Black Woman Leading

In June of 2025, Kendra Thomas welcomed her first daughter. By November, she had lost her father after a long battle with cancer. In between, she was a brand-new mom, a caregiver coordinating around-the-clock care, and a senior leader steering her team through the City of Chicago's busiest season. In this tender and honest conversation, Kendra and Laura go deep on the reality of the sandwich generation: the invisible labor, the guilt, the boundaries you are forced to learn, and the quiet work of asking for help when you have always been the strong one. Kendra also shares the reframe that carried her through, the difference between someone giving up and someone surrendering, and how this season made her a more empathetic leader.

In this episode:

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Why "he didn't give up, he surrendered" became the reframe that let Kendra release control and honor her father's wishes

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The invisible labor of caregiving and leadership, and how guilt, boundaries, and asking for help all collide in one impossible season

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How caring for her father at home increased her empathy as a leader and changed how her whole team checks in on one another

About Kendra

Currently, Kendra serves as the Chief Administration and Finance Officer at the Office of the City Clerk. In this role, Kendra guides the financial planning, hiring and workplace culture initiatives for the office. As a strategic-thought partner reporting directly to the Chief of Staff, Kendra has played a critical role in partnering with senior leadership to make strategic decisions.

Connect with Kendra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendra-t-416a215b/

BWL Resources:

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

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Apple Podcasts

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Spotify

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Stitcher

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Tiffany Collie Bailey, CEO of Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta, joins Laura to talk about what it really takes to pour into the next generation of Black girls, and why that work loops directly back to our own leadership. Celebrating the organization's 50th anniversary, Tiffany shares how exposure becomes the foundation that lets a girl believe she can be more than her circumstances, why relief from adult-sized burdens lets a child simply be twelve, and how her own village refused to let her shrink after a doctor told her what she'd never do. She and Laura connect it all to leading through hard financial seasons with agility, transparency, and story. A moving, motivating call to share your light.

In this episode:

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Why exposure is the foundation, and what changes when a girl gets to see something different

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Bringing young people into the room: developing the next generation by letting them witness real leadership decisions

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Leading through a tough funding season with agility, transparency, and a reframed story, and how to start investing in the young women in your own sphere

About Tiffany

Tiffany Collie-Bailey is the Chief Executive Officer of Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta, where she advances the vision of "Powerful girls and women in an equitable society" through the organization's 50-year mission to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. An accomplished nonprofit executive, Tiffany brings 25 years of leadership experience in community healthcare, social services, youth development, organizational growth, and strategic financial management.

Throughout her career, Tiffany has served organizations dedicated to enriching lives through the arts, empowering individuals with disabilities, strengthening faith-based communities, and improving health and nutritional outcomes for families in under-resourced communities. Today, she leads a team of more than 50 professionals and oversees a $3 million budget that supports year-round programming and wellness resources for girls and families across 13 counties in Georgia.

Under Tiffany's leadership, Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta has experienced unprecedented growth and impact. Through a focused strategy centered on innovation, sustainability, and expansion, the organization increased revenue, program offerings, and the number of girls served by 61 percent over a three-year period, achieving the greatest growth in its history.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Tiffany developed her expertise in nonprofit leadership through a progression of executive roles, including Director of Development, Chief Operating Officer, and Deputy Executive Director at St. Vincent de Paul Georgia. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from Wright State University and completed course work in Leadership Management.

Tiffany serves on the National Board of Girls Inc., the Regional Health Board of Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, and the Cobb Chamber of Commerce Inclusion Committee.

Connect with Tiffany

Website: http://www.girlsincatl.org

FB: GirlsIncATL

IG: @GirlsIncAtlanta

LinkedIn: Girls Inc. of Atlanta

BWL Resources:

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

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Apple Podcasts

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Spotify

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Stitcher

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iHeartRadio

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Audible

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Podbay

Black women are the most ambitious demographic in the American workforce, and also the least supported in it. In this solo episode, Laura names the quiet tension so many of us carry: we have been taught to want enough, but not too much. To work hard, but never look hungry. To lead, but not be called aggressive. She unpacks where the ambition shame spiral comes from and why, drawing on research, the self-doubt we carry is not a personal flaw but a rational response to systems built to quiet us. From there she dismantles the false choice between ambition and gratitude, speaks honestly about the relational cost of outgrowing people and the guilt of success, and gently reframes desire itself as information about your calling rather than evidence of greed. A grounding, permission-giving conversation about healing the relationship you have with your own wanting.

In this episode:

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The ambition shame spiral: where the conditioning comes from, and why the problem is the system, not you

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Ambition versus contentment: why wanting more can coexist with deep gratitude, and can even be an act of stewardship

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The relational side of ambition: the fear of outgrowing people, survivor's guilt in success, and how ambition modeled well becomes permission for the women watching you

Download the "Permission to Want More" Ambition Reflection sheet as a companion to this episode: https://blackwomanleading.com/permission-to-want-more/

About Laura

Laura Knights is the Creator of Black Woman Leading® and host of the podcast. She is an executive coach, speaker, facilitator, and licensed clinical social worker with 20+ years of experience creating personal and professional development programs that have touched leaders worldwide.

