Structure and Soul Podcast

What happens when a former Chief Diversity Officer, diplomat, and international equity strategist decides to bet on herself? You get Zakiya Carr founder of Odara Solutions and the Black Women Disrupt Initiative and one of the most honest conversations we've had on Structure and Soul about reinvention, identity, and what it really costs to step out from behind the scenes.

We met at the Every Kid Thrives Festival at the Obama Presidential Center two women from the DC area, in the same room, in the same season of rebuilding. This one felt personal.

What We Cover:

Key Takeaways:

Connect with Zakiya Carr:

About the Host: Shanel Evans is a business strategist and coach who helps entrepreneurs shatter revenue ceilings and attract their dream clients through client attraction and social media strategies. Known for her "red pen" moments, Shanel offers feedback that helps entrepreneurs course-correct while staying true to their goals, delivered with love.

Where to Find Us:

• Host Website: www.shanelevans.com

• Apply to be a Guest: www.structureandsoulpodcast.com

• LinkedIn: Shanel Evans

Subscribe & Leave a Review:

Dont miss an episode! Subscribe to Structure and Soul on The Alive Podcast Network and everywhere podcasts are streamed.

Episode Description 

What happens when a true introvert from Queens becomes one of the most recognizable voices in content creation and AI strategy? You get Nikki Saunders content strategist, community builder, and the secret sauce behind some of the most powerful personal brands you follow. In this episode, Shanel and Nikki talk about staying visible without burning out, using AI as infrastructure (not a shortcut), and why your consistency is your greatest competitive advantage no matter the follower count.

What We Cover:

Key Takeaways:

Connect with Nikki Saunders:

Mentioned in this episode:

Shanel Evans is a Strategic Visibility Advisor, TEDx Speaker, and founder of Socially Savvy Consulting. She helps entrepreneurs, corporations, and organizations turn their expertise into authority with AI-powered strategy, messaging that converts, and visibility that actually moves the needle. Structure and Soul is where vision meets execution. Follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/theshanelevans/

Rate, review, and subscribe so you don't miss an episode of Structure and Soul.

In this episode of Structure & Soul, host Shanel Evans sits down with entrepreneur and community builder Deana Jean, widely known as the Collab Queen. Together they explore the real power behind collaboration in businesswhy the strongest opportunities come from relationships, not competition.

Shanel and Deana take listeners behind the scenes of entrepreneurship, discussing reinvention, strategic visibility, and how intentional collaboration can accelerate growth, partnerships, and long-term business success.

From the early days of meeting on Clubhouse to building powerful in-person communities today, this conversation dives into how entrepreneurs can shift from chasing attention to creating rooms people want to be part of.

Deana shares how collaboration creates an abundance mindset in entrepreneurship. Instead of focusing on what you lack, collaboration allows you to build meaningful partnerships with people whose strengths complement your own. 

deana-shanel

Season three of Structure & Soul explores reinvention, and Deana discusses her own shift from being the center of attention to building environments and communities others want to join. 

deana-shanel

To scale her work, Deana explains why she invested in operational support so she could focus on the visionary side of her businessdesigning experiences, making connections, and driving the bigger strategy.

Despite being an introvert, Deana believes in the unmatched power of in-person experiences to accelerate trust and relationships. Being physically present in the right rooms allows entrepreneurs to build deeper connections and create meaningful collaborations.

Deana describes the three key roles that drive business growth:

• Champions  People who refer and advocate for you

• Collaborators  Strategic partners who build opportunities with you

• Clients  The people who invest in your work

Building relationships across all three is critical for sustainable growth.

Not every event is worth attending. Deana shares the two questions she asks before saying yes to an event:

1. What value can I add to the room?

2. What value can I receive from being there?

This strategic approach helps entrepreneurs build long-term ROI through partnerships and relationships.

Collaboration keeps you in an abundance mindset. Instead of focusing on what you lack, you connect with people who bring the strengths you need.

Deana Jean, known as the Collab Queen, is an entrepreneur and community builder dedicated to helping leaders grow through strategic collaboration. She leads the Success Tribe Network and works with enterprise organizations on collaboration strategies that strengthen teams, partnerships, and sales. 

Through curated events, summits, retreats, and leadership gatherings, Deana brings together powerful women in entrepreneurship, business, and nonprofit leadership to build meaningful partnerships and opportunities.

