The Lab Report: Lessons from the Local Leader Lab
Here’s why.
When we started 3 months ago, women described feeling fearful, hopeless, and overwhelmed.
Yesterday, at our final session, those same women said: confident, hopeful, seen, connected, supported, part of a bigger puzzle.
Same women. Same environment. Same political movement. But everything had changed.
Because they weren’t alone anymore. And they weren’t waiting anymore.
For years, we’ve seen women get stuck in what I call the waiting room of leadership. They care deeply. They consume content. They consider all the ways they could step in. They think about running someday. But that someday stays perpetually out of reach.
The Local Leader Lab was designed to break that cycle.
Not with more inspiration. Not with another webinar. But with something fundamentally different.
An intensive cohort experience where women don’t just learn about leadership. They DO leadership.
A structured curriculum. A real project with a deadline. And a cohort of women holding each other accountable every step of the way.
These women didn’t just talk about change. They created it.
I saw their faces soften with relief when they realized they weren’t alone in how much they cared.
I watched them light up with realizations in real time. One woman completely pivoted her project as she learned more. That flexibility? That’s leadership.
I heard conversations go electric as they built on each other’s insights, asked sharper questions, and made unexpected connections across their work.
And here’s what hit me hardest:
The projects aren’t abstract or aspirational. They are real, urgent, and already in motion. Not someday ideas. Now.
One of the biggest a-ha moments: sustained action beats big gestures every time.
Start small. Start now. Stay consistent. That’s how change happens. That’s how leaders rise.
What does local leadership really look like?
It’s not about having all the answers. It’s about taking the first step. And then the next one. And then the next.
All of the women in the Local Leader Lab are thinking about running for office one day.
But this program isn’t about that someday. It’s about the power you can build right now.
Because here’s what we know from our community: it takes women an average of 4 years to decide to run for office. 4 years of waiting. Wondering if they’re “ready.”
The Local Leader Lab doesn’t try to rush that decision. Instead, it builds the foundation underneath it in just a few months. The skills. The visibility. The confidence that comes from actually leading.
Every woman in the Lab started with two questions:
What do I passionately believe needs to change?
What action can I realistically take about it right now?
And then they built something real.
- Maura is launching a project responding to the loss of her town’s local paper. As local journalism disappears, communities lose shared facts, accountability, and trust. Her work is rebuilding local information so people know what’s happening where they live and how to engage.
- Jessenia designed a free, community-based childcare pilot and submitted a full IRB application to turn it into a research-backed, replicable model. Care work as civic infrastructure.
- Ashleigh is organizing community listening sessions in her neighborhood, creating space for neighbors who feel disconnected to be heard and re-engaged. Leadership that starts with belonging and trust.
- Kamal is launching a podcast offering clear, accessible legal information for immigrant and first-generation communities navigating fear and misinformation. In moments like this, information is power.
- Laura entered the Lab exploring local issues and left having launched a People’s Forum and campaign. She didn’t wait 4 years. She acted, gained clarity, and moved forward.
- De Andra convened women leaders of faith to create space rooted in values, trust, and shared responsibility. Faith communities are civic communities, whether institutions recognize it or not.
See the pattern?
These women aren’t waiting for permission.
They aren’t wondering if they’re qualified.
They’re building power through action.
And that’s just 6 of the dozens of projects spanning civic engagement, immigrant rights, childcare, journalism, housing access, support for families raising medically complex and neurodiverse children, faith-based organizing, voter education, and community trust.
Every single one started the same way:
One woman saying, “I can do something about this.” And then doing it.
This phase of our inaugural Lab has wrapped. But we’re not done with these women.
In March, we’ll celebrate what they’ve built. This summer, we’ll gather in person in New York City as this cohort meets the next wave of leaders.
Because leadership isn’t something you are. It’s something you do.
These leaders aren’t finished. And neither are we.
For years, She Should Run has helped women consider running for office. We’ve built a vast community of women who care deeply about leadership and democracy.
But we kept seeing the same problem.
The gap between considering leadership and doing it.
Women have never been stuck because they lacked talent or ambition. They get stuck when it’s not clear what matters most or where their time is best spent.
The Local Leader Lab was designed differently from the ground up.
Here’s what we learned from our first cohort:
Commitment changes who shows up.
Live sessions. Real deadlines. No coasting. The women who applied were ready to do the work.
Power mapping beats inspiration.
Confidence followed competence. When women learned how decisions actually get made, they moved differently.
Projects beat planning.
Nothing builds leadership capacity like leading. You can’t fake your way through launching something real.
Cohorts create coalitions.
The group became a lifeline. Women found collaborators, shared resources, and realized they weren’t alone. And they are just at the beginning of their connections.
“I’m not an expert” is a lie designed to keep women out.
As Maura put it during our final session, “I’m not an expert, but now I’m connected to some experts.”
That’s how expertise actually builds.
When women heard “we’ve never thought about that,” they didn’t stop. They stepped in. Take it from a former USAID employee in the group who channeled her outrage into organizing alongside immigrant families. A reminder that when systems fail, people still rise.
As Althema reminded the group, “You are not too much. You signal growth.”
What This Means for 2026
We can’t stop now.
In 2026, we’re scaling the Local Leader Lab to reach hundreds more women across the country. Multiple cohorts. More communities. More women building power where they live.
And we’re inviting partners and supporters who believe in women getting things done right now to help make that possible.
Because we’re not building a community of women who think about leadership. We’re building a movement of women who are leaders.
Right now.
Help Us Scale This Work
The first Local Leader Lab proved something essential:
When you give women structure, support, and a place to act, they lead.
Not someday. Now. And now, is exactly the right time.
If this work resonates, support the next wave of Local Leader Labs. If this sounds like your next step, applications for 2026 open in January. Get on our waitlist.
Share this blog post with someone who feels hopeless right now. Three months ago, these women felt that way too.
As Ornella wrote in the chat during our final session, “Same world. I just don’t feel alone anymore.”
Same political moment. Different experience. Because they took action.
Their story could be your story.
Enjoying our blog content? Help pay it forward so more women are able to wake up to their political potential. Donate to support She Should Run.