Her expertise and background in business, human resources, adult education, and social work uniquely equip her to teach others how to deal with both the "head work" and "heart work" required to succeed at work and in life. She is the Founder and CEO of Knights Consulting LLC, a leadership development consultancy that provides customized training and coaching programs to create more confident leaders and high-performing teams.

Black Woman Leading® is a research-backed initiative which offers leadership development programming, a podcast, and an annual conference for Black women professionals. Black Woman Leading® is an initiative of Knights Consulting LLC. Learn more at blackwomanleading.com.

BWL Resources:

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Join Black Woman Leading, The Collective - a membership community. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/the-collective/

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

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Audible

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Podbay

Most grassroots organizations never make it out of survival mode. Jamila Trimuel did the rare thing. What began in 2011 with six girls meeting at a Chicago public library has grown, under her leadership, into Ladies of Virtue, an organization now serving three thousand Black girls a year with mentoring, workforce development, and mental health support. In this episode, she and Laura break down exactly how she scaled, and the mindset shifts that made it possible. Jamila shares why a strategic plan is non-negotiable, how she borrowed her consistency model from Starbucks, the systems every nonprofit needs to move from reactive to strategic, and how she diversified into five funding streams. She and Laura also get honest about the power dynamics Black-led organizations face with funders, and Jamila's refreshing "work what you can work" philosophy for finding the people who actually want to fund you.

In this episode:

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The critical systems that move a nonprofit from reactive to strategic: a standardized curriculum, documented procedures, financial and CRM systems, and a learning system to keep sharpening your mastery

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How to build and diversify funding across five streams, and how to navigate funder relationships with authenticity when the money flows less freely to Black women

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Why relationships are the true backbone of scale, and how to build systems that sustain them so no key relationship falls through the cracks

About Jamila

Jamila Trimuel is a nationally recognized nonprofit leader, strategist, and advocate dedicated to creating pathways of opportunity for Black girls.She is the Founder and CEO of Ladies of Virtue, Chicago's leading mentoring and leadership development organization for Black girls. What began in 2011 with just six participants has grown under her leadership to serve more than 6,000 girls and young women annually through direct mentoring, workforce development, and mental health support. LOV partners with major institutions such as L'Oréal, Northwestern Medicine, CME Group, Foot Locker, Social Venture Partners, Starbucks and CVS Health.

Jamila was named a 2023 Black Changemaker by PepsiCo, one of just 16 honorees across the country. She is a TEDx speaker, co-author of A Status Report on Teen Girls in Chicago, and a trusted voice in civic leadership. She currently serves as Chair of the Steering Committee for the Coalition on Urban Girls, leading collective efforts to enhance the lives of girls across Chicago. Her work and impact have been locally and nationally recognized. Ladies of Virtue was honored with the Top 100 Chicago Innovation Award and Jamila was featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Under her leadership, the organization is now poised to scale nationally, with a goal to serve over 5,000 girls annually and position LOV as a model for culturally responsive mentorship and leadership development across the country.

Connect with Jamila

Website: https://www.lovchicago.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamila-trimuel-6737b710

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovchicago/

BWL Resources:

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Join Black Woman Leading, The Collective - a membership community. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/the-collective/

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

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Audible

•

Podbay

After twenty years in corporate leadership, Gabby Albert took a 65 percent pay cut to become executive director of 4Kira4Moms, and calls herself the happiest she's ever been. In this episode, she and Laura talk about the power of the village: in maternal health, where too many Black women suffer in silence, and in our careers and communities, where we've absorbed a go-it-alone mindset that was never how we were built. Gabby breaks down why asking for help is a strength, how to actually activate the people already in your corner, and why everyone plays a role on the roster so no single relationship gets overused. Grounded in her advocacy work and her own leadership journey, it's a warm, practical call to stop doing everything alone.

In this episode:

•

Why we suffer in silence, and how to activate a village instead of over-relying on one person

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"Everybody plays a role on the roster": spreading the ask so relationships don't burn out

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What her corporate-to-nonprofit pivot taught her about transferable skills, authentic leadership, and self-advocacy

About Gabby

Gabrielle Albert is a strategic leader with over 20 years of executive experience at companies including Procter & Gamble, Kellogg, Bacardi, Hilton, and Kimberly-Clark. Her corporate background spans global roles in strategic sourcing, marketing, sales, and R&D across industries such as CPG, hospitality, and healthcare.

In 2024, Gabby transitioned from corporate leadership to full-time maternal health advocacy, joining 4Kira4Moms as Executive Director after serving on the board. Since then, she has implemented the organization's first strategic plan, launched the 4Kira4Dads Paternal Centers of Excellence, and grown annual revenue 6X.

