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LIPPI Spotlight

An Emerging Leader Perspective of LIPPI 2.0

By November 25, 2019March 16th, 2021No Comments

A conversation Brianna Sunryd, LIPPI ’19 and ’20.

“I was inspired to really invest in my leadership and networking skills so that I could be better poised to make an impact in my community and in the areas that I was already passionate about making real change in.”

Brianna Sunryd, LIPPI alumna

What inspired you to participate in the Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact (LIPPI)?

I was inspired to really invest in my leadership and networking skills so that I could be better poised to make an impact in my community and in the areas that I was already passionate about making real change in.

I felt that I had a lot of professional skills from my work in government and public policy but wanted tools to develop building and fostering relationships for community and collective action. LIPPI has certainly better prepared me to be a change leader and to think about creating diverse and inclusive teams.

What project did you focus on last year and how did that experience influence your life outside of LIPPI?

Last year I focused on researching the gender wage gap and some potential policy changes that could make an impact, particular in our state.

At the end of LIPPI I applied to  Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women and Girls for my county to hopefully be in a better position to make policy change in this area.

In your second year of LIPPI, what do you hope to learn? What do you hope to teach this year’s cohort of LIPPI members?

I hope to learn more about where social change and public policy intersect. I would like to discover the ways in which these two methods rely on and impact each other and build a toolkit that allows me to have a greater impact using both approaches to problem solving.

I hope to impart some of my takeaways from last year’s LIPPI class to this year. The biggest for me was the incredible amount I learned from my fellow LIPPISTAs last year. We sometimes forget how much we ourselves have to contribute to the knowledge base from our lived experiences.

We had some honest and raw conversations last year in some of our sessions, that I felt I personally grew from being a part of.  I look forward to continuing this work this year with another terrific group of women.

#LIPPI2020 #LIPPIstasLead