Julian came to Coro California’s Fellows Program in Public Affairs with a senior thesis on human trafficking in Los Angeles still fresh in his mind — and a hunch that the city held more nuance than any classroom could teach.
In this Q&A, he reflects on what nine months of placements across LA’s public, private, and nonprofit sectors taught him about leadership, starting with the moment a personality assessment upended everything he thought he knew about himself. He also shares candid advice for anyone considering applying to a public policy fellowship of their own.
Through my placements, my outlook of leadership expanded, and I became a stronger leader from it.
Why Julian chose a public policy fellowship in Los Angeles
Take us back to the moment you decided to apply for FPPA. What were you searching for — in your career, your community, or yourself — and what did you hope the program would help you find?
When I decided to apply for FPPA, I was searching for a deeper connection to my home of Los Angeles. At the time, I had been wrapping up a senior thesis on the landscape of human trafficking in LA. Through the course of interviewing, researching, and writing, I quickly learned how the diversity of the region and tremendous economic machine (that fuels the 4th-largest economy in the world) mediates the way human trafficking and labor exploitation manifest in Los Angeles. Immigration, proximity to the southern border, and a broad swath of cultural, linguistic, and social factors have led to a presence of human trafficking that was wholly unique to the academic or purely legal perspectives I had been able to study while at school.
Recognizing both the gap between what scholarship and what human trafficking actually looked like in Los Angeles, and therefore the value in engaging deeply and inquisitively about a region, I felt resolved to find post-graduate opportunities that could bring me closer to Los Angeles. In this way, Coro has delivered.
It opened the door to conversations with the public, private, and non-profit sectors, offering a window into the thinking, theories of change, and impact of stakeholders in any given issue, whether it be transportation, housing, or even the creative economy. I could witness, firsthand, how the intentional design of various sectors was working towards a specific goal, and I could practice the critical thinking it takes to recognize moments or opportunities of collaboration or shared interest. I was looking for the chance to learn how things get done in Los Angeles, and while I’m certainly still on the path of learning, through Coro, I have made plenty of progress.
How the public policy fellowship redefined leadership
What’s one assumption you held about leadership — or about a sector, community, or issue — that the Fellowship challenged or completely overturned?
At Yale, I served as the student body president. Needless to say, I had a clear preconception of what leadership meant, and held strong predilections for a specific model of what it could be/look like. At Yale and during my life up until this point, I interpreted leadership as “getting things done.” Witnessing results firsthand had always been the most salient component of leadership, and my associations were tightly linked: a great leader begets great outcomes.
Thus, when the entire cohort took a leadership typing assessment (called the ILS, or Integrated Leadership Styles framework), I was surprised to be categorized as a “Director,” one of four leadership types, but distinctively known as the type of leader who is results-driven, values efficiency, and can sometimes receive criticism for prioritizing quality and expediency over broad input and inclusivity. I understood the tradeoffs that came with this style, but it was still difficult for me to conceive of the power that other leadership styles held. Who wouldn’t want a leader who can deliver quality with efficiency? Of course, it wasn’t much time before I learned that being a “Director” wasn’t the only, or even the best, leadership system to achieve those goals.
My short stints at various sectors in Coro became my walking examples of the strength and power of different styles of leadership. In my first placement with the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, I met my first Coro supervisor, Lindey Kozberg. Aside from being a Stanford-educated, highly-accomplished land-use attorney, and former White House staffer, Lindsey was (and is), an incredible leader with a skillset I had yet to see. During the first week, I saw how the staff– both highly motivated and mission-driven– felt a comfort and ease around Lindsey, who, as the interim CEO and leader of the organization, maintained a high degree of openness and transparency.
The doors to her office were permanently ajar, she connected team goals with personal stories, and worked proactively to keep spirits high and positive energy flowing through the workplace. Lindsey’s effectiveness and vision as a leader were enhanced by the group’s collective buy-in, and I felt it too. Extra motivation came from wanting to not let my co-workers down, and it was even as simple as wanting to work hard for Lindsey because she was an amazing boss. I felt my voice was valued, my input was registered, and that I had a role in designing the goals that I was working towards.
The ILS-framework would characterize this leadership of that of a “Counselor,” someone on the polar opposite end of the spectrum from where I had landed on the assessment. And yet, I was experiencing how this form of leadership was producing (both for me and the organization), perhaps an even more efficient, joyous, and collectively-built outcome.
My analysis of what makes effective leaders was completely overturned– I saw how it wasn’t that being a “Counselor” is best, or that being a “Director” always means the most efficient route to the best solution, it’s that each situation may call for a different type of leadership to fit the moment.
Being able to adapt and flex your leadership strengths is key, and leadership of a specific policy goal might require that of a counselor due to the challenges of coalition building, or that spearheading event planning might call for compartmentalization and goal-oriented direction. Through my placements, my outlook of leadership expanded, and I became a stronger leader from it.
Advice for future applicants
If you were sitting across from someone considering applying to FPPA — maybe someone from a background or sector underrepresented in civic leadership — what would you want them to know? What’s the thing you wish someone had told you before you applied? Before you became a Fellow?
If I was sat across from someone who was considering applying to FPPA, I would ask them to take 30 minutes to write down a response to a prompt: “What do you want to get out of this program?”
While seemingly a simplistic question, it was something that I wish I had done before my Coro journey. I’d tell them that the 9-months program is an all-out sprint; you’re conducting hundreds of interviews with proven leaders (from all walks of life and sectors of impact), drinking from the proverbial firehose as you learn as much as you can during a four-day Focus week on the Creative Economy, or any of the random yet profoundly impactful moments of bonding and co-existing that comes from embarking on the journey with a group of eleven other Fellows.
The key takeaway is that Coro can offer too much. There’s simply too many opportunities and experiences that you can get enthralled by. It can be the vehicle through which you build out your network in the field in which you seek to make an impact, or become your avenue for learning complex issues of LA.
Coro can also be a place where you hone your leadership and analytical skills. It can be all of these things, but, inevitably, there will be so much that is offered, that without thinking deeply and honestly, you might feel overwhelmed or lost. Being intentional about what drew you to this program, what you want to be open to, and what you ultimately seek from FPPA can be a valuable north star as you experience all that Coro has to offer.
About Coro’s public policy fellowship
Coro has been making civic leaders for over 80 years, and its Fellows Program in Public Affairs remains the clearest expression of that mission. This flagship public policy fellowship runs in two regions — the Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area — and asks for a full-time commitment over several months. What Fellows get in return is rare. They rotate through placements across business, nonprofit, government, labor, and electoral politics; spend Focus Weeks immersed in the region’s defining challenges; engage influential cross-sector leaders in candid interviews; and build a leadership toolkit through weekly facilitated seminars.
The through-line is practice over theory. Fellows take on high-profile assignments and deliver individual and cohort-wide projects that create genuine organizational impact. They emerge with esteemed credentials, a portfolio of concrete work, a deeper command of policy, and a lasting place among 15,000+ Coro alumni, a network that includes U.S. Senators, elected officials, and changemakers across the nation. Discover the program.
Apply or nominate someone for Coro’s public policy fellowship
The fellowship is tuition-free, with need-based monthly stipends and health insurance allowances available to help Fellows participate fully. The people who thrive here are recent graduates and early-career professionals committed to ethical leadership and to strengthening democracy through civic engagement.
Picture the next cohort — your name on the list, or the name of someone you’d back without a second thought. Applications open in early September and close in mid-January.
Julian Suh-Toma
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