(photo by: LC Morissette)
Reducing ourselves and the potential impact of our ideas (via hiding, forgetting, over-doing, over-sharing, and other creative methods) has become a popular approach to expanding for many of us with PhDs. We're thought leaders, shaping the future of society through our research, teaching, and our service - both inside and outside of the ivory.
Reduction is, however, antithetical to sustained expansion. To the sustained application of our research for a better world.
It hinders well-being, creativity, innovation, effective leadership and all kinds of impact (social, financial, interpersonal, you name it).
Thankfully, it's not the only way.
The Opposite Way™ is for people with PhDs* navigating milestones such as tenure packets, annual reviews, new teaching preps, revised syllabi, new research pipelines, PhD student mentoring, or innovative community offerings rooted in their research.
It's for PhDs who want to navigate these milestones feeling grounded, self-assured, and confident in their value and the value of their work.
They want to recognize and let go of patterns of reduction as a means of expansion.
They want to expand into the person they are becoming in this next stage of their career, and not burn out in the process.
They want to go the opposite way™ - the way of wholeness which:
- Views expansion as a bold, sacred, soft, and cyclical journey of building relationship with space and spaciousness.
- Says you can trust that you have done, are doing, and will do enough.
- Invites us into new bold, sacred, and soft patterns of expansion - patterns that honor slowing down, listening, and trusting ourselves and our agency across time and space.
I curate rites of passage and pilgrimage that support PhDs navigating career milestones along this bold, cyclical, and sacred journey.
The rites of passage and pilgrimage:
People with PhDs can work with me in the following ways:
- 1:1 Coaching through a milestone, or
- 1:1 Coaching + Solo Retreat for extra support through a milestone
Join the interest list below to learn more about these two ways of working with me (my current capacity, requested investment, and more).
*PhDs are folks who have completed their PhD student journey.
Background as a Trauma Sensitive Coach:
Some of my education and training to do this work is rooted in my lineage of freedom fighters. Some of it is rooted in my love of Black feminist writers. Some of it is rooted in my practice of yoga and meditation. And some of it is rooted in my doctoral training and 9+ years as a professor who studies and teaches topics related to organizational behavior, human resources, and equity + wellness at work. Read below for more specifics.
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- I am a professional coach and am in process of earning certification in personal development coaching from The CAPP Institute (coursework completed in 2025).
- I was certified to be a yoga teacher (RYT) 200 from Sacred Chill {West}, under the teaching and training of Octavia Raheem and Meryl Arnett. I am also completed the 300hr Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga Certification. I first stepped onto a yoga mat in the summer of 2004. Grief and work-related burnout brought me to the mat then, and continued to bring me back to the practices and teachings, no matter how long I stepped away. Being in an inclusive and social justice oriented community, rooted in liberatory praxis at Sacred Chill {West} in Atlanta, Georgia helped me to commit to the teachings and practices in 2017.
- I have also studied with and respect the teachings of Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts, Tracee Stanley, Dr. Chanti Tacoronte-Perez and my friends and family.
You may find me in several places. But no matter where you find me, I will invite you to feel connected, to access your wholeness, to laugh, and to feel free. No matter what.
Sign up for my newsletter here.