Hello, my name is Anaijah

I believe leadership is rooted in authenticity, accountability, and empowerment. True leadership begins with leading oneself first—understanding strengths, embracing growth, and holding oneself to high ethical and professional standards. I strive to motivate, inspire, and foster resilience in others by setting a strong example, encouraging collaboration, and promoting a vision of shared success and continuous improvement. Through strategic communication and mentorship, I aim to build environments where individuals feel valued, heard, and driven to reach their full potential.

My Leadership Philosophy

Who I Am As a Leader:

I am very supportive by nature; growing up, I was the oldest in my household, which made me responsible for all of my nieces, nephews, and younger siblings. I used to take them to their games and all of their events.
Being put in that position, I know have a big awareness of how to be supportive and still check in for mental health and things going on in your life that may be outside of your control.
Now, I just get to be the fun auntie, but those principles of responsibility and caring have never left my foundation.

What Leadership Means to Me:

Leadership means showing up every time, not only when things are good or bad. A leader is nothing without its team, and that means that as a leader, you are a part of the team. Leadership means ensuring that your team has access to everything they possibly can to ensure their success.

Operating Principles:

We are one. There is no you and me. Meaning we hold each other to the standards that we hold ourselves to.
Our goal is not to make each other smile. A smile lasts seconds, and happiness lasts a lifetime. Reaching our goal and achieving a mission is what will make us happy in the end.
My job is to make sure you have everything you need and to create a safe space where you can think outside the box and be creative and innovative.

Expectations For Myself:

Listen to you.
Support you in the best way possible.
Put you in places where you can nurture your strengths, talents, and goals.
Allow us all to define our own success
Value your input and opinions
Hold you all to the same standard I hold myself.
Embrace diversity in all aspects, even opinion
Be educated in my position and our goals
Keep a positive attitude.

Expectations For You:

Celebrate our accomplishments, no matter how small
Breathe
Maintain a healthy work-life balance
Be creative, innovative, and not afraid to think outside the box
Speak your mind; do not be afraid to voice your opinions, especially when they differ
No one is stupid; keep looking for more knowledge
Ask questions
Accept mistakes as learning curves
Be honest
Try your best
Communicate things that may be impacting you, even if they have nothing to do with work

Non-negotiables:

Disrespect
Bad attitudes don’t help anyone
Lack of communication: if no one knows what is going on, there is no way to help
We will have debates, that is ok; it is encouraged, but do not carry it outside of work and over to the next day

Personal Idiosyncrasies:

Being a leader is a non-stop job. My job is to best support you and facilitate a positive environment where our goals can be met and exceeded over time with growth. I will not do your job for you; micromanaging takes away from what is required of me and only gets in your way. I will also not accept a lack of communication; it irritates my soul. I can’t know how to better support you if you don’t tell me what's going on. That is why my line of communication will always be open 24/7. You can tell me anything, and it will not leave me. That is the person I am. You do not have to go into full detail, but you do have to at least make me aware if something is going on.

Commitment:

I understand that work is mostly a means to live, but that does not mean you cannot enjoy what you do. I commit to fostering an environment where we can all grow and succeed. A place that we enjoy coming to and bettering ourselves and our talents. I commit to making your jobs easier, not harder. I am not here to be a dictator, and I don’t want to be. I don’t want to manage you all; I want to lead you and to lead is to serve. I commit to serving you; after all, a leader is worth nothing without their team.

Leadership Lessons

Michelle Obama was a former First Lady of the United States. As a leader, Michelle Obama motivates and encourages her followers. She is a positive role model and cultivates a sense of community. Over her years in leadership, she has provided reform to assist military and veteran families, raise poverty awareness, and improve women’s education. She has helped veterans seek treatment and secure a safe life for those who have served. She has helped people in Section 8 housing get better food assistance and better housing. She has provided education to women across the world who may not have the same access that we do in the United States.

I believe this leader exemplifies transformational leadership theory. A transformational leader is a leader who puts a large focus on motivating their followers to lead themselves by setting a positive example, convinces their followers to buy into their vision and encourages them to fulfill it, empathizes with their followers, and knows when to give them grace.

This leader has taught me that embracing what makes you different makes you a more powerful leader because you understand your strengths and weaknesses more. She has also taught me about accountability and how powerful it is for a leader to admit when you are wrong. She has shown me that in order to be a leader to others, you must first be a leader to yourself, which touches on accountability again, as it means keeping yourself accountable when no one knows if what you are doing is wrong. It is about laying the foundation based on who you are, what means the most to you as a leader, and your values.