally naming what we see, asking why it’s done that way, and bringing others along creates ripples that change culture. 

It takes strategy, clarity, and allies. But every time we resist complacency and choose curiosity, we lead differently. That’s the work. That’s the way we build our muscle for the larger moments.

What resistance can look like (practical, doable):

• Show up whole. Keep the code-switching to what’s necessary for safety, never at the cost of self-erasure.

• Re-center the process on people. Ask, “What would this look like if we honored humanity first?” Then build agendas, cadences, and decisions from that place.

• Tell the full story. Replace “outputs” with impact narratives that honor community wisdom and lived experience.

• Protect your energy. Boundaries are not barriers, they’re bridges to sustainability.

Try this on: 

We don’t need permission to lead differently. We need practice, community, and the courage to keep choosing ourselves and each other. So break out your journal or a piece of paper and reflect on these prompts:
• Where do you feel pressured to assimilate/code switch and where do you refuse?
• What’s one practice or ritual that helps you show up whole this week?
• What power can you share or institutionalize for others?

Small acts of resistance for me look like rocking my hoops, cadenas, or sneakers when I step on a stage. It grounds me in who and whose I am. Your version might look different. The point is to choose one thing that brings you closer to yourself. Remember, we don’t need permission to lead differently; we need practice and community.