Kimberly Cullen

Kimberly Cullen is an international educator of 25 years. As an American citizen born in Brazil then raised in Texas and Spain, Kim is an adult Third Culture Kid who understands the unique benefits and opportunities that come from having cross-cultural experiences during the developmental years. Kim spent most her professional life serving in international k12 education, where she held a variety of roles in education including Head of Development, Guidance and College Counselor, Dean of Students and High School Principal. Since 2020, Kim has been a Leadership Coach and Independent Consultant. In March 2022, she and co-author, Debra Lane, published Raise Her Up: Stories and Lessons from Women in International Educational Administration. She is delighted to join the Culver community as the inaugural Dean of Academic and College Advising. Kim has an M.A. in Education from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, and an M.S. from Capella University in Human Services/Counseling. She graduated from Hamilton College with a B.A. in Religious Studies.

Supporting women, mothers, and young people in goal setting and achieving their potential. https://ebbandflowblog.com/

In 2019, Equality Can’t Wait, part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, reported that at the current pace, it will take 208 years to achieve gender parity worldwide. These days, when a woman is hired as the CEO of a major multinational organization, this is newsworthy. As women, we celebrate these victories, and yet, at the same time, it is frustrating that the fact that a woman is selected as CEO for a company should be newsworthy at all. The world of international education is no different. In 2019, UNESCO reported that around the world, 94% of early childhood teachers and less than 50% of secondary teachers are women, in high-income countries like Finland, Japan, Portugal and South Korea, women make up no more than 13% of the school leaders. Worldwide, it is clear that “teaching is frequently a female profession with men in charge”. Dr. Debra Lane and I have written a book called Raise Her Up: Leadership Lessons from women in international k-12 education (published by Solution Tree in 2022). The book brings together the stories of ten different women, all of whom have served as leaders on various levels in the world of international education and identifies some of the common challenges that these women have had to overcome along the way. Women often find themselves climbing uphill only to have to break into leadership, easily carried off track by things like parenthood, family responsibility, and fear. Too often, women are asked to choose: to choose between being a mother and being a professional, or between hard and soft. The assumption is that women cannot (or should not?) be both. Our book brings highlights five central themes among successful women leaders: self-awareness, authenticity, courage, resilience and connected. We dig into each with targeted, thoughtful exercises for women designed to help build on their strengths, and we believe this is important work. But it’s also essential that we not put the onus on women to have to bust into leadership or to continually prove their worthiness, even once in the roles. There is enough research out there to demonstrate that women are every bit as competent as men in leadership positions, and in some cases, even more. There should no longer be a glass ceiling, period. Many of the things that are happening - mentoring, promoting, providing increased opportunities, and so on - do help. Ultimately, though, we need to change the narrative around gender and how it relates to leadership. I consider myself a professional woman, and woman leader, a working mom, and these have been sources of great pride for me when I consider that I was raised in a fairly traditional family. The problem is that the very composition of labels suggest that the two - professional and woman, woman and leader, working and mom - don’t go together. That may have been the case in the past for many women, but it’s simply not something we need to carry into our future. When we consider the roles we play in society as educators, we have to remember that we are all responsible for ensuring that the generations to come create and contribute to a world that is socially responsible, equitable, and cares about inclusion and diversity. As educators, we need to be the first to harness potential, open doors, and create opportunities for everyone, independent of the things that make us different. In an article published in the Harvard Business Review in 2013, Ibarra, Ely and Kolb talk about second generation gender bias, which includes the subtleties of gender discrimination - i.e. actions and attitudes that aren’t in any way intended to discriminate yet they are carried over from the past and contribute to propagating that discrimination in spite of ourselves. For example, women are often asked questions in an interview that would never be asked of men. Not too long ago, I was interviewing for an international school head position and I was asked about my family situation. When I explained that I was planning to travel alone, because my son would be entering his final year of high school, and my husband would stay with him, the interviewer said two things. First, the interviewer responded “You must have a very supportive husband.” They followed this with “how do your parents feel about you taking a job on your own somewhere?” I am confident that an interviewer would never refer to the supportive nature of a man’s spouse, nor would they ask about how one’s parents might feel about their professional goals. There is much work to be done. Schools are working hard to ensure that diversity, inclusion and equity are being taught k-12. However, examples of diversity, inclusion and equity need to be modeled among the adults and in leadership. We need more women at the top - by and large, women are thoughtful, empathic, inclusive leaders with vision, and who focus on empowering growth among their staff. https://raiseherup.net/blog/f/overcoming-barriers-part-1

Academic and College Advising, Coaching, Coaching for women, Leadership, Secondary education

I have long wanted to give a TED talk in support of women. I have yet to write the right talk, but here is a sample of a TEDx speech I almost gave a year and a half ago. https://ebbandflowblog.com/2021/01/23/on-choice-second-chances-and-making-it-count/

As I am an introvert, people find it especially interesting to see how comfortable I am speaking to an audience. I find the experience of connecting with an audience exhilarating.