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by Judy York<\/a><\/span> | Nov 5, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Welcome to Leaders Rising<\/a>, where we explore the development journey of leaders who\u2019ve risen from the ashes of adversity, examining the leadership gifts born from their experiences, the challenges that have held them back, and the moves they\u2019ve made to transcend hardship and openly face the ragged edges that still remain.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Having spent the early years of her life in her family\u2019s predominantly black community in West Philadelphia, Lisa Savage-Phillips\u2019 life turned upside down during her third-grade year when the Philadelphia public school system\u2014along with many other communities in the United States\u2014began programs designed to force desegregation. \u201cIn the city of Philadelphia,\u201d Lisa recalls, \u201cthey came up with an idea\u2014to bus the smart black kids out of the black school into a white neighborhood. I was one that was selected to be bussed to a predominantly white school.\u201d<\/p>\n During the first year of the program, the school system provided busses, but after that, students as young as eight and nine years old were forced to navigate public transportation as they made the trek to new communities on their own. For young Lisa, the daily trip to the far suburbs was terrifying. \u201cIt was very, very scary,\u201d she remembers, \u201cbecause I had to travel quite a distance to get to school. It was probably about 30 minutes, and we had to take two buses and then walk.\u201d<\/p>\n Whereas early childhood had been defined by the feelings of kinship and belonging that she had felt within her community, Lisa\u2019s experience with bussing was the beginning of a series of ongoing confrontations with deep-seated racism and prejudice that would, in many ways, define her adolescent life. \u201cWe were being bussed into a neighborhood that was predominantly white,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI would look out of the school bus window and see my friend\u2019s parents protesting\u2014white parents banging on our windows with baseball bats and holding signs saying, \u2018We don\u2019t want those kids here\u2019 \u2026 It was very racist. They did not want integration.\u201d <\/p>\n The resistance Lisa encountered from parents and children alike curdled, at times, into violence. \u201cThe walking was traumatic,\u201d she remembers, \u201cbecause we were attacked with bats and sticks and kids throwing stones at us.\u201d And when her family moved to a white suburb in Delaware just a few years later, Lisa was forced to relive the experience of being an outsider all over again. This time, however, the racism she experienced felt even more confusing\u2014and often more hurtful\u2014than the violence she remembers from the Philadelphia suburbs. \u201cI had to go through that process again\u2014trying to figure out where to fit in and how to meet friends,\u201d Lisa recalls. \u201cI ended up sitting next to kids in the classroom who I became really good friends with, but I couldn\u2019t go to their home after school because their parents didn\u2019t like black people.\u201d<\/p>\n The racial prejudice that she experienced was ubiquitous. Lisa remembers one of her friends who would tell her, \u201cMy mother doesn\u2019t like black people,\u201d and the innocence with which she would casually drop these racist remarks. \u201cIt was like she didn\u2019t understand how hurtful that was. It was almost like saying, I don\u2019t like green beans. That\u2019s how normalized it was to them.\u201d The nonchalance with which Lisa felt the world around her rejecting her would ultimately have extremely detrimental effects on her self-esteem and self-confidence. \u201cI felt so bad about my black skin, so bad,\u201d she remembers. \u201cSo bad about the texture of my hair. I remember wishing that I had long straight hair\u2014my friend had long, straight, red hair.\u201d <\/p>\n Having people literally say, \u2018I don\u2019t like black people, but I like you because you\u2019re not like them,\u2019 set the pattern of me wanting to be liked \u2014 of fawning and wanting to suppress parts of who I am naturally.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As Lisa sought to fit in with a peer group, she began to realize that she felt alienated not just from the white students at her school but, at times, from the black community as well. \u201cI remember my brother coming home one day and saying, \u2018You don\u2019t dress like the other black girls.\u2019 And I didn\u2019t understand what he was talking about and I said, \u2018Well, what do you mean?\u2019 He pointed out, \u2018You don\u2019t see the other black girls wearing shoes like that.\u2019 I was wearing Birkenstock clogs at the time.\u201d <\/p>\n Lisa recognizes now that her attempts to fit in with the cohort of middle-class, white students who surrounded her at times created a chasm between her and other black people. This divide was rooted as much in socioeconomic status as it was in race. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a middle-class black person, you\u2019re treated differently than you are if you\u2019re not a middle-class black person\u2026 Race is always an issue, but it becomes less of an issue because you\u2019re middle-class. You look and sound like the American dream.\u201d<\/p>\n But no matter how alienated Lisa might have become from her blackness at the time, she knew that she could not assimilate into whiteness. She continued to encounter casual racism again and again during her adolescence, and came to expect that prejudice could come from essentially anyone she encountered. \u201cHaving people literally say, \u2018I don\u2019t like black people, but I like you because you\u2019re not like them,\u2019 that\u2019s an awful, awful message to receive,\u201d Lisa laments. Comments like these left her feeling like she had to try to fit in. \u201cThis set the pattern of me wanting to be liked\u2014\u201d she reflects, \u201cof fawning and wanting to suppress parts of who I am naturally.