What happens when you spend a career moving from “I have to do it all myself” to “we're bigger and better together”?

In this episode, I sit down with my longtime friend and former colleague Jody Sommerfeldt, who now supports the next generation of clinical faculty and student teachers at Old Dominion University. Jody and I go all the way back to our days as Technology Curriculum Integration Specialists in Newport News Public Schools, and her journey since then has taken her from the classroom to instructional technology to higher education leadership. We talk about the string of people — starting with her kindergarten teacher — who tapped her into leadership before she believed it herself, how she built trust and engaged people with zero positional authority, and the leadership mistake that taught her to stop carrying the load alone. She closes with hard-won advice for anyone still waiting for their next leadership seat: make your wishes known.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Jody's path from Suffolk classrooms to instructional technology to leading clinical faculty preparation at ODU
• How she built trust and engaged teachers with no positional authority — through humility, feedback, and follow-through
• The mistake that taught her the difference between “me, me, me” and “we, we, we”

STANDOUT QUOTES

“I have to be honest, for me, it's relationships, relationships, relationships.” — Jody Sommerfeldt

“I moved from the responsibility is on me, me, me, to the responsibility as we, we, we. From the me to the we.” — Jody Sommerfeldt

“Make your wishes known... that's a level of vulnerability as well.” — Jody Sommerfeldt

CONTACT JODY SOMMERFELDT

[email protected]

CONNECT WITH DR. KIM RICHARDSON

• Website: drkimleadership.com
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MORE ABOUT RISE UP AND LEAD: REAL LESSONS, REAL STORIES, REAL TALK

Welcome to Rise Up and Lead: Real Lessons, Real Stories, Real Talk—a podcast about the true journey of leadership and becoming. Hosted by Dr. Kim—Professional Certified Coach®, leadership strategist, and speaker—this show dives into the moments that shape us, the mindsets that sustain us, and the people who influence us along the way.

Each episode features real conversations with everyday leaders and brief coaching insights that bridge lived experience with research-backed leadership truths. Because leadership isn't about titles—it's about identity, emotional intelligence, and the daily decision to RISE.

If you're ready to grow in who you are and how you lead, you're in the right place!

HOOK

What comes to mind when you hear the word “presence”? Because whatever image just showed up — that's your most powerful leadership tool, and most leaders never think to sharpen it.

THE EPISODE

I want to bring my coach hat in for a second. Presence is a real, named competency in coaching — the International Coach Federation calls it Maintaining Presence, and it sits inside a bigger umbrella called Co-Creating the Relationship. That means presence isn't some isolated soft skill floating off by itself. It's connective tissue, the same way trust is connective tissue. Presence is what makes every other leadership competency actually work. You can have a whole Rolodex of deep questions ready to go, but if people don't feel your presence, none of those questions are going to land the way they should.

Here's the distinction I need you to sit with: presence is not a personality trait. It won't show up on your Myers-Briggs. It won't show up on your Strengths Finder. It's a skill — which means it can be practiced, and it means you don't get to say “that's just not who I am.” Presence is staying focused, staying observant, staying empathetic and responsive to the person in front of you, even while you're managing your own emotions in real time. It's being comfortable working in a space where you don't have all the answers. And it's creating space for silence — for someone to say “let me think about that for a second” and for you to actually let them.

“Engagement isn't created in the moment — it's sustained through presence.”

RELATED RESOURCES

Newsletter: Engagement That Moves People℠ (Q1 year-long support series)

Podcast: S3E27 with Cleveland Garvin (Dr. Kim's father)

ICF Core Competency 5: Maintaining Presence

Guest

Cleveland Garvin — Dr. Kim's father. Retired after 36 years at IBM (retired 2004), 30 of those years in management, rising through four levels of leadership from first-line manager to fourth-level (“boss of the bosses”). Degree in math.

