The life they taught her to build almost took her with it.

For decades, Katina Barnes poured into families, mentored girls, launched programs, led ministries, and moved mountains with two-person teams. The world clapped. But no one asked what it cost.

In this National Black Girl Month™ feature, Katina joins Felicia Ford and co-host Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown to name what many Black women are only starting to admit: that being “strong” is often a trap. That sometimes it takes collapsing in your own bed to realize what was never sustainable. That no matter how much good you’re doing—you still deserve to live.

This conversation is not a warning. It’s a reckoning.

You’ll hear:

How burnout disguises itself as achievement

Why letting go of control isn’t failure—it’s survival

What real boundaries sound like when they’re held, not explained

How to model wellness for the next generation without apology

Why “being needed” can no longer be the measure of your value

This is not about doing less.

🎧 Listen now and access the free toolkit at NationalBlackGirlMonth.com

Next Steps: 

Connect with Katina at Butterfly Village, Inc.: www.butterflyvillagein.org 

Connect with Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown - www.instagram.com/dr.rikesha

Tune in to Echelon Live with Felicia - https://bit.ly/echelonlivefelicia 

Get Free Resources: https://resources.feliciafordandco.com/

Learn more about Katina Barnes: 

I have always had a love for impacting change, whether through my love for fashion or through community building. This passion to for community change was ignited while employed at Children's Hospital of The Kings Daughters where I had the opportunity to coordinate free health insurance for uninsured children. My journey of making a difference in the lives of others led me to The Up Center, a non-profit organization specializing in helping people live better lives. After serving a little over eleven years in Prevention Services, I  decided to extend my career to higher education, joining Tidewater Community College in 2011 as an Adjunct Instructor and Academic Advisor.  Within the first year I was promoted to work in student engagement and then advancing as the inaugural Director of the Portsmouth Campus Student Center. I changed the culture of co-curricular learning by establishing student success initiatives, incorporating collaborative learning experiences and creating a vibrant environment for academic success. During my tenure at TCC, I also served as the Coordinator of Dual Enrollment Academies, providing opportunities for high school students to concurrently earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree.  I joined Old Dominion University in 2023 as the Assistant Director of Monarch Internship and Co--Op Success, continuing my passion for ensuring students are successful in their academic journey through work-based learning.
​
Leadership is important to me.  I've had the privilege of spearheading several impactful initiatives, and serving on various boards to include Girls Scouts of Colonial Coast, Portsmouth Schools Foundation, Lefcoe Board of Trustees, YMCA Effingham Street Portsmouth, and Prevent Child Abuse of Hampton Roads. As a dedicated member of Delta Sigma Theta Inc., I am committed to service for my community.  I often speak on platforms to advance leadership, women's empowerment, and student success.   

#nationalblackgirlmonth

You're praised for your strength — but at what cost?

In the second of our three-part series on Superwoman Syndrome, mindfulness coach and TEDx speaker Asia Whittedsteps forward to share the truths many Black women have been forced to navigate in silence.

Through her own breaking points, Asia learned what few are willing to say out loud:

Inside this powerful episode:

Asia’s personal story of reaching burnout while juggling family, career, grief, and expectations — and the moment she realized survival wasn’t enough

Why generations of Black women have internalized the belief that peace is a luxury, not a right

How unchecked strength culture quietly conditions women to feel guilty for needing rest

The emotional and physical warning signs Asia teaches high-achieving women to recognize before burnout takes over

Why thriving — not just surviving — requires a radical mindset shift around responsibility, rest, and community care

A deep look into Asia’s "PAUSE" framework, designed to help women rebuild their lives around intention, boundaries, and self-awareness

As Asia shares, "If I crumble, what happens to all the people I’m trying to carry?"

This isn’t self-care for Instagram.