\u201d To protect herself, Lisa began to subconsciously shift her self-presentation to brace herself against the pain. \u201cWhen you\u2019re expecting pain in your interaction with people, it holds you back\u2014it makes you suppress parts of yourself. You don\u2019t want to sound black. You don\u2019t want to act black because of the subconscious fear of being rejected all over again.\u201d <\/p>\n Despite having to grapple with the painful messages she received about her racial identity, as Lisa entered young adulthood she also encountered mentors and teachers who challenged her to believe fiercely in herself. Often drawn to her open-mindedness and progressive thinking, they pushed Lisa to pursue her personal growth through education. \u201cI had wonderful professors,\u201d she recalls, \u201cwho believed in me and said, \u2018You need to get your master\u2019s degree. Do not stop. Keep going, keep going. And I did.\u201d After completing her graduate degree Lisa landed an early career job as a manager at an AIDS organization. \u201cIt was one of the first AIDS organizations in the country,\u201d she recalls. \u201cAnd at the time\u2014this was in the late 80s, early 90s\u2014HIV was primarily affecting gay men.\u201d <\/p>\n As she worked to support a community of people who were ostracized by identity and by illness, Lisa began to recognize some of the gifts that she had gained through her adolescent experiences a victim of discrimination. \u201cWhat that experience taught me,\u201d Lisa reflects, \u201cis that when you\u2019re sitting next to someone who\u2019s different, it is really hard to hate an individual. You can hate a random group of kids on a bus, but when you\u2019re sitting and you\u2019re interacting, and you\u2019re having lunch, and you\u2019re playing on the recess ground\u2014it\u2019s really hard to not like that person based on the color of their skin.\u201d <\/p>\n In the years since, Lisa has built a career as a child and adolescent therapist. She also founded The Center for Child Development<\/a>, which is now the largest black-owned practice in the United States. Lisa sees both her work and her leadership as having been guided by her eagerness for connection and her ability to relate to others. \u201cYou can\u2019t be a good leader without having the ability to have empathy for people\u2014\u201d Lisa acknowledges, \u201cwithout having the ability to really connect with others and treat them like they\u2019re part of your family.\u201d And part of empathy, for Lisa, centers on her understanding of what it means to treat others with fairness. \u201cIt\u2019s about living in a way that doesn\u2019t contribute to others\u2019 pain,\u201d Lisa believes, \u201cabout acknowledging mistakes, and knowing how to go back and repair anything that I may have done or said that was maybe not right, or hurtful.\u201d<\/p>\n On her path toward leadership, values like these have helped Lisa to create an accepting space in her practice\u2014one through which she can truly celebrate difference after having experienced what it felt like to be not celebrated in her school community as a child. \u201cI started out working in the AIDS field with a lot of marginalized folks,\u201d she reflects, \u201cand I carried that into my practice, where we focused on children and adolescents\u2014another marginalized population of people.\u201d <\/p>\n As a leader, it\u2019s important to extend generosity to other people. When I started out in my practice many years ago, I said that I would never not pay people a livable wage.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Lisa\u2019s work with children stemmed from her desire to serve the segment of her community who was located primarily in inner city Wilmington\u2014a population she knew would likely struggle to access the Delaware suburbs where her office was located. \u201cI started thinking, \u2018How am I going to reach these folks?\u201d she remembers. Lisa\u2019s solution was to meet the clients she wanted to reach exactly where they were located. \u201cThat\u2019s how we center their needs,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe deploy therapists to various schools, and they provide services on the spot. We take away the expectation of being traditional therapists who are sitting in an office where clients come to us. We literally meet clients where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n The choice to physically and emotionally center her practice around her clients through school- and community-based outreach programs is precisely what allowed her practice to expand to its current size. And as her business has grown, Lisa has been able to take pride in running a practice that supports not just its clients, but it\u2019s employees as well. \u201cThere are fifty-six therapists that work in my practice, which is huge,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt\u2019s a multi-million dollar practice\u2026 and I feel really good that fifty-six people in the state of Delaware have a good job, that they feel like they\u2019re doing something meaningful, and they\u2019re being compensated well for it.\u201d As an employer, Lisa sees her leadership as defined by generosity, loyalty, and the same fairness she tries to bring to all interactions in her life. \u201cAs a leader, it\u2019s important to extend generosity to other people,\u201d Lisa believes. \u201cWhen I started out in my practice many years ago, I said that I would never not pay people a livable wage.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to establishing and leading her practice, during the past five years Lisa also founded Clinicians of Color<\/a>, an organization designed to elevate and amplify the voices of black therapists throughout the country. Through Clinicians of Color, Lisa focuses on creating and enhancing access to professional resources. \u201cWe provide members with technical support, consultation on how to set up private practices, and we created an online directory for BIPOC folks to find BIPOC professionals, and that directory has taken off.