By Anna Gustafson
History was made this fall, and a major gender barrier toppled, when Forest Hills resident Stephanie Dawson became the first female in the history of the New York National Guard to become a brigade commander.
Dawson, a 52−year−old colonel, took command of the 369th Sustainment Brigade, otherwise known as the Harlem Hellfighters, in October, and City Council members James Gennaro (D−Fresh Meadows) and Melinda Katz (D−Forest Hills) joined City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D−Manhattan) in presenting her with a City Council proclamation at a ceremony last week.
Dawson has broken down gender and racial barriers throughout her military career that has spanned nearly three decades, and it is an understatement to say it has not always been easy for her to be a black woman in the army. There were times she had to turn a deaf ear to “things you don’t want to hear,” and she often had to lead men who had never taken commands from a woman before.
“There are times you hear things you don’t want to hear, but you learn how to be a leader,” Dawson said. “I’m 5 feet 2 inches with a soft voice, but I said to the guys that if I whisper to them to get something done, I only want to see the backs of their elbows as they go,” said Dawson, who also led one of the first New York National Guard units to be mobilized in Iraq.
She is a decorated veteran with a Bronze Star for her service in Iraq.
It could be difficult for Dawson, who once considered herself a “shy church−going mouse,” to lead in an institution that has historically been dominated by men. While the men were not always open at first to accepting a woman in charge, she has succeeded in winning the respect of her colleagues and considers herself much better off than she was when she launched her career in the National Guard in 1979.
“Being the first female brigade commander in the National Guard, it means people are seeing their success and potential success in you,” said Dawson, who is the assistant director of operations at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in her civilian life. “It adds to their belief system that it’s do−able, that they could be where I am.”
After graduating with a degree in economics from Cornell University, Dawson decided to join the National Guard with some encouragement from Beverly Kelly Brown, her cousin who is like a sister to Dawson. Dawson quickly moved up the ranks and after her three−year stint as brigade commander, she is eligible to become a general.
Dawson learned from her mentors, many of them male, how to demand respect and make people see beyond her gender and race. For Dawson, she did not want her career to “not just be about being black or female,” but to be characterized by being a leader in an institution that plays an integral role in what she believes is a larger battle of “good vs. evil.”
As for the future, Dawson may or may not become a general, but she said she definitely “has a book in her,” and hopes to someday teach at the college level.
“In the future, I’ll either be writing poetry or non−fiction, or teaching at the college level,” she said. “I love mentoring people. That’s what I want to do as a brigade commander and that’s what I would want to do as a teacher.”
