"Leadership isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room — it’s about creating a room where every voice can be heard."
The Spectrum Hearts began as a question I couldn’t stop asking:
Why were some children always left out of the story?
At Gia An Inclusive Learning Center, I met kids who colored outside the lines — not because they didn’t understand the picture, but because they saw it differently. That’s when I realized inclusion wasn’t about teaching them to fit in. It was about learning how to meet them where they are.
When we started, our team was small — four departments, twenty members, forty volunteers. We didn’t have much funding, only heart and stubborn hope. Each Saturday, we turned blank rooms into worlds of color: art corners splashed with laughter, storytelling circles that felt like safe little galaxies, games where no one had to “win” to belong.
But the money wasn’t the real victory. It was the sight of one boy with ADHD, focused for the first time in months, painting slow golden swirls and whispering, “This one’s for my mom.”
In that moment, I understood — awareness isn’t information. It’s empathy, made visible.
Now, every post we share, every workshop we host, every screening we organize for 148 families feels like a thread — small, but part of a larger tapestry of understanding.I used to think leadership meant directing people.Now I think it means holding space —until everyone finds the courage to speak in their own color.