\u201d<\/p>\n And yet\u2014despite the success she has found through her professional practice\u2014Lisa\u2019s leadership journey was not without its challenges, and one of Lisa\u2019s biggest personal hurdles lay in celebrating her own unique voice. In order to find her strength as a leader, Lisa needed to face the shyness, the self-doubt, and the internalized racism that had made her feel invisible as a child. \u201cI recognized that my desire to be liked was really oppressive\u2014because I couldn\u2019t show parts of myself that maybe other people didn\u2019t want to hear about,\u201d Lisa now understands. She remembers wondering to herself, \u201cIf I\u2019m not being authentically who I am, who are people really liking? Is it just a character that shows up and wants to be liked? Or are people really liking me for all of who I am?\u201d <\/p>\n Once Lisa began to bring awareness to the ways in which she was making her own voice smaller and quieter, she began questioning the mindsets that she had been relying for years on to feel safe. \u201cI used to be kind of shy when having to speak up,\u201d Lisa reflects. \u201cThose early life experiences, unfortunately, they are sometimes imprinted on you until you\u2019re conscious of them and you can say, \u2018No, I\u2019m going to challenge that negative self-talk and then challenge any self-limiting thoughts that I have around who I am and how I show up in this world as a black middle-aged woman.\u2019\u201d To overcome her need to be liked by others, Lisa needed to step courageously into her authenticity, challenging herself to be heard loudly and boldly as an individual. <\/p>\n Being a leader means modeling behavior that you want to see in other people.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And as it became less important for Lisa to be liked by others, she began to deeply connect with her need to not just advocate for herself, but to advocate for others as well. She now confidently uses her voice as a leader in her field to speak out against racism, working to challenge the status quo and catalyze change regardless of what others may think. \u201cYou never really know how much you risk when you speak out\u2026 We may lose some people, some individuals who say that our agency is too black, or that we speak up too much about racism. But I decided a long time ago that I didn\u2019t care anymore, that it was more important to me as an advocate\u2014as a person who speaks up on behalf of marginalized communities\u2014to risk speaking up in a state where it could backfire.\u201d<\/p>\n Where Lisa once felt paralyzed by others\u2019 perceptions of her, she now sees her willingness to risk others\u2019 opinions as a defining trait of successful leadership. \u201cBeing a leader means modeling behavior that you want to see in other people,\u201d says Lisa. \u201cIt means that sometimes you have to make difficult decisions\u2014it also means that not everyone\u2019s going to like or agree with the decisions that you make.\u201d As she continues her trajectory of building her practice around marginalized communities, Lisa is now looking ahead in her practice by making efforts to create a safe space for trans children. <\/p>\n Having developed the confidence she needed to advocate for the disenfranchised communities she serves, Lisa now sees her next growth edge in creating new, more diverse opportunities for healing that extend beyond traditional therapeutic modes. She envisions a future for her practice that includes other possibilities beyond one-to-one models of therapy, and hopes to develop and champion strategies that can affect change on a community scale. And in order to affect change on a broader scale, Lisa knows she will also need to make substantial changes in the way that she has historically worked, exploring new modes of collaboration with community partners. \u201cThat\u2019s what I have to do,\u201d she reflects. \u201cI have to literally get out from behind my desk and turn over some of my responsibilities to other people. And I gotta get out there. I\u2019ve got to connect more with policymakers, politicians, and influence some laws and policies.\u201d <\/p>\n Looking ahead, Lisa\u2019s biggest aspiration for the future is that the need for more robust and supportive mental health care becomes normalized in all communities, and in particular in communities of color. \u201cWe now have a lot more black and brown clients who are calling saying, \u2018I want therapy,\u201d Lisa says proudly, \u201cThat gives me a lot of hope.\u201d And by modeling courageous leadership, Lisa also aspires to motivate younger leaders in her field to carry her mission and values into the future. \u201cThe other hope that I have,\u201d Lisa acknowledges, \u201cis that the leadership team that I have\u2014who are literally young enough to be my children\u2014at some point, ten years from now when I\u2019m retiring, that they can take over my practice. And I will feel that I\u2019ve helped cultivate a generation of people who understand the vision and who want to continue carrying the torch for children.\u201d<\/p>\n You can learn more about Lisa Savage-Phillips\u2019 therapeutic practice and career at: Know someone who\u2019s risen from ashes of adversity to become an amazing leader \u2013 learning to leverage their gifts while continuing to soften up the rough edges?<\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019s you?<\/p>\n Message me. I would love to explore highlighting your story in my Leaders Rising Blog Series<\/a>!<\/p>\n
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https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lisa-savage-phillips-1773656\/<\/a><\/p>\n
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