Follow Deana and learn more about her work:

• LinkedIn: Deana Jean

• Facebook: Deana Jean

• Nickname online: The Collab Queen

Stay connected for updates on upcoming Connect & Collab Summits, retreats, and curated leadership gatherings.

About the Host: Shanel Evans is a business strategist and coach who helps entrepreneurs shatter revenue ceilings and attract their dream clients through client attraction and social media strategies. Known for her "red pen" moments, Shanel offers feedback that helps entrepreneurs course-correct while staying true to their goals, delivered with love.

Where to Find Us:

• Host Website: www.shanelevans.com

• Apply to be a Guest: www.structureandsoulpodcast.com

• LinkedIn: Shanel Evans

If you enjoyed this episode of Structure & Soul, be sure to:

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Season three is all about reinvention, visibility, and building businesses with both strategy and soul.

Reinvention doesnt start with clarity.
It starts with discomfort.

In this episode of Structure & Soul, I sit down with Apryl Beverly million-dollar word stylist turned AI software founder for one of the most honest conversations of the season.

We talk about what happens after the big launch.
What happens when your identity outgrows the thing that made you successful.
And what it really costs emotionally, spiritually, and strategically to reinvent yourself in public.

This isnt a conversation about trends.

Its about grief, faith, leadership, and choosing alignment over familiarity.

Apryl Beverly is a copywriting legend turned tech founder and the creator of AI PRO, a culturally intelligent sales and marketing AI platform built from her billion-dollar copywriting portfolio.

After spending decades helping brands drive conversions through powerful storytelling, Apryl made the bold decision to pivot building her own AI software when she realized her voice and style were being replicated by other tools.

Today, shes a self-funded Black woman tech founder, AI consultant, and educator committed to ensuring our communities arent left behind in the AI revolution.

In this episode, we explore:

• The exact moment Apryl realized she needed to reinvent and why it scared her

• What it feels like to grieve a business, an identity, and a former version of yourself

• Why trying to straddle the old and the new nearly stalled her momentum

• How faith, timing, and clarity played a role in shutting down WordStylis

• The emotional cost of reinvention not just the financial one

• What it means to build AI as an extension of your voice, not a replacement

• Why niching AI to sales and marketing is a strategic (not limiting) decision

• How rest, boundaries, and family now fit into her building season

• Teaching AI literacy and ethics to youth and why it matters now

• The danger of discouraging AI adoption in communities that cant afford to fall behind

Explore Apryls work and AI platform:

•  AI PRO: https://chatwithaipro.ai

• Instagram: @APRYL.ai

• Facebook: Apryl Beverly

If this conversation resonated with you:

• Subscribe to Structure & Soul

• Share this episode with someone navigating a pivot

• Leave a review so more leaders find conversations like this

About the Host: Shanel Evans is a business strategist and coach who helps entrepreneurs shatter revenue ceilings and attract their dream clients through client attraction and social media strategies. Known for her "red pen" moments, Shanel offers feedback that helps entrepreneurs course-correct while staying true to their goals, delivered with love.

Where to Find Us:

• Host Website: www.meetwithshanel.com

• Apply to be a Guest: www.structureandsoulpodcast.com

• LinkedIn: Shanel Evans

Guest: Katica Roy Award-Winning Gender Economist, CEO of Pipeline Equity, NYT Front Page Researcher, MSNBC/CNN Contributor

Season 3 kicks off with a seismic conversation. Shanel sits down with award-winning gender economist Katica Roy to unpack one of the most misunderstood economic shifts of our time: why 300,000 (and counting) Black women have left the workforce and why this is not an individual story, but a national economic alarm.

Katica breaks down the data behind forced labor exits, entrepreneurship born from necessity, and how AI + corporate systems are reproducing inequity at scale. She also offers a blueprint for how women especially Black women can build their personal economy beyond the headlines.

This episode is facts + fire + liberation. A must-listen for entrepreneurs, leaders, and anyone who cares about the future of work.

