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The Power of Impact & Imprint

  • Writer: Kim Meninger
    Kim Meninger
  • 8 hours ago
  • 25 min read
The Power of Impact & Imprint

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we explore how lived experiences shape leadership and influence the way impostor syndrome shows up at work. My guest this week is Natanja Craig-Oquendo, Executive Director of the Boston Women’s Fund. Natanja shares her journey from a childhood grounded in community organizing and allyship to leading mission-driven work focused on social, gender and economic justice. She reflects on how early messages about identity and belonging shaped her sense of what was possible and how those messages continue to influence her inner dialogue today.


In our conversation, we talk about the power of representation, the impact of environment on confidence and how focusing on service can shift attention away from self-doubt. Natanja also introduces the idea of “imprint vs. impact,” reminding us that while impact builds over time, imprint happens in every interaction through how we show up and support others. We also discuss what it takes to lead with honesty and humanity, why creating space for real conversations matters and how to move away from compartmentalization toward more authentic leadership.


About My Guest

Natanja N. Craig-Oquendo is CEO of Boston Women’s Fund, where she is redesigning philanthropy to follow community leadership — not override it. Guided by the principle “do nothing about us without us,” she has spent more than 20 years shifting power toward the communities most impacted by inequity.


Since joining the Fund in 2020, she has tripled grantmaking, expanded partnerships from 6 organizations to 22, grown the operating budget from $300,000 to $2.2 million, and increased the endowment from $2.1 million to $3.5 million. She advanced multi-year grants of up to five years, pioneered a “Request for Conversation” model to replace traditional RFPs with trust-based engagement, and launched the Seed Funding Grant to expand access to capital for Black leaders and grassroots innovators.


She is equally proud of building an organizational culture that supports the full human — where caregiving is not penalized, boundaries are respected, lived experience informs decision-making, and sustainability replaces burnout as the measure of commitment. In 2025, she co-led Carrying the Weight, Leading the Change, a research report developed with UMass Boston, and founded Horizon Collective, a leadership initiative for women and gender-expansive leaders of color.


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Transcript

Kim Meninger

Welcome, Tanja, it's so wonderful to have you here. I'm excited for this conversation, and I would love to start by inviting you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

Oh, first of all, thank you so much for allowing me to be here. Kim, I love your podcast. I'm really excited to have the opportunity to speak with you, especially about impostor syndrome. I think in order to know a leader, honestly, you have to know who they come from, right, like who helped shape to me. And so if I could start there, because my family is everything to me. So I was born to biracial parents. My father is from the south. My mom grew up in Fitchburg. My grandmother came by way of Canada, so a French Canadian woman who landed in Fitchburg, my mother and father met here in Boston while they were doing some organizing. And I bring that up for a couple of reasons. One, because my mother came into the relationship with two fully white children that my father adopted. And so I never grew up understanding until I was 13, actually, and someone told me that my sisters were my half-sisters. So that just gives you an understanding of like we didn't play about family. You know, when we were just family, I learned about allyship, if I'm being honest, at the dinner table, my mother spoke and my father spoke so often, not only of who we were as a family, but they got married very short, like two or three years after the loving law was passed. And the loving law was allowed interracial couples to actually marry, but it was still a very hard time in our country as it relates to race, and it was particularly a really hard time in Boston. So this was during bussing around 1972 and I bring that up because, as we sat around the table, we learned about allyship, as we learned about community organizing, because bussing was happening, as we learned about how we hold each other as a family, when somebody is going through something hard. And I want to mention this like my sisters were fully white, and there they had to go to Humana, which was we lived in Roxbury, which is across Boston, and they faced violence because it was a violent there was this violence happening in the city, and so sometimes we had to hold space for them. I bring all that up to say, my parents, they, they didn't mince words, and they were very clear about who we were as a family. They were also very clear about what our values were. Allyship showed up at our table because my mother taught us about what that looked like when I think about racial justice or gender justice. Those were conversations that continued, that we continue to have throughout my, my youth and my parents eventually became divorced and but I remember we were walking to our new apartment in Villa, Victoria. And let me just tell you, this is very quick, Kim, and I promise I'll wrap it up after this. But we're walking, we're leaving a shelter, and we're walking, we have these bags. This is how close the shelter was, Kim, so we have these bags, these black bags, of all of our stuff, six of us, six kids. My mom has six children all together. We all lived in two these two bedrooms, and we finally had a four bedroom. And the, the our apartment in Villa Victoria was in front of the park. And I was like, that's how I know I'm God's favorite because I was like, hula. Put me in front of a park. I get first dibs on swings. And all that being said is that as we were walking, my mother was like, let me tell you about Villa Victoria. Let me tell you about the Puerto Rican activist that saved this land. Let me tell you about their names. Let me tell you about Maria. Let me tell you about Carmen. Let me tell you about Jose. My mother didn't play when it came to those who often stories did not get told. But as we were walking, I knew that that land, because of urban renewal was essentially bill of authority before it was that became a tent city where people put their bodies in place for homes for me and my family. That is who I am. That is where I come from.

