Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎

Associate Director Centennial Center 💡@HWSColleges, Educator 🌎, Leadership Coach 💪🏻, Content Creator 📸, Writer ✍🏻, and Editor 💻

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

Are you a leader who has navigated traditional gender norms in your career? Have societal expectations and stereotypes influenced your journey as a leader? Are you ready to share your challenges, triumphs, and identity conflicts with the world?

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

"My name's Raymond. I'm 73. I work the parking lot at St. Joseph's Hospital. Minimum wage, orange vest, a whistle I barely use. Most people don't even look at me. I'm just the old man waving cars into spaces.
But I see everything.

Like the black sedan that circled the lot every morning at 6 a.m. for three weeks. Young man driving, grandmother in the passenger seat. Chemotherapy, I figured. He'd drop her at the entrance, then spend 20 minutes hunting for parking, missing her appointments.

One morning, I stopped him. "What time tomorrow?"
"6:15," he said, confused.
"Space A-7 will be empty. I'll save it."
He blinked. "You... you can do that?"
"I can now," I said.

Next morning, I stood in A-7, holding my ground as cars circled angrily. When his sedan pulled up, I moved. He rolled down his window, speechless. "Why?"
"Because she needs you in there with her," I said. "Not out here stressing."
He cried. Right there in the parking lot.

Word spread quietly. A father with a sick baby asked if I could help. A woman visiting her dying husband. I started arriving at 5 a.m., notebook in hand, tracking who needed what. Saved spots became sacred. People stopped honking. They waited. Because they knew someone else was fighting something bigger than traffic.
But here's what changed everything, A businessman in a Mercedes screamed at me one morning. "I'm not sick! I need that spot for a meeting!"

"Then walk," I said calmly. "That space is for someone whose hands are shaking too hard to grip a steering wheel."

He sped off, furious. But a woman behind him got out of her car and hugged me. "My son has leukemia," she sobbed. "Thank you for seeing us."

The hospital tried to stop me. "Liability issues," they said. But then families started writing letters. Dozens. "Raymond made the worst days bearable." "He gave us one less thing to break over."

Last month, they made it official. "Reserved Parking for Families in Crisis." Ten spots, marked with blue signs. And they asked me to manage it.

But the best part? A man I'd helped two years ago, his mother survived, came back. He's a carpenter. Built a small wooden box, mounted it by the reserved spaces. Inside? Prayer cards, tissues, breath mints, and a note,

"Take what you need. You're not alone. -Raymond & Friends"
People leave things now. Granola bars. Phone chargers. Yesterday, someone left a hand-knitted blanket.
I'm 73. I direct traffic in a hospital parking lot. But I've learned this: Healing doesn't just happen in operating rooms. Sometimes it starts in a parking space. When someone says, "I see your crisis. Let me carry this one small piece."

So pay attention. At the grocery checkout, the coffee line, wherever you are. Someone's drowning in the little things while fighting the big ones.

Hold a door. Save a spot. Carry the weight no one else sees.
It's not glamorous. But it's everything."

Let this story reach more hearts....

Credit: Mary Nelson

[Catherine Zeisner, EdD @PrincipalZed]

So proud of @turnmeluce and her presentation today at #WLE2025 #WLEBogota She allowed us to think, learn, and grow in our educational leadership contexts.

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

@GiwedinAnangKwe Congratulations! A HUGE accomplishment for you!

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

@sbruyns What a lucky baby to have the world's best grandma!

[Catherine Zeisner, EdD @PrincipalZed]

Book published today so happy, proud, & amazed. Experiences of Child-Free PK-16 Educators: Bias, Perspectives, and Assumptions ⁦@igiglobal⁩ https://t.co/YMDGU9cnbj

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

Building Inclusive Leadership Beyond the Gender Binary challenges traditional gender-based leadership paradigms while providing practical insights into creating more inclusive organizational cultures.📚 #Leadership #Inclusion #beyondthebinary

https://t.co/tEXblq2FN1

[Zac Bauermaster @ZBauermaster]

NEW BLOG POST: School Leaders: Go Home and Love Your Family

It’s the beginning of a school year, so this blog post is heavy on my heart to write for school leaders.

Our families need us!

https://t.co/VbMadquXCK

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

@GiwedinAnangKwe @westernuEdu AMAZING!!!!! Congratulations. It is a HUGE deal!

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

@GiwedinAnangKwe I had that and my ophthalmologist told me it was an ocular migraine.

[Amy Diehl, Ph.D. @amydiehl]

Happy 1st anniversary to GLASS WALLS! It has been an incredible year. This book resonates with so many and points the way forward to equitable and inclusive workplaces. Get your copy at 30% off: https://t.co/rWJuWEIEHY

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

@AngelaStockman They are my favorite!!!!

[Buffalo Sabres @BuffaloSabres]

The man behind some of the most iconic photos in team history.

Congratulations to team photographer Bill Wippert on 5️⃣0️⃣ seasons! 👏

[Dr. Lindsay Prendergast @Lindspren]

Going to @ASCD Annual Conference? Join us for a book signing of @CorwinPress Habits of Resilient Educators Sun. March 24th at 3:15 pm at the Corwin booth!

[Catherine Zeisner, EdD @PrincipalZed]

Update! Added our friends from Higher Education. Please share with ALL educators.
Call for Chapters: Experiences of Child-Free PK-16 Educators: Bias, Perspectives, and Assumptions | IGI Global
- https://t.co/wI75rutkpL

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

@JAdamsPrice @MonroeOneBOCES @GenevaCSD @shane_wiegand @ebert_erica @HFLCSD They are so lucky to have you as a facilitator!

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

@keeperofthecup @GoldenKnights @NHL @HockeyHallFame She is absolutely the BEST!!!!!!

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

⏰It's not too late. We would LOVE to hear your stories!
Calling all authors ✍🏻 We invite leaders of all gender identities from any profession to contribute a chapter to a book that shares personal experiences with the gender binary and leadership.

https://t.co/3M1uZpN212

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

What a gift!

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

Unique perspectives are welcomed in comprehensively understanding gender and leadership, in addition, insights will play a vital role in fostering a more inclusive and equitable leadership landscape. https://t.co/3F8UYsV7gI #womenleaders #LGBTQIAleaders #genderbinary

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

CALLING ALL AUTHORS: We invite leaders of all gender identities from any profession to contribute a chapter to a book that shares personal experiences with the gender binary and leadership. How have societal expectations and stereotypes influenced your journey as a leader?

[Dr. Ann Marie Luce🇨🇦🌎 @turnmeluce]

Explore the challenges, triumphs, and identity conflicts you encountered in navigating leadership roles within traditional gender norms.