Episode Summary

In our first guest interview of the season, Dr. Kim sits down with her own father, Cleveland Garvin, for a conversation that's part leadership case study, part family story. Cleve spent 36 years at IBM — 30 of them in management — rising from first-line supervisor to fourth-level leadership. The thread running through all of it: there is no one-size-fits-all leadership style. Cleve breaks down why he doesn't believe in “born leaders,” how individualizing his approach — person by person — was what actually moved disengaged team members, and the leadership mistake that taught him to plan before he ever assigns a role. And yes — he tells the story of raising Dr. Kim, including the leadership lesson he wishes he'd taught her sooner about how she studied.

Have you ever looked around a room full of people who showed up, nodded along, and did exactly what was asked — and still felt like nobody was actually with you? Welcome to Season 3 of Rise Up and Lead! I have been waiting all summer for this moment, and we are kicking off the new season — and our first quarterly theme, Engagement That Moves People — with a truth every leader needs to sit with: engagement is deeper than participation, deeper than compliance, and definitely deeper than people simply showing up.

In this episode, I walk you through what engagement really is — a psychological and emotional mindset where people choose to actively invest, care, and contribute — and why so many of us are mistaking activity for engagement without realizing it. I share the story of a school leadership team whose data meeting completely transformed when one principal anchored the numbers in a single student's success story, and what that moment teaches us about reconnecting people to purpose instead of just the task. You will also hear what is new this season: solo episodes alternating with leader interviews, and everything — the podcast, the blog, and the newsletter — moving together through one quarterly theme as part of your yearlong leadership support. I close with three reflection questions and your first Rise Action of the season, so you can lead your very next meeting from a place of purpose. Let's get in it — because your people deserve more than a meeting they have to sit through. They deserve a reason to lean in.

Have you ever realized that the best lessons in leadership come from both the great and not-so-great leaders you’ve experienced? In this replay episode, I’m joined by Kathleen Pietrasanta, a lifelong educator and leader, to talk about the powerful impact that real-life leadership examples can have on your own development. Kathleen shares stories from her years in education, including experiences that tested her boundaries, inspired her confidence, and ultimately propelled her into leadership.

Kathleen and I discuss how our personal and professional identities blend to influence the kind of leaders we strive to become as well as the importance of integrity and empathy in leadership. Kathleen shares lessons she’s learned through her experiences and offers real, practical insight for anyone who wants to lead with more heart and impact. Whether you’re just stepping into leadership or if you’ve been on this path for a while, this conversation will leave you feeling encouraged to continue to grow on your leadership journey.

Connect with Dr. Kim Richardson

• Check out her website
• Follow her on Instagram @drkimleadership
• Follow her on TikTok @drkimleadership
• Follow her in X @drkimleadership
• Like her page on Facebook
• Connect with her on LinkedIn

Ever found yourself at a crossroads, wondering what the next version of you might look like and if you’re ready for it?

I’m taking you with me as I pause and reflect on the powerful stories, lessons, and leadership journeys from this season, exploring how leadership isn’t a destination but a process of becoming. From moments of transition and the evolution of identity to discovering how real leadership is more about influence, connection, and courage than it is about roles or titles, I’m digging into what truly shapes us as leaders.

Together, we’ll revisit the stand-out moments and lessons shared by each guest - from the mentors who called us into leadership before we were ready, to those who reminded us that integrity and empathy are foundational, not optional. I’ll talk about what it means to step into discomfort, why emotional intelligence is at the heart of real leadership, and how our professional and personal selves are inseparable in how we lead.

Connect with Dr. Kim Richardson

• Check out her website
• Follow her on Instagram @drkimleadership
• Follow her on TikTok @drkimleadership
• Follow her in X @drkimleadership
• Like her page on Facebook
• Connect with her on LinkedIn

Leadership doesn’t start with a title—it starts when someone sees something in you that you may not yet see in yourself.

In this episode of Rise Up and Lead: Real Lessons, Real Stories, Real Talk, Dr. Kim sits down with Jonathan Coats, an elementary school principal whose leadership journey began not with ambition—but with enlistment.

From an unexpected start in education to a life-changing conversation with a colleague who called him into leadership, Jonathan shares how one person’s belief can alter your trajectory forever. In one of the most powerful moments of the conversation, he reflects on the reality that the person who “enlisted” him into leadership did not live to see who he would become.