 

Kim Meninger

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing that with me and, and I absolutely love when you talked about your parents not mincing words and just the ability to have those conversations so all naturally. And I feel like that that gives you the ability to communicate, probably I don't want to put words in your mouth, but in ways that other people are not necessarily taught or not necessarily experienced, and I think that we we're missing out on a lot of important conversations because too many people aren't having them in the way that you're describing.

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

You know what I think about hard conversations? Kim, I think that when you are in the right relationship, they should bring you closer. And so I have had friends who have had completely different lived experience than me, and we've had to sit and have conversations around capitalism and what that meant in my life versus what it meant in hers, right? But those are conversations that helped us understand who each other is. And I think you're right. I think now don't get me wrong, Kim, I will avoid conflict if I need to. Do, but my work doesn't allow me not to have hard conversations, right? And so there is a part of me that really believes that how love shows up is in the harder conversations and so, and I think that's what my mom and my dad taught us, and of course, that played out in many ways, as the youngest of six sometimes hard conversations turned into like, referee fights, right? But, but I got, we got through it. But I do think that conflict and healthy conflict, especially now Kim right, like when we're all holding on to things and as the world is kind of worlding, I don't even know what else to call it around us. I think now is a real time for us to say the quiet things out loud that has been a goal of mine for the last couple of years. Just to be really honest for myself, is not to hide behind the fear that sometimes I'm feeling. So yeah, I think having more of those quiet the quiet things that usually I would hold in, I'm starting to say, say out loud, so that we can have space for those conversations.

 

Kim Meninger

And I really want to talk about what you do now, but I also want to fill in some of the space in between that you grew up with these values. You grew up in, in a family where you talked a lot about identity and who you are. And I wonder how that shaped the journey between sort of there and where the work you do today and who you see. You know how you see yourself today?