What a gender economist actually does and why it matters now more than ever

The economic impact of 300,000 Black women pushed out of the labor force

Why entrepreneurship for Black women is often not luxury but survival

The rise of the reinvention era and what 2025 signals economically

How inequity shows up in performance reviews, promotions, AI skilling, and procurement

Why economic opportunity is not charity its a growth strategy

The trillion-dollar impact of achieving gender equity

How women can build their personal economy during economic instability

The power of collective visibility and storytelling

300,000 Black women were pushed out of the labor force (Roys research)

Those exits cost the U.S. $37 billion in lost GDP

During the same period:

Black women lost 319,000 jobs

White men gained 365,000 jobs

Black women head 52% of households with children under 18

AI threatens to automate 25% of the roles Black women hold

Black women make up 6% of the labor force but only 0.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs

Gender equity could add $3.1 trillion to the U.S. economy

Using AI, companies could reach workforce equity in 10 years, not 135

• Shanel Evans on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shanelevans/
• Shanel in Essence 

Katica Roy on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/katicaroy

Katicas articles (New York Times, MS NOW, Fortune)

Feeling invisible on your timeline, exhausted by content, or unsure how to stay top of mind while you take a break this summer?

You dont need more content you need a Savvy Shift.

This 3-part series is designed for founders, coaches, and service pros who are ready to attract premium clients without burning out, hustling harder, or ghosting their own business.

Inside this series, well help you reset your message, reclaim your energy, and build a visibility plan that works while you have fun this summer.

Most women arent inconsistent theyre hiding in plain sight. Youve grown, but your message hasnt. This episode breaks down why brilliant women are ghosting their timelines, and how to shift from idea overload to demand-building clarity.

Youll Discover:

• Why your timeline feels off even when you're showing up

• The difference between content and messaging

• The Savvy Shift Messaging Filter to help you post with confidence

• 1 easy prompt to realign your summer content this week

Youre not burned out because youre not working hard youre burned out because youre working on the wrong visibility model. In this episode, we break down how to audit your content strategy and reclaim your energy (and your ROI).

Youll Discover:

• The difference between performing vs. positioning

• Why quiet confidence > constant content

• 3 signs your strategy is draining your ROI

• A quick energy audit to take immediate action

You dont need to post daily to stay visible you do need a strategy. This episode is all about building a ripple-effect content plan that carries your authority, even while youre on vacation mode.

Youll Discover:

• The Visibility Ripple Effect and how to activate it

• What premium clients, partners & decision-makers are actually watching for

• How to repurpose authority content and give it a summer vibe

• How to align your visibility with the SAVVY Framework

About the Host: Shanel Evans is a business strategist and marketing consultant, working with founder-led organizations to attract premium clients and contracts through social media strategies that creates connections and conversions. Known for her "pink pen" moments, Shanel offers feedback that helps entrepreneurs course-correct while staying true to their goals, delivered with love.

Where to Find Us:

• Host Website: www.shanelevans.com

• Apply to be a Guest: www.structureandsoulpodcast.com

• LinkedIn: Shanel Evans

Subscribe & Leave a Review:

Dont miss an episode! Subscribe to Structure and Soul on The Alive Podcast Network and everywhere podcasts are streamed.

Feeling invisible on your timeline, exhausted by content, or unsure how to stay top of mind while you take a break this summer?

You dont need more content you need a Savvy Shift.

This 3-part series is designed for founders, coaches, and service pros who are ready to attract premium clients without burning out, hustling harder, or ghosting their own business.

Inside this series, well help you reset your message, reclaim your energy, and build a visibility plan that works while you have fun this summer.

Most women arent inconsistent theyre hiding in plain sight. Youve grown, but your message hasnt. This episode breaks down why brilliant women are ghosting their timelines, and how to shift from idea overload to demand-building clarity.

Youll Discover:

• Why your timeline feels off even when you're showing up

• The difference between content and messaging

• The Savvy Shift Messaging Filter to help you post with confidence

• 1 easy prompt to realign your summer content this week

Youre not burned out because youre not working hard youre burned out because youre working on the wrong visibility model. In this episode, we break down how to audit your content strategy and reclaim your energy (and your ROI).

Youll Discover:

• The difference between performing vs. positioning

• Why quiet confidence > constant content

• 3 signs your strategy is draining your ROI

• A quick energy audit to take immediate action

You dont need to post daily to stay visible you do need a strategy. This episode is all about building a ripple-effect content plan that carries your authority, even while youre on vacation mode.

