In the face of so much pain and state-sponsored terror, Nataki Garrett pauses to share a story about Black love.

Recorded after an evening out to dinner with two other Black couples, this episode reflects on the quiet power of listening to Black people tell the stories of how they found each other. Nataki explores how Black love is so often framed as service, sacrifice, or survival—and what it means to speak instead about love as joy, risk, choice, and being seen.

Through personal reflection on meeting her husband, the role of community in love, and the experience of waking up knowing she is loved without condition, Nataki offers a reminder as we move into Black History Month:

We are love.

And that is our birthright.

Check out my latest Podcast. Heres a video teaser. Listen to Ep. 14 of We Come to Lead: Evolution REVOLUTION” on Substack, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you’re listening.

For 2026, I did promise myself I was going to drink my water and mind my business.

But this morning, a Artistic Leader friend (it’s late and I didn’t ask permission to reveal their name) and someone I deeply admire and respect sent me a text—with a post attached—and every once in a while, you just have to respond.

Im taking a quick moment to return to the folks who actually lived and understood revolution—who knew it was about love and discipline and risk and responsibility, not safety and comfort and fear.

Also, duende. Because when leadership language gets too tidy, it’s usually protecting safety.

Subscribe to Be a Ladder Leader — all proceeds go directly to supporting my Pay It Forward coaching program, which provides up to 85% off coaching for nonprofit arts leaders and organizations doing vital, underrecognized work

You can also learn more about my coaching and download your free guide, Called to Lead: A Re-Visioning Blueprint, at https://coaching.natakigarrett.com/lls.

If this podcast resonates with you, help us spread the word by taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and review We Come to Lead on Substack, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you’re listening.

Show Notes:

* Che Guevara on love as the heartbeat of revolution — Che Guevara, as quoted on Lib Quotes: “At the risk of seeming ridiculous…” (link)

* bell hooks on choosing love against domination — bell hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (quote on Lib Quotes) (link)

* Martin Luther King Jr. on power and love — Where Do We Go From Here (primary text PDF) (link)

* Assata Shakur’s “Affirmation” — from Assata: An Autobiography via LoveandRageMedia (link)

* Federico García Lorca on duende — Theory and Play of the Duende (translated text) (link)

*

Voices from the Top Rung: A Conversation with Lynette A. Turner

In this episode of We Come to Lead series Voices from the Top Rung, host Nataki Garrett sits down with trailblazing arts leader, consultant, healer, and author Lynette A. Turner.

For more than three decades, Lynette has shaped American theatre and the national arts landscape—as one of the first Black women Producing Directors at a major PWI regional theatre, a senior associate at AMS Planning & Research, and now as founder of Positive Bliss, where she supports leaders through mindfulness, healing, and intentional living.

Topics We Cover:

• Lynette’s journey from actor and choreographer to Producing Director in the 1980s

• Being one of the first Black women in executive theatre leadership

• Her 26-year consulting career at AMS and the impact of lived expertise

• Coaching Nataki during her OSF tenure and navigating unprecedented scrutiny and resistance

• Rest, breathwork, and mindfulness as essential leadership tools

• The spiritual, emotional, and political realities of leading inside systems not built for you

• How Lynette reclaimed her voice and calling through healing work

• Her vision of legacy, joy, and meaningful dialogue

Featured Resources:

• Lynette’s website (Positive Bliss): https://www.positivebliss.com

• Lynette on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynette-turner-904a5b6/

• AMS Planning & Research tribute:

https://www.ams-planning.com/ams-celebrates-35-years-and-honors-sr-associate-lynette-a-turner/

• Book by Lynette Turner: The Ten Be’s of Positivity: 10 Steps to a More Positive Way of Living

• Referenced book: Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

This is a powerful, honest, and deeply grounding conversation about leadership, rest, resilience, and the courage to stay whole while leading through change.

Subscribe to Nataki’s newsletter:

Be a Ladder Leader on Substack — join a growing community committed to liberatory leadership and systems that help people thrive.

