This episode explores the essential and dedicated program within the MI-ACE network, born from resilience, vision, and community—the Women of Color Collaborative (WOCC). Host Dr. Cynthia Rooker is joined by Dr. Shai James Boyd to share the Collaborative’s journey, its impact, and the work still ahead to ensure equity and advancement for women of color in academia.

Mentioned This Episode:

Website: MI-ACE Women of Color Collaborative

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Website: LCC Women's Network

Website: MI-ACE Women's Network

Hello and welcome to Leading the Way: Women in Higher Education, a podcast dedicated to celebrating, supporting and advancing women in higher education across Michigan.

Hello, I'm Dr. Cynthia Rooker, and I am so thrilled to welcome Dr. Shea James Boyd, Dr.

Chair of Women of Color Collaborative, WOCC Michigan ACE Dr. Shea James Boyd will share WOCC's journey, its impact, and the work still ahead to ensure equity and advancement of women of color in academia. Good afternoon. Dr. Boyd, would you please introduce yourself to our audience and tell us about your current role in higher education?

Well, good afternoon and thank you so much for having me. I am Dr. Shai James Boyd.

I am the Assistant Director of Institutional Advancement at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan, and it's just my pleasure to be here.

Excellent. Thank you so much. Now, could you please share with us a story behind the founding of WOCC and what inspired it? Creation.

Absolutely.

And she wanted to come together with a group of women to find out, this is the profession that we love. How do we come together and find a way to just navigate those challenges across the campuses that these women are working on?

And so they first said, well, let's just come together and let's collaborate and let's talk over food. And that led to the inception, really, of the first WOCC luncheon that was held at Eaglecrest Conference center at Eastern Michigan university.

And about 65 women came. And I think just to see that it was 65 women at that particular time who came together, there was definitely a need.

And so out of that, WOCC was birthed, and it's been on a great trajectory since then. Wow.

And as we know, food will always bring people together. Right? So that.

Always. Yes, always.

Food is always, always good. Yes. And she created that space for women to come together, women of color to come together and to talk about some of those initial challenges.

Can you share with us some of those challenges that are facing WOCC as far as what needed to be addressed at that time?

And so there's just the idea of having to work harder. And I know when I say this, you know, people will say, well, you know, all women have to work hard. And, yes, we do.

We're paid less than men across the board. However, when it comes to women of color, there's an extra. You know, they talk about the glass ceiling. It's more like a concrete ceiling.

A glass ceiling, you can see through concrete. You can't see through it. You have to kind of chisel your way through to break through, to see what's on the other side.

For a quick example, she could be leading a whole department.

But being second guest, there's nothing like having a staff person go over your head to go somewhere else to get the same answer that you just gave them. So the women of color collaborative, you know, it gives you a space to. How do you navigate that?

With grace, with being an authority figure in the seat that you sit in. So all of those things are still here. And we're not going to say that it doesn't happen for all women, because it does.

But for women of color, it's just turned up a degree or two.

Absolutely.

So since then, the luncheon really has evolved into this space where women from all over the state of Michigan will come together on an institution's campus.

And again, the food is the connector, but the relationships that have been built over the course of the last several years, that's a time when you can actually come and see your colleagues in a space where, again, there's food, but there's also an inspirational word or panel or just activities that allow you to be able to, one, really understand that you're not alone. The things that you have been dealing with on your campus, you may have felt like that you were in isolation, but when you come to the.

To the luncheon, it's evolved to this space where it's electric and the people who are there are so passionate about. There is kind of a recommitment as well to helping one another. And it's a resurgence of, hey, you know what? I can do this. You know, I'm not alone.

And it really just becomes a place where you're making your net work for you. So over the years, it's just evolved where it was 65 women. At our most recent WOCC luncheon this past November, we had upwards of 200 women.

So it's gaining momentum and the word is reaching out across the campuses who are members of MIACE that, hey, this is something you want to make sure is on your calendar each year.

Oh, absolutely. I remember that. I attended that. And I do remember it was electrical. It was unbelievable. The.

And they had to get more chairs because there were so many people that they didn't expect.

They did.

It was. I mean, what a good problem to have, right?

An excellent problem.

Absolutely.

Well, how about you share like a moment or a story that reflects the impact that WOCC has on women's, whether it's their career, the passion of the belonging that you talk about. Can you share something like that with us?

It's hard to just share one story. So I'll just share what it looks like for the women who participate in wocc. First and foremost, it looks like professional advancement.

I can think off the top of my head, my colleagues who were aspiring to be college presidents, to be chancellors, to be deans, and just to move up in their career, and they have actually done that. And I will say that Dr. Lynette Findlay is still very, very engaged and in the network and wocc.

And I think about one young lady who is now the executive director, president of the University of Michigan Alumni Association. And I think about how Dr. Findlay wrote a letter for her, how the network rallied around her, and she is now in that seat.

And she is just one of many examples. My former co chair, Dr. Stephanie Lee, she has just recently been promoted.

So across the board, you can see how the professional advancement is that key piece that kind of pulls this group together and then being able to celebrate them is that sense of belonging. When we get together, there is nothing greater than just celebrating someone and giving them their flowers and stuff while they can.

And I mean that literally over a lunch just to say, you know, you know, you did it, you hung in there, you did it. So now that you're there, you're going to look back and you're going to help somebody else come along. So that's just one of many examples.

You can look across this board and there are lots of women who have benefited from being a member of WOCC and the MIACE network.

