Stepping Into Leadership
When I was thirteen, I stepped into leadership earlier than most. A friend of mine saw the need for a new Daisy troop in our community, and together we said yes. The girls were five years old—full of energy, questions, and wonder—and somehow, we became their leaders. Our moms signed the paperwork, but in reality? We were the ones planning the meetings, guiding the girls, and learning what it meant to take responsibility for others.
What surprised me most about leading at thirteen wasn’t the responsibility—it was the planning. We weren’t just picking activities; we were making supply lists, figuring out where to buy what we needed, and then practicing skills ourselves so we could teach them properly. Every meeting required preparation, and in the process I learned that real leadership happens long before anyone shows up in the room.
I’ll never forget the moment I realized just how much those little girls looked up to us. They would burst through the doors at meeting time, screaming our names with joy, and run to hug us like it was the best part of their week. That joy also came with weight. I quickly realized how easily I could lead them astray, and I loved them too much to take that lightly. I saw them almost like little sisters, and I made a commitment to care for them well. That commitment has never left me—whether with children or adults, I want the people I lead to shine, and I do my best to help them do just that.
Some of my favorite moments were watching those girls turn around and begin teaching their younger siblings the very same way we had taught them. That was the confirmation we needed: we were on the right track, even if we didn’t know everything. Together, we figured it out. Today, those very first Daisies are thirty years old. They’ve gone on to college or trade school, built strong careers, found healthy relationships, and some are even raising children of their own. I’m so proud of them, not just for what they’ve accomplished, but for the women they’ve become.
I gave up a lot of time to keep showing up for those girls, but it never felt like a sacrifice. It felt like purpose. Those early years taught me that leadership isn’t about standing in front—it’s about serving behind the scenes. Even now, I’ll volunteer for the unglamorous jobs—like cleaning bathrooms after an event—because I know my choices shape the experience of the people I lead. More than anything, those troop years planted in me a lifelong conviction: to lead is to serve your community.
As the troop grew, I discovered that leadership was rarely neat or predictable. There were so many times we had to adapt, especially when a young lady who was blind from birth joined our troop. I reached out to a friend who is also blind for advice, and together we learned how to adjust activities so she could participate fully. But it wasn’t just the adults making changes—I taught the girls themselves how to adapt our games so that she could play right alongside them. Before long, no one even thought twice about inclusion. It became second nature: we just figured it out together.
That mindset carried into how I built our leadership team. As the troop expanded to multiple levels and ages, I leaned on parents to lead specific groups, on our older girls to guide the younger ones, and especially on my mom, who continued teaching me how to lead even as I grew into adulthood. It wasn’t always easy—there were times people promised to help and didn’t, and I had to resist the temptation to just do it all myself. But I learned that true leadership means letting go. Some of my most meaningful moments were watching others flourish when I trusted them with real responsibility.
One of my favorite ways to encourage leadership is simply by asking questions: “How do you think this could work?” or “What do you suggest we do to solve this problem?” More often than not, people come back with ideas better than anything I could have offered on my own. My job then is to cheer them on, give them space to try, and be there if they need me. For me, that is what it means to lead from behind—equipping others to step forward and shine.
As I grew older, my leadership expanded beyond our troop and into the broader Girl Scouting community. I began planning and producing large-scale events, like our annual Service Unit Event—a night where every troop in the area came together for themed activities. Imagine 300 girls ages five to eighteen, plus thirty adults, filling a gym with laughter, crafts, and games. Coordinating all of that required organization and communication, but it was worth it to watch hundreds of girls experience belonging and joy together.
Within our own troop, the responsibilities grew too. We had expanded so much that we operated almost like an executive board, and one of my biggest roles was overseeing our annual cookie sales. At the height of it, I was responsible for more than 10,000 boxes of cookies and over $50,000 in revenue—but those numbers only mattered because of what they made possible. For many families, cookie sales were the only way their daughters could afford to participate in Girl Scouting. The profits paid for registration fees, uniforms, badges, supplies, and so much more so that no girl was excluded for financial reasons. Parents who could pay out of pocket often did, knowing their contribution freed us to support another girl. It was the same spirit Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts, lived by when she sponsored girls herself: no one should be turned away.
Looking back, I never could have guessed how much saying ‘yes’ at thirteen would shape the rest of my life. Sixteen years of leading a Girl Scout troop taught me that leadership is less about being in charge and more about serving others, creating space for everyone to belong, and carrying responsibility with care. Whether it was adapting activities so every girl could participate, building teams that thrived without me at the center, or making sure no child was turned away because of cost, those experiences instilled values I carry into everything I do today. They taught me to lead with love, to value people over position, and to always look for ways to lift others up.