“There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us.” —SIMON SINEK “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” —JACK WELCH “There are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity and courage.” —FUCHAN YUAN Leadership means something different to everyone, but we can probably all agree that some of the best leaders share certain traits that make them inspirations and standouts from the rest. One thing is clear: true inspiring leaders don’t just become that way overnight. If you’ve attended a Toastmasters session, you’re probably familiar with the organization’s focus on improving communication skills, but you may not realize another facet of Toastmasters is growing leadership skills. It’s not a novel idea that communication and leadership skills are intertwined. However, Hostess City Toastmasters takes on a fresh approach to improving both and we’re going to discuss how to develop those leadership skills through practice and developing better communication techniques. In this Lunchtime Topic, we’ll speak with Alia Freeman, who is the VP of Membership for Hostess City Toastmasters about Hostess City Toastmasters tenets of leadership. Alia Freeman, is a Savannah native for the past 33 years. A great way to describe her is like salt of the earth that releases sound to empower our future. She wears many hats in life which involves her building, teaching, and empowering God’s people for His kingdom. She is a servant leader that finds joy in helping others through transition and transformation through stages of life, business, and beauty. She is a Master Cosmetologist of 9 years where she provides hair makeup services through beauty transformational services and bridal events. She also provides education that provides global visibility of textured hair by offering structural training tips as guiding tools for textured hair. As a podcast host, she provides tips weekly on her podcast The Fight to Unite, which creates an elevated mindset for salon professionals for growth development. She serves as VP Membership of Hostess City Toastmasters Club which positions her to lead in her community. Through all her endeavors they all provide a space for her to pull out the best in others.