Women today are breaking down barriers and shattering stereotypes like never before, and Boulder City Council Member Junie Joseph is no exception. Born and raised in Haiti, Joseph’s third language is English. She is the first Black woman and Haitian American on Boulder City Council. Her devotion to the city and the members of the Boulder community is an inspiration to young women who dream of being in her shoes one day.

In devoting her time and effort to improving the Boulder area, Joseph strives to create an inclusive space and to listen to all voices, as she believes everyone deserves to be heard. Though she has only served on the council for about a year and five months now, she looks forward to the remaining two years of giving back to the community. 

“I moved to this country as a child and I’ve always felt proud, in awe of this country, of this great nation, that has given me so many different opportunities to elevate myself as a woman, and I just want to see that trickle down,” she says. 

As a city council member, Joseph’s responsibilities vary. From policy to administrative work, her days consist of meetings, attending subcommittees and serving as a liaison for political actors outside of the city. Her most important task is constituency outreach. 

“There are different groups in the community who want different things,” Joseph says. “My hope all the time is to try to listen to all those different groups, even though they have different and sometimes opposing values.”

When Joseph ran for council in November 2019 to bring fresh ideas to Boulder, she faced adversity for a variety of reasons. In addition to her gender, her young age of 33 at the time and her race sparked criticism from the community during her campaign. Since 90% of the Boulder community is white people as of 2019, Joseph’s campaign was groundbreaking. Like national government bodies, most local governments are made up of decision makers in their late 40s-50s. As Joseph puts it, formalism remains apparent due to the ageist nature of politics. Running as a young Black woman resulted in times where Joseph found herself succumbing to the voices determined to tear her down. 

“I had people who said to me… ‘You’re a student. The people who vote, they’re elderly people; they’re not gonna vote for someone like you, you are too young,’” she says. “Then, the majority of them are white, it’s a white town by the way, and they said to me, ‘Well, they’re not going to vote for you anyway either because you’re Black’…. I say to them, ‘Well you don’t have to support me; I’m still going to keep pushing.’”

Ultimately, the voters spoke and she was elected to council, and she currently serves as the Mayor Pro Tem. Joseph’s perseverance allowed her to get there. However, at times it was difficult to remain positive “because I don’t always believe in myself,” she says. 

“People say have confidence, have confidence, you know. But there are days you’re gonna wake up and you’re going to feel like you don’t have the confidence and you don’t want to keep going, but you have to keep pushing,” Joseph explains.

As a young woman of color, Joseph brings fresh thoughts to the table. Serving in a position of authority has taught her the importance of standing up for new ideas and what is right. Through her experiences, Joseph has noticed differences between women and men when it comes to leadership.

“We lead with compassion, we lead with empathy,” she says. “Women are so empathetic in a way that we tend to like everything together so it’s almost like… we really think about so many different issues, not just one thing, not just one group. We think of everyone, if that makes sense.”

As the number of women in leadership roles increases, Joseph reflects on the influence female leadership has had not only within specific institutions, but on a global level.

“When we [would] think about leadership, we thought of [a] man and we look at what that brought us. And then we’re looking at the world that we have today—a much more compassionate world. A world that many more people are involved in. [It’s] much more inclusive and I think this idea of having a woman involved, I think that’s really the groundbreaking thing that’s opening the world,” Joseph says. 

Growing up, Joseph didn’t necessarily look at a public figure as someone she aspired to be. Though once she moved to the United States at age 13, she grew to admire political figures like Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton for their perseverance and drive despite challenges they faced from being in the public eye. However, it was her relationships with two women in particular that led Joseph to be the person she is today: her mom and her teacher. 

“I have this African American woman who was one of my teachers. When I first came to this country, I didn’t speak English and, you know, she nurtured me,” Joseph says. “She nurtured me and she supported me and, of course, now, when I look at even my own mother and I look at her struggle as a human being and how hard she had to work, I can only see strength in those struggles.”

While reaching her position now wasn’t easy, Joseph relied on believing in herself to guide her. For young women aspiring to enter politics or local government one day, or even women who strive to challenge the status quo, self-confidence and purpose can make all the difference. 

If Joseph had one piece of advice for a young girl aspiring to be in her position one day, it would be that “you can do it… stick to it, believe in yourself. I know people say that a lot, ‘believe in yourself,’ right? Of course you can believe in yourself, but if the system puts barriers in front of you, you can sit there with, you know, dreaming of unicorns all day and believing in yourself, [and] nothing will happen,” she says. 

“And the reason why I said you need to believe in yourself is that, as a woman, you’re going to get people who are going to think you were too ambitious…. They’ll call you the B word, they’ll call you arrogant and they’ll have a few other words—bossy, which is not a nice word for women. For some reason, when we hear the word bossy—even now as a woman, when I hear the word bossy, it makes me want to shrink,” she continues. 

“But the fact is, I didn’t stop. I didn’t stop because somehow I am someone who’s a little bit of an idealist, if that makes sense, because honestly, if you think about it…  a lot of people are idealists. People who are activists are idealists as well, because it’s almost like you’re trying to create a world that doesn’t exist.” 

While women empowerment is important, it shouldn’t fall solely on the shoulders of women, explains Joseph. For women to feel heard and welcomed in any space, whether that be personal or professional, everyone must work together to foster an environment founded on the basis of equality. Addressing issues like the gender wage gap and inequity in the work force requires collaboration. 

“It is not just a job for women, it’s the duty of all of us as human beings to empower and to become [our] fiercest selves,” Joseph says, emphasizing the value of involvement within community spaces. “Women are the lifeblood of the community.”

So to all of the women, young and old, who feel like society hasn’t made space for them in circumstances ranging from the current or aspiring leaders, politicians, advocates, activists, teachers, doctors, journalists and more, Joseph has one main message: speak up.

“No matter what room that you’re in, lean in and contribute, participate, be in the room. Be present,” advises Joseph. ”Speak for yourself because it’s very important that you speak for yourself, but you also speak for the ones who cannot get into the room, and they cannot get into the room because maybe they don’t have your privilege to be in the room.” .

“So speak for it, for them as well. Speak for the space that you hold because when you’re in the room, you hold a space. Be unapologetic about it,” she continues. “Let yourself be heard and be present.”