S2E8: Developing New Habits and Practices for the New Year
Release Date: 01/13/2022
S9E9: Communicating to Connect with Keshawn Hughes
Black Woman Leading
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...
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S9E8: Becoming a Future-Ready Leader
Black Woman Leading
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....
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S9E7: Recalibrating Relationship Building with Dawn Pinnock
Black Woman Leading
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...
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S9E6: Manufacturing Fearlessness with Caressa Bell
Black Woman Leading
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,...
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S9E5: Building a Strong Reputation as a New Employee with Dr. Ciera Graham
Black Woman Leading
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...
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S9E4: Creating Your Own Happiness with Dr. Kiki Ramsey
Black Woman Leading
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...
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S9E3: Rewiring the Way We Think About Relationships with Mecca Anderson
Black Woman Leading
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...
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S9E2: Auditing Your Leadership Identity
Black Woman Leading
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...
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S9E1: Welcome to Season 9!
Black Woman Leading
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...
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S8E29: Season 8 Reflections & Recap
Black Woman Leading
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Cree Scott, clinical psychologist, founder of Serenity Psy Consulting, and our guest for Episode 21. Dr. Scott recorded with us in November 2025 and passed away in December. Her episode aired posthumously in March 2026, timed to the launch of her book. Her wisdom, her warmth, and her work live on. Rest well, Dr. Cree. Twenty-eight episodes. One theme. And more wisdom than could have been anticipated when Season 8 began. In this solo season finale, Laura reflects on the conversations, themes, and light bulb moments that defined Season 8 of Black...
info_outlineHappy New Year! The top of the year is a time when many people have an appetite for establishing their vision, goals, and intentions for the new year. Additionally, we launch a new Black Woman Leading cohort this month and will be supporting our participants with developing professional goal plans in the program.
So, in the spirit of supporting you in your visions, goals, and plans for the new year, Laura provides six tips to help you develop the real backbone of your goal planning - the daily and weekly habits and practices that help you to incrementally achieve those big dreams!
In this first official episode of the new year, Laura discusses overcoming “vision ecstasy”, developing a praxis strategy, and managing your mindset (with grace) so that you can set the goal, but live in the daily practices that will help you see that thing come to pass! Use this episode as a facilitated exercise to help you map your habits and practices to win the year.
Credits:
Learn more about the Black Woman Leading™ learning experience at http://blackwomanleading.com/
Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/
Email Laura: laura@knightsconsultinggroup.com
Instagram: @blackwomanleading
Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights
Graphics: Olayinka Ajibola
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