A proud graduate of Florida A&M University's School of Business and Industry, Gabby is a passionate advocate for maternal health as a human rights issue. She currently lives in Atlanta, GA and enjoys traveling, mentoring, and spending time with loved ones. She is affiliated with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the FAMU National Alumni Association, and the Smithsonian 2015 Society

Connect with Gabby

Website: http://www.4kira4moms.com

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/gabriellegabbyalbert

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmalbert

BWL Resources:

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Join Black Woman Leading, The Collective - a membership community. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/the-collective/

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

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Audible

•

Podbay

In a season when so many Black women are being laid off, Mercedes Swan makes the case for the women who are choosing to leave: the ones walking away from a job that is quietly making them sick. A career coach with a background in HR and DEI, Mercedes lived it herself, an ADHD diagnosis, depression, and anxiety she traces to a toxic workplace, before building her own business. She and Laura get honest about how to tell when the environment is the problem, how workplace trauma reshapes your relationship with rest and your own worth, and how to break what she calls the toxic job search cycle so you do not flee one bad situation straight into another. Practical, validating, and clear-eyed about the real constraints of bills and family.

In this episode:

•

How to know a job is toxic, starting with the simplest signal: your discomfort is enough

•

The toxic job search cycle (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) and how it lands you in the next bad job

•

The "limiting belief buster" exercise, plus how to plan your exit and recover your energy while you are still inside a hard environment

About Mercedes

Mercedes Swan is the Career Love Coach and creates empowering and safe places for high-performing and purpose-driven Black women. Leveraging her experience in HR and DEI, she has a mission to close the pay, promotion, and inclusion gap for Black women and other historically marginalized groups on the way to collective career liberation. She is the founder of the Black Woman Bliss Community and Career Love, a social impact organization.

Connect with Mercedes

Website: https://www.mercedesswan.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdswan/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mercedes.swan

IG:https://www.instagram.com/mercedes.swan

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFeD9kqBQ53Lg17SaTh1bSQ

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@mercedes.swan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2205202599758678

BWL Resources:

•

Join Black Woman Leading, The Collective - a membership community. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/the-collective/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

The conversation you have been avoiding is the one that is costing your relationship the most. We tell ourselves that staying quiet is the kind thing — that silence protects the people and connections we care about. But research tells us something different. Avoidance is not kindness. It is distance.

In this solo episode, Laura breaks down four types of difficult conversations that show up in our professional and personal lives — feedback conversations, boundary-setting conversations, repair conversations, and courageous truth-telling — and gives you a practical strategy for each one. She also names something that most general advice on this topic misses entirely: for Black women, speaking up carries a real and documented cost. And so does staying silent. The question is not whether there is a cost. The question is which cost you are choosing to pay, and which relationships and values you are honoring with that decision.

Whether you are a formal leader or someone with influence over people, processes, or culture, this episode is your reminder that it is your job to go first.

In this episode:

•

Why we avoid difficult conversations and what the research actually says about the cost — especially for Black women

•

The four types of difficult conversations and a practical strategy for each one

•

How to prepare your nervous system before you lean in, and why regulation is the foundation that makes every strategy actually work

Resource mentioned: S8E16: Setting Boundaries with Clarity and Confidence - https://blackwomanleading.com/s8e16-setting-boundaries-with-clarity-confidence/

Download the companion guide: Leaning In: My Difficult Conversations Planner - https://blackwomanleading.com/difficult-conversations-planner/

About Laura Laura Knights is the Creator of Black Woman Leading® and host of the podcast. She is an executive coach, speaker, facilitator, and licensed clinical social worker with 20+ years of experience creating personal and professional development programs that have touched leaders worldwide.

Her expertise and background in business, human resources, adult education, and social work uniquely equip her to teach others how to deal with both the "head work" and "heart work" required to succeed at work and in life. She is the Founder and CEO of Knights Consulting LLC, a leadership development consultancy that provides customized training and coaching programs to create more confident leaders and high-performing teams.

Black Woman Leading® is a research-backed initiative which offers leadership development programming, a podcast, and an annual conference for Black women professionals. Black Woman Leading® is an initiative of Knights Consulting LLC. Learn more at blackwomanleading.com.

BWL Resources:

•

Join Black Woman Leading, The Collective - a membership community. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/the-collective/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

Middle management may be the hardest seat in any organization: accountable to the leaders above you, responsible for the team below, with authority that is real but limited. And roughly 80 percent of an organization's people are led from that exact seat. Kelli King-Jackson, an executive coach with more than 800 hours coaching Black women in predominantly white spaces, joins Laura to reframe the middle as one of the most powerful positions in an organization, once you learn to influence rather than simply manage. She breaks down the real difference between influence and manipulation, how to manage up by understanding what your leaders actually care about, how to build trust with your team by "sharing the code," and what introversion, neurodiversity, and AI all mean for the way Black women lead from the middle right now.

