Kula Koenig is the Senior Director of Impact for the United Way California Capital Region, where she directs the organization’s initiative to end poverty in the region. A passionate activist from a young age, Koenig is now the founder of Social Justice PolitiCorps, which organizes Sacramentans for social justice.

Prior to this, Koenig acted as Government Relations Director for the American Heart Association and as District Director for former Assemblymember Roger Dickinson. She previously served as president of the Sacramento chapter of Black Women Organized for Political Action, and she also started a political action committee called The Social Justice Now PAC, which aims to lift up Black women into influential positions in policymaking.

Koenig shared valuable pieces of wisdom about her experiences throughout her career thus far.

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Throughout your leadership journey, from your first job to your current position, what are some key lessons you’ve learned that have shaped you as a leader?

First, change is messy! This has been a hard lesson to learn because I like to be in control and plan things out. It used to give me so much anxiety when things did not go as planned, you would think it was the end of the world. Now, I know it’s not. The messiness is part of the journey.  Second, be grounded in something: family, religion, a defining moment in your life, a hobby, etc. Identify what you need to lean on when you find yourself at your wits end. For me, it’s a defining moment. Surviving a civil war and making it to the U.S. when so many others did not get the same fortune. Those two things help with pretty much everything else that life throws my way as a leader.

Every person faces their own challenges and women of color are certainly no exception. What contributes to your resilience as a professional woman of color?

My resilience comes from my story. I came to this country undocumented and remained so for many years. My mom, with her elementary school education, worked all kinds of jobs at all kinds of hours, and took all kinds of mess to take care of three girls in a country she did not know. My sisters followed suit to build on the foundation my mom set, and so I am raised, loved, nurtured, and supported by women who are resilient.

Discrimination in the workplace can often arise in less overt ways such as microaggressions, implicit biases, and double standards. How can someone experiencing this address these issues in a professional setting? (Alternatively, how have you addressed these issues in a professional setting?)

I have addressed this in a professional setting by calling it out. This was not easy for me because I do not like conflict. However, in my gut I knew I was wronged. Because I am now established in my career, it felt safer to call it out so that such discrimination, double standards, and biases do not persist and harm others who may be newer in their career and do not feel as if they can speak up. In this situation, I took a pause to examine my feelings, screamed and cried to those who could validate and support me, and then in writing I spelled out the ways the situation was harmful, provided examples, cited references, and gave suggestions on how to handle the matter differently in the future. It felt good!