Great. I love how you used the let Me show you how it looks instead of sharing like a moment, because it sounds like there's just so many stories.

But let me give you an example of what it looks like. I love that. That's great. That's great. So tell us, how do member institutions collaborate so to host an annual WOCC luncheon?

And what makes each one of those luncheons, what makes it unique? What is it about the luncheon?

So very interesting. The institutions really self. Identify.

So I have been a member for quite some time, probably about a good eight years ago, and actually at the point where I decided, oh my goodness, I really want to do more for WOCC is when we held the luncheon at Henry Ford College. At Henry Ford College, right then someone came up and said, hey, we want to host it next year.

And that has been how it has happened at every luncheon. Because of the energy that's in the room. People are just. They're like, look, we want this at our camp. We need this here over where we are.

And of course, that brand includes some food, it includes a powerful message or a panel, but something that's going to inspire the troops, so to speak. And there's always some kind of a networking activity. And really from there, the institutions, it's unique.

Each institution or college, they bring their own flair to the luncheon. As the chair of wocc, my job is really just to kind of guide them through. They really do. They take ownership.

They put together their own committees, they get the gifts, they plan the. They keep the brand that we have of those key things that we'd like to have.

But they will, you know, sometimes there's music, we've had dancing, they've taken us on tours.

And while it was at Henry Ford College, I had it set up where you could go over to the Henry Ford Museum if you were wanted to take the afternoon and kind of go over there. So everyone makes it their own, but they self identify. How the luncheon happens each year, where it's going to be is totally random.

And that's part of what makes it fun and interesting.

Well, that's great.

It sounds like each institution will put their cultural touch onto that lunch and that boosts the energy and gets people engaged and excited about being together for a short period of time. But like you said, yet keeping the brand, but putting their own ownership type on there. That's great. Excellent.

So what role does WOCC play in the Michigan ACE Annual Conference? And can you tell us how those sessions are tailored to the needs of women of color?

Sure. When we first started out, WOCC really coordinated the whole first day.

We got the speakers, the sessions, everything that transpired the first day WOCC had a hand in. But as the conference has evolved, so we have evolved. So now we still have a space there on the first day.

We are instrumental in helping to select the speaker for the first day.

And we also want to make sure that there are some sessions that are geared toward women of color to speak to their individual needs at the conference. And also we try to find time to just connect with one another in the evenings and whatnot on that first day.

Excellent. That sounds great. Then you're putting in exactly some of the programming into your brand, so to speak. Right? That's great.

What kind of professional development or networking opportunities does WOCC offer throughout the year?

Certainly we typically meet monthly on a Friday morning at 8:30 and that time and that day is kind of just funny because we were trying to figure out when's the best time to meet.

And that was the time when everyone decided, hey, either I'm kind of going into the office and I'm in, maybe I might be in my car and I can call into the session, or I can jump on my zoom before the the day gets going. Friday, we found out, was the light day for most people. And so we meet at 8:30 before the day gets away from all of us and we meet for an hour.

And again, it's that space where we come together. We usually have a theme maybe that we'll talk on.

We'll talk about any kind of business initiatives that MIACE is involved in that we want to make sure we carry forward. And then from there we're networking and celebrating with one another. That's one of the things we do.

We also have a newsletter that comes out a couple of times during the academic year where we're also making sure we have member spotlights and things of that nature. And what kind of books are we reading? And just scholarships and just news and information that women of color can use to advance their career.

And I think the other final thing that we definitely do is we hold webinars.

That's one of the ways we kind of the tools we use that institutions who are not, yes, they can stay connected, but if they're not members of miace, they can still kind of join in on one of the webinars that that goes out across the state of Michigan.

Excellent.

So those are about the three things that we do throughout the course of the year.

Okay. Wow. Plenty of opportunities. That's great for networking. Excellent. Well, I've got one more question for you and it's sure it's about looking ahead.

If you could just share some of the WOCC goals for the future and how can institutions better support women of color in higher education?

Most certainly. So I will say that this is my last year as chair, so I will be officially rolling into another position later on this year.

So I think I'm going to let the new chair really talk about what the future is. However, I can only see her taking it and making it even better.

Finding more ways and resources for women just to connect with the fresh eyes and just a fresh outlook.

There's a lot that's in store, but we're certainly proud of all the accomplishments that we've made over the last, what is it, four years as I've been in this position and institutions can certainly just support by making sure, first of all, you are a member of of miace. And so let me just say that wocc, we're not a separate organization.

We're the affinity group that falls under miace, which is for all women in the state of Michigan. And so if they get in there, you'll be connected to everything we do. And if you want to find out and get totally connected right to us, get in touch.

If you're listening and you're a member institution, get in touch with your institutional representative on your campus and they can plug you in to all of the resources for miace, which we follow up underneath as one of their affinity groups.

Oh, excellent. That's great. Well, that is fantastic. It's been wonderful talking with you. Thank you so much.

Likewise for sharing. Thank you so much.

Absolutely. So thank you for sharing the powerful story and ongoing work of women of color Collaborative. WOCC is more than a program under Michigan ace.

It's a movement that continues to break down barriers and build pathways for women of color in higher education.

So if you're inspired by today's conversation, we encourage you to learn more, attend a WOCC event or connect with your institution's institutional representative. So please visit connect.com for more episodes. Until next time. Keep leading, keep learning, and keep lifting others along the way.

Thanks for tuning in to Leading the Way: Women in Higher Education. To listen to this episode and others, visit LCCConnect.com. Until next time, keep leading, keep learning and keep lifting others along the way.