In this episode:

•

Why the middle is uniquely hard, and uniquely powerful, for Black women, and how to stop experiencing it as only a squeeze

•

Influence versus manipulation: managing up by learning how your leaders are persuaded, and translating for the team below

•

Building trust downward by "sharing the code," plus what introversion, neurodiversity, and AI now require of leaders in the middle

About Kelli

Kelli King-Jackson is the founder of Kelli King-Jackson, LLC, a social impact firm focused on coaching, leadership assessments, strategic advising, and facilitation. With more than 25 years of experience across nonprofits and philanthropy, she has coached Black women and femmes leading in predominantly white spaces for over 800 hours. Kelli is an ACC‑level coach, a 21/64 certified philanthropic advisor, and co‑founder of The Bayou Collective in Houston.

Connect with Kelli

Website: https://www.iamkelli.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkingjackson

BWL Resources:

•

Join Black Woman Leading, The Collective - a membership community. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/the-collective/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

Deme Jackson had the receipts: an HBCU grad, a decade advising C-suite leaders, a nonprofit founder. And still, after repeated layoffs and real workplace trauma, her confidence had fallen behind her competence. In this episode, she and Laura name a gap so many high-achieving Black women live in: you can have done all the work and still not feel like the woman your résumé describes. Deme shares how a toxic corporate experience chipped away at a confidence she once took for granted, how a trusted coach reminded her she did not need to relearn confidence but catch up to it, and how community, visibility, and radical self-work helped her rebuild. She also opens up about founding the Lotus Club and turning her own healing into a lifeline for other Black women navigating workplace trauma.

In this episode:

•

The difference between self-esteem and self-confidence, and why layoffs and toxic workplaces damage both

•

How a trusted mirror in community helped Deme catch up to the confidence that never actually left

•

Closing the gap between skill and confidence, and what it means to be bold before you fully feel ready, her Bloom Boldly season

About Deme

Deme Jackson is a communications executive, strategist, and entrepreneur whose career began on a production set. She spent her early career in film and television production before pivoting into strategic communications, where she has spent over a decade advising C-suite leaders and leading crisis communications for notable brands including the City of Dallas, Motel 6, Chili's, and Drybar.

In addition to serving as a Public Information Officer for one of the top 10 municipalities in the country, she founded F.U.E.L., the city's first Young Professionals Employee Resource Group. That experience, paired with her own encounters with being overlooked and undervalued as a Black woman in the workplace, led her to found The Lotus Club, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting Black women navigating workplace trauma through healing, empowerment, and community.

Deme also founded Deme & Co., a boutique communications consultancy serving executives, entrepreneurs, and public figures. She is a 2025 recipient of the Pearl C. Anderson Rising Star Award and a proud Clark Atlanta University alumna. Outside of work, she's an avid cook and collector of African American cookbooks, a hobby that reflects her love of storytelling and preserving culture through food.

Connect with Deme

Website: http://www.thelotusclub.co

Instagram: @bloomwithtlc, @astoldbydeme

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/demejackson/

BWL Resources:

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

At a career crossroads, by choice or by circumstance? Natina Hill, affectionately known as the Pivot Muse, joins Laura with a real strategic framework for making your next move, especially urgent in a moment when over 600,000 Black women have been economically impacted and AI is reshaping what our skills are worth. A serial entrepreneur, ed-tech founder, and self-described polymath, Natina is candid that she is one of the 600,000, having lost significant contract income to the DEI rollback. She and Laura walk through the pivot she teaches: start with the heart work of naming the grief and fear (because fear restricts movement), then move to the head work of taking honest inventory of your mastered skills, skill-stacking them into new roles, and using AI tools as your free personal strategist. It is a grounded, hopeful, practical roadmap for anyone who got the rug pulled out and wants to turn this season into a strategic one.

In this episode:

•

Why every strategic pivot starts with a mindset shift, and how to sit with the grief of a layoff before you try to move (heart work before head work)

•

The inventory-and-skill-stacking method: naming what you have mastered over your career, and what actually energizes you, then repurposing it into your next role

•

How to use AI as a free strategist to research how your industry is changing, translate your experience, and find the roles you are missing, plus how to protect your kids by learning it yourself

About Natina

Natina Marie Hill is affectionately known as the pivot muse, a perfect name to describe her life and career journey. She attributes her success to learning how to strategically navigate in and out of life's most challenging and rewarding situations. She's a Rochester, New York native and an Atlanta transplant since 2000.

Although she's ventured down many paths, her career has been rooted in business and tech advocacy. Hill is the EdTech Founder of AI STEAM Lab and Future Hackathon™, innovation labs supported by Microsoft that advances AI literacy and fluency in underserved communities. With more than 25 years of experience and through her nonprofit organization, Hill Innovation Learning Labs Foundation, she is developing training and workforce development solutions to help individuals and organizations thrive in a digital world by confidently navigating emerging technologies and preparing for the future of work.

