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Courageous Fire

Social Entrepreneur

What Was My  Problem? 

I'm a Black woman who discovered that my marriage relationship was not a relationship at all; it was domestic violence (DV). Not the kind of DV we're accustomed to seeing, the sneaky types - economic, sexual, spiritual, verbal, and emotional - channeled strategically through coercive control. Nearly every mainstream resource that was supposed to help me and my girls failed us - I didn't act like the "typical" victim. The 15 years it took from me were all a waste unless I could change that narrative for someone else. I found my problem is shared by nearly half of my Black sisters in this country: over 40%.

What Happened
Misson

Solving the National  Problem - Courageous Approach: 

Beloved, the Black woman has an experience like no other woman in America. She is called upon by all to show up and protected by none.  When trying to escape DV, Black women face 2 categorical barriers:

  1. Mainstream society's misperception of the Black woman during any crisis (Centers of Must)*

  2. Black community's misunderstanding of the needs of Black women during this crisis (Centers of Trust)*

 

*Centers of Trust Defined: Places she goes because she trusts and feels safe there. Unfortunately, the Black community - its churches, its community centers, its families - often don't understand what the Black woman needs during and after this.

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*Centers of Must Defined: Places she goes because she has to. Mainstream victim services tend to disbelieve Black women are victimized when we authentically show up.

As my Black community and mainstream society partner with me in these ways, together we will fulfill my mission:

"To create or increase safe spaces for Black women dealing with DV (domestic violence) and other crises." 

Solv Nat'l Problem

Courageous Tools that Work:​

Studies:

Effective Techniques 

  • Crucial Conversations®. Skilled in leading hard conversations that yield productive outcomes

  • Motivational Interviewing. Gets people past liking where they are yet wanting the rewards that come from change (overcoming ambivalence)

Solutions that Work

  • Clifton Strengths®-Based approaches to life. Creates solutions leveraging the strengths of the person or organization

  • Applying Successful Solutions to similar problems. 

 

Mastery Of:

Empathy

  • Listening with Trying-It-On Ability. Listens her way into understanding feelings and perspective without having had an experience

  • Painting the Perspective. Leverages her storytelling gifts to help people try on another’s experience

  • Uncanny Skill in Connection. Guides from feeling another’s pain to actions to relive that pain

The Black Woman Experience

  • Lived generational poverty 

  • Dealt with crisis of 13+years of DV (domestic violence) in a city state repetitively ranked as one of the worst places for Black people to live

  • Walks through compound trauma daily while navigating Black community's and society's relentless expectations of her

Developing or Utilizing Effective Curriculum

  • Adults. Taps into the autonomy that we need while sparking a desire for the best version of who we can be

  • Youths. Brings information they need while openly learning from their brand of expertise 

  • 11+ years of experience for corporations, NGOs, and nonprofits; published DV curriculum

 

Demonstrated:

Attention to Details

  • Generating savings in a few months for a Fortune 100 company by highlighting payment method differences for customers

Bringing Different Solutions to the Table 

  • Improving 100+ employee department performance through positivity

  • Increasing annual salary by $15K coaching client career transition led by her Strengths®

Boldness in Conversation

  • Uncovers privilege and its common bunkmate, often misogynoir, fostering reciprocity-based equity

  • Used original curriculum to get nearly 100% of Black women DV survivor group to stay out of DV and sustain healthy boundaries for 2+ years

Courageous Tools
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