I meditate in my office. I have a tea corner. I grow plants. To my current coworkers, I am very conscious about my mental well-being while at work. However, I did not always consider the office a place where I could practice mindfulness and take an active role in my mental well-being. Taking mental health days is just the tip of the iceberg

I grew up in the projects watching my mom work several jobs, barely making ends meet to provide for her four girls. $243.12; an amount forever stuck in my mind. That was the amount on my mom’s check stub for two weeks of work. It serves as a reminder that I control my earning power.

If you aspire to be a leader, you're not alone. So many corporate employees aspire to leadership roles in their organizations. They seek out high-profile projects, promotions, and executive sponsors. To really stand out in a company, though, you need to stand for something other than your own self-interest. Specifically, you can position yourself as a leader in your organization by being an ally to others.

"Networking" is not about what you can G E T. It's about "building relationships" and "building connections" based on using your unique gifts.  More importantly as an emerging leader, think about how to use those gifts to G I V E and pour into others. Think about how to sow a seed that grows into fruit only if you are able to nurture and water that relationship consistently over time.

When higher education becomes a tool to develop human souls and create beauty, the next generation will be better positioned to secure the bag.

Honestly, that was a challenging season in my career. Back then, I wish I knew the following two truths as they would have helped me better deal with the anxiety of being exposed as incompetent or incapable relative to my peers:

My hope is that Living Corporate brings visibility to the extremely talented pipeline of corporate leaders from underrepresented groups. It’s time we pull up our chairs and start having REAL conversations about the diversity and inclusion issues in Corporate America.

I also struggle with what it means to bring my whole self to work, struggling with deciding when it’s appropriate to talk about my amazing weekend with my partner while everyone else is sharing theirs. I struggle with not appearing unfriendly or even hostile to my coworkers while also protecting my privacy and sanity.

My experiences thus far in the journey to Corporate America have left me with the shocking awareness that corporate spaces today continue to be the exact opposite of what they market themselves to be; diverse and inclusive.

I knew there were plenty of black people out there in professional spaces, but to see thousands of us in the same convention center was a wake-up call for me. For all of the axes of my identity (including race, gender, and sexuality), I could see that there were many of us navigating often homogenous corporate spaces, and succeeding while breaking the mold.