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

Absolutely, yeah, I started off in so it might I mean that I started off in corporate America, and I remember being there for about four or five years, and just like Soul, knowing I don't know how else to say that, right, like my soul, knew that that's not where my work would be, right? I knew that there was a means to an end. I was a very young mother Kim. I had my first daughter at 15. Shout out to Samantha Rivera, she's incredible, a beautiful, beautiful being here in Boston and doing incredible community organizing. And I think about, you know, I think about often, when I was labeled a teenage mother, how, how much of people's expectations of me changed, and I think that was a big part of kind of, you know, where I decided, where I saw myself, if I'm being 100% honest, when I first got pregnant, I said I am going to get my own apartment in Villa Thornton, and we will live here forever and ever. My daughter and I in the bliss of, you know, where I grew up, and then she allowed me to dream bigger, and that bigger ended up being my first job, which was at, at a corporate organization, a corporation that I was like, Okay, I think it's important for us to try things. And I knew that that wasn't a place for me. I felt like a square that was trying to be pushed into, like a hole, and then I went into nonprofit work, and that kind of took a little bit of a turn. I was a little all over the place, if I'm being honest, the first, my first nonprofit role was about retaining black and brown individual doctors, scientists here in Boston. So many of them come here for school, but then they end up leaving to go to DC, Atlanta. And that was really the first time me being around professionals of that caliber. And I think that that helped me see myself differently, if I'm being really honest, Kim, that was the first time that I was like, oh, okay, I don't have to play small. I get to play I actually get to decide. And I think for so long, especially being a teen mom, I think I took on the identities that that the my community said teen moms would end up, right? And I say that because my community was hard on me, I'm just being really honest and so and, and I think that allowed me being at the partnership Inc, specifically, that is where they retain black and brown professionals here in Boston, allowed me to see myself differently. From there, I moved on to the Urban League, but then eventually landed in philanthropy. And philanthropy is where I always say I started at the Boston Foundation, and that is where I got my college degree in Boston Women's Fund. Where I'm at now is where I'm getting my PhD in philanthropy. So my education was not traditional, but it was. It's been, it's been incredible.

 

Kim Meninger

Well and I want to go back to what you were saying, too, about the, the shift in your ability to see what's possible. And I think that that is and we you and I started to touch on this before we hit the record button too. Of like the message the world sends you, like different, different influential voices or people in the world. Of like what is possible for you, based on race, based on gender, based on socio economic. Status, right? It's like, and there's a way in which we don't know what we don't know. And so we absorb those messages and just assume, like, Well, that's it for me, right? You know, and, and so for you, the way I'm hearing you is that, like, this was a turning point for you, and your ability to say, like, Oh, there's more than just what I, you know, the box into.

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

That’s right, that's right. When you know, growing up, you know, I am a firm, firm believer. If you can see it, you can be it. And I never really understood that, and I used to think it was like the corniest thing to say. But as I reflect on, you know, just my life in general. When I look back, it wasn't until that moment where I realized, like, like, oh, you get to dream bigger than you ever have. Like, you may have been dreaming too small to have to have your own apartment and be like, Victoria is incredible. Like, that's that. That's a good that's okay. But what would it look like to have your have a house? What would it look like, right? Like, just, just to start to think bigger. Because in my head, Kim, I thought, as a teenage mother, I'm probably going to rent forever. I'm probably going to be in poverty forever. What I like the data, the data told me my daughter would be in poverty forever, right? Like, and I think that it's important for us to be reminded of the words we use when we are speaking to our young people, when we are speaking to other women, it lands, and it lands in us, and it grows. And that could be good, that could be positive affirmations, and that could be negative ones. I tended to hold on to the negative ones. What gave me impostor syndrome till this day, so and I think that that's, that's unfortunate.

 

Kim Meninger

Yeah, it's such a good point, too, of the just the way that it sticks right. And I think you would hearing you talk about or ask yourself, what if? What if I had a hat or like, dream in that way is so antithetical to impostor syndrome, which is like, who am I to think about? Right?

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

Right. Who am I to dream big? Who am I to shine my light? Who am I to have an opinion? Who am I to shape the lamp? Literally, this is my biggest question every single day, that God reminds me who I am. But my question is, Who am I a poor girl that grew up in Boston, that comes from a biracial family, that has dyslexia, that has lived experience, that had a daughter at 15. Who the hell am I to say that I'm change philanthropy? I am Natanja Craig-Oquendo, because I believe that philanthropy can change. You know, I believe that. So I yeah, I think that, but that trash in my head, that the impostor syndrome that literally sneaks in every single day, it's the who am I? Affirmation that I just said to you that reminds me that all of this, all of this experience, that that I have been given, right, that that is what makes me effective at my role is being able to say, you know, I do understand, you know, when I'm having a conversation about economics, I understand. I remember what it was like going to pantries with my youngest daughter and holding her so tight from embarrassment and the dignity I didn't feel in receiving the goods that I got. And so there is a vulnerability that I bring to this work, but there is also an understanding of A, how, how, how expensive it is to be poor first of all, but B, how dignity really does get stripped from you. And so those messages may not have been the same, like Tanya being a teenage mom, but as I struggled to continue to build wealth for my family, there were points along the way Kim where I was reminded of who I was when I was 14, you know, or 15 when I got pregnant. And so those are the little, you know, those are the, the seeds that we plant that end up really sprouting in us, if we're not careful about, you know, how, how we are unlearning a lot of what we've been what we've been taught.

