Leadership Identity and Resilience | Transformational Educators Ep. 12

What if the hard parts of your story were actually preparing you to lead? 

In this powerful episode of Transformational Educators, Dr. Matthew Flippen talks with Jayme Braida, Principal of Columbus Elementary and Iowa’s 2025 Elementary Principal of the Year. Jayme shares how her leadership identity was forged through childhood adversity, how her faith and purpose continue to guide her, and how she cultivates a resilient, relational school culture. If you’ve ever wondered how to lead through challenge without losing yourself, this episode will equip and inspire you. Learn how transformational leadership grows from reflection, grace, and the daily decision to show up with courage.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Leadership identity can form long before stepping into a formal role
• Adversity, when reframed, becomes a powerful leadership teacher
• Relational leadership drives sustainable school culture change
• Capturing Kids’ Hearts creates belonging for staff and students
• Values-based leadership fosters alignment and integrity
• Grace and accountability can coexist in effective leadership
• Staff emotional support builds long-term instructional trust
• Leading with faith brings clarity and purpose during trials
• Reflective practices help leaders stay anchored in mission
• Transformational impact starts with seeing people deeply

BEST MOMENTS

00:01:59. “I was the kid full of potential, but very misunderstood.”
00:02:49. “My leadership identity was formed long before I became a teacher.”
00:04:07. “Sometimes those things follow you into life. I made mistakes I wasn’t proud of.”
00:05:32. “She came to the hospital when my son was born. I thought, I want to be a principal like her.”
00:06:20. “I’ve always tried to have a bigger impact than just my own classroom.”
00:08:03. “Grace became a core value when I needed it the most.”
00:10:58. “You can’t have a kid’s head before you have their heart. That’s true for adults too.”
00:14:11. “Deep purpose and resilience really come from living through hardships and leaning on faith.”

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Transcript

0:00

I didn't step in education because I had a perfect experience. I stepped in because I didn't have a perfect experience. That is Jamey Breda, principal of Columbus Elementary and Iowa's 2025 Elementary Principal of the year. Her leadership identity was shaped long before she ever stepped into a classroom, built from a childhood where a few adults changed her life through belief, connection and compassion. Some people saw some things in me that capitalize on that excitement and sought me out for some professional development, and just got me really excited about leadership. And I've been trying to make an impact ever since. Her journey shows how resilience grows when opportunity meets potential. She stepped into leadership by driving innovation, serving others and aiming to make an impact beyond her own classroom. Every setback I have viewed as an opportunity and instead of seeing it as I'm a victim, there's no way I can recover from this. We face those things head on, and we reframe them as more of an opportunity to grow, to learn, to become stronger. And that's part of that. Having that optimistic mindset. Today, we'll explore how Jamie reframes adversity, strengthens her leadership identity, and builds resilience that spreads through an entire school community. By the end of this conversation, you'll learn how purposeful reflection, healthy mindsets, and relational leadership create cultures where both adults and students can thrive. I'm Doctor Matthew Flippen, and this is transformational educators. Jamie, it is a pleasure to have you on the show today. Yeah. Thank you so much for having us. It's really it's really great. I've I've been a fan of yours from a distance for a while. So it's so great for us to get some time together. You are just making such an impact of being an encourager for so many. So let's let's back up and tell us a little about your personal journey into education, how some of the early experiences shaped your leadership identity? Sure. So I didn't step in education because I had a perfect experience. As a matter of fact, I stepped in because I didn't have a propertys variance. I was the kid who was full of a lot of potential. Really, academically, school came very easy for me, but I was very misunderstood. I struggled with attention with anxiety, with just weight from trauma that was happening. And no one really knew about that because I showed up and kind of look the part. I fit in with the right crowd. I was in the different activities, but there was a lot going on, and there were a few adults that did take notice and through their belief in me, the way they formed relationships and connections and their beliefs and behavior, they were really able to change my entire trajectory. My leadership identity, I think, was formed long before I ever became a teacher. And I see how throughout my story, my purpose has always been the same. And it's to really make every child feel seen, heard and valued. So I know what it's like to be overlooked. But I also know what it's like to be believed in. And so that dual experience I just carry into every role that I've ever had. Yes. