233 Finding Your Voice for Impactful Leadership and Empowering Communities by Creating a World Free of Sexual Violence with Indira Henard, Executive Director of the DC Rape Crisis Center ( DCRCC) | Greater Washington DC DMV Changemaker

***DISCLAIMER: Please note that the following AI-generated transcript may not be 100% accurate and could contain misspellings or errors.***

Mahan Tavakoli: Welcome to Partnering Leadership. I'm really excited this week to be welcoming Indira Henard. Indira is the executive director of the DC Rape Crisis Center. She has led that organization for 14 years to greater impact in the community as well as energizing the people that work in the organization. The Center has been recognized. By Washington Business Journal in India herself has been recognized as the Washingtonian of the Year among many other awards. What a wonderful opportunity to get a chance to find out more about Indira's background, upbringing, impact and her purpose driven leadership.

I'm sure you will love the conversation as much as I did learn from India and be inspired for impact in our community. I also love hearing from you. Keep your comments coming. mahan@mahantavakoli.com. There is also a microphone icon on partneringleadership.com. You can leave voice messages for me there. Now here is my conversation with Indira Henard.

Indira Henard, welcome to Partnering Leadership. I am thrilled to have you in this conversation with me.

Indira Henard: Hi, how are you? Thank you for having me.

Mahan Tavakoli: I am so excited, Indira, having seen your leadership in the community, both at the DC Rape Crisis Center and having had the chance to see you in action, at Leadership Greater Washington. So I can't wait to talk about some of that leadership , but would love to know whereabouts you grew up and how your upbringing impacted the kind of person you've become, Indira?

Indira Henard: I grew up in Chicago, Illinois, actually a little suburb outside of Chicago called South Barrington Hills. I was raised by my mother, by my grandmother. My parents got divorced when I was three. My dad was in my life, but the primary caregivers was my mom and my grandmother.

And I have to say that I grew up in a family of faith. I am the daughter of a Baptist minister. I also grew up in a family of social workers. So my mom is a trained social worker and educator. I say I grew up in the life and has impacted who I am today. My faith has impacted who I am today.

And I will also say I grew up in predominantly white neighborhoods and went to predominantly white schools. That has also had a significant impact on who I am and how I navigate even now as a leader.

Mahan Tavakoli: So what has that impact been? Indira? You mentioned a couple of different things. One, your faith plays a big role. What's the impact of that faith for you?

Indira Henard: So for me, I like to say I'm a church girl. I grew up in a time where my parents had me in church three and four days a week, and that's part of the cost of being a PK or a AK kid. But what was important that I took away from that time is the importance of leaning into faith and really making sure you're indoctrinating yourself into your faith practice.

And as a leader, I'm very clear that the trials and tribulations and even the joys that we experience as leaders. For me, it is important that I am anchored, and one of the ways that I am anchored is through my faith. So whether you believe in Jesus, a Buddha, a rock or tree, what have you. For me, it's important that I have something and I believe in something that is bigger than me because in those dark times and in those midnight hours, it reminds me of who I am, but also who I am.

So, that has been a very important navigator in terms of how I move, but also how I reset and recharge when things don't go necessarily the way I want them as a.

Mahan Tavakoli: As you mentioned, there is a lot over the course of anyone's journey, but most especially over the past few years that we've experienced where. It's good to have a guiding light and a source that you can fall back on. And for you, faith has played that role. 

You also mentioned Indira, the fact that you grew up in predominantly white neighborhood schools and the fact that had impacted you. In what way did that shape who you've become?

Indira Henard: So, I think for me a lot of my closest friends growing up in terms of my black friends, I really saw them in church and outside of school. In other, after school activities. So for me, what that enabled me to do and what I have been able to experience is how to navigate this world and deal with folks who are different than you in a really intentional way. 

So, I am used to being the only one or one of two in a room or the only one at the table. And so, when I was in school, I was one of two or one of three, and so that prepared me for the seat I sit in today. As a black woman who is leading an agency in a predominantly white space and the joys and challenges that can come with that in terms of navigating that racism and microaggressions and all of those things. 

So my upbringing has really allowed me to stay the course in very challenging environments at times. But when resistance is coming my way,

Mahan Tavakoli: So what was then the transition to a college? Like for you? 