Next Steps: 

Connect with Azia Renea: www.aziarenea.com

Connect with Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown: www.instagram.com/dr.rikesha

Get Free Resources: https://resources.feliciafordandco.com/

Learn more about Pause with Azia Renea:

Hi I am Azia Whitted, I am on a mission to help busy women, juggling motherhood and business learn to take 5-10 minutes to transform their entire day. I see so many women live life overwhelmed and burned out and I wish they knew that rest was a requirement and not a reward; that slowing down to find calm should be a priority. YOU are a priority, in your home with your family as well in your business. My job is to teach you practical ways to incorporate a pause in your daily life so you can be calm in the midst of chaos and high demands. 

Dr. Michelle Hite on Mothering While Black, Everyday Courage, and the Power of Telling the Truth

What happens when the world sees your child as a threat before it sees them as human?

This conversation centers the weight—and the wisdom—of mothering while Black. In this featured National Black Girl Month™ 2025 episode, we’re joined by Dr. Michelle Hite, Spelman College professor, public scholar, and cultural critic whose work traces the intersections of Black identity, grief, and resistance. Together with co-host Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown, we examine what it means to mother, nurture, and protect in a world that wasn’t built for our safety.

This episode isn’t about resilience. It’s about truth-telling as a form of care.

You’ll hear:

How cultural narratives, from Mamie Till to Toni Morrison, shape our understanding of motherhood

Why public strength can’t replace private witnessing

The difference between independence and isolation—and why communal living is the lesson we keep returning to

How everyday gestures become sacred acts of protection, memory, and joy

Why sharing isn’t a virtue. It’s a practice. And we’re out of practice.

Whether you're a mother by birth, bond, or assignment, this conversation invites you to return to what you know: you don’t have to do it alone.

Listen now and access the free toolkit at NationalBlackGirlMonth.com

More about Dr. Hite: 

Michelle Hite, Ph.D. has been a Faculty Member Since 2004 and is an Associate Professor for English, the Honors ProgramDirector and the International Fellowships and ScholarshipsDirector.

Michelle Hite earned her Ph.D. from Emory University in American/African American Studies in 2009. Her dissertation used Venus and Serena Williams as subjects whose representation in popular media, books, videos, and other texts prompted her research questions regarding what their public portrayal might suggest about the intersection of race, gender, and nationalism during late capitalism.Although Dr. Hite remains deeply interested in sports, her intellectual work now focuses on African-American life, culture, and experience in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. To this end, she is currently working on a monograph about the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963.In addition to her work as an associate professor in the English department at Spelman, Dr. Hite is director of the Ethel Waddell Githii Honors Program and director of International Fellowships and Scholarships.

#nationalblackgirlmonth

You’re praised for the baby.

This episode is for every Black woman who gave birth and then wondered where she went.

In this featured National Black Girl Month™ 2025 conversation, Dr. Phoebe Ajayi—a physician, maternal health advocate, and author of After Birth: Postpartum Recovery of the Body and Mind—joins us to name the invisible weight of postpartum identity loss. From her clinical roots in Nigeria to practicing medicine in the UK, Dr. Ajayi weaves personal story and global insight into a rare reflection on what happens after the delivery room.

She doesn’t just ask what care we deserve. She asks what care we’ve never been taught to expect.

She shares:

Pelvic floor dysfunction, identity shifts, and global disparities in postpartum care

Cultural traditions that hold us (like Nigeria’s omugwo) and Western systems that often don’t

How to protect your identity after birth—and why that work is still yours, even years later

Boundaries, grief, and the quiet work of nourishing yourself after motherhood begins

This isn’t about going back to who you were. It’s about meeting who you’ve become—with more language, more grace, and more support than you were ever offered before.

*This is a special National Black Girl Month™ feature by Dr. Phoebe Ajayi originally airing on www.youtube.com/@nationalblackgirlmonth 

Access the free toolkit at NationalBlackGirlMonth.com

Why are Black women still expected to carry everything without complaint?