Youll Discover:

• The Visibility Ripple Effect and how to activate it

• What premium clients, partners & decision-makers are actually watching for

• How to repurpose authority content and give it a summer vibe

• How to align your visibility with the SAVVY Framework

About the Host: Shanel Evans is a business strategist and marketing consultant, working with founder-led organizations to attract premium clients and contracts through social media strategies that creates connections and conversions. Known for her "pink pen" moments, Shanel offers feedback that helps entrepreneurs course-correct while staying true to their goals, delivered with love.

Where to Find Us:

• Host Website: www.shanelevans.com

• Apply to be a Guest: www.structureandsoulpodcast.com

• LinkedIn: Shanel Evans

Subscribe & Leave a Review:

Dont miss an episode! Subscribe to Structure and Soul on The Alive Podcast Network and everywhere podcasts are streamed.

Feeling invisible on your timeline, exhausted by content, or unsure how to stay top of mind while you take a break this summer?

This 3-part series is designed for founders, coaches, and service pros who are ready to attract premium clients without burning out, hustling harder, or ghosting their own business.

Inside this series, well help you reset your message, reclaim your energy, and build a visibility plan that works while you have fun this summer.

Most women arent inconsistent theyre hiding in plain sight. Youve grown, but your message hasnt. This episode breaks down why brilliant women are ghosting their timelines, and how to shift from idea overload to demand-building clarity.

Youll Discover:

Why your timeline feels off even when you're showing up

The difference between content and messaging

The Savvy Shift Messaging Filter to help you post with confidence

1 easy prompt to realign your summer content this week

Youre not burned out because youre not working hard youre burned out because youre working on the wrong visibility model. In this episode, we break down how to audit your content strategy and reclaim your energy (and your ROI).

Youll Discover:

The difference between performing vs. positioning

Why quiet confidence > constant content

3 signs your strategy is draining your ROI

A quick energy audit to take immediate action

You dont need to post daily to stay visible you do need a strategy. This episode is all about building a ripple-effect content plan that carries your authority, even while youre on vacation mode.

Youll Discover:

The Visibility Ripple Effect and how to activate it

What premium clients, partners & decision-makers are actually watching for

How to repurpose authority content and give it a summer vibe

How to align your visibility with the SAVVY Framework

About the Host: Shanel Evans is a business strategist and marketing consultant, working with founder-led organizations to attract premium clients and contracts through social media strategies that creates connections and conversions. Known for her "pink pen" moments, Shanel offers feedback that helps entrepreneurs course-correct while staying true to their goals, delivered with love.

Where to Find Us:

• Host Website: www.shanelevans.com

• Apply to be a Guest: www.structureandsoulpodcast.com

• LinkedIn: Shanel Evans

Subscribe & Leave a Review:

Dont miss an episode! Subscribe to Structure and Soul on The Alive Podcast Network and everywhere podcasts are streamed.

About the Host: Shanel Evans is a business strategist and coach who helps entrepreneurs shatter revenue ceilings and attract their dream clients through client attraction and social media strategies. Known for her "red pen" moments, Shanel offers feedback that helps entrepreneurs course-correct while staying true to their goals, delivered with love.

Where to Find Us:

• Host Website: www.shanelevans.com

• Apply to be a Guest: www.structureandsoulpodcast.com

• LinkedIn: Shanel Evans

Subscribe & Leave a Review:

Dont miss an episode! Subscribe to Structure and Soul on The Alive Podcast Network and everywhere podcasts are streamed.

• Clear messaging is crucial for effective personal branding.
• Organizations that reward entrepreneurial thinking retain top talent.
• The shift in business dynamics is ongoing and requires adaptation.
• The concept of employed entrepreneurs is an untapped market. Showing up authentically resonates with ideal clients.
• Deconditioning from corporate identity is a continuous process.
• Every level of success requires a new version of ourselves.

About the Host: Shanel Evans is a business strategist and coach who helps entrepreneurs shatter revenue ceilings and attract their dream clients through client attraction and social media strategies. Known for her "red pen" moments, Shanel offers feedback that helps entrepreneurs course-correct while staying true to their goals, delivered with love.

Where to Find Us:

• Host Website: www.shanelevans.com

• Apply to be a Guest: www.structureandsoulpodcast.com

• LinkedIn: Shanel Evans

Subscribe & Leave a Review:

Dont miss an episode! Subscribe to Structure and Soul on The Alive Podcast Network and everywhere podcasts are streamed.