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that, Jamie. You know, people still say, Matthew, you're full of potential. And I'm thinking I'm not sure that's a compliment at my stage, but but I totally get that. Jamie, when I was in high school, my parents went through a divorce and my family was relatively known. So it was incredibly hard, right? I mean, I was trying to hold it together, be an athlete, do to perform, be a good person. But inside, oh man, I was just so, so hard. So. And I can't relate fully to your story, but I know that there are hard things that we go through that can shape us for sure. Did you go straight from college into teaching? I did, it took me a while. I was a seven year okay senior. I don't know what you call it anymore. Yeah, just I think sometimes when you grow up with some different, you know, generational trauma, generational poverty, it seems like some of those things follow you into life. And so I didn't make a lot of mistakes and do some things that I wasn't proud of when I kind of was in my college years. And I ended up getting pregnant and got married and had a son. So I was in and out. I kind of dropped out of college and went back to college, so it took me a while, and then I became a teacher, but I actually it wasn't until my junior year that I declared a major and I kind of fell into it. But all along the way, like I was saying, it's just like doors have been opened, things have occurred that really has shown me that this is God's plan for me, and I've been able to just live into my purpose throughout everything. That's so awesome. Yeah, yeah. Thank you for sharing that, Jamie. Yeah. So when was there a time when you remember early in your teaching career that you thought or someone maybe spoken to you, that you're not just a teacher, that you could be a leader that impact culture or do more? So if we fast or if we go way back when I was in college and I was about eight months pregnant, I had a professor that I was unmarried and I was at a very Christian college, and I there was some shame that I think came along with that. And so this professor actually went out of her way to pray with me, and she would leave little snacks on my table, just went above and beyond because she had been a school principal. And so she was teaching our education classes. And I remember thinking, and she came to the hospital when my son was born. I remember thinking to myself, I want to be a principal just like her. I'm sure she was amazing. And it's funny because the two people that really shaped me were my fifth grade teacher and my professor and became a fifth grade teacher and a principal. But truly, when I was right in my first year of teaching, I think some people saw some things in me. I was doing a lot of innovative things with technology and sharing things and just so excited. And they they kind of capitalize on that excitement and, sought me out for some professional development. So I started leading professional development in the district around technology. That's when I actually started my blog that you and I had talked about, and they also afforded me some opportunities to be on leadership committees and teams. So that was really awesome to be able to have that platform early on and just got me really excited about leadership. And I've been trying to make an impact ever since. So I've always felt like no matter what role I've been in, whether it be a classroom teacher, an instructional coach, I've always tried to have a bigger impact than what you would think. So just trying to get beyond my classroom, get beyond the walls of my school. As you can see now, just trying to branch out. And I think one of my core values is making a difference. And so the more I can make a difference, the more I'm just getting my bug filled all the time. So how do you stay anchored in that, in that particular core value? You know, that's that's the thing. I'm just I talk a lot about my values, how I try to reflect constantly to make sure that I'm my actions are aligning with my core values. If I'm leading with integrity and trying to prioritize what's important, and I'm making sure that I'm aligned with my values, it's not hard to make that difference. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, we definitely see that transformation leaders are have high self-awareness in this practice of self-reflection. Am I aligned? What kind of feedback am I getting? Am I open to feedback from my team and the people around me? It sounds like you're getting a lot of positive reinforcement because you you do give so much and you are in you are very, very positive. Also do don't want to miss the fact that I probably think that. I don't know if you would say this, but the grace is one of your core values. I mean, it sounds like you needed some grace. You needed to feel that, you know, grace is a gift. We don't necessarily deserve, but we want. And it's part of reason. We've worked it into our name. Right? Grace Lynn. Which means abundant grace. Lots of people in education, children in our classrooms need it. I know that when I went through my own divorce a few years ago, I was struggling tremendously just to get through that personally. And so coming to work was hard and I did show up. I think I showed up fairly well for my