They keep telling Black women to be strong, to push through, to hold it all together. But what they never address is the damage that message leaves behind—mentally, physically, emotionally. The burnout, the silence, the pressure to succeed at the expense of our well-being.

If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right and still paying too high a price, you're not imagining it. You're navigating systems that were never designed with your safety in mind.

In this special National Black Girl Month™ episode, you're invited into a powerful conversation with Dr. Vanessa Perry, global thought leader, psychologist, and CEO of The Perry Group. Alongside Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown, we explore what Superwoman Syndrome actually costs Black women—and how to stop carrying what was never ours to begin with.

This episode answers the unspoken questions so many Black women ask themselves:

Why do I feel like success is wearing me down?

Is it possible to lead without losing myself?

How do I reclaim peace when the world expects performance?

Dr. Perry shares insights from over 25 years of research and executive advising in Fortune 500 companies, federal agencies, and high-level leadership spaces. Together, we discuss how to name the cycle, build supportive community, and create spaces—personally and professionally—where Black women no longer have to prove themselves to belong.

This isn’t just about workplace equity. It’s about redefining what thriving looks like on our own terms.

→ Learn more and access your free toolkit at nationalblackgirlmonth.com

Join Momentum Lab: https://lab.feliciafordandco.com

This month, we’re centering the full spectrum of Black Motherhood—and this episode makes it clear: some of the most transformative mothering doesn’t begin with biology. It begins with presence.

As part of our special April series for National Black Girl Month™, Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown and I are joined by Dr. Brooke Jones—licensed psychologist, founder of Fresh Start for the Mind, and adoptive mother—for a conversation that redefines what it means to mother.

Together, we honor the caregivers whose stories often go untold: the aunties, godmothers, mentors, and grandmothers who shape futures, hold space, and quietly carry generations. Dr. Brooke shares her personal journey through infertility, adoption, and parenting, as well as the emotional labor she witnesses every day in her clinical practice.

This episode asks:

What does it mean to mother a child you didn’t birth?

How do we affirm women who are doing the sacred work of raising children and communities without recognition?

And what would it look like if we measured motherhood not by origin—but by impact?

If you’ve ever stood in the gap for someone else’s child… if you’ve ever mothered from the sidelines or behind the scenes… this conversation is for you.

More about Dr. Brooke Jones

Hey, friend. Hello, Change Makers. In the words of Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown—Hey, Black girl.

We often say it takes a village, but let’s be clear—villages don’t build themselves. They’re shaped, sustained, and often revived by Black mothers who know what it means to care, connect, and carry more than their share.

Today’s guest, Jetaun Woodley, didn’t just recognize the gap—she built something from it. As a veteran communications strategist and Senior Director at Planned Parenthood, Jetaun has spent her career making sure messages that matter reach the right people. But it’s her work outside the boardroom that’s building legacy: creating H.U. Mommies, a thriving community of over 800 Hamptonian mothers who show up for one another, online and in real life.

In this episode, we’re unpacking how Black motherhood is often the foundation of community organizing, mutual care, and everyday advocacy. From navigating health care systems and education challenges to disaster relief and doula recommendations, these mothers are doing far more than sharing parenting tips—they're reshaping what support looks like.

Jetaun joins Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown and me for a conversation that’s both grounding and galvanizing. We talk about the power of peer support, the courage it takes to create a space when one doesn’t exist, and what it looks like to protect and evolve a community you’ve built—especially when the work is personal.

If you’ve ever questioned whether your care counts or whether creating something small could really matter, this conversation is your reminder: it already does.

Listen now and be sure to grab the National Black Girl Month™ Toolkit for more ways to connect at nationalblackgirlmonth.com.