 

Kim Meninger

Yeah, yeah. And I, when I listen to you talk to I hear the passion about the work that you do in the mission. I wonder. I've always been of the mindset that if we focus less on being an expert or having to prove ourselves being the smartest person in the room, and we focus more on, how can I be of service? How can I make the kind of impact that I want to make?

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

Yeah.

 

Kim Meninger

That I'm going to feel more confident as a result. Because it's not I'm not looking inward at my like, do I measure up? I'm thinking about what I'm here to do, right? So I wonder if you could tell. Tell us a little bit more about what your mission is, what you the work that you do, and how being mission-driven, may or may not, kind of help with some of that head trash that you're describing.

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

Yeah, yeah. Well, definitely landing being able. I've been at the Boston Women's Fund now, and please visit us there. I've been there now almost seven years. This is my first executive director position. So when I tell you impostor syndrome, maybe sneaking in, you see, it sneaks in, and I'd be like, hey, hey, I have a name for impostor syndrome, but I'm not going to tell you, because it's a swear, but I push impostor syndrome the hell up out of here. I say, homie, this is not the time place, nor did I make space for you on purpose. So I'm put I'm gonna tuck you back where you belong, but the Boston Women's Fund is, we are, we are here to serve and partner with grassroot organizations that are working on social, gender, economic justice. These are, I consider them community first responders, Kim. They are the people who have organizations that tend to be a little bit smaller. So they are, we support organizations who have an operating budget of under half a million. That means that many of them are operating around 250 many of them are volunteer-led organizations. These are, these are leaders who lead with passion and purpose, and they pivot. They are leaders of their community, so they have a deepening and an understanding of what they do. And we do a couple of things. One, we do, we, we, we obviously support them through grants. We're a fund. We're an intermediary, so we raise money to then reallocate it out. We also have leadership programs for, for our leaders that are actually about unlearning. They're not leadership programs that are like one-on-one. Come learn about development. No, there's many of those. We have spaces and places for our leaders, women of color and queer leaders, or gender expansive leaders, specifically, just to come and think about when you quiet the noise that's all around you, what kind of leader do you want to be? You know, what is your mantra? Have you gotten away from the purpose of who you want to be? So these are when we, when I talk about horizon collective, which is our leadership program, it really is about getting to a lot of what you're what the podcast talks about is like, how do we, how do we begin to unlearn and get some of this junk out of us so that we could be the most effective leaders that we can and then last, but not least, I think, I don't think enough leaders talk about this, but many of our missions are not living inside of our organizations. Kim and there are, you know, for me, when I, when I decided to run an organization, I said, I'm going to build something I've never been a part of. I'm going to build something where that mission is living and thriving as much internally as it is externally. And so we have three values, which is love, belonging and flow. And that shows up every day in our work. I send a gratitude email to my team every Monday, reminding them of who they are, and sometimes it's about, I literally said one. I said, I just missed her voice. I said, Kiara, you have the most beautiful voice. And we didn't. We weren't in the office last weekend, I found myself missing your hum, you know, or sometimes it goes deeper, right? It's about you got the report done right? Like the report is out there. It's in the world. It's going to be a ripple effect, but they all see it every single day. So to me, Boston Women's Fund is such an incredibly special place. There's nothing we do without community at every single level. We are really trying to disrupt not just power dynamics, but how philanthropy sees itself in this work, and how they how we see ourselves partnering with the communities we say that we care the most about. So I feel very lucky to lead that work and to have an incredible team alongside me.