Indira Henard: My time at Wheaton was so transformative. It played a significant role in the woman I am today. When I got to college I came from a very structured environment.

My mom and grandmother held tight reins on me. So when I got to college, I had all this freedom, but I was someone who really didn't know who she was. So, the end was an opportunity for me to figure out who I was as a person, what I wanted to do, develop my leadership skills.

I very much became active at Wheaton from my freshman year on, and I was in multiple. Clubs and student government and intercultural board. I was an athlete and ran track and field. I was also an athlete in my formative years in high school. So, Wheaton really allowed me to see the world, but it also really allowed me to step inside of who I was. 

So I have been an active alum for over 20 years. I sit on the board of trustees. Wheaton is near and dear to my heart, and I tell people all the time that I would not be where I am today had it not been. For the support, love, nurturing and covering that we did from the faculty to my fellow classmates.

So it was such a wonderful experience and it was a predominantly white institution and I did not struggle. With that, like some of my fellow students of color, because I came from that environment. So it was a very easy transition for me, but because of the dynamics that were happening on campus, particularly with students of color George Bush had just taken us to war.

I was able to step into my activism role and that kind of blossomed to a whole bunch of other stuff.

Mahan Tavakoli: So, at that point when you came into yourself, it sounds like you had been active in sports, some leadership. Got more into leadership at Wheaton. What were you aspiring to do and become? You studied political science. Where did you want the political science to take you?

Indira Henard: So, all poli sci majors at Wheaton, we were under the voice of the late J Goodman, and we were all supposed to be lawyers. We were all supposed to go to law school. That was the plan. Come to DC. Pay our dues on Capitol Hill and get involved in politics on some level. That was the plan. So my path was very clear.

I majored in political science, minored in legal studies, applied to law school, got accepted to law school, and I declined. And I decided to come to DC. I came to DC and I decided to do graduate school. I came to DC because I got a job with then Senator Barack Obama.

So I was dividing my time between his Capitol Hill office and his first presidential campaign. And the experience before that is that I was working for the state of Illinois for the governor in Washington, DC. Federal office as a federal liaison. But when Obama won I decided to follow my heart because I had started volunteering at the DC Rape Crisis Center.

I was doing that while doing campaigning and I decided to follow my heart. I really wanted to do something that made me excited to wake up in the morning. Not saying politics didn't, but it was different. So I reached out to my volunteer coordinator. And I said, Hey, any job openings?

And she replied back 20 minutes? Yes. And I had an interview within 24 hours. I had a job offer within 72 hours, and I decided not to take the yellow brick road down Pennsylvania Avenue. I don't think my mother has forgiven me yet for that. But I got so much slack like how are you giving up the White House?

What's wrong with you and dear? Here's the deal. The White House isn't going anywhere, and it's great to know people in high places, but what was important for me is to do what I was called to do versus what I was expected to do. And I made the best decision ever and I have never looked back. That's why I always tell people you have to follow your heart.

You have to do what you are called to do. And the work that I am doing, sexual violence work, it is my life's work. And on some level, I will always be doing this work. So I feel like our steps are very much ordained and ordered. I've always taken the road less travel and as Robert Frost has said, it's made all the difference.

Mahan Tavakoli: I love the way you put it in there. You did what you were called to do, not what you were expected to do, and that is such a big part of the passion that I see. See in you and the joy that you have because it is what you're called to do.

Now, I wonder, was there something specific that drew you to DC Rape Crisis as a call, or was that an opportunity to give back and engaged with the community?

Something that was part of your upbringing growing up.

Indira Henard: I really started sexual violence work in college when I was a ra, and students would get sexually assaulted, et cetera. That really began my sexual violence journey and because I grew up in the life of social work, like my mom is a social worker.

Service has always been very clear in my household. Very clear on giving back and of being in service and to whom much is giving much is required. So when I got to DC I wanted to continue sexual violence work on a volunteer. 

Level so that's when I found the DC Rape Crisis Center, never would I have imagined 15 years later that I would still be here. So again, our steps are very much ordered.