staff during that time, but I was constantly asking them, just please give me grace, please give me grace. And and so over time, Grace did definitely become a core value of mine when I needed it. The most. And so sometimes you don't know that that's something you value until something impacts you. And funny that we're having this conversation because last night I had a staff meeting and we actually did an activity where we circled our ten core values and then narrowed it down to our top three. And we talked about how our values change, but we also talked about when we understand each other's values and situations are conflicts arise. If we can pause and think about where they're coming from and what they value it helps us to respond in a way that shows grace and empathy, but accountability at the same time? Yes, exactly. Yeah, there's a balance there for sure. And you can you can't. And we see that the great leaders, they absolutely give grace and they still strive for excellence. And you can you can do both. And so sometimes you don't know that that's something you value until something impacts you. And funny that we're having this conversation because last night I had a staff meeting and we actually did an activity where we circled our ten core values and then narrowed it down to our top three. And we talked about how our values change, but we also talked about when we understand each other's values and situations are conflicts arise. If we can pause and think about where they're coming from and what they value, it helps us to respond in a way that shows grace and empathy, but accountability at the same time? Yes, exactly. Yeah, there's a balance there for sure. And you can you can't. And we see that the great leaders they I absolutely give grace and they still strive for excellence. And you can you can do both. Yeah. You mentioned this activity. Are there other systems support systems that you've built in to the campus culture there. So we are capturing Kids hearts school where show caption concerts district. It really is a program. It's a philosophy. It's all the things. It comes down to how we treat each other and the intentionality behind that. And so there's a lot of practices with capturing guests hearts that that we really follow with fidelity. And those things are things like greetings and affirmations. And it's not just about what we do for kids in our classrooms. It's about how we treat each other as a staff. And so it's truly built into the culture. This whole idea of, you can't have a kid's head before you have their hearts. What's very true for adults as well. And so you will just feel that if you were to come into the building, you feel this positivity, this connection, this sense of belonging, and really it bottom line comes down to how we treat each other. And we're going to treat each other with kindness and respect. And so I can do lots of morale boosters. You know, I can do food days and fun things, but really those things don't change culture. We don't create that sense of belonging and community. It's really through intentional leadership actions building in those routines, habits, practices that become part of the norm. And then, of course, holding people to that and being accountable. And then we do have a lot of once a month we had a Wednesday where our staff focus on some caption kids hearts kind of topics. And we also are reading the book. Several of us are reading the book onward by Elena. I wrote, I think you Program. Her book is about fostering emotional resilience in adults, and so we're really learning together. How do we become more resilient adults so that we can not only interact well with one another and battle that stress, but also how we show up well for our kids? Yeah, yeah, I love it, I love it, yeah. You know that those processes that you mentioned are heavily supported by neuroscience right now. Yeah. If we're going to use science based research best practices, starting with relationships, trust building healthy relationships is core for adults. Strong culture for kids to learn. Yeah. I mean that's that is so true. Love to hear that you're doing that. So is there a time where that was tested or your leadership has been tested? What happened? How did you deal with that? You know, I think adversity has kind of been somewhat of a constant in my life. Principles especially, we face adversity all the time. So, you know, obviously I went through things like my divorce, I went through I led through Covid. Those are all huge things that challenged me. They challenged my leadership. But again, every cent that I have viewed as an opportunity and I think good leaders who are able to be resilient, they're able to reframe events that happened to them. So instead of seeing it as I'm a victim, there's no way I can recover from this. We face those things head on with strategy, and we reframe them as more of an opportunity to grow, to learn, to become stronger. And that's part of that. Having that optimistic mindset, I constantly take a problem and I'm already thinking about, oh my gosh, this is kind of a good thing because we're going to grow from this. We're going to make it stronger. Holidays not great all the time. And but we can learn but see yet we can learn. And perspective is a powerful one other thing too. I know we talked