About

A Story in Five Chapters

I Didn't Set Out to Build a Leadership Philosophy.

I Spent Three Decades Living It.

Long before I stood on stages, coached executives, or wrote books, I spent my career inside organizations where leadership carried real consequences.

I wasn't observing leadership from the sidelines. I was living it.

Begin the Story

The Pattern I Couldn't Ignore

Over time, I noticed something I couldn't ignore.

The organizations that struggled most didn't necessarily have weaker strategies. They had leaders who gradually stopped exercising the judgment, ownership, and initiative they had been trusted to bring.

Not because they lacked talent. Not because they lacked courage.

Because the systems around them often made maintaining the status quo feel safer than creating meaningful change.

made. delayed. avoided.

Every result is the downstream effect of one of these.

That observation stayed with me. It explained why organizations drift. Why innovation slows. Why accountability weakens. Why talented leaders become cautious. Why people who were expected to challenge and contribute slowly begin conforming instead.

I saw it repeatedly. And I lived it myself.

Leadership isn't about having more authority. It's about recognizing the agency you already have.

In Every One of Those Rooms

The only woman.

The only Black executive.

The first.

Sometimes the youngest.

Frequently underestimated.

There were moments when speaking up carried a cost. Moments when remaining silent would have been easier. Moments when walking away seemed safer than standing firm.

Those moments shaped my understanding of leadership far more than any title I ever held.

Leadership isn't defined by the circumstances we inherit. It's defined by the choices we make within them.

That belief carried me through corporate boardrooms, personal loss, cancer, public scrutiny, and the countless moments that never appear on a résumé but shape who we become.

It's choice, not chance, that changes everything.

The Philosophy

Every business result begins with a choice. Every leadership result begins with a choice. Every life result begins with a choice.

Not every choice is easy. Not every choice is without consequence. But meaningful leadership begins when we recognize that choice still exists.

The Work

Today my work brings together everything I've learned from corporate leadership, executive coaching, and my own life. Organizations invite me to challenge the assumptions that quietly limit performance. Leadership teams engage in conversations that move accountability, ownership, and execution forward. Executives examine the choices that shape the way they lead. Women reclaim the voice, confidence, and agency they had stopped trusting themselves to use.

The work looks different in every room. The philosophy never changes.

Beyond the Stage

When the keynote ends, the real work begins. Ideas become conversations. Conversations become choices. Choices become actions. Actions become culture. Culture becomes results.

I don't measure success by applause. I measure it by what people choose to do differently on Monday morning.

Career Highlights

Three decades leading through crisis, transformation, growth, and change inside complex global organizations
Led reputation, communications, crisis, transformation, and stakeholder strategy through high-stakes moments, including major mergers, acquisitions, and organizational change
Former senior corporate executive with leadership experience across aerospace and defense, technology, government contracting, and professional services
Bestselling author of You Are Enough! and a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches
ICF-certified executive coach trusted by CEOs, senior executives, and leadership teams navigating high-stakes moments
Board chair and board member for organizations advancing leadership, communications, research, healthcare, and community impact
Recognized as one of the 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business and featured in Forbes, Business Insider, and Chief Executive

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Off the Clock

Five things about me

No. 1

I was an NFL cheerleader. Before the boardrooms and billion-dollar decisions, I was on the sidelines of professional football. It taught me about performance under pressure long before the C-suite did.

No. 2

I've had a dog every year of my life, except one. And that one year was unacceptable. Dogs keep me grounded, true to myself, and reminded of what unconditional loyalty actually looks like.

No. 3

Every year, I learn something new and do something that makes me uncomfortable. Courage isn't something I teach. It's how I live.

No. 4

I raised two daughters. It's the only leadership role where nobody cares about your title, and the feedback is brutally honest.

No. 5

I like all music, but my favorites are old school gospel and country. My current country rotation is Inga Rose, Jelly Roll, and Darius Rucker. Message me if you want tips on the best songs.

What I Bring Into the Room

Experience. Perspective. A Practical Way Forward.

I don’t teach leadership from a distance. I bring three decades of executive experience, hard-earned perspective, and a practical philosophy built inside the moments when choices carried real consequences.

01

Lived at Scale

I’ve led inside complex global organizations where decisions affected businesses, reputations, careers, and communities. I understand leadership not only as an idea, but as an operating reality.

02

A Practice, Not a Theory

My work turns agency into something leaders can practice. Seven Seconds of Courage™ gives people a simple way to move from knowing what needs to happen to choosing to act.

03

Personal and Organizational

Individual choices don’t stay individual. They shape teams, cultures, execution, and ultimately results. My work connects what a leader chooses in a moment to what an organization becomes over time.

I don’t ask leaders to make choices I haven’t had to make myself.