Connect with Jetaun Woodly on Instagram

Jetaun Woodly is an award winning public relations and brand communications strategist with 20 years of experience. She has an unwavering passion and focus on working with individuals and companies to translate business goals and objectives into strategic communications plans and deliverables. Jetaun started her career as a public relations coordinator for Novartis Pharmaceuticals’ philanthropy and community development division. She spent many years working in healthcare managing public relations for brands ranging from prescription drugs and FDA approvals, to eye care and over-the-counter products before moving to the nonprofit sector. Currently, Jetaun serves as Senior Director of Brand Strategy & Projects at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a reproductive health care nonprofit organization. Prior to joining PPFA, Jetaun served as Director of Network Marketing & Communications for National Court Appointed Special Advocate/Guardian ad Litem (CASA/GAL) Association for Children, a non-profit organization that supports and promotes court-appointed volunteer advocacy so every child who has experienced abuse or neglect can be safe, have a permanent home, and the opportunity to thrive. Following the birth of her son in 2015, Jetaun started HU Mommies Group - a support group for Hampton University alumnae. The goal of the group is to share advice, empower Black women, and provide a listening ear as Hamptonians embrace and embark on their motherhood journey. With more than 800 members, the group has planned a number of volunteer efforts across the country, vision board meetups, kid-friendly outings, tailgates at homecoming and a host of other activities. For example, when Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in 2017, Jetaun coordinated a group donation to local organizations that support mothers and children. In 2019, the group collectively donated to Hampton University’s marching band, and sent care packages to current students. In an effort to provide unique learning experiences for the children of alumnae during the nationwide shelter-in-place (COVID19), Jetaun created virtual learning classes on a variety of subjects. Jetaun was featured on Essence Magazine Online for her work with the group. In 2020, Jetaun was admitted into Hampton University’s Forty Under 40 Alumni Recognition Society. Jetaun served as a volunteer for the I Have a Dream Foundation - a mentor program in partnership with Ebenezer Baptist Church and St. Luke’s Church in the heart of Atlanta. She is currently a board member of Atlanta Birth Center, a birth center dedicated to empowering families and providing compassionate, individualized birth experiences. A native of New Jersey, Jetaun received a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from Hampton University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications in 2004. While at Hampton, Jetaun was involved in Student Union Board and served as historian for the National Council of Negro Women. She also holds a Masters in Communication & Leadership from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Jetaun resides in Metro Atlanta with her husband, Dr. Shaun Woodly (HU ’04), and their two children - Brayden and Brooklynn.

Special National Black Girl Month™ Series | Co-hosted by Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown

You may not remember her reading parenting books, but she knew how to raise a household and keep a family intact. Big Mama didn’t need a manual—she had instincts, routines, and an unshakable sense of responsibility. She didn’t just take care of you; she taught you what it meant to show up, even when nobody showed up for her. She built structure out of very little and carried generations with her hands, her prayers, and her presence.

But now, you're the one leading.

In this first episode of our National Black Girl Month™ series, I’m joined by Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown and our guest, Dr. Rosemarie Allen—an education leader and national voice on racial equity and childhood development. This conversation is about mothering without a blueprint and making daily decisions in a world that doesn’t always feel safe for your child—or for you.

You’ll hear how Dr. Allen went from being suspended in kindergarten to shaping national education policy.

“Have I been whipping my baby for no reason?”

This conversation is parenting at the intersection of love and fear. Survival and pride. Freedom and danger. And it’s the kind of conversation that millennial Black mothers aren’t always given the space to have—but desperately need.

“Historically, through slavery, we learned to beat our children into submission because they had to survive. But we’ve evolved from surviving to thriving. Our job now is to help our children thrive.” – Dr. Allen

Whether you’re raising toddlers or teenagers, or carrying the weight of mothering others through your work, this episode offers room to reflect, release, and reimagine.

Because what’s passed down shouldn’t just be pain.

—

Visit drrosemarieallen.com for more on her work.

Dr. Rosemarie Allen - 

Movements don’t start in meetings. They start with lived experiences—the kind we normalize, dismiss, or bury until someone dares to say it out loud.