Mahan Tavakoli: DC Rape Crisis Center was having quite a lot of issues by the time you got the chance to become the executive director. 

Why was the organization not doing well and why did you accept taking it on when it was a hundred plus thousand dollars in debt?

Indira Henard: I know. So when I was asked to be interim executive director, our agency had just experienced an abrupt transition from the executive leadership. So we had gone through probably three executive directors back to back our longest standing end of 25 years she left. Then we had an interim for nine months, and then we had someone who was hired and she came in for almost two years, but that didn't work out. 

She ended up leaving. And what I will also say, those three individuals, there was a lot of chaos created internally and externally. So, when the board asked me to step in, because I had a long 10 years with the agency, I had almost every role in the agency.

The mandate from my board of directors at the time was very clear, Indira, saved the agency. Literally and figuratively, like those were the words. So, I did say yes to the mess. And the reason I said yes to the mess is because in my heart, it felt like the work of the DC Rape Crisis Center was not done yet.

Our story is still unfolding, and so we made it to 50 years. This is our 50th anniversary. It's been such an emotional like few weeks for me because people really don't understand that when you walk into a leadership position and everyone is against you, people are watching to see what is she gonna do?

Is she gonna fail? What mistakes are they gonna make? Is the DC Rape Crisis Center really gonna make it? Those were the things and those were the questions coming, literally people watching me. And they were the haters who literally tried to get us to close down. My first week as executive director was shutting down a lot of that. But it was also really trying to figure out, okay, how am I gonna do this thing? 

Because I did have some imposter syndrome. I wasn't sure if I could really do it can I really reposition the oldest rape crisis center in the country and the only one in DC. And the other piece, Mahan, is that I had the legacy of black leadership.

On my shoulders because historically the DC Rape Crisis Center has been led by black women, even though it was founded by our early founders who were white women. But they felt like it was important to turn the leadership over to black women when the center got more formalized funding. So every executive director has been black, with the exception of our longest standing ED, who was in power for 25 years, so for me to get this legacy, this great legacy, this rich legacy of the Rape Crisis Center, I didn't want it to falter on my watch. That was, the imposter syndrome formula. Me like, could I really do this? Could I really do what needed to be done? So it was a really challenging first two years.

And it's still challenging on some level, everything. It's not peaches and cream because it is hard leading in Covid. It's doubly hard being a black leader leading during Covid and the racial reckoning. But during the early times when I started, what sustained me. And what anchored me was not only my faith, but my personal tribe of women who 90 plus percent of them are LGW Women Leadership Greater Washington, which I think is also ironic because at the time. 

I was not a member of LGW, but I am now. And so again, the ways in which the universe puts people and things together and it was those women. Black women who not only supported me and poured into me and covered me in ways that are just indescribable, but they supported the mission and they supported the DC Rape Crisis Center.

And I could go to them in the midnight hour and really talk unfiltered around, Hey, this is what I'm feeling. This is what we're going through. Or I could say, this is what I need support with. Sometimes you have to call in the heavy hitters to help shut down crazy in DC right? And so my tribe is the best of the heavy hitters in DC and within LGW.

And so I felt like I was truly blessed that I had people who believed in me, who were rooting for me, but more importantly, they were rooting for the center.

Mahan Tavakoli: That is so beautiful and so powerfully put in. I appreciate you acknowledging it and I'm so glad that you have this. It's really important to recognize that great things are done by great leaders with the support of other great community leaders. So it's outstanding that you have a group of people that have been supportive of you and you have the humility to acknowledge their contribution.

A little imposter syndrome is not. I understand that there is a questioning in our minds that can be unhealthy, but a little bit of it keeps us paranoid to work harder to make the organization and the mission a success.

So I wonder, in addition to the great support that you received from a cadre of these women in the community, how have you been able to lead the turnaround, both with respect to the mission and the team?

Indira Henard: I think part of it is in a big piece. I have an amazing team, Mahan, and I have an amazing team who I have asked a lot of. The work has required a lot of work, but because they believe in the mission, they have stayed the course with me. I tell people all the time, nobody does it alone. And I am no exception between my staff, the board of directors, community partners, stakeholders, and funders.