Hill is also a serial entrepreneur, speaker, and creative. She owns Hill Consulting & Strategy Firm, PenHaus Media, and melanin muse®, where she directs and produces everything from films, global travel journeys, to large conferences. Hill is proud to serve as an advisory board member for the Women Entrepreneurial Opportunity Project (WEOP).

Connect with Natina

Website: https://aisteamlab.com/

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/natinamariehill/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natina.marie

BWL Resources:

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

Most money advice is tactical: budget this, invest that. Dr. Billina Shaw brings something almost no one else does, a psychiatrist's lens. A Yale-educated, triple board-certified psychiatrist turned financial wellness strategist, she joins Laura to go underneath the numbers to the behavioral and psychological roots of how we relate to money. Fresh off her own pivot, laid off from a federal role and ninety days into full-time entrepreneurship, Billina gets vulnerable about discovering that her own anxiety wasn't about the bills, it was about worth and identity. She and Laura name financial trauma and how it shows up, especially for Black women carrying the "slave and save" mentality, and walk through her Aligned Health and Wealth framework: aligning with purpose, identifying with abundance, abolishing limiting beliefs, and acting with authority. A grounding, judgment-free conversation about building wealth from the inside out.

In this episode:

•

What financial trauma is, the three forms it takes (history, household, and her story), and how it quietly drives overspending, hoarding, and avoidance

•

Why budgeting alone never fixes it, and how positive reinforcement and abundance, not shame, actually change our relationship with money

•

The Aligned Health and Wealth framework, and why disentangling your worth from your work is the first inside-out move

About Dr. Billina

Dr. Billina Shaw is a Yale-educated, triple board-certified psychiatrist turned financial wellness strategist who helps women build aligned wealth from the inside out. Through her coaching practice, Freely Flourish Financial™, she draws on her behavioral health expertise and signature framework to help high-achievers untangle the beliefs and behaviors holding back their personal growth and that of their wallets. A physician and former federal behavioral health Senior Medical Advisor, she brings rare depth to a simple idea: true prosperity starts with alignment.

Connect with Dr. Billina

Website: http://www.freelyflourishfinancial.com

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-billina

Instagram: @drbillina

BWL Resources:

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at www.BWLretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

Neuroscience strategist Keyshawn Hughes joins Laura to explain what's actually happening in the brain when we communicate, and why so many of us feel more connected online yet lonelier than ever. The founder of Neuro Savvy Leadership breaks down her memorable framing of a world running on "dopamine hits" while starving for "oxytocin drips," the slow, in-person bonding that real relationships require. She and Laura explore how threat and reward show up in our tone and body language, what happens neurologically when Black women go silent or shrink in unsafe rooms, and how to build the self-awareness and strategy to communicate with confidence. A fascinating, practical bridge between brain science and everyday connection.

In this episode:

•

Dopamine hits versus oxytocin drips: why digital busyness leaves us lonely, and how to rebuild real connection

•

What fight, flight, freeze, and fawn look like at work, and how to move out of them safely

•

Practical tools to communicate clearly and advocate for yourself without shrinking or over-explaining

About Keshawn

Keshawn Hughes, M.S. is a NeuroLeadership Strategist, Executive Coach, and Founder of NeuroSavvy® Leadership, equipping HR and corporate leaders with neuroscience-backed tools to boost productivity, retention, and engagement. With a Master's in Strategic Communication, she has facilitated over 400 leadership engagements since 2021, helping organizations build thriving cultures. Keshawn's upcoming book, NeuroSavvy® Storytelling, shares strategies that move people to believe, align, and take action. Based in Atlanta, she brings the same heartfelt approach to life with her husband and child who inspire her daily.

Connect with Keshawn

Website: http://www.keshawnhughes.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NeuroLeaderKHughes

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keshawnhughes/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keshawnridgelhughes/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@keshawnhughes1576

BWL Resources:

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment - https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

What does it take to lead well when the ground will not stop shaking? In this solo episode, Laura introduces the Future-Ready Leader Model, a tree-based framework for leading from the inside out, through your roots, your trunk, and your branches.

•

Roots. Your internal foundation: Self-awareness, emotional regulation, values, and grounding.

•

Trunk. Your strategic positioning: The clarity and intentional choices that keep you standing.

•

Branches. Your expansive impact: The influence, relationships, and reach beyond your role.

You were not designed to only lead when things are easy. Future-ready leadership is not about becoming someone different. It is about going deeper into who you already are, and growing anyway.

"You can have the most impressive branches in the room. But if your roots are shallow, one hard wind takes you down."

Take the free Future-Ready Leader Assessment. Fifteen questions, about five minutes, and you get your profile, your scores across all three dimensions, your strengths, your growth edge, and three next steps.

https://futureready.blackwomanleading.com/

About Laura Laura Knights is the Creator of Black Woman Leading® and host of the podcast. She is an executive coach, speaker, facilitator, and licensed clinical social worker with 20+ years of experience creating personal and professional development programs that have touched leaders worldwide.

