I consider myself a social justice educator, and as a social justice educator, I understand the importance of doing “my own work.”  Essentially, I recognize how vital self-knowledge is to my ability to educate.  And though my work in self-knowledge and social justice will never be finished, I very much feel that my exploration of my identity as a woman has only just begun.  I owe a debt of gratitude to the community I’ve found through social media, on the WISA blog and with #wlsalt.  Without these two things, I’m certain I would not be this deep in my journey.

As this August rolled around, a time student affairs folks both anticipate and dread, I found myself preparing to tackle a new challenge: supervising an almost entirely female professional staff.

Some context for this particular challenge: last year was my first year supervising professional staff members.  I directly supervise five…