about this as well. I am just rooted in faith. And so I actually want to write it. I'm writing a book right now. I just sent it out to editor because it's pretty much done. But I want to write another book, I really do. I've been thinking about this, so I hope nobody steals my idea here. But I want to write about some people in the Bible. I want to write about James. James reminds us that trials produce perseverance. I want to write about the Apostle Paul. You know he's content in all circumstances. So deep purpose and resilience really comes from living through hardships and leaning on faith. And when we can anchor ourselves in purpose and cultivate that resilience, we can truly find contentment and joy in our work. So I'm constantly thinking about that, and also going back to proof of all the times in my life where I have made it through with God's grace and become stronger. Yeah, I love that. I can't wait to read both of those both of those books. No, I, now I set an alarm. I have to author. You've spoken it into existence. So I heard somebody the other day, and I. And then this thing kind of just started popping up. I heard people just repeat it over and over again. So it must have been the lesson I needed to hear. But it was about the mountains and the valleys, mountaintops and valley experiences. And we think about valleys a lot of times is like the low points. But over and over again people I was hearing were saying, but where are all the nutrients in the soil? They're like, oh, they're in the they're in the valleys. That's where all the nutrients are. So where does the most growth take place? Well, then it's got to be where the nutrients are, which is in the valley. And in that, that perspective. Yeah. This is a low point. And, but I can grow from this or God can use this for my benefit down the road. I mean, there is a lot of truth said for sure that's been in my life. I don't necessarily love the Valley experiences. I don't want valley experiences, but they do force growth. If we'll if we'll look at them from that perspective. Well, one, I want to ask you about this as you started to implement this, what are some tangible outcomes that you've seen happen with your your staff or your students community? If you could just speak to that for those that are listening, thinking, well, yeah, that sounds great, but were there any actual results? When we think about fidelity of implementation, I can go around and say, I see all my teachers greeting at the door, check, check, check the boxes. I see these things happening. I know these actions are taking place when you see true fidelity of things, and you start to see the outcome, when you see culture shifts, you start to see the impact and so like I said, one of the impacts is just coming into the building and the feeling that you get when you're there. And I have so many teachers and parents telling me all the time what a great experience that they're having, almost like testimonials. So I really use that. I share those with my staff. I share that with the community. My child loves kindergarten. He loves his teacher. I am so happy that this is our first experience with school, and it's just been a wonderful one because the way you guys make my child feel some of those things just come from, you know, word of mouth and people sharing their experiences, but also you start to see it trickle down. So I start to see my teachers leading things, and I start to see students being empowered to lead things. So it's not just about me and my leadership and the things that I'm doing. The tangible things I can observe is when my teachers start to carry out initiatives, start to take on leadership roles, collaborating problem solving. I feel like they, my teachers, make my job much easier because they truly take ownership of students. They take ownership of the culture. That was where you want to get to eventually. I'm trying to do things that are sustainable, so if I were to step away, that culture would stay in place because it's managing itself. But the staff are bottom and that's right. Well, I mean, obviously you're a collaborative leader who is empowering your team and encouraging them to to step up, giving them opportunities. And, you know, people will do that when they feel safe, right? So that's creating relationships. And psychological safety is all part of this culture that can really be can really be transformative. Is there a specific story of a teacher or a student that's really meaningful to you, that your leadership has touched in a real powerful way? So I was thinking about this question, and I was going to share a story of a student who was a lot like me, who really transformed my thinking as a teacher. And so I've never taught I never taught the same after I had her in my room. And but I want to shift a little bit because I want to talk about staff here. So when I first came back to share it, and I had left for a year to be a leadership consultant and then was called back to the principalship, and I wasn't sure it was after Covid. And I liked the little one, call it a break, but it was just different work that I was doing as a consultant and a different pace. But I got a call to come back to Sheridan, which was the first school that I had got my first teaching job in and just felt called. I just