Coaching provided the leadership and team a roadmap to continually assess their gaps and think through strategies for how to make the enviornment more welcoming for diverse customers. This is why culture needs a strategy. And why that strategy starts with coaching.

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.”  — Wade Davis We talk about culture constantly, organizational culture, team culture, workplace culture, but rarely do we slow down long enough to ask what culture actually is . At ShiftED Consulting, we don’t think of culture as a vibe to be curated or a set of norms to be enforced. We understand culture as

There’s a moment in Wicked   for Good that many people miss, but every woman of color recognizes immediately. Elphaba asks the animals to stay and fight beside her. She tells them the truth about the Wizard’s tyranny, the danger ahead, and what it will take to defeat him. But the animals refuse. One even calls out her role in giving the monkeys wings, a valid critique, and Elphaba does something rare. She takes accountability. She doesn’t deflect. She doesn’t gaslight. She o

In our first blog, we talked about the Pet-to-Threat theory and how Elphaba moves from being adored to being feared the moment she stops being useful. This time, we’re going deeper into the ways Black women leaders are celebrated only when they conform to white supremacy culture, and how quickly that celebration evaporates the moment they lead in ways that challenge oppression. If you’ve seen Wicked: Part One, think back to the song “Wonderful.” The Wizard casually admits tha

As I watched Wicked for Good, I was reminded of so many themes I’ve seen play out for women of color in the workplace. This is the first blog in a series where I’ll explore moments from the film and the real-life experiences of Black and Brown women navigating workplaces that were never designed with us in mind.

It’s October, so in business, that means the year is pretty much over (cue the “let’s circle back on this next year” emails). It’s the season when many companies attempt to push through as many projects and deliverables as possible, trying to power through despite teams being burned out and lacking the resources to succeed. But what if there was a different way? What if, instead of letting the end of the year mantra be “power through” we just let it be? Western culture, White

For me, the world still hasn’t resumed motion since Michael Eugene Archer left it on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. The artist globally known as D’Angelo was more than just an entertainer. He was a gifted musician, and above all, one proud of who he was as a Black man. And as I grew into my own identity as a Black woman, educator, practitioner, and mother, D’Angelo and his music and influence were there at every turn.  What I admired most about D’Angelo were perhaps the things th

Last week, we lost one of my sheroes, the indomitable Assata Shakur. Assata became an icon and symbol for Black liberation after escaping...

If The Gilded Age teaches us anything, it’s that charity has always been a tool of the elite. Our task is to break that cycle, not reenact it.

A couple of weeks ago, we dove into one critical layer of why mission-driven organizations are so toxic, kicking off with the Jillian...

Tennis fan or not, you may be familiar with the experience Taylor Townsend had at the US Open last week, when opponent Jelena Ostapenko chastised her after being defeated during their second-round matchup. In a conversation before exiting the court, Ostapenko told Townsend that she had “no class” and “no education” all while pointing her finger in Townsend’s face. 

In the many years that I’ve been an executive coach for women of color, I’ve found one consistent trend: those who worked in the...

It’s typically standard practice for organizations to offer employees a budget for professional development opportunities. But seldom do...

I once worked with a client who survived a sudden round of layoffs at their company. While many assume the “lucky ones” feel relief, the...

If you’ve been reading our blogs for some time, you know that I’ll acknowledge one universal truth about companies: Human Resources is...

I recently came across a post from Michell Clark, one of my favorite content creators, that’s stayed with me. He said, “I don’t want...

On Wednesday, Zohran Mamdani made history as the first Democratic Socialist and Muslim American man to secure the nomination for mayor of...

The Juneteenth surge happened quickly. The holiday went from being a cultural cornerstone of the South to a day that corporations and...

If you’ve been paying attention for the last week or so, then you’re aware of the heinous scene unfolding in Los Angeles, and...

I had a chance to watch “Forever” on Netflix over the holiday weekend and can now confirm that it was worth the hype. Mara Brock Akil –...