 

Kim Meninger

It's so inspirational to hear you talk about the work that you do, and so important, especially in this moment in history, where there's a lot of, you know, a lot going on. And I wonder too of, how do you manage? Sometimes it's sometimes the we sort of talked about this before too, but like sometimes the, the negative messaging isn't coming from inside, it's coming from outside. And like, how do you stay steady as a leader, and how do you help your team navigate some of the just ugliness that we're facing as a, as a country, as it just a society right now?

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

Yeah, yeah. I you know, these are people. I'm starting to get people say they're not really that unprecedented for me. These are unprecedented times. I'm gonna name what it is for me, and it's a day-by-day thing, Kim, it is. Sometimes it's my staff slowing me down because I might have missed something, but it really is just about making space, not just for the work, but for all of the things that are happening around the work. You know, at Boston women's funds, relationships mean everything to us, so we have gotten rid of all applications, including, including reporting. So that means that we're having conversations often going to sit with lead. Is trying to really deepen our understanding of their work so that we can represent it better, but also to lessen their burdens. And for me, it is about continuing to make space for the this is crazy, you know? It's continuing to say, it's allowing the staff to say in our weekly check-ins, I'm having a really hard time. Kim, last week was the this, I'm sorry. It's going to be sad for a second, but I'm going to bring it back up. I lost my son seven years ago, eight years ago now, in 2017 he was 17 years old to lymphoma. And when I tell you I cried. You couldn't see it on zoom right, but I every single day, I was just releasing, and I wasn't like in a ugly cry. So my voice wasn't being impacted. But when I sent out my gratitude email to my team, which I don't, I normally don't, obviously include anything about myself in those emails, I did let them know. I said, this is a tender, tender week for me, and things are probably going to get moved y'all, because I am struggling with this week, as I normally do with the week I'm in right now. I'm like, these are just hard times. I need to be held differently. And so if I'm missing things, or I'm not showing up the way that you need me to, please help me. You know, just please help and that is the space. And I think me saying to them, please help me, right? Like, help me during this time, because I know I'm not going to be able to hold it up. And then they all come in saying, we got you. Thank you for letting us know. Thank you for the reminder, you know. So I think, I think a one being just honest about creating space for those so that we could be completely honest about where we're at, and really creating that space, like not rushing through it, creating space so that people can process all that is going on around us. Sometimes our meetings, we don't even get to the updates, because they're not that fucking important. Okay, they are. They're just not that fucking important when you're when my staff is telling me you know about the things that are happening in their lives, or how this world is impacting them. So that's how we center ourselves in humanity.

 

Kim Meninger

You know. I, I think about this a lot, and this goes back to what you were saying, too, about saying certain things out loud that maybe we were taught not to bring to the workplace or, you know, and I just feel so strongly that if we could all work and live in environments where we operated in the way that you just described, the dynamics would be so different because so much of the self-doubt and the anxiety that we experience is because of the fact that We're trying to read each other's minds, that we don't feel safe enough to have these conversations, so we're carrying these burdens individually, instead of supporting one another. And I can just imagine an alternate world in which you are, you know, this is a tough week for you. You're really carrying this, and maybe things do drop, or maybe you're not. You're you look, your, your, your mood is a little bit different, and everyone around you is like, what's going on with it?

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

Yeah, right, right. No one knows, right? You're just like, stay away from Natanja. Yeah. I don't want that.

 

Kim Meninger

Yeah, and then they're now in their heads and, like, on a lost energy and because we're not just talking about what's real in this moment.