It's really been a coalition of effort. But for me, I think a big piece is remembering to center humanity in my leadership because I'm a trained social worker, that comes very easy for me. But the work we do, sexual violence work, it is sacred, it is unscripted. And most people who do this work come to this work from a personal place. 

Either they've experienced sexual trauma, they know someone. So we have to be extra cautious of how we are experiencing the work. So I'm very intentional with my team about checking in around self-care and wellness. I admit I don't do a good job of that myself. I'm trying to work on that.

For us, it takes a special heart to do this work. I like to say this is not hard work. Sometimes people give me the pity eyes when they find out what I do and I'm like, don't pity me. This is an amazing work. And it's not hard work. It's hard work. And when you have the privilege to be on someone's healing journey, when they trust you with that sacred information, when you see the magic of healing happen before your eyes, there is no higher honor for me.

And so the work I do, it's a privilege of a lifetime. It really is.

[00:19:56] Mahan Tavakoli: So you take these folks on that healing journey Indira, but I want to find out a little bit more. I love that you said center on humanity in leadership, which is really important for leaders in all sectors. It's critical. However, there is very little of it happening, and if anything, I see less of it happening in the nonprofit sector than some of the other sectors in that the mission is so important and so rewarding that in many instances the leadership of the people internally is not humanity centered. 

So, how are you able to do that and still stay so aligned and focused on the mission?

Indira Henard: For me, some of the leadership practices that I do, while may sound very small, mean so much to my team. For example, I make it a point to clear my calendar once a quarter to have what I call VIP lunches with the executive director. And that's one-on-one time with me. And we can talk about anything they want to talk about.

How's it going with work, anything you think I need to know, or just how are you doing? What's going on in your life? And those are great opportunities because I get to keep my individually on my staff members just to look in their eyes and see how they're doing. They get their face-to-face time with me.

And it's an opportunity for us to really engage as humans, and I want them to know that I'm not this scary ED leader, but that I really do care about what's going on in folks' lives. So that's one. The other thing, particularly during Covid, I did little things like send self-care boxes to my team for my folks who were married and just had babies. 

I sent Uber Eats dinner gift cards where they didn't have to cook. They could order UberEats. My clinical director, who is amazing, who has really been my right hand, who manages four of our programs, she has a very little child. And so when her and her husband had their anniversary, I said, I'm gonna send you and been dinner for your anniversary and you don't have to worry about that. And you can hire somebody to babysit. Here's some extra money to do that. So it's the little things, and then of course monetary because, staff need money and I try to be intentional with salary increases and bonuses and things like that.

But I think the other piece during Covid is asking my staff, what are they needing to work at home and be comfortable? Because we all had to pivot quickly. So whether or not I needed to buy someone a desk or a laptop or a chair like whatever that was, it got taken care of.

And so, it's those little things that really matter when people were panic buying at the beginning of the Covid pandemic and you couldn't find toilet paper. We came together as a team, had mutual aid conversations, and I would literally start staff meetings.

Is anybody struggling personally to find anything? Everybody have paper towel, toilet paper, because what I know is if you're worried about what's going on in your home or you're struggling with what's happening at home, it's going to impact the workplace. So if I have resources as a woman who's running a nonprofit where I can buy things in bulk for our business, then I can share that wealth, so to speak.

So it's those things that made a difference.

[00:23:31] Mahan Tavakoli: That is so important, Indira, it's those little things that are often missing in leadership and show care for people. You said it appropriately, and I totally agree. That doesn't mean people shouldn't get adequately compensated and rewarded for the work that they do.

It is important, however, it's not enough, and it's those little things that take very little time. Make all the difference in showing the humanity and showing the care. But it takes discipline, it takes effort. it doesn't naturally happen as simple as asking people how they are doing and meaning it to the gift cards or Uber Eats or whatever else you provide to them.

It's done with intention. It's not just done mindlessly where it becomes another meaningless act by the leader, and that's what makes it so meaningful to

[00:24:28] Indira Henard: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think it's important to take care of the team who is taking care of the clients, and it's literally just that simple. You have to make sure the team is okay in whatever way that looks like in covid has changed the game in terms of how we do our work, how we.

even physically where we work, so it's important that as a leader, I'm thinking outside of the box and I'm also thinking about how this new virtual environment on multiple levels is impacting, the team building and folks getting to, See that human connection, and so those things are also really critical.

