S8E4: Recovering from a Layoff with Dr. Chinasa Elue & Dr. Karma Hill
Release Date: 10/30/2025
S8E15: Positioning Yourself for New Opportunities with Kelli Jackson
Black Woman Leading
In this conversation, Laura welcomes Kelli Jackson, Founder of Expert Edge Career Management Agency, to discuss the importance of positioning oneself for new career opportunities Kelli shares her insights on navigating the job market, the significance of storytelling in job searches, and the evolving landscape of leadership roles. She emphasizes the need for strategic job searching, the value of personal branding, and the importance of having a supportive career team. Kelli also highlights the necessity of owning one's job search and recognizing the unique assets each individual brings to the...
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S8E14: Cultivating a Growth Mindset with Dr. Sam March
Black Woman Leading
In this episode of the Black Woman Leading podcast, Laura welcomes Dr. Sam March. They discuss the importance of cultivating a growth mindset and how it intertwines with emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and the journey towards harmony in life. Dr. Sam emphasizes the significance of recognizing triggers, the difference between balance and harmony, and the unique challenges faced by Black women in leadership with regard to the topic. The discussion also highlights practical strategies for flipping negative thinking patterns and the power of gratitude and joy in personal and...
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S8E13: Embracing Your Gifts with Alanna Thomas
Black Woman Leading
In this episode of Black Woman Leading, Laura Knights welcomes Alanna Thomas to discuss the importance of embracing your gifts and what it truly means to lead from the fullness of who you are. Together, they explore how Black women leaders can reconnect with their God-given gifts and talents, especially in environments that may have misunderstood, minimized, or even shamed those very qualities. Alanna shares insights on how gifts often extend far beyond what’s listed on a résumé, showing up instead in patterns of curiosity, intuition, discernment, creativity, and care. The conversation...
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S8E12: Resetting with a Digital Detox with Dr. Nina Joy Mena
Black Woman Leading
In this conversation,Laura welcomes Dr. Nina Joy Mena to discuss digital detoxing and self-care, particularly for busy professionals and Black women leaders. The discussion covers the impacts of digital overload on mental health, the necessity of establishing boundaries with technology, and practical strategies for maintaining wellness. Dr. Mena emphasizes the significance of self-care routines and the role of community in fostering joy and resilience. The episode concludes with actionable steps for listeners to prioritize their mental health and well-being. About Dr. Nina...
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S8E11: Rethinking Resilience with Dr. Keisha Bentley-Edwards
Black Woman Leading
In this powerful episode, Laura is joined by Dr. Keisha Bentley-Edwards, Associate Professor at Duke University’s School of Medicine and Co-Director of Duke CTSI Center for Research, Community Engagement, Social Impact and Trust (CREST Center), for a timely conversation on rethinking resilience. Inspired by Dr. Bentley-Edwards’ article “I Am Not (Your) Superwoman, Black Girl Magic, or Beautiful Struggle: Rethinking the Resilience of Black Women and Girls,” this episode explores the cultural narratives that celebrate Black women’s strength while often ignoring the profound physical,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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_outlineIn 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 award-winning professor, TedEx speaker, grief coach, and CEO and Founder of True Titans Consulting Group. She provides strategic coaching and consulting to organizations moving forward to make impactful changes in the midst of uncertainty.
Her work focuses on the ways in which we cultivate spaces in society to have authentic conversations about grief in an effort to provide more holistic grief support. She offers grief coaching to support individuals who have experienced grief and loss of all kinds in moving forward with empathy and care.
Dr. Elue is also the host of the Grieving in Color Podcast, a podcast that explores the various ways we navigate our experiences with grief and loss and a place where we find the courage to intentionally heal in our daily lives.
She is also a professor of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at Kennesaw State University. Her research focuses on grief leadership, trauma-informed leadership practices in organizational settings, and the health and well-being of historically marginalized and underrepresented populations. Dr. Elue runs the research lab for the Study of Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Effectiveness, and Well-Being of Educational Leaders. Dr. Elue’s work has been featured in USA Today, DiversityInc, Better Homes and Gardens, the Journal of Higher Education, the Journal of Negro Education, the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, and others. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA with her husband, Emeka and two children.
Connect with Dr. Chinasa
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Website: https://www.drchinasaelue.com/
About Dr. Karma
Dr. Karma Hill is a Burnout Prevention Strategist, Executive Coach, and Positive Psychologist dedicated to helping leaders and organizations flourish from the inside out. As the creator of the REST™ Framework—Resilience, Emotional Intelligence, Self-Care, and Trust—she equips executives and mission-driven teams to prevent burnout, lead with purpose, and cultivate psychologically safe, thriving cultures.
With over 20 years of experience in psychology, leadership development, and organizational consulting, Dr. Hill blends evidence-based science with compassionate strategy to reimagine how we work, lead, and live. She serves as President-Elect of the International Coaching Federation Georgia Chapter and is the Founder of Konversations with Karma and Flourish Forum Magazine.
Her research and speaking center the intersections of leadership, well-being, and equity—particularly the lived experiences of African American women leaders navigating burnout in the post-COVID workplace. A sought-after speaker and media contributor featured in Yahoo Finance, VoyageATL, and Women’s Herald, Dr. Hill’s mission is simple yet profound: to restore wholeness in people, leadership, and organizational systems.
Connect with Dr. Karma
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Website: KonversationswithKarma.com
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillkarma
BWL Resources:
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Now enrolling for both the January sessions of the Early Career and Mid-Career programs. Learn more at https://blackwomanleading.com/programs-overview/
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Full podcast episodes are now on Youtube. Subscribe to the BWL channel today!
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Check out the BWL theme song here
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Check out the BWL line dance tutorial here
- 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 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: Dara Adams
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