The Feminist Camp conference has helped me truly understand the impact that passion and dedication can have on entire communities. Prior to the conference, I had failed to realize the actual amount of hours of unnoticed effort, rejection, and setbacks involved in social justice projects, as well as their impact on individuals. I had glorified success and the end result, without appreciating the exhausting amount of years that people have put into society simply to improve the lives of others in our patriarchal system. After the incredible week in New York City, I feel informed and ready to take on the bigotry, discrimination, and political obstacles currently existing in the U.S. This is a heavy statement, but it is something I can now confidently say to myself tell myself and others. We have met leaders who have created projects, apps, companies, and organizations based on ideas and fields they weren’t even experts in. All these amazing people wanted to do was to help others, and they were willing to go beyond what they’ve known and were familiar with. They had pushed themselves and their peers to contribute to the equality movement, and used all the resources they had to make their vision practical and impactful. This included networking, learning, asking others for help, not apologizing, drinking coffee, drinking margaritas, meditating, finding solace from loved ones, and never ceasing their efforts.

One woman in particular had altered my perspective drastically. Reshma Saujani. Founder of Girls Who Code, spoke to us during the STEM day portion of the conference. She was the first Indian American woman to run for U.S Congress, had served as Deputy Public Advocate for N.YC, and ran for Public Advocate a few years back. Despite being an incredible woman with several political accomplishments and other attained objectives, the biggest emphasis she had made was not on how to succeed, but on how to fail. She had failed and been rejected more times than I think one could mentally handle; but instead of seeing herself as a “failure” and giving up on her beliefs and efforts, she chose to use failure as a powerful tool. She proved all my fears wrong. She took the rejection and failure, gave herself a fixed amount of time to process it, then continued on fighting for those that needed it. Because of her perseverance and strength, she is one of the most incredible people I have ever met, without exaggeration. She had helped me understand that failure is something we have created as a concept, and it is something that I can process differently. I can view it in a toxic, self-destructive sense, or I can define failure my own way and use it to help as many people as I can.

The three biggest characteristics that every leader shared was fervor, persistence, and adaptability. These leaders have also confirmed one of the concepts we’ve read about and discussed: leadership. There is our good-old-fashioned hierarchical version that favors extraverts, emphasizes dominance, lack of emotions, etc., and then there is the feminist form leadership. In this form, everyone shares responsibility, is valued, is listened to, and shares equal respect for each other. The emphasis is not on the one leader and top-down approach, but on the regard for intersectionality, and an entire group’s collaboration and effort. I hope to use the Feminist Camp leaders’ traits as well as the more inclusive and effective form of leadership to create lasting change in the communities of which I am a part of. Overall, with the leaders and organizations I’ve had the honor and privilege of getting to meet, I have no excuse not to pursue my aspirations- no matter how scary or idealistic they seem. The most impactful social justice related work will inevitably involve stagnation, a lack of cooperation among politicians and citizens, and hindrances that will all affect our emotions, especially when we become truly invested in our cause. The women we met had showed us that passion and taking advantage of any resources possible will add to the collective effort of social, political, and economic equality. Karina Garcia, who will be pictured after this blog, is one of these incredible women. She was unbelievable, and unstoppable. You could seriously feel her soul fully dedicated to social justice. She works with people from places so poor and small that they aren’t even located on Google Maps. She was a prime example of how the right mindset can help you survive all the obstacles you’re bound to face when trying to end oppression. The women she works with are creative, think outside of the system, use their voice, and work with what they have to create positive change. She really helped me appreciate emotion and passion as a legitimate tool in a cause, and not a hindrance.

Above left: The same chocolate, shape of egg, and design- yet they still needed to separate it. Above right: Karina Garcie from National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. One of the most passionate people you could meet. Job: Education Manager.

Above: The walls of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health!