Coupled with, all the other traumas of the world, the political trauma, the racial trauma, covid a trauma, all of those things.

[00:25:17] Mahan Tavakoli: So how do you do that Indira some of the elements of work have shifted drastically over the past couple of years how do you lead your team for that greater connection in order to meet the needs of the community?

Now, 

[00:25:33] Indira Henard: so we have intentional team building time. have multiple staff meetings where each staff meeting is geared differently. For us, we do a lot of team building, like we're a very competitive. Staff when it comes to games. And what I love to see is that my team members have become really good friends and coworkers and they check on each other.

They have their own little. Like neighborhood watch checking on folks. I think that's also really great although we've had to be creative in terms of our work and just how we interact as a team, that they've taken it upon themselves to stay connected with each other.

So as a leader, that warms my heart.

[00:26:19] Mahan Tavakoli: You've done a great job with your team and therefore you've gotten a lot of recognition for your team and your leadership in the community. One of the challenges that I see In the era in interacting with CEOs, executive directors, and senior executives of organizations. I am seeing an incredible level of anxiety. Loneliness and mental health issues at the most senior levels of organizations. So you are doing an outstanding job taking care of your team. That's great to hear.

How are you taking care of Indira?

[00:27:02] Indira Henard: Yeah. So in all honesty and transparency, I'm not doing a great job. And what I will say is I did not anticipate. What would be required of me as a leader and even as a person at the height of this pandemic. I underestimated that, and it's been really hard for me as a leader as a human being.

So I am trying to. Reset and recalibrate. I had a health scare this summer and I had unexpected surgery and it was my first surgery ever. And that completely shifted my mindset. But more importantly, it was a wake up call. It was a wake up call in terms of me not listening to my body and pushing and pushing myself.

And I will also say part of it is the standards for black leaders are different what we work with capacity and all of that, like it truly is all hands on deck. So for me we are small but mighty team I have been pushing myself and it caught up with me. I'm really looking at ways to have a balance. I'm looking at ways to replenish because I give out a lot. I pour out a lot and I'm looking for some ways to rest and be still. I think for me my health challenges have really forced me to really deal with my self-care and So I think that's the upside, but it's hard. Mahan. It is so hard because there's a lot of transition in nonprofits right now. A lot of staff who are leaving some because they're burnt out, but others, because Covid has done a wake up call. People wanna live their life, so it's hard to hire, it's hard to keep people. It's a revolving door. And that is one of the impacts that we've seen of Covid and I think for leaders and particularly, Myself, it's been hard to figure out how to put myself on my own to-do list when I'm also responsible for a team of 40 something 

and the weight of that weights on me, making sure that they're good, that their livelihood is protected, so I tell people all the time that you don't know the cost. Of leadership. You don't know the personal battles of leaders, the personal losses of leaders,

you see the exterior, but you don't see in the midnight hour or the tears it's hard right now. in Mahan there is not a black leader that I have spoken to. Within the D M V that has not broke down in tears and has said it's really hard being a black leader in the nonprofit space right now.

Everybody's feeling it some are jumping chip and some are trying to stick it out and recalibrate, but it is excruciating at times.

[00:30:05] Mahan Tavakoli: It is in there for so many different reasons. There isn't a week that goes by that I don't hear. Things that would shock most people,

. 

In terms of how these leaders are treated.

whether it's by their boards or other people in the community or funders. It reminds me of two things. One, that we've got a long way to go as a society and community, and two, the additional. Emotional burdens that are placed in that. I think leadership is really hard anyway, but these are additional burdens that are placed on 

black women and women of color in these roles. Now the other thing that you mentioned is that we have somewhat of an unrealistic expectation of a lot of our leaders. So when. I look at you as a leader of the DC Ray Crisis Center. I want you to be there for your team members, which is the right thing to do.

I want you to care about how they are each doing, which is the right way to approach it

Emotionally. Ask them, be there for them when they need to talk, be there for them. All of those things make sense. However, sometimes we need to flip the script. Who is there for that leader? , who is supposed to be there for everyone else?

