CARBONDALE (WSIL) -- Rosalind Joseph is the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country at SIU. She is not only a leader for her teams, but also an active voice within the athletic department.
"I would hope anyone can look at me and say I am comfortable with her as a leader," Rosalind Joseph said. "Not as a woman leader, not as a black leader but as a leader that just happens to be a black woman."
"Ultimately, I want people to see leadership. Good leadership can come in any race, any gender as well as bad leadership. There's a vast difference that's not based on my color, not based on my gender. It's based on my integrity. It's based on where I come from and what I'm trying to do. If you can convey that, you can lead."
Coach Joseph believes success can open doors for other women like herself.
"So that's a great responsibility. If there's going to be more women in coaching, if there's going to be more African American coaching, then I have to do it well. I have to do it well so no one else is judged on my fault so its a lot of pressure but if you're a coach, you thrive on pressure, I work better under pressure so I took that more as a challenge. At first I took it as a challenge for my sport but starting with everything that's going on, starting to take it as a challenge for just outside my sport, outside my athletic department. Really where else can I bridge the gap that shows there's responsible people that may not look like the majority that are doing a good job."
To Rosalind many people including her athletes make the assumption she wants to be perceived as coach and that is equality. But seeing her for who she is and recogninzing that, to her that is the equality.
"Coach I don't see color, I don't see you as a woman anymore, and for a while that felt good. I'm being accepted into the norm. I have to be mindful and remind myself that shouldn't be the case. It's very apparent that I'm a black woman in this sport. When I walk into a room I don't want anyone to forget that because I want to be seen as much and yes I may look differently and yes it's very obvious, but I'm still good at what I do."
"I've had students that say coach you're the first black person I've been around, let alone now, you're my superior, you're showing me things I didn't know I didn't know and that's really powerful for me to be mindful of and making sure I'm holding myself accountable to continue to do that."
And as a leader, a coach has to understand molding young minds is just as important as winning on race day.
"It's really important for coaches to understand in the moment, it's only x's and o's and you are trying to figure it out but there's a great responsibility young people may not get it right now. But in 2040, some of the student athletes I have, are going to be out there making a difference and say you know when I was in college dot, dot, dot, they might not understand it now but I hope they will."