Her expertise and background in business, human resources, adult education, and social work uniquely equip her to teach others how to deal with both the "head work" and "heart work" required to succeed at work and in life. She is the Founder and CEO of Knights Consulting LLC, a leadership development consultancy that provides customized training and coaching programs to create more confident leaders and high-performing teams.

Black Woman Leading® is a research-backed initiative which offers leadership development programming, a podcast, and an annual conference for Black women professionals. Black Woman Leading® is an initiative of Knights Consulting LLC. Learn more at blackwomanleading.com.

BWL Resources:

•

Now enrolling for both the August sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

After nearly 30 years in public service, Dawn Pinnock stepped into an entirely new sector as president and CEO of the Center for Urban Community Services, and had to rebuild something she had spent decades earning: her professional relationships. In this episode, she and Laura break down what it takes to recalibrate how you connect when you are deeply established in one world and starting fresh in another. Dawn shares the exact process she used, taking honest stock of her track record, gathering candid feedback from longtime supporters and even former opponents, and turning those themes into a story she could lead with. It is a masterclass for anyone pivoting, by choice or by layoff, who worries the social capital they built no longer counts.

In this episode:

•

Why being "known but not networked" is a real distinction, and how to translate a strong reputation into new rooms

•

Dawn's first-90-days playbook: honest self-assessment, feedback focus groups, and positioning yourself as a learner who still brings value

•

How the relationships you build internally with your team become the springboard for the ones you build outside

About Dawn

Dawn M. Pinnock has spent nearly 30 years in public service driving change. As President and CEO of the Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS), she leads one of the city's most effective social service organizations, supporting over 50,000 people each year on their path to housing stability and long-term well-being. Before joining CUCS, she served as Commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). In this role, she created the city's first community-based hiring model, advanced family-forward policies for more than 320,000 employees, managed 22 million square feet of city-owned and leased office space, and made New York greener through fleet electrification and large-scale energy efficiency upgrades. Pinnock serves as a Trustee and adjunct professor at Metropolitan College of New York, and in 2026 was appointed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Commission on Government Efficiency, a newly formed Charter Revision Commission tasked with modernizing city government.

Connect with Dawn

Website: https://www.cucs.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cucs/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cucs_nyc/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CUCSnyc

BWL Resources:

•

Now enrolling for both the August sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Download the free Black Woman Leading Career Reset Kit - https://blackwomanleading.com/career-reset-kit/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

Fear never fully goes away, so what if the goal was never to get rid of it? Caressa Bell, a Gulf War veteran, former Fortune 50 executive, and author of Manufactured Fearlessness, joins Laura to reframe fearlessness as something you build, not something you're born with. Drawing on the moment she deployed to war with a newborn at home, Caressa shares how "moving even when you're not ready" became the practice that carried her through a military career, two decades in corporate leadership, and the leap into entrepreneurship. She and Laura dig into leading yourself before you lead others, reading what's really happening "beyond the veil" in a room, and why so many of us are far more ready than we let ourselves believe. A galvanizing conversation for any Black woman standing at the edge of a bold move.

In this episode:

•

Why fearlessness is manufactured: how to feel the fear, look back at everything you've already done afraid, and move anyway

•

"Beyond the veil": reading the unspoken dynamics in a room so you can lead and position yourself strategically

•

Why you have to lead yourself first, and how knowing your gifts and triggers is the foundation for leading others

About Caressa

Caressa Bell is an Executive Strategist, Leadership & Transformation Coach, Gulf War Veteran, and former Fortune 50 Executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience spanning military service, corporate transformation, and entrepreneurship. Throughout her career, she has led billion-dollar portfolios, enterprise-wide transformation initiatives, and teams of more than 200 professionals. Today, through her work, speaking, and upcoming book Manufactured Fearlessness: Own Your Leadership, Own the Room, she helps leaders build the courage, clarity, and confidence to Lead Yourself. Lead Others. Leave a Legacy.

Connect with Caressa

Join the waitlist for Caressa Bell's upcoming book, Manufactured Fearlessness: Own Your Leadership, Own the Room, and be the first to receive launch updates, exclusive content, and release announcements: https://www.iamcaressabell.com/manufactured-fearlessness

Website: http://www.iamcaressabell.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caressabell/

Instagram: @claritywithcaressa

BWL Resources:

•

Now enrolling for both the August sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Download the free Black Woman Leading Career Reset Kit - https://blackwomanleading.com/career-reset-kit/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

Starting a new role is one of the most pivotal, and most vulnerable, moments in a career. Dr. Ciera Graham joins Laura with a clear, intentional framework for building and activating a strong professional reputation from day one. Drawing on her own journey, Ciera unpacks how to make a strong first impression, build the right relationships early, and manage your visibility and narrative so the right people understand your value. Whether you are stepping into a new job, a new team, or a new level, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for establishing credibility on purpose.