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

That's right. That's right. I think, I think that is probably the biggest, like, you know, the biggest mistake we have made in creating workspaces is asking people to compartmentalize themselves. Do you know what happens when you ask someone to bring their full selves like that means that the artist in them is coming through as well as the operations, right? Like, I just think we have done ourselves such a disservice. I am also someone who, unfortunately, you gonna get all this Kim, you gonna get all this Natanya. So, like, I don't know how to compartmentalize myself, which is probably why I was like, let me build something that allows us all to be but I think it's an especially in our work, when we value so deeply lived experience, you can't say you value it. And then in the workplace, you're like, but don't bring all that in here. You know what I'm saying, like, so for us, I'm like, no, no, bring it all the and everyone always ask. And it's funny, Kim, when you say like, the like, we sometimes we don't say the thing. I was speaking at a globe event for mom working moms. And there was just one line, I said, I said, the next time you towards the end, I said, the next time you're sitting in the room and you think, I don't want to say the thing. I said, say the fucking thing. Let the room adjust. Why? Why we adjust and put ourselves in all of these, like, all of these, like, you know, come like, we're scrambled up almost inside, because we're so busy performing instead of just being. And I think that there's so much good in just being and that, and that, that can come through if we put fear aside. And I know that that's really I want to, I want to say. That I try to put fear aside some days and I win, and some days I don't. So I'm not saying this as someone who is preachy or has this all down pat. I am saying that fear has always been something that has kind of rolled alongside me, along with impostor syndrome, and both of them have to go into the trunk. They their luggage. They're not I don't want them in the car with me when I'm driving. I need, I need music. I need people who are feeding into me. I need to be reminded of who I am. This world pulls apart women every single day, every single day. I don't, I don't care what industry you're in. I don't care. And so when we could, when we could get a hold of our own head trash, and we start to replace those things, the things that Natanya, you're not good enough, you're not going to be a great fundraiser. You're not going to be a good Ed. You never did it before. How are you going to know what to do? I didn't have any of the answers. Y'all. That's the journey. The journey is saying, yes, the journey is saying I don't have to have all the answers. I'm going to figure it out because I'm smart, I'm capable, because I have a community of people who won't let me fail, right? Like, because look at all of the other things I got through, right? Like, there was a time where I would have never told anyone I was I had a daughter at 15, and now I'm like, No, that is part of my story. That is part of who I am as a leader. So I do think it's, yeah, I think that there are so many ways in which we can put fear and impostor syndrome behind us, so that we can replace that with the positive thinking that we need in order to get our work done.

 

Kim Meninger

Well and you just made a really important point, too, and you talked about the journey. It's like, you know, you think back to when you're a kid and everything is new, everything's for the first time. We didn't say, like, oh, I can't do that, because I've never done it.

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

That's right. No, that you jumped at it, right? I never did it before.

 

Kim Meninger

Yeah. I mean, it's just in that, I think, always tells me that this is not the way that we were meant to operate. Because if, if we were meant to be, you know, to experience impostor syndrome, this would have started at a much younger age. But we, we all are born with a growth mindset, right? Like I always joke about, if you watch toddlers learning to walk like, if, how many toddlers would just be like, I'm just not cut out for…

