Adeola is 27 years old and is the Project Worker at Kairos Women+. Adeola attended the Feminist Leadership Training Programme 2021. The programme took place online and each cohort was provided with six 3-hour online training sessions. Adeola was a member of Group 3 and was also one of the speakers of the Rosa Summer Conference.

It was Adeola’s manager that came across the training and encouraged Adeola to apply. Adeola remembers thinking it looked really exciting but did not think she would be provided a place as she needed to apply for it which she had never done before.

She recalls thinking that the programme looked really interesting, specifically in relation to how intersectional it was and that it covered so many different issues and topics. Adeola says that the programme seemed to be offering something she’d never seen before and on top of that it was free.

It allowed me to think that I’m not constrained, that I can be myself and still succeed

When asked about whether the expectations where met Adeola says that “they were definitely met and more”.  She recalls anticipating quite a formal training, with power point presentations and the facilitators going through the slides. However, the training wasn’t like that. It was interactive with a lot of discussions and activities, working together and figuring out things together. Adeola says “I never before thought that was valuable but that was the best part of it and it enhanced my learning”.

Reflecting on the programme overall, Adeola thinks it was “really, really good. To be honest I don’t have any faults, I just want more. I felt with every session there was more we could have touched on. Even though it was three hours – which is very long – but it always felt like we could have gone into more detail [and] I think other people would agree”

She says that she found all the sessions really useful and particularly liked how the last session was tailored by the group in terms of what they wanted. She also specifically appreciated to go through the qualities of a feminist leader and emotional intelligence.

When asked whether the training has impacted Adeola personally and/or professionally, she says:

“It definitely has impacted me both personally and professionally and they are linked. For me, it has allowed me to have more confidence in my natural skills and abilities. I’m very self-critical, but it has allowed me to have a lot of confidence and belief in myself, based on being open but also hearing other people’s experiences was really, really inspiring, like you know the kind of things you see on TV […] talking to people who’ve been through certain things and they overcame things and they done this and that was amazing. I’ve never had that before in my life. […] That was really inspiring and really, really nice to see and to hear. It allowed me to think that yeah actually I’m not constrained, I can do things, I can be myself and still succeed and there are things I’m good at and things I need to work on. I’m just a lot more confident in myself which I think has changed my approach in my work, with more assurance”

Adeola says that the training has given her more confidence in speaking up and having her voice heard. Adeola is now in a new position from when she started the course and says that the training helped her confidence in applying and in tuning in to her strengths and in identifying what she wanted to do. She says that the training supported her in applying sooner than she probably would have otherwise.

It was a really great and valuable programme and it changed a lot of people’s experiences and lives throughout that process. There was a lot of people there who shared things for the first time [...] that's huge.

When asked what could have been better she says

“I honestly can’t think of anything that could have been better. In the beginning I thought maybe to go through the slides in more detail, but you send all the resources immediately after the training which is really useful and saves time on the day”

The funder for the programme, the Rosa UK fund for women and girls, invited the programme participants to talk at their Summer Conference which was put on at the end of the programme. Each group were as a consequence tasked with electing speakers on behalf of the group to speak about their experience and journey of the programme and feminist leadership. Adeola was chosen together with one other group member to deliver the talk on behalf of their group. Reflecting on the experience, Adeola says: 

“it was fantastic to be given this opportunity, I felt really honoured that the group picked me and believed in me. It was a learning experience to work on something from scratch with someone totally new as well (Nisha), so we had quite a lot of zoom meetings and gave each other pep talks, which was really nice. I loved the day of the conference, it was amazing seeing everyone’s hard work pay off, and everything just flowed. Even though I was nervous, I felt comfortable presenting. Evelina and Tebs provided a lot of support in the lead up to the conference which was valuable and it definitely contributed to the success of the day. The conference itself provided a robust view of feminist leadership, especially the qualities. The preparation for the conference also provided us with valuable learning, particularly in developing the presentation and facilitating to such a big audience”.

When asked about whether she has any final comments, Adeola says:

“The training was really successful. It was a really great and valuable programme and it changed a lot of people’s experiences and lives throughout that process. There was a lot of people there who shared things for the first time and that’s really important to pat yourself on the back for because that wouldn’t normally happen in a random training with people all over the country, that would never happen. I think that’s huge”

 

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 Thank you Adeola for agreeing to be interviewed by WRC for this case study and for the value you brought to the Feminist Leadership Training Programme 2021.