Complimentary
Discovery conversation
30 minutes to see if the fit is right. We name the season you are in and decide whether to work together.
- No pitch. Honest assessment.
- Clear next step, either way.
For women who are tired of translating themselves
Lead as yourself.
Not as the version they expected.
Life and leadership coaching for minority women navigating white corporate America — the politics, the performance reviews, and the quiet cost of staying in the room.
Code-switching without losing yourself · Asking for the number · Finding sponsors, not just mentors · Staying whole while you rise
The work
Coaching for the rooms that were not built with you in mind.
This is not a pep talk. It is strategy, language, and a place to tell the truth — about the double bind, the “culture fit” conversation, and what it takes to stay ambitious without disappearing.
Core offering
1:1 leadership coaching
Ongoing sessions for promotions, new seats, political landmines, and the identity work that comes with all three.
- Monthly or biweekly cadence
- Between-session notes and scripts
Focused
The raise & the room
A short intensive before a review, negotiation, or high-stakes meeting. We write the ask and rehearse the room.
- Two sessions in 14 days
- Talk track you can take in with you
Bookable calendar
Reserve a session. Pick a day, then a time.
Times shown in Eastern. This is a working mockup — choosing a slot opens a request form, not a live payment.
Open Unavailable
Step 1
Choose a date on the left
Open weekdays show 50-minute sessions. Discovery calls and intensives use the same calendar.
Available times
Field notes
Resources you can use before the next meeting.
Short, practical pieces — language for the hallway, the 1:1, and the review that always seems to arrive undercooked.
Code-switching without losing the plot
How to be fluent in the room without making fluency the whole job.
Read & discuss in session →When “you’re so articulate” is not a compliment
Three responses that keep you professional and do not swallow the slight.
Read & discuss in session →Ask for the number like you already belong
A structure for compensation conversations when the data is not on the table.
Read & discuss in session →Mentors advise. Sponsors spend capital.
