This past week, I was fortunate enough to attend a talk hosted by Berkeley Women In Politics with Oakland Mayor Libby Shcaaf. Although not explicitly related to entrepreneurship or finance, I found the wisdom imparted by Mayor Schaaf to be relevant and valuable for all women. I would like to share five of the main insights I gleaned from the conversation in the hopes that it can teach us a thing or two about leadership and inspire us to keep pushing forward and chasing our goals.
Path to the mayorship:
Born and raised in Oakland, California, Mayor Schaaf’s deep love for the city is palpable, but her path to the mayorship wasn’t always so crystal clear. Upon graduating from college, Mayor Schaaf dabbled with work in public relations and event planning before ultimately deciding to attend law school. After receiving her J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles she pursued a career as an attorney at Reed Smith LLP, but longed for a career in public service instead. She eventually decided to leave her corporate job to nurture her love for justice and curiosity about the organization of society and the codification of morality. She took on several positions in the public sphere, including a position on the Oakland City Council, before getting elected as mayor in 2014. As mayor, Schaaf believes in letting her values consistently guide her decision making process. She’s always felt a connection to the working class and social justice roots of Oakland, valuing its diversity and creative energy. Before any decision, she questions what is in the long term interest of the city, not just what is easiest, and ensures that each decision she makes serves her values of integrity and transparency.
Dealing with failure:
Mayor Schaaf is no stranger to failure, but her response to it is truly representative of good leadership. One particular instance of failure within the Oakland City Government occurred in 2016, when an explosive scandal involving sexual misconduct within the Oakland Police Department was brought to light. Mayor Schaaf acted quickly to denounce the behavior, making it clear that she was here to “run a police department, not a frat house”. A series of progressive policing reforms was quickly instituted, including the creation of the Civilian Police Oversight Commission, an independent police commission whose purpose is to oversee the city’s Police Department and improve its accountability.
Equity fluent leadership:
Early on in her career, Schaaf recognized the harm of the War on Drugs on the city’s black community; an analysis of city cannabis laws found that black men were disproportionately criminalized for petty drug crimes. Guided by her strong commitment to social justice, Mayor Schaaf introduced the Equity Permit Program, a program “designed to minimize barriers to cannabis licensing for those who have been the most victimized by the war on drugs”. The program essentially aims to recognize and rectify institutionalized racism in the cannabis industry by granting permits to “equity applicants” - those that may themselves have a marijuana related offense, or are from an area that has been overly policed for drug related offenses.
Mayor Schaff has also worked to address the disparities between black-owned and white-owned businesses through the Oakland Startup Network, an initiative launched by the Kapor Center for Social Impact, Devlabs, and the City of Oakland. The Oakland Startup Network aims to provide black entrepreneurs in tech with the resources (mentoring, technical assistance, access to capital) needed to reduce the barriers to entrepreneurship for underserved and underrepresented entrepreneurs in Oakland.
On feminism:
Mayor Schaaf has often found herself to be the only woman in the room, an all too familiar experience for many women in positions of leadership today. But rather than let herself wallow in discomfort, she chooses to celebrate in the feeling, because it means that her perspective is needed and important in that space. She urges future female executives and women pursuing heavily male dominant fields to remember that the rooms where nobody else looks like them are also the most important rooms for them to be in. If we want to stop the perpetuation of misogynistic structures, we need to make sure that our perspectives are heard in these spaces.
article by Madeleine Lorie ‘23
design by Shami Kasireddy ‘23