Black Woman Leading

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 "Everybody plays a role on the roster": spreading the ask so relationships don't burn out 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 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 www.blackwomanleading.com Learn more about our consulting work with organizations at https://knightsconsultinggroup.com/ Email Laura: [email protected]  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  

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 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: [email protected]  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 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: [email protected]  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 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: [email protected]  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 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: [email protected]  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