Chipping Away at It: Reflections on Research, Leadership, and Returning to Why I Started
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This reflection looks beyond the final research product to the experience of producing it. My Laidlaw summer challenged me to balance independent research with a full-time internship, work through hundreds of pages of policy and legislation, navigate uncertainty in my research direction, and remain disciplined even when progress felt slow. One of my biggest lessons was that research—and growth more broadly—is rarely defined by one breakthrough moment. It is often the result of consistently doing a little more, thinking a little deeper, and improving on the day before. The experience also reshaped how I understand leadership: not simply as holding a position, but as having the patience, responsibility, and self-awareness to continue learning and to keep people at the centre of the work. Ultimately, this reflection captures how Laidlaw helped me grow not only as a researcher, but as a more disciplined, reflective, and purposeful student and leader.
Hello! My name is Ace Tabisaura, an incoming 3rd-Year Public Law student at University of Toronto Scarborough with a strong interest in labour and employment law, particularly how legal institutions shape protections for marginalized workers.
