Leadership isn’t a title you receive. It’s a path you practice, often years before you can name it. For our Women’s History Month conversation, we sit down with four remarkable women whose work spans higher education, family life education, ministry and chaplaincy, and music education. Together, we trace the moments that shaped their sense of calling and the mentors who helped them keep going when the road got complicated.

We talk about what it means to lead when you’re “the first” and there are no models to copy. You’ll hear honest stories about navigating patriarchal expectations in church spaces, pushing through academic gatekeeping during the tenure process, and learning how to offer your gifts even when they don’t match what others expect leadership to look like. Along the way, we keep coming back to faith, purpose, and the everyday disciplines that build confidence: showing up, serving, learning in public, and staying open to course corrections.

If you’re wrestling with your own next step, you’ll also hear practical advice for young women: leave the nest, try the thing, build a circle of people who encourage you, and trust that growth happens in the doing. We wrap with a lightning round on influential books and the women who inspired each guest, plus a reminder that the true measure of leadership is the lives we impact.

Subscribe to 1 Soul Matters, share this with a friend who needs a nudge forward, and leave a review with the mentor who made a difference in your life.