Resilience in Oz: How Elphaba Found Grounding in a World Determined to Misjudge

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Spoiler Alert: This newsletter discusses key scenes and character development from Wicked. Read on if you’re okay with spoilers!

As Wicked: For Good lights up theaters and dominates the cultural conversation, I couldn’t help but revisit one of the most misunderstood characters of modern storytelling: Elphaba.

While everyone is talking about the music, the costumes, and the powerhouse performances, I found myself watching Elphaba through a different lens… my Resilience Tree Model.

Because long before she became a symbol of rebellion or resistance…
She was a woman trying to find her place in a world that misread her from the moment she arrived.

And isn’t that a familiar story for so many women leaders; especially women of color (green or otherwise)?

Resilience Tree Refresher

(For my new readers — welcome!)

The Resilience Tree is my framework for understanding how women leaders develop, sustain, and deepen resilience across their journey. It has four parts:

  • ROOTS – Rest, refuel, and grounding in personal identity and supportive communities.
  • BRANCHES – People who believe in you, sponsor you, open doors, and stand with you even when there’s no benefit to them.
  • FRUIT – Your output, your ‘yes’, your boundaries, your ‘no,’ your recovery time, and the lessons that emerge.
  • ENVIRONMENT – The climate around you: culture, systems, policies, and the conditions required for you to shine.

For today, we’ll stay with just one component, Roots, and explore how we see it play out in Wicked through Elphaba.

🌱 ROOTS: How Elphaba Found Grounding in a World Determined to Misjudge Her

One of the most haunting early scenes in the film is when Elphaba arrives at Shiz and is instantly “othered” stared at, whispered about, dismissed.
And yet… beneath that sharpness is a woman deeply rooted in who she is.

Let’s break down how the “Roots” of resilience show up for her:

1. She Grounds Herself Through Purpose

Throughout the film, Elphaba consistently returns to the same grounding truth:
“I want to do good.”

Before the world projects “wicked” onto her, she is motivated by service, protection, and justice; especially for those who have been silenced.

This clarity of purpose is a Root activity that fuels her resilience.

Root activities reminds us who we are beneath labels, rumors, position titles or misunderstandings.

2. She Refuels Through Learning and Curiosity

One of her earliest signs of resilience is academic excellence.

While others socialize, Elphaba studies.
While others play politics, she seeks truth.

Learning becomes her self-regulating mechanism; something you see again when she discovers the truth about the Wizard’s manipulative system. Instead of spiraling, she goes straight into inquiry.

Intellectual engagement is grounding for Elphaba (perhaps she has the CliftonStrengths talent themes #Learner or #Intellection).

3. She Draws Strength from Others of Similar Identity

Elphaba finds community with those who are also considered outside of societies’ norm or underrepresented (such as her sister Nessarose, a person with a mobility disability, and Dr. Dillamond, a professor who is a goat among humans).

Being around others who share experiences of exclusion allows her to feel seen and accepted, giving her permission to be fully herself without masking or staying on guard. This sense of belonging strengthens her internal resilience, enabling her to face the wider world with courage and integrity.

With this grounding, she gains greater resolve to advocate for and help create a more inclusive world.

4. She Seeks Rest in Solitude

While Galinda finds grounding in social affirmation, Elphaba finds it in quiet moments (e.g. alone on that iconic balcony overlooking Oz or in the forest where she first meets Fiyero).

Solitude allows her to regulate her emotions, process disappointment, and reconnect with her power.

For many leaders, particularly Black women who are often “the only” or “the first”, solitude is not isolation; it’s restoration. (More on tokenism and refueling as an introvert in another newsletter.)

5. She Reconnects With Herself Through Music (“Defying Gravity”)

The song is more than a plot moment.
It is a reclaiming.

“Something has changed within me…”
That is the sound of a woman standing in her Roots. She is not yet sure where the journey leads, but fully aligned with herself.

In my work with women leaders, I call this the Rooted Reframe:
The moment when your internal truth becomes louder than external judgment.

🌳 Why Roots Matter for You

When your Roots are strong, you can survive an entire world misreading you.

Roots give you:

  • clarity when others are confused
  • self-trust when circumstances shift
  • grounding when expectations rise
  • the ability to self-regulate instead of self-abandon

Elphaba never becomes “wicked.”
She becomes rooted.

And that changes everything.

💡 Reflection Prompts: Cultivating Your Roots

Use these questions to explore your own unseen growth, grounding, and resilience; just as Elphaba did.

1. Grounding Through Purpose – How do your values shape your decisions in challenging situations?

2. Refueling Through Learning and Curiosity – How does learning help you process challenges and regulate your emotions?

3. Drawing Strength from Others of Similar Identity – How does being part of a community of “others” or underrepresented voices strengthen your resilience?

4. Seeking Rest in Solitude – Where in your life do you intentionally pause, reflect, or recharge?

5. Reconnecting Through Expression – What practices (creative, physical, verbal) allow you to reclaim your power or express your internal truth?

Tip: Think of your Roots like Elphaba’s: unseen, intentional, and grounding. The deeper and stronger they grow, the more confidently you can rise and thrive in the world.

📚 Grow Your Resilience Tree

Explore all four components of the Resilience Tree Model (Roots, Branches, Fruit, and Environment) in my book, Resilience Tree: A Model for Women Leaders of Color and Those Who Support Them, that breaks this framework down in an accessible, research-grounded way.

If Elphaba’s journey resonates with you, or if you’ve ever felt misunderstood in your leadership, this book will give you tools to stand firmly in your own Roots.

Now Available on in paperback and audio:

👉 Amazon
👉 Audible (narrated by me!)

Nurture your roots. Rise with purpose. And like Elphaba, step fully into your power—even when the world misjudges you. 💚

Let’s grow together. 🌱

References

Written by Dr. Shauna T. Sobers, author of Resilience Tree: A Model for Women Leaders of Color and Those Who Support Them available for purchase on Amazon or www.shaunatsobers.com/books

#Resilience #Leadership #Followership #EmployeeWellbeing #ResilienceTree #LivingTheResilienceTree #LeadWithCompassion #WomenLeadersOfColor #StrengthsBasedLeadership #EmpoweringYou #WomenLeaders #LeadershipDevelopment #TraumaInformedLeadership #Wicked #PersonalGrowth #EmotionalWellbeing

Drafting assistance provided by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The thoughts & stories are my own.