This Women’s History Month, we’d like to celebrate Wendy Kim of Beyond Blending In. Wendy is a #1 international best-selling author, a professional public speaker, a certified diversity and inclusion trainer, and a Reality Changers volunteer. Wendy is committed to empowering women and people of color to step from behind the shadows to fully own their power and leadership to go beyond blending in and to make a difference in the world.

Wendy generously donated an exclusive, free leadership program to the Reality Changers Alumni Network. Thirteen Reality Changers program graduates participated in this 3-month program, called Beyond Blending In: Reality Changers Women’s Leadership. The participants were all current college students or young professionals.

Topics covered included owning your diverse leadership, self-care, self-compassion, confidence, setting boundaries, asking for support, being seen and heard, valuing your voice and supporting each other as women of color.

According to Wendy, “we talked about speaking up for yourself in self-advocating and setting boundaries. A lot of times women of color have been conditioned by society to not speak up, in fear of challenging the dominant culture, which harms us and prevents us from making the contribution we are so committed to making. This is why I do this work across corporations, to support the leadership of people of underrepresented groups.”

One program participant was Ashley, a UCSD graduate. Ashley says, “At the beginning of the program, I dealt with immense imposter syndrome. In sharing with my fellow cohort members, I learned that I am not alone. I am worthy of finding my voice and achieving what is meant for me.” (Ashley wrote more about her experience in the program. Read her guest blog post here.)

Another participant was Shakur, also a UCSD graduate. According to Shakur, “The most valuable thing I did in this program was to be vulnerable. When you are in a space that has been created by women of color, for women of color, it is so validating. There are aspects of my lived experiences that I cannot explain with words very well, but in this space, I don’t need to because they understood where I was coming from. This empowered me to find strength in my vulnerability and realize that I am a valuable leader even if I don’t feel like it at times.”

Thank you, Wendy, for being a history maker and for supporting history-making women!