Chapter 1: When Nothing Else Could Help, Love Lifted me: Leadership, Spirituality, and My Life in the Academy

My life as a university professor is intricately and essentially tied to my life outside the so-called hallowed halls of higher education and who I am in the world. I am a Black out-lesbian woman. I am a pastor, a preacher, and a teacher. I am a wife. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a niece, and a cousin. I am a Sorority sister, a Spec, and a friend. I am a leader who looks through (DePree, 1992), leads through, and lives through many lenses. I live my undivided identities very authentically and very proudly. The guiding and grounding force for my living and loving in all of my identities and spaces is my spirituality and what I believe that I have been purposed to be and do in this life: to teach, to preach, to lead all with love.