In this episode:

• How to make a strong first impression and establish credibility in a new role
• Building the right relationships and networks early, before you need them
• Managing your visibility and reputation so your value is seen

About Dr. Ciera

Dr. Ciera Graham is an experienced higher education professional, business owner, and an accomplished career coach. She received her bachelor's degree in Sociology and a Master's in Community Counseling from Washington State University, and a PhD in Sociology in August 2015 at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Graham has been described as tenacious, innovative, forward thinking, impeccable executor a leader who leads with gratitude, and someone empowered to create a win-win situation for everyone she meets.

She owns her own business, Dr. C Graham Consulting in which she provides career consulting services to entry to mid-level professionals. She has over 15 years of experience in the career development and coaching space. Her specialty is helping millennials and Gen Zers assess their skills, define their strategy, and engage in storytelling to ultimately secure and succeed in the job of their dreams. She also was invited by the CEO of Career Contessa to join their exclusive coaching network, a title only given to the top career coaches in the country. She is a past career columnist for Career Contessa, Best Colleges, The Seattle Times and the Everett Herald, and current contributor to the University of Washington Professional & Continuing Education department. She enjoys writing on topics focused on career and leadership development for Black women and navigating the workforce as a millennial. She has appeared on the following podcasts: Career Contessa, Your Career GPS, and Find your Dream Job.

Connect with Dr. Ciera

Website: http://cieragraham.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcieragraham/

Instagram: @drcgrahamconsulting

BWL Resources:

•

Now enrolling for both the August sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Download the free Black Woman Leading Career Reset Kit - https://blackwomanleading.com/career-reset-kit/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

Dr. Kiki Ramsey brings a positive psychology lens to one of the most important relationships we have: the one with ourselves. In this conversation, she and Laura explore what it means to create your own happiness rather than waiting on circumstances, titles, or other people to deliver it. Kiki shares her leadership journey and the science-backed practices that help Black women cultivate joy as a discipline rather than a destination. It is a grounding, hopeful conversation about tending to your inner life with the same intention you bring to your goals.

In this episode:

• Why happiness is something you build, not something you wait for
• Positive psychology practices for cultivating joy in everyday leadership
• How a strong relationship with yourself becomes the foundation for everything else

About Dr. Kiki

Dr. Kiki Ramsey is a renowned Positive Psychologist, ICF Master Certified Career Coach, International Keynote Speaker and Best Selling Author. With a commitment to making a positive impact in the world, Dr. Kiki founded The Positive Psychology Coaching and Diversity Institute (PPCaDI), a leadership development firm that specializes in diversity and leadership coaching and training.

Dr. Kiki is known for her innovative approach to coaching, and DEI called Positively Diverse Leadership, which is an evidence-based approach rooted in positive psychology that fosters the intentional use of strengths to help leaders build better working relationships and communication skills to become more inclusive leaders. This unique approach allows Dr. Kiki to help leaders and organizations create more inclusive and happy work cultures that foster belonging for all.

As a leader in her field of positive psychology and DEI, Dr. Kiki has worked with a diverse range of clients, including top-level executives in Fortune 500 organizations and business owners, coaching and delivering keynote addresses for corporations, conferences, and events around the world. Dr. Kiki's dedication and expertise have earned her the recognition of being named Top 50 Women Leaders in Georgia in 2023, 2024 and 2025 by Women We Admire.

Connect with Dr. Kiki

Website: http://www.ppcadi.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkikiramsey/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkikiramsey/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kiki.ramsey/

BWL Resources:

•

Now enrolling for both the August sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Download the free Black Woman Leading Career Reset Kit - https://blackwomanleading.com/career-reset-kit/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

Mecca Anderson joins Laura to challenge the assumptions we carry into our personal and professional relationships. Too often we operate on autopilot, repeating old patterns and making unintentional missteps that quietly cost us trust, connection, and opportunity. Mecca shares her own leadership story and her approach to rewiring how we relate to the people who shape our lives and careers, from being more intentional about the connections we build to noticing the small habits that get in our way. It is a candid, practical conversation about relating to others, and to ourselves, with more awareness and less default.

In this episode:

• The common, unintentional relationship mistakes that quietly undermine trust and connection
• How to move from autopilot to intention in both personal and professional relationships
• What it looks like to rewire long-held patterns and show up differently

About Mecca

Professor Mecca Anderson is a lawyer, law professor, and speaker with more than 15 years of experience spanning civil litigation, criminal prosecution, judicial clerkships, legal entrepreneurship, and appellate practice. She began her legal career clerking at the Supreme Court of Georgia before building a career representing injured clients, teaching future lawyers, and serving communities across Georgia. She currently focuses her practice on personal injury litigation as Of Counsel with Maxwell Tillman + Coleman.