[00:31:34] Indira Henard: Yeah. And I think that's such a profound question. And I think for me, what has been such a great sustainer and anchor for me is really just my personal tribe. And it's personal tribe of, folks who are in our world in terms of leaders and things like that.

It's great to be able to have someone who gets what you're talking about, but I think it's also about accountability, so for me, my personal tribe does love with accountability, which I love, reminding me know and dear, you need to take some time off or know, you don't have to go to that 10th event in DC 

so I think it's those things, but when I am feeling depleted, When I'm feeling like I don't have anything else to give, I can pick up the phone or say, Hey, let's go to breakfast on Sunday. Because perhaps I need some sister loving to just remember who I am and what I'm doing in this world, 

sometimes. That's all it takes in that moment to give you a little bit more to push on. But what we also know is not about the short term, it's really about the long term and having that sustainability to do the work, whatever that work is. And I think that's what I'm looking for. That's what all of us are looking for.

But what does that look like in the midst of. Just ebb and flow of this current environment that we're living in, the work is requiring so much. So much because clients are showing up in particular ways, so what does that look like in real time? But I am clear that I have to put myself on my own to-do list.

I'm clear that I have to figure out how to reimagine. Leadership so that's really a big focus of mine, how to do the work, but it's not gonna look like we've traditionally done it.

[00:33:30] Mahan Tavakoli: That's a great focus to have Indira, because one of the things that I'm a big believer in, whether it's been with some of the brilliant authors and researchers that I have talked to or seeing things in the community, is that. The level of change and disruption is not going to slow down. For a period of time, people were hoping and thinking that there would be this thing called the Covid pandemic.

Changes would come and go

Would settle into a certain. Normalcy. However, because of a lot of different factors whether socioeconomic, technological political, there are lots of different issues that will contribute to ongoing disruption, which is why it's important and I'm glad to hear that.

Are focused on prioritizing blocking time and making sure you take care of yourself because it's not as if there's an end time where you say, okay, six more months, and then , I can sit back and relax.

[00:34:41] Indira Henard: Absolutely. So that is a top goal of mine.

[00:34:44] Mahan Tavakoli: You've celebrated 50 years of the DC Rape Crisis Center so what would future of DC Rape Crisis Center look like?

[00:34:55] Indira Henard: I think it will look like having really solid and sustainable multi-year funding, which is so critical for our work. We're gonna be continuing cutting edge. Clinical mental health services that meets the moment in time. Our work is going to even expand further on an international level, in a national level.

We do the work in community in partnership, but what we're also very clear about is that we create effective. Sexual assault services that have a direct response to racism and oppression, and that will disrupt those systemic barriers. And that is a core belief and philosophy of ours. And what I will also say as a leader, who knows where I will be, 

and I tell fellow leaders all the time, One of the best things you can do as a leader, I don't care what type of leader you are, is to know when your assignment is complete, to know when you have given it your all. When you have passed, go collected, $200 left, no stone unturned, you can pass the baton onto the next person. One of the biggest mistakes, in my opinion, I feel that leaders and CEOs make is that they think their position is a Supreme Court appointment and it's for life, and that is not. True. It is not true. Some of my best leadership lessons I learned in track and field, and one of the things you're taught in track and field is how to stay in your lane, how to focus on what's ahead, keep your eyes on the prize.

Don't worry about what's going on in the lane next to you or on the other side of you, or what's happening behind you, but that when it is time to pass that baton, that you do it within a timeframe that the other person can get to their destination. Same rules apply. So I'm very clear because what happens is we get comfortable as leaders, we get complacent as leaders.

So I am clear that, whenever the universe tells me it's time to shift, I'm going to do that with grace and integrity, and have someone else. To the next level, whatever that is. But in the meantime, I am still focused on the task in front of me. But when it's time to pass that baton, I will be able to do it and I will be able to walk away with a clean heart knowing that I truly have given it my all.

 Sometimes we don't get it right as leaders, and that's okay. But. I'm so grateful for is that I get to do this work in community, in partnership, and continue to learn as I go.

