Leadership Profile Assignment Script

Sarah Wainright is a leader and mentor to my at my internship site. I wrote the following
paragraph about her in my leadership reflection, which applies to this assignment as well:
Sarah is a leader to me as my direct supervisor, but also to Misericordia as a role model. She
has worked for the organization for a number of years, and is highly knowledgeable about it, as
well as the population it serves. She is comfortable with herself and extremely self-aware. I see
her as the model of Kouzes and Posners (2002) practice of model the heart. Every yoga and
art class is a unique experience. She offers one-on-one attention to every resident. There was
one yoga class in particular where she gave the residents an opportunity to give her feedback on
a practice. She was patient with every residents response, especially with residents that may
have speech impediments or just like to talk for long periods of time. This example in particular
demonstrates all five practices of leadership according to Kouzes and Posner (2002). She
models the way by the way earns respect, not demanding it. She sets goals and challenges the
process by continuing to grow and learn in her field. She empowers residents and coworkers to
act independently and confidently and is consistently a model of uplifting care (Kouzes &
Posner, 2002).
Because she is an artist, I did not want to write another paper about her, because I think her story
deserves a visual representation. Instead, I decided to compile a presentation of pictures that
directly correlate to her leadership story. While most are not pictures she or I have taken, they are
all important and correlated to my interview with her (and are all cited at the end of the
presentation). If I were to give the presentation in person, this would be the script per slide:
Slide Number
Title Slide (1)

For my leadership profile, I chose to interview one of my direct supervisors that I

work most closely with. Sarah Wainright is highly compassionate, caring, patient,
and wiling to step up to help anyone and everyone. With years of experience as an
art and yoga teacher in the Recreation and Leisure Department, she has a mountain
of knowledge about her fields, Misericordia and working with individuals with
disabilities.
One of the statements that resonated most with me in interviewing Sarah was when
she said, I think when I started working with this populationthe people that
pointed me in that direction knew something about me that I didnt. I resonate
with the statement because while I never thought about working with people with
disabilities personally, Misericordia has opened my eyes to a whole new skill set I
never knew I had. Sarah and I talked for a little over a half hour about her journey
to where shes at now and what leadership means to her.
This is rest pose, or corpse pose, which opens and closes every yoga class. It
stands for Sarahs early origins. Sarah was born in Vero Beach, Florida and moved
to Milwaukee the summer before her Freshman year in high school. After
applying to art schools all over the nation, she decided to attend School of the Art
Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1997. It was at SAIC that she first started to do
yoga as her performance requirement.
This is an example of a greeting card and drawing made at Esperanza Community
Services, the location of Sarahs first internship at SAIC. While Sarah did not work
directly with the artists who crafted these, this internship was formative for Sarahs
career. After an internship with a Bucktown Knit Wear designer fell through, Sarah
had to scramble to find an internship and ended up working at Esperanza
Community Services doing art with people with disabilities. This was the point at
which she says her mentors perhaps knew her better than herself. They introduced
her to this other art world more connected to community. She says she fell in
love with the work, which led her to a second internship at Arts of Life Studio.
This is artwork and a current artist from the Arts of Life Studio in Chicago, Sarahs
second internship while still at SAIC. She described it as an alternative
developmental training program for residents who may have not had success at
other programs. Sarahs greatest observation was that they were just happy to do
art. She quoted it as very punk. The studio is a sort-of collective where artists in
the community both with and without disabilities and mental illness come together
and do art.
After graduating from SAIC, Sarah wandered a bit, working a few different jobs to
pay rent until a friend told her about a position that opened up at Misericordia.
She has been working in the Recreation and Leisure department ever since. This is
a photo of her work in action. Sarah told me she continues to return to her mentors
from past internships as role models and touch stones, something to return to
when she feels herself getting burnt out. The communities she has found in the
past continue to be a reminder of what she is doing and sharing, as she says.
This is a picture of Sarahs role model. When I asked her who some role models
are in her life, she immediately said Mira Binzen, the director of education at
Global Family Yoga. Mira was Sarahs yoga teacher trainer. Sarah looks up to her
because she extends yoga beyond just work on the body, and has learned a lot
more from her than just yoga. Mira is known for working with children and

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families, which has been helpful in some ways for the population at Misericordia.
Sarah also appreciates Mira as a role model because she really lives her yoga, it is
not just a job for her, she knows what shes talking about and continues to make a
community for her students.
This is mountain pose, simple in nature, but demands internal confidence. It draws
the worlds energy into you. When asked about leadership, Sarah said a leader is
someone who has a draw. People want to learn things from leaders, but not only
that, leaders also inspire people to act in their best interest and the community their
working in. I think this models many principles in Kouzes & Posners (2002)
work, but especially model the way.
This is an image of tree pose, one of the primary balance poses in yoga. When
asked, Sarah told me the most important qualities necessary to be a good leader is
just someone willing to be curious, humble and confident. She told me those
qualities seem counter-intuitive but the balance of all of them are necessary.
I asked Sarah how family has influenced her leadership journey. She told me three
primary lessons: Raised Catholic her mother taught her about ethics and kindness.
She learned resilience from her older brother, as well as the importance of being
self-taught; theres always more than one way to do something. From her younger
brother, she learned the importance of listening, balance, and kindness. She also
told me humor is very important to her family and to dealing with challenges.
While this is not Sarah in the picture, this is warrior pose, one that requires balance
and strength, but also the ability to change weight and direction at any time. I
asked Sarah if she has ever experienced any life-changing/pivotal moments in her
life and she said two. First, her decision to come to Chicago, and a second one
when she didnt work for the Knit Wear Designer. She thinks if she had, she
would be in a much different career.
My final question for Sarah was what advice would she give to emerging leaders.
The following three slides include some artwork from some prominent leaders in
her field, as well as pieces of advice. The first: Cultivate your instincts and listen
to yourself
Secondly, Have enough resilience to hone in on your center and find whats really
important to you
Lastly, Let things flow from that center and love yourself first.
Just like the full circle of a yoga class, we return to the beginning. To rest pose.
Photo References; Also used:
Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass