S7E15: Navigating Shifting Terrains with Dr. Avis Proctor
Release Date: 08/07/2025
S8E10: Leading from Within
Black Woman Leading
As we step into a new year, this solo episode invites you to pause, reflect, and intentionally define how you want to lead starting from the inside. Laura explores what it means to trust yourself as a leader and to draw from your internal vision, values, capabilities, and ways of knowing to guide how you want to lead in this new year. Rather than focusing on resolutions or external expectations, this episode centers alignment, self-compassion, and joy as powerful leadership strategies. You’ll be guided through reflection and forward-looking practices designed to help you flex your leadership...
info_outline
S8E9: Turn up Your Self-Celebration with Dr. Lakila Bowden
Black Woman Leading
In this conversation, Laura welcomes Dr. Lakila Bowden to explore the transformative practice of self-celebration and the role it plays in helping Black women reclaim agency, joy, and permission to lead from a place of fullness. Drawing from key concepts in her book, The Sho’Nuff Principle, Lakila lays out a liberatory framework for centering ourselves without guilt, raising our expectations, and giving ourselves the recognition we often withhold. Laura and Lakila unpack the guilt, shame, and cultural conditioning that often arise when Black women center themselves, and what it looks like to...
info_outline
S8E8: Strengthening Your Leader Identity with BWL Alums
Black Woman Leading
In this episode, Laura hosts an alumni panel of Black Woman Leading alums from the Early Career and Mid-Career Programs (LaKeisha Williams, Jabina Coleman, and Valerie Black) for an honest, reflective, and deeply affirming conversation about what it means to strengthen your leader identity as a Black woman. Each guest shares her personal journey, from the early narratives that shaped her understanding of leadership to the mindset shifts, breakthroughs, and heart work that helped her step into a more aligned, confident, and purpose-driven version of herself. The alums discuss how their...
info_outline
S8E7: Practicing Whole Self-Care with Dr. La-Toya Gaines
Black Woman Leading
In this conversation, Laura welcomes Dr. La-Toya Gaines, Founder & CEO of Family Matters Counseling and Psychological Services, to explore what it truly means to practice whole self-care—beyond the trends, beyond the myths, and beyond the surface. La-Toya expands the definition of self-care beyond activities and indulgence to include rest, boundaries, community support, emotional tending, identity work, and the practices that allow us to be fully human. Additionally, Laura and La-Toya examine the deep connection between the Strong Black Woman archetype and self-neglect. They unpack how...
info_outline
S8E6: Cultivating a Positive Team Culture
Black Woman Leading
In this solo episode, Laura shares tips and insights for creating a positive team culture based on her work with teams around the world. She highlights both the “hardware” and “software” elements needed for a team to thrive and for people to feel a meaningful connection to their work. She covers three key areas that must be addressed including foundational elements, enablers that optimize team culture, and then the role of leaders to help the team sustain a healthy environment. We spend so much of our valuable time at work, so intentional efforts to strengthen our...
info_outline
S8E5: Creating Pathways Through Consulting with Kamilah Martin
Black Woman Leading
In this conversation, Laura welcomes Kamilah Martin, Founder & CEO of Katalyst. Given the recent stats about Black women exiting the workplace in staggering numbers, Laura & Kamilah explore consulting as an option for Black women in transition. The discussion also touches on the importance of community and support in navigating these transitions. Kamilah Martin shares her journey from a traditional career path to becoming a leader in consulting and entrepreneurship. She discusses the challenges and rewards of stepping into one's full power, the importance of self-discovery, and...
info_outline
S8E4: Recovering from a Layoff with Dr. Chinasa Elue & Dr. Karma Hill
Black Woman Leading
In this conversation, Laura chats with Black Woman Leading® coaches, Dr. Chinasa Elue & Dr. Karma Hill, to explore the heart work of recovering from a layoff. Assessing the personal side of this experience, they explore how integrated elements of misplaced identity, burnout, and grief might deepen the loss of employment for many Black women. They explore the power of community to support people through career transitions, and share small but meaningful practices that can help people manage stress and begin to recover from a layoff. About Dr. Chinasa Dr. Chinasa Elue is an...