[00:37:48] Mahan Tavakoli: I love that Indira on so many different levels. First of all, having been involved in this community for 20 plus years, there are a lot of organizations that I've seen. Including some nonprofits where they've had great CEOs that have stayed. Way too long. As you said, there is a time for contribution and there is a time for passing that baton.

The other thing that is really important, whether it's for-profit organizations and companies, or nonprofits the success of A C E O. Can be measured by the success of the person that follows them. So sometimes the way people think about it is, this is a position for life, which it isn't.

So they

overstay, and secondarily, they don't lay the groundwork for the success of some other leader to take the organization to a higher level. So the measure. Of a great leader is one that contributes and passes the baton when it's time and has set the next runner . Using your analogy to be able to run even faster and better not give them a shaky baton

[00:39:07] Indira Henard: Yes,

[00:39:09] Mahan Tavakoli: they're all wobbly and say, see, I ran a good leg.

They're the one that wasn't able to follow my pace.

[00:39:16] Indira Henard: Absolutely. And then I think the other piece that's really important to me is mentorship and being able to pull back and bring along just like folks did for me. So that's why. I'm so clear about making time for new leaders who call and just need support and need advice, because that's what it's all about.

And being able to let folks know that you're not alone is so critical because the isolation is real. Particularly for Black and bipo leaders. So if I can, give folks a little bit of guidance or pearls of wisdom, sometimes it is the difference between walking away or having something major happen versus not, 

So I think that's also important for us as leaders to really make time to help bring up the next generation of leaders and to really create a pathway. I'm so clear. That one of the reasons I sit where I sit today is because of the tribe of women, a lot of the L G W women who thought it not robbery, to clear the path so that my journey might be a little bit easier to answer the phone call or the email, or to go out to dinner or to really take time to give me those pearls or wisdom.

It is those moments. that have sustained me, that have been such a pillar in me being able to move forward. The L T W community in general is amazing and the support is just out of this world and during the Covid Pandemic and particularly it is second to none, like it's been second to none. And so I'm just so grateful for the women who happen to be

In the L G W community that, we have come together and supported each other in really intentional ways. And I think that's made a lot of difference for leaders because as they say, L G W is everywhere and that is. So true. So I think I'm just really grateful for the multiple communities that I'm a part of that have truly become a second family.

As someone who doesn't have her biological family here.

[00:41:33] Mahan Tavakoli: That's wonderful and it's great that what you are doing is you are giving back both to those women and to the younger leaders. through mentorship or giving them a hand up and making their involvement easier in the community. Now, you also spent some of your time

Teaching organizational management leadership at Howard University at Catholic University.

 What is the key difference you are looking to make on these leaders as you take your time to work with?

[00:42:08] Indira Henard: One, I love teaching and I'm just so privileged that I get to do that on the side. But for me it's about helping to influence and give back to the next generation of social workers. So this semester I started at Howard University, which is amazing.

 The social work field is traditionally a white profession. So for me it is important that black. Social work students see black professionals who are social workers doing this work. So that is so critical. I love teaching my Howard students, or as I call 'em, affectionately my bison babies.

I also teach at Catholic University. I've been teaching there for a few years, it's really an opportunity to bring my life experience, my professional experience, all to the classroom, Being able to sit down with students and really have a conversation is really great. This week I invited one of my L G W classmates who is running her organization to come talk to my organizational management and leadership class.

And it was amazing. They absolutely loved her, but that's what it's about, being able to expose. The students to, this is a taste of the real world, but this is possible for you. When you see success, it becomes familiar to you. So that's what I want my students to know, that there is no limits, to what you can do.

[00:43:32] Mahan Tavakoli: That's outstanding. Now that is for the younger leaders looking to get involved in social work, are there any leadership resources or practices that you typically find yourself relying on in the. Or you recommend to other leaders?

[00:43:50] Indira Henard: I am a avid reader. I have an amazing home library. One of the best books I read was The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. Amazing. Everybody should read it. 

The other thing I've talked about it a lot, having your personal board of directors, or as I called it, your personal tribe, so critical for all you do. . But then the other thing that's important to me and my friends, tease me is that my home is my sanctuary. And I have set it up and decorated it on that level because I deal with trauma 24 7 a day, 

so when I come home I need peace and tranquility and, all of those things. So being able to rest in a space that is tranquil. Means a lot and helps to bring my nervous system down from a day that's been activated in dealing with whatever that is. So what I tell people is space is important.