Whether advocating for injured clients, teaching future lawyers, speaking to audiences, or mentoring professionals, Professor Anderson explores the intersection of relationships, professionalism, leadership, and human behavior, helping others build careers and lives grounded in trust, purpose, and meaningful connection.

Connect with Mecca

Website: https://www.johnmarshall.edu/facultystaff/mecca-anderson/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mecca-anderson/

Instagram: @mecca.profesquire and @professormec

TikTok: @professormec

BWL Resources:

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Now enrolling for both the August sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/

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Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

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Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

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Download the free Black Woman Leading Career Reset Kit - https://blackwomanleading.com/career-reset-kit/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

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iHeartRadio

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Audible

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Podbay

Who are you being as a leader right now, and did you ever actually choose her? In this solo episode, Laura opens Season 9's work on the relationship with yourself by guiding you through a leadership identity audit. This is not about casting a vision for who you want to become. It is an honest, present-tense look at who you already are. Most of us never consciously designed our leadership identity. We built it in survival mode, in rooms that required it, and we kept performing it long after the room changed. The audit gives you a simple framework to examine what you are carrying, tell the difference between what still serves you and what is just familiar, and reclaim the choice of who you lead as now.

In this episode:

• Why an identity audit is different from vision or goal-setting, and why that distinction matters
• The three audit questions: what you built to survive, what is still true versus just familiar, and what you are ready to release
• How honesty with yourself becomes the foundation for every other relationship you cultivate this season

About Laura Laura Knights is the Creator of Black Woman Leading® and host of the podcast. She is an executive coach, speaker, facilitator, and licensed clinical social worker with 20+ years of experience creating personal and professional development programs that have touched leaders worldwide.

Her expertise and background in business, human resources, adult education, and social work uniquely equip her to teach others how to deal with both the "head work" and "heart work" required to succeed at work and in life. She is the Founder and CEO of Knights Consulting LLC, a leadership development consultancy that provides customized training and coaching programs to create more confident leaders and high-performing teams.

Black Woman Leading® is a research-backed initiative which offers leadership development programming, a podcast, and an annual conference for Black women professionals. Black Woman Leading® is an initiative of Knights Consulting LLC. Learn more at blackwomanleading.com.

BWL Resources:

•

Now enrolling for both the August sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Download the free Black Woman Leading Career Reset Kit - https://blackwomanleading.com/career-reset-kit/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay

Welcome to Season 9 of Black Woman Leading, the podcast! This podcast is an extension of the Black Woman Leading programs and events.

In this opener, Laura sets the table for a new season built entirely around relationships, the full ecosystem of connections that either sustain us or drain us as leaders.

Coming out of Season 8's work on joy and wholeness, she frames this season as what we build from that grounded place: authentic relationships with ourselves, our teams, our communities, and the people in our personal lives who make our leadership sustainable.

At the heart of the season is one question. How do we cultivate and curate relationships that do not require us to decenter our own experience, abandon our values, or shrink ourselves to belong?

Laura shares where the season is headed and why real relationship, the kind that fuels great leadership, always starts with a grounded, boundaried, fully present you.

About Laura Laura Knights is the Creator of Black Woman Leading® and host of the podcast. She is an executive coach, speaker, facilitator, and licensed clinical social worker with 20+ years of experience creating personal and professional development programs that have touched leaders worldwide.

Her expertise and background in business, human resources, adult education, and social work uniquely equip her to teach others how to deal with both the "head work" and "heart work" required to succeed at work and in life. She is the Founder and CEO of Knights Consulting LLC, a leadership development consultancy that provides customized training and coaching programs to create more confident leaders and high-performing teams.

Black Woman Leading® is a research-backed initiative which offers leadership development programming, a podcast, and an annual conference for Black women professionals. Black Woman Leading® is an initiative of Knights Consulting LLC. Learn more at blackwomanleading.com.

BWL Resources:

•

Now enrolling for both the August sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/

•

Join us at the 2027 Black Woman Leading LIVE! Conference & Retreat. June 1-4, 2027, Clearwater Beach, FL. Save your seat at http://www.bwlretreat.com

•

Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!

•

Check out the BWL theme song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68EqEJjXq0

•

Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eui89AmJwUg

•

Download the free Black Woman Leading Career Reset Kit - https://blackwomanleading.com/career-reset-kit/

Credits:

Learn about all Black Woman Leading® programs, resources, and events at http://www.blackwomanleading.com

Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/

Email Laura: info@knightsconsultinggroup.com

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraeknights/

Follow BWL on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/blackwomanleading

Instagram: @blackwomanleading

Facebook: @blackwomanleading

Youtube: @blackwomanleading

Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights - https://marshallknights.com/

Graphics: Dara Adams

Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms:

•

Apple Podcasts

•

Spotify

•

Stitcher

•

iHeartRadio

•

Audible

•

Podbay