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

I fell back? Yeah, I'm on my bum now. I'm not going to be able to get up. I, Mom carry me for the next 60 years. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, yes, Kim, that's so funny. I think about that a lot. I think about like, what was taken from us, like, as we become adult is, is especially women and gender expansive folks, I feel like the ability to be our individual selves, the ability to celebrate individuality, the ability to because assimilation becomes the game, right? It's like, how do you assimilate? How do we fit in? I think I'm always looking for those who don't want to fit in. You know what I mean? Like when we look to our when we think about, I don't want to look to any of our leaders right now, but if we looked at some of our leaders back in the day, we would, we would probably see like they were kind of on, that they were outliers, right? Like they were saying things that nobody else was saying. And so there's so much from us to draw from that, I think, in terms of inspiration and a reminder that whoever you are, that you are here for a purpose, and your voice and your experience matters more than you know, and that there's probably someone in that room that needs to hear you speak up. I always think about that like, I'm like, is there a younger person here that is probably just as uncomfortable with this conversation, and I know I'm gonna have to be the one that has to say it, yeah, sometimes we are say the thing, let the room adjust. Let the room adjust. And impostor syndrome, to me, Kim and I'll wrap on this is, it's part of the whole system, right? Like it is, to me, it's structural. It is. It is part of like keeping women in certain places. It's why we're not making the same amount of money. It's why you know, you know, right it? I mean, there's so many reasons, and there it's so it's so complicated in terms of how impostor syndrome shows up in all sectors. But men don't normally have to deal with it quite as often as women do. And so that goes to show me that the system is working like it should. And if that is not a system we want to be a part of, I say, Let's redesign it. Design it.

 

Kim Meninger

Yes. And I love that in everything that you're saying like you're also doing the work, because what I hear you say, too, every time you talk about doing the scary thing is, you're not just doing it for yourself, but you're doing it for everyone, watching and, and going back to what you said about you need to see it to be it right, that if, no if everyone else at every level is prioritizing conformity and assimilation. Hmm, nobody else feels permission to step outside of that, right? And so it takes a lot of courage and bravery. But to your point, like, you look at the, you look at the people that history remembers, yes, are always people who were different, who maybe were seen as unconventional, or, you know something about them, but they made their mark because of who they were, and they were willing to embrace that.

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

That’s right. That is exactly I could not have said that better myself. That is exactly right. Kim, they made their mark because they because that's what we're here to do, right? I think a lot about impact and imprint. I can't be impactful every single day, you know, so I want to be I really do that. That is the goal of the Boston Women's Fund, but, but some days are better, but every single day, I want to leave an imprint. And I think about that, an imprint to me means, how did I make someone feel? Are they better off because of a conversation we had, you know, like, did I? Are they seen? Did I remind them of who they are? Did I tell them a story about how they inspired me, or what they did for me that will let them walk away feeling so much better? Did I hold space? Did I just hold space for them to process something really hard? All of those things matter and to me, imprint and impact are equally as important. But in our sector, we talk about impact, and it usually is a long game, but imprint can happen every single second of every single day. Come on and imprint with us. Imprint with us.

 

Kim Meninger

Yes, that is such a powerful reminder of the personal power that we all hold, even when it feels like we don't have, right?

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

We sure do. Kim, we sure do.

 

Kim Meninger

Yeah, oh my gosh. I'm just so, so inspired by you, your story. You're so grateful to you for being here. And I want to make sure everybody knows how they can find you, how they can support you. Your mission, where? Where can we send everybody to learn?

 

Natanja Craig-Oquendo

Yes, come to us. We would love to have you. So find us at www Boston, B-O-S-T-O-N, women's with an S fund dot org sign up for our newsletter. That's a great way to find out what we're happening. We have a report out that's really interesting about where the philanthropic dollars are going in Boston. Lots of ways to get engaged. As I said, we do everything with community. So join the Alec, you can join our participatory grant-making. Come, come volunteer with some of our grantees. There's so much need, and obviously, a donation would go so far. So just so much gratitude. Kim, for you. Thank you for talking about this. It's such an important conversation, it comes literally our entire horizon. Collective leadership is about impostor syndrome. We never say that. It is the undercurrent. It's like, okay, how do we get rid of this head trash and make sure that our, our leaders are ready to, to lead with what is most important to them? So I am very grateful for your work and thankful for your time.

 

Kim Meninger

Oh, thank you so much. I'm really grateful to you as well.

Kim Meninger

Keynote speaker, leadership coach and podcast host committed to making it easier to be human at work.

Groton, MA

508.740.9158

Kim@KimMeninger.com

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