Just a little thank you for your support. Thanks for reading, listening, watching as I grow into this new calling. I am grateful to share in and with you. Happy to be in community.

Feel free to upgrade to a paid subscription on Substack — all proceeds go directly to supporting my Pay It Forward coaching program, which provides up to 85% off coaching for nonprofit arts leaders and organizations doing vital, underrecognized work.

You can also learn more about my coaching and download your free guide, Called to Lead: A Re-Visioning Blueprint, at https://coaching.natakigarrett.com/lls.

In this episode, I share a story from my early days applying to grad school for theater directing — a story about gatekeeping, truth-telling, and the illusion of belonging.

If you’ve ever had to shrink your brilliance to fit a space that wasn’t built for you — this one’s for you.

You can share your reflections on my Substack, Be a Ladder Leader → upgrade to a paid subscription on Substack — all proceeds go directly to supporting my Pay It Forward coaching program, which provides up to 85% off coaching for nonprofit arts leaders and organizations doing vital, underrecognized work

You can also learn more about my coaching and download your free guide, Called to Lead: A Re-Visioning Blueprint, at https://coaching.natakigarrett.com/lls.

If this podcast resonates with you, help us spread the word by taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and review We Come to Lead on Substack, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you’re listening.

Over the next few months, we’ll be focusing on a new series here on We Come to Lead called Voices from the Top Rung—featuring industry leaders and changemakers whose work lives at the intersection of transformation, systems change, and collective solidarity.

So join us on the next episode where we hear from Pati Navalta, founder of Navalta Media.

Pati is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, a nationally respected communications strategist, and someone who’s spent her career helping leaders and organizations navigate the public square with clarity, integrity, and power. She’s also the strategist I turned to when I needed to reframe the attacks being leveled against my leadership—and reclaim the truth of my story.

In this episode, we talk about:

* Why personal PR isn’t vanity—it’s survival

* How race and identity shape public narratives

* What leaders need to understand about silence, credibility, and media framing

* And how to proactively shape your leadership story before someone else writes it for you

This conversation is rich with truth, strategy, and practical wisdom for anyone trying to lead boldly and be seen clearly.

Listen in. Subscribe. Share.

Voices from the Top Rung begins with someone who knows exactly how to help leaders rise.

Welcome our latest series: Voices from the Top Rung

I sit down with the fierce and formidable Pati Navalta of Navalta Media. She breaks down why owning your story — and knowing exactly who you are — isn’t optional, it’s essential.

This fierce, full, and F🔥 episode drops Monday.

Stay tuned.

What happens when your leadership is questioned—not because of what you did, but because of who you are?

In this solo episode, I’m naming the quiet, exhausting truth: that for many of us, leading means carrying more than just responsibility. It means navigating systems that were never designed for us, confronting bias disguised as feedback, and sometimes being betrayed by the very people who should have our back.

This one’s about the cost of being visible, the harm that happens inside our communities, and why I built the Ladder Leadership Approach to support leaders like us—for real.

But I don’t stop there.

I share how we push back. How we build support. How we lead anyway.

This one is real. And it’s for anyone ready to lead with more clarity, care, and power.

for more information about my services visit www.natakigarrett.com/theladder

Leading Through Fire (Part Two)

What do you do when the emails stop, but your body is still bracing for impact?

In this episode, I talk about the quiet, often invisible work of healing after professional violence. I share what I lost—my ability to listen to music, to write poetry, to feel like myself—and how I slowly gave myself permission to rest, retreat, and return.

I speak honestly about what it means when your artistry is used against you, when your vision is framed as a liability, and when the systems you trusted to hold you instead tear you apart.

But this episode is also about what begins again.

The music that comes back.

The poem that finds you.

The moment you realize you don’t have to prove your resilience to anyone—not anymore.

This is for the leaders who feel broken open.

For the artists who can’t access their art.

For anyone who needs to hear: you are still whole. You are still here.

Ready to begin your healing?

I offer tools, support, and community to help leaders reclaim their clarity, artistry, and joy.

🌱 Explore offerings or join the Jumpstart Membership

You deserve more than survival.

You deserve your full self.