info_outline
S8E3: Honoring Our Stories with Dr. Menah Pratt
Black Woman Leading
In this conversation, Laura welcomes Dr. Menah Pratt, scholar and author. Using Menah’s memoir, Blackwildgirl, as a powerful example; they explore how journaling can be a tool for self-awareness and growth. In Blackwildgirl, Menah shares her journey from eight years old to present day and her quest to reclaim the untamed, bold, and creative spirit of girlhood that was stifled in her rigid upbringing. She recounts her experience of unearthing 45 years of journaling to tell this story, and the transformative power she was able to reclaim from her own story. Building off her personal story, she...
info_outline
S8E2: Activating Joy with Dr. Pamela Larde
Black Woman Leading
In this conversation, Laura welcomes Dr. Pamela Larde, social scientist, author, and coach, to explore the practice and science of joy. Based on over 16 years of research, Dr. Larde breaks down her Multidimensional Framework of Joy, built upon a foundation of well-being. She shares how joy connects to our communities and our approaches to liberation, citing current examples of how joy can serve as a source of resistance in times of political unrest, oppression, and significant sources of stress. Additionally, we explore how to reclaim joy after it’s lost and how to create joy practices....
info_outline
S8E1: Welcome to Season 8!
Black Woman Leading
Welcome to Season 8 of Black Woman Leading, the podcast! This podcast is an extension of the Black Woman Leading programs and events. In this episode, Laura introduces season eight of the Black Woman Leading podcast, focusing on the theme of 'Leaning Into Joy.' We’ll be exploring how to make space and create intentional plans for simple experiences of joy in all areas of our lives (yes, even at work!). Laura explains how finding time to care for and center our holistic needs (including our needs for peace and joy) are a critical part of our personal development AND our leadership...
info_outlineIn this conversation, Laura welcomes Dr. Avis Proctor, President of Harper College.
Dr. Proctor shares her journey from a mathematics educator to a college president, emphasizing need for intentionality in leadership, self-advocacy, and the power of community support in achieving success.
She reflects on her career journey and the pivotal choices that shaped her path. She also provides insights on the challenges of navigating shifting terrains in education and the significance of co-creating strategies with her team to weather the current climate.
Dr. Proctor also shares her strategies for maintaining focus and integrity amidst constant change, and her take on the importance of self-care and wellness in sustaining leadership energy.
About Dr. Proctor
Dr. Avis Proctor became the sixth president of William Rainey Harper College in July 2019. With over 30 years of experience working in multicultural environments as an innovative mathematics educator and administrator, she is committed to transforming lives through the power of education using research-based instructional strategies, strategic community engagement and future-focused economic development which all lead to strengthened educational opportunities that impact generations.
Dr. Proctor also provides leadership on several boards from local to national levels including the Northwest Educational Council for Student Success (NECSS), the Community Colleges for International Development (CCID), the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, and the Illinois Council of Community College Presidents (ICCCP).
During her tenure at the College, Harper has been recognized as an Achieving the Dream (ATD) Leader College of Distinction in 2020 and 2023, and as a 2023 Aspen Top 25 institution and as a 2025 Aspen Top 20 institution, and is a lead member institution of The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub established by the CHIPS and Science Act in 2023.
Dr. Proctor earned her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics Education at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a Master of Science in Teaching Mathematics at Florida Atlantic University, and her Doctorate in Higher Education at Florida International University. Dr. Proctor and her husband are the proud parents of one son.
Connect with Dr. Proctor at Harper College
-
Harper College on Facebook
-
Harper College on LinkedIn
-
Harper College on Instagram
-
Harper College on X
BWL Resources:
-
Now enrolling for both the August 2025 sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/
-
Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!
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
Instagram: @blackwomanleading
Facebook: @blackwomanleading
Youtube: @blackwomanleading
Podcast Music & Production: Marshall Knights
Graphics: Téa Campbell
Listen and follow the podcast on all major platforms: