What I've Learned from Being a GlamourGals Chapter Leader
Samantha B., a Connecticut College chapter leader, shares the top 3 biggest lessons she has learned through co-founding and serving as the President of her college’s chapter of GlamourGals! This is one of many stories of how the GlamourGals experience has transformed the lives of our volunteers and helped them grow as empathetic leaders.
Samantha B. (far right) with her senior executive board members at graduation
I first learned about GlamourGals when I was in eighth grade and had randomly gone out to dinner with my cousin and a friend of his, who happened to be Allegra Cohen of the GG Advisory Council. She explained to me the mission of GlamourGals, and as someone who loved both makeup and community engagement, and who had bonded with her grandmothers over makeup, I was hooked. I'd hoped to start a GlamourGals chapter in high school, but I was always too scared to take the plunge until I decided to do so during my sophomore year of college. Because of this, being involved with GlamourGals or being "worthy" of GlamourGals had always held a more symbolic, sentimental meaning to me and I view my connection with GlamourGals as a marker of my own personal growth.
So, I am writing to share three of the biggest lessons I've learned through co-founding and serving as the President of the Connecticut College chapter of GlamourGals:
Embrace ambiguity: Working to piece all the logistics together that came with founding a club was quite hard. I needed to liaise between GG National, our school's Student Engagement Office, and the local senior home, all before even becoming an official organization introducing the club to the campus community. There were a lot of moving pieces that all depended on each other, and there was a lot of logistical information I needed to figure out upfront. Instead of seeing this uncertainty as a sign to pack up and decide that I wasn't cut out to be a leader, I persevered. Now, whenever I'm faced with a new situation, I think of how I handled co-founding our GlamourGals chapter.
Take comfort in consistency and simplicity: Throughout these last few years, GlamourGals at Connecticut College has gone on makeover visits, hosted fundraisers and weekly meetings, put on cookie baking and crafting events, written letters to the senior home, and screened movies. We tried a lot of different activities to engage more members and see what worked best. What I've learned through this is that, although it is always a worthy endeavor to pursue bigger, more creative events and initiatives, there is value in staying consistent for the sake of not pushing yourself too hard and not spreading yourself too thin. Some of our most successful events were the ones that weren't anything new or different, and some of our more ambitious ideas either never came to fruition, or did not turn out how we'd hoped. There is nothing wrong with getting into a groove with weekly meetings and makeovers and realizing that, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's better to do something easy and safe for the sake of being consistent and doing it really well, than to challenge yourself to do something overly ambitious that falls flat. Being consistent and realizing that sometimes the easiest answer is the best is a good way to engage members (since they know more or less the cadence of makeovers and meetings, as well as what to expect at both), and it keeps club business moving along and staying active.
Other people are a resource, not a crutch: Although I'd been on executive boards of other clubs before starting GlamourGals, being a GlamourGals chapter leader was a much bigger responsibility than those other involvements. As someone who is normally pretty shy and had been more of a follower, stepping up to the plate definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. While trying to find my voice and leadership style, I realized that sometimes I get too assertive as a way of over-compensating for my lack of confidence and lack of comfort in a leadership capacity. I also realized that sometimes I don't utilize other people as much as I should, as my shyness sometimes makes it difficult for me to reach out to others. Through leading the executive board, I needed to find the balance of not being too bossy and independent, while also not fully reverting back to my more timid, introverted side of myself. I also learned that listening to others and delegating tasks is important and does not mean you are slacking off in your own role or not taking initiative.