felt led there and totally called there. And so it was the first week of August and I had been I got hired super late because they couldn't find someone. So really, like, I didn't make a split decision and I was doing my one on one teacher interviews. They were super rushed because I had to get through, you know, I wanted to get through all staff members, and I had about a two days to do it. So I had nice little time slots, 15 minutes apiece and the second person to come in was one of my teachers, and she instantly started crying. And of course, I'm no, I'm pressed for time and I got to go through my four questions here that I have, like, what do you love about our school and, and all that stuff? And she begins to tell me about how she recently had lost her partner. He had died suddenly just a few weeks prior to that. So my four questions kind of went out the window. And I'm not a super emotional. I mean, I get emotional, but I just don't handle others emotions super well. You know, I kind of get uncomfortable and awkward and but in that moment, I just stayed in that space with her and let her tell me what she needed to tell me. And I told her things that she needed to hear, like, it's okay. It's okay if you can't come to school the first week of school, like, we're going to get through this together. I know you don't know me, and but I'm going to prove to you that I'm going to be here to support you. You know, at the end of that conversation, it went much longer than the 15 minutes, which is fine. I just had to pivot a little bit and just but at the end of that conversation, I also prayed over her. And since that time, I have prayed over her several times and I pray over my staff and I really try to meet them where they're at and be there for them emotionally, because that makes it a lot easier when I have to be there for the for that instructional part, for that accountability part, and the coaching part. There's a track record of just constant support. So I can have high expectations and high accountability because I provided high support and really seen people for who they are and what they're going through. And funny enough, four years later, that same teacher was one of the teachers that wrote me a letter for principal of the year. So that's really beautiful to me. You know, that's it. That's a beautiful story. We have this need to be known, loved and have purpose, but be connected to purpose and you've obviously demonstrated that for your staff, even though it was awkward at times, but still you took the right steps and made the right decision just to lean in for that and the courage that you showed. She had great courage to be vulnerable with you, not even knowing you well. There's something about your presence that gave her, you know, the courage to to share that. You know, I'm sure that that, that and all these other experiences that have followed have built a team that goes to war with you. You know, when it's necessary. And I think about the battlefront, right? Is helping all these children be successful, having all these children be seen, right. Be known, be loved and educated so they can reach the potential that God has given them. So you're doing a beautiful work. Yeah. Thank you. I really love to hear it. If our listeners want to learn more, connect with you. I know apart from seeing you on so many podcasts, what's the best way for them to reach out and connect with you? So I do have a website. It's just WW Jamie Broadcom very simple I also I'm on Instagram LinkedIn just Jamie Brady and you're going to release this book. When's this book coming out. So my goal is to have it out by the end of winter. So that probably be like March year. It's real. I mean, stretch it out clear to the in order. Yeah, I still have some editing to do, but we'll put out my book. It's a part memoir, part leadership lessons, and I'm vulnerable there and share my story in there if people want to know more. And then, of course, if you follow me on social media, I do a lot of just sharing my story and leadership tips. And I have a newsletter people can subscribe to and I'll give updates. So yeah, feel free to like and follow. We'll put some links to those in the in the show notes as well, so that people can connect those. Well, I you know, I've really just learned a lot from this conversation. You know, your authenticity and deep care. I mean, you're obviously a strong person, right. And so much strength and confidence. You've obviously very innovative. And I just seeing that also foster the growth of the people around you is really inspiring. So I'm excited for our audience to get to to learn more. Yeah. Thank you. So if this episode spoke to you, please share it with colleagues and educators and training. And if you haven't followed us already, please follow Transformational educators so you don't ever miss an episode. And until next time, keep leading with purpose and transforming schools into places where every person thrives. If today's conversation gave you fresh insight or inspired you to lead with purpose, please follow the show and tell a friend. It helps us reach more educators who want to make a difference. For more stories, resources, and tools to support your leadership journey, visit Graceland. Edu. Until next time, keep leading with courage and care.