Meet Lorraine Connell

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lorraine Connell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lorraine, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

As a mom, teacher, coach, and student advisor, I was a leader in many ways, but I never saw myself as a leader. I didn’t have an official title, and I had been turned down twice for a leadership role I thought I was qualified for. In this moment, I started to doubt my ability to be a leader, because it also confirmed the idea I had in my head that unless I had a title I wasn’t a leader.

I had a pivotal moment when a superior of mine chastised me in front of my colleagues about a student leadership program I was in charge of, and said that the student in question was not qualified to be a leader. That in combination with what I experienced above, and some things I realized we did to students WITH leadership titles caused me to reevaluate what I was doing and know there was a better way – I needed to create it.

So I transitioned out of the classroom and created leadership programs for all teens!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

In schools, but in all spaces there are only enough leadership titles to serve 10% or less of an organization. This struck me as a problem, I believe that we are all leaders of our own lives and that every decision we make guides us to or away from our goals. Leadership is like any other skill you get better with practice. I provide practice!

I have both virtual and in-person leadership programs for teens. I started with in-person because I thought all schools would want this opportunity for their students (ALL of them), but many schools think they are doing leadership and don’t want to create these programs and opportunities for their students. Since my mission is to provide leadership to all students – I couldn’t wait for schools to buy in, so I created my young teen leadership virtual cohorts.

I use a train-the-trainer model, in all my programs if teens want they can continue to build leadership. In level one, we build foundational leadership skills, like learning who we are and how to set goals we want, and then we move into building relationships with others and learning from each other. It is a 4-month program – I love it so much because they learn from each other by facilitating questions and their own challenges. If they want they move on to level two – this is where they practice what they did in level one as the facilitator, with others who have gone through level 1 as well. Then level three would be to facilitate with a new group. In all of these programs Peers not Fears supports them!

We have new cohorts forming each month, to learn more about the virtual leadership program click here: https://subscribepage.io/z9OO4e

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

For me my desire to continue to learn and grow – I felt like this was missing in the classroom teaching the same class every year. While I changed some things it wasn’t enough. I decided to get a second master’s degree and rediscovered my love of learning. I knew that if I wanted to grow I needed to change. Learning to build a business was and has been incredible. I have learned so much about myself and what it means to be a leader. Each group I facilitate teaches me just as much as I teach them!

Vulnerability – I asked my students all the time to take risks and step outside their comfort zones, but I realized I wasn’t doing that as much as I could or wanted. Being a new business owner is very vulnerable. Quitting a job you had for 20 years was incredibly vulnerable and I realized how courageous I was through this journey.

Empowerment – I want to empower others to see their best qualities, and to know that they are not the same as others. I can’t do that for others if I wasn’t able to do that for myself.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

I have spoken about the limitation to leadership if we believe the myths
Leaders have titles
Leaders are born
Leaders are perfect

You might think my ideal clients are parents of high-achieving students wanting to add more items to their resumes, but it is me, I want to serve the kids who are like me. Quiet, not the best at anything, average in so many ways, but with the underlying courage and desire to build their skills. The quiet, shy, or loud trouble-makers I want to empower those teens to see themselves differently than anyone has ever seen them and empower them with the skills to do the things they were meant to do! I love these teens – I always have – because I see myself in them!

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