Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference

2026-2027 Letter from the Chair

The theme for the 2026-2027 Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference is Polishing Pressure into Purpose: Creating Diamonds That Shine. This experience is cultivated to help you envision the future you want to create and provoke you to take action toward it; for diamonds aren’t created during comforting times, but formed in resilient circumstances. Through authenticity, reflection, and intentional living, every challenge has an opportunity to transform into purpose. The pressure you’re faced with today, shapes the leader you’ll become tomorrow.

Our vision is for participants to gain a deep and intimate understanding of the leader they desire to be; despite the self-doubt, and internal conflicts that keep us from achieving the goals we set for ourselves. We need to dig deep within the mine to uncover the jewels beyond the surface. During this year’s conference, we will begin to polish ourselves by identifying specific goals, habits, and milestones that will allow us to thrive in the next season of our lives. 

Each of us carries a mine of something powerful. As we are forging ourselves for greatness, we want you to learn how to overcome fear through trials, cultivate trust and clarity through experience, and build endurance by uncovering the strengths you already possess. Through shared experiences, peer collaboration, and strategic networking with professionals across industries, participants will gain the perspective, guidance, and resources needed to reflect on challenges, navigate internal and external obstacles, and move forward with purpose and intention. These experiences will equip us to confidently polish our diamonds and refine the experiences that are molding us to shine.

Closing

As we come together from the light that guides us, I warmly invite you to join us for this year’s conference. From personal experience, SBSLC has continued to create a powerful vision for the past 37 years – one that reaches into our envisioned future that is yet to be shaped and illuminated. Throughout my four years of SBSLC from starting off on the Associate Staff, to becoming a Director of Workshops, to continuing my second year as Executive Chair, I have learned that the path I am on is not accidental. Every challenge I’ve experienced is part of the necessary pressure that my future self needs to shine. I challenge you to break past those barriers and embrace the impact of the purpose you were meant to carry. 

Join me in embracing the pressure, trusting the refinement, and owning your shine. 

With radiance,

Erica Dillard ’27