Space is important in terms of how you move forward and how you navigate and how your day goes. So I tell people to be intentional about your space. Be intentional. Who's in your life, who's in your circle? Having people at different levels is real.

Everybody doesn't get a front row seat to your life, be very intentional about that. I think everybody should be living a life of the mind. Everybody should be reading. You should always be reading, problematic. When people say, oh no, I don't read the other piece that's really big for me, is believing in something that's bigger than you, whatever your faith practices or non-faith practices is, whatever that may be, but for me, understanding what is happening in this world, understanding what I do for a living, it's important. That I have something that is bigger than me. But I also do Native American sweat lodges. A lot of people don't know that about me, it is rooted in the Lakota tradition and a Native American sweat lodge is like a rebirthing purification process and you build a dome like structure that's very dark and you put in hot rocks, whereas the native Americans call 'em the ancestors and it's 28, and that's significant 

it's 120 degrees inside. So normally we do this for our clients and I'm what they call the poor. Sometimes I've been the fire keeper, but when I'm leading the sweat lodge, each round is almost an hour, in 120 something degrees. Hot sweating, it's a powerful time. It's a powerful time of releasing,

so if I'm doing it with clients, some of the rounds may be around shame. Forgiveness, et cetera, if I'm doing it with myself and just friends, it's gonna look differently. But again, for me, being able to put additional meditative and healing practices in my life is really good.

So yes, I am a church girl. I am a Jesus girl. . I have the Bible, but I also have Sage and Paul Santo and I do sweat lodges and reiki. It is eclectic, because the nervous system holds a lot. So part of the way, I release the trauma that I receive on a daily basis is by doing some of those practices.

[00:47:04] Mahan Tavakoli: I. Recommendations, whether it's looking at the space that is so important that surrounds us or the people that surround us, and then most importantly, that faith and healing that helps keep us centered

in your world. Taking in a lot of the outside and being able to sweat it out emotionally and physically.

What outstanding recommendations. Now, before I let you go, I do want to touch on the fact that you want to hike the Pacific Coast Trail. Where does that passion come?

[00:47:45] Indira Henard: So I don't know if you've ever read the book Wild by She Strait or seen the movie Wild, but there's a big competition between the book and the movie, but a lot of people don't know. I am a big outdoors person. I love the wilderness. I love camping. As a result of my experience in private school, we would always go on trip week, but I love camping and one of my dreams has been to hike the Pacific Coast Trail.

And the reason I want to do that is because one, it is something about being in nature, something about being in the wilderness, but it's a time to release, to reflect to heal. And a lot of people are flocking. To the p c t to get away, to replenish their mental health. And for me, I haven't really had time to really just enjoy.

Everything I've been able to do, everything I've been able to accomplish, like I haven't had time to really think and reflect and hiking the P C T. Not that I have to go all the way to the West Coast to do that, but it's also a way for me, To do some continued healing on just what has happened, just like in this world and also in my life.

But I want to be in nature and with the earth. So it is a dream of mine to one day hike. It goes from Canada to Mexico. If you do a thorough hike, it's like a little over 2000. Sometimes people do a shorter hike, but it's amazing. And I think the other piece is we're seeing more and more bipo folks on the trail, and the reason being is to just get out and release and to just replenish.

Mental health people are hiding out on the P C T just to have a break. But for me, it's just such a goal of mine because I want to just pack up and go sometimes. And I think this is a way for me to just do some intentional soul searching and thinking, because I do my best thinking when I am in spaces like that or if I'm on vacation overlooking like a ocean by myself.

It's definitely on my to-do list. I have to prepare physically and mentally 

and we'll see if it happens, but I'm excited

[00:50:00] Mahan Tavakoli: If I've learned anything about you, I have no doubt you will make it happen in Dira. And I really appreciate the thoughts you shared on your journey on leadership, most especially the power of reflection and healing that I think we need at this moment more than any other. Really appreciate you taking the time for this conversation.

Thank you

so much 

[00:50:27] Indira Henard: Thank you. Thank you for having me.