In this foundational conversation, Felicia Ford and Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown return to the moment they knew this work—National Black Girl Month™—had to exist. Not just as a celebration, but as structure. As strategy. As response.

“Our tired didn’t start in 2022. Our tired had a history.”

“We’re not anomalies—we’re the fabric. And our stories don’t begin in boardrooms. They begin in kindergarten.”

Together, they trace the threads from Silent Dangers of Black Girls in Education to the present moment, where visibility alone is no longer enough. This episode names what we’ve been carrying—as daughters, as mothers, as leaders, as women who were never supposed to carry it all—and sets the tone for a month of truth-telling, healing, and collective power.

“If we don’t name the dangers, how do we ever dismantle them?”

“The danger is in being silent and being silenced.”

They speak to the weight of advocacy work. The grief in realizing school was built for someone else’s success. The guilt in having had good experiences while watching others be pushed out. And the sacred power of claiming space in systems designed to erase you.

This is the kind of conversation you feel before you understand it—and once you do, you can’t unsee it.

“You belong here. Even if you’ve been hurt by other Black women. Even if you’re mothering through grief. You still belong.”

“Everyone operates in the space of mothering at some point. And everyone has been mothered—whether well or not.”

Whether you’re leading change, recovering from the systems you’ve survived, or simply listening in, this is your invitation to sit down with us, right here, and remember what you’ve known all along.

Join us as we kick off National Black Girl Month™ 2025. 

Next Steps: 

Join the National Black Girl Month™ Community: https://facebook.com/groups/nationalblackgirlmonth 

Access Silent Dangers of Black Girls in Education: https://silentdangers.com 

Shop National Black Girl Month™: https://silentdangers.com/shop 

#nationalblackgirlmonth

What happens when performance, people, and purpose collide.

Today, we’re joined by Dee Ntšala, founder of Nova Conxulting, whose work sits at the intersection of neuroscience, wellness, DIEB principles, and leadership strategy. Dee equips high-performing executives, founders, and teams with the tools to lead.

Every time I’ve been asked to fix a performance issue, it was actually a leadership issue. That’s a people problem.” – Dee Ntšala

Too many organizations think they’re solving for low numbers when they’re really facing high dysfunction. Promotions happen without preparation. Culture is treated like a memo. And when the spreadsheets show a dip, the blame lands on people instead of the systems leading them.

But as Dee, reminds us in this episode:

“If you're a founder, if you're a corporate leader, please hear us out here. We get it. There is a cost impact to all of this work. But the benefit on the other end of it is so, so worth the invest.”

We're talking sustained transformation. Dee has worked with top-tier leaders across corporate, nonprofit, and academic spaces, and she breaks down what most leadership programs miss:

Why micromanagement often signals a deeper gap in trust and team readiness

How real leadership requires self-awareness before strategy

And what happens when companies ask for change but resist the process required to make it stick

“Corporate has an unhealthy relationship with time and results when it comes to human behavior. Humans aren’t machines. You can’t flip a switch and expect transformation.”

This episode is for high-level leaders and founders who want better—but are done chasing surface-level solutions. If you’re ready to stop wasting budget on temporary fixes and start reinforcing the kind of leadership culture that retains talent, drives performance, and creates real alignment—press play.

We also go beyond frameworks and into the lived realities of founders and leaders navigating burnout, mismatched team dynamics, and corporate cultures that reward production over progress. Dee’s refreshingly honest perspective will have you rethinking how you lead, why you lead, and what alignment looks like in real-time.

Next Steps: 

Get more leadership insights from Dee Ntšala's interview in Strategic Edge: Power Moves for Businesses + Nonprofits magazine: https://media.feliciafordandco.com/power-moves

Connect with Dee Ntšala - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deentsala/

Join Momentum Lab - https://lab.feliciafordandco.com  

Get Free Resources - www.feliciafordandco.com/resources