This episode is a reminder that leadership is not just developed—it is spoken into existence, called forward, and carried on.

Connect with Dr. Kim Richardson

1. Check out her website
2. Follow her on Instagram @drkimleadership
3. Follow her on TikTok @drkimleadership
4. Follow her in X @drkimleadership
5. Like her page on Facebook
6. Connect with her on LinkedIn

In this episode of Rise Up and Lead: Real Lessons, Real Stories, Real Talk, Dr. Kim sits down with George Valetti to explore what happens when leadership finds you before you feel ready.

George shares how his leadership journey didn’t begin with a title—it began with a tap on the shoulder. When a superintendent saw something in him he hadn’t fully recognized in himself, he was “enlisted to lead” through a district-wide innovation project that started with nothing more than a conversation over coffee.

What followed was not just the development of a successful program, but the formation of a leadership identity grounded in people, trust, and purpose.

Together, Dr. Kim and George unpack what it means to lead in a people-centered profession, where influence matters more than position and where success depends on relationships, not transactions. George reflects on the difference between transformational and transactional leadership, the power of listening to understand rather than respond, and the responsibility that comes with being seen as a leader.

This conversation is especially powerful for new and emerging leaders who are stepping into roles without feeling fully prepared—and for anyone who has ever been “voluntold” into leadership.

At the heart of this episode is a simple but profound leadership truth:

People matter—and leadership begins by giving value before expecting results.

Listeners will walk away reflecting on:

• Who saw leadership potential in them before they saw it in themselves
• How to build trust through listening and relationships
• What it means to lead with value in both supportive and challenging leadership environments

Because leadership isn’t just a role you step into—it’s a responsibility you grow into.

Connect with Dr. Kim Richardson

• Check out her website
• Follow her on Instagram @drkimleadership
• Follow her on TikTok @drkimleadership
• Follow her in X @drkimleadership
• Like her page on Facebook
• Connect with her on LinkedIn

In this episode of Rise Up and Lead: Real Lessons, Real Stories, Real Talk, Dr. Kim sits down with Dr. Shanae Herron, Director of Federal Programs, to explore what it truly means to lead with clarity, integrity, and data.

Dr. Herron shares her unconventional journey from higher education to an uncertified high school English teacher—and how building strong relationships with students led to exceptional outcomes. As her leadership responsibilities expanded to the district and state levels, she learned that effective leadership requires more than passion or instinct.

At the state level, Dr. Herron faced a critical leadership challenge when a program she oversaw began to fail. Through that experience, she developed a powerful leadership stance: decisions must be grounded in data, not opinion.

This episode challenges leaders to move beyond “I think” and “I feel” and instead lead with evidence, documentation, and integrity—especially when making difficult decisions.

Connect with Dr. Kim Richardson

• Check out her website
• Follow her on Instagram @drkimleadership
• Follow her on TikTok @drkimleadership
• Follow her in X @drkimleadership
• Like her page on Facebook
• Connect with her on LinkedIn

In this episode of Rise Up and Lead: Real Lessons, Real Stories, Real Talk, Dr. Kim sits down with Tonika McElvin, a clinical mental health counselor working with women in recovery.

Tonika shares how she initially resisted the idea of being a leader. Like many professionals in helping fields, she entered her work simply wanting to support others. But over time, she realized that when people depend on you for guidance, perspective, and encouragement, leadership naturally emerges.

Through her work in a residential rehabilitation program, Tonika helps women develop emotional regulation and healthier thinking patterns using Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Along the way, she discovered that leadership is not always about titles—it often grows out of responsibility, compassion, and the willingness to show up for others.

This conversation explores the moment when helping others becomes something more: leadership through influence, accountability, and care.

Connect with Dr. Kim Richardson

1. Check out her website
2. Follow her on Instagram @drkimleadership
3. Follow her on TikTok @drkimleadership
4. Follow her in X @drkimleadership
5. Like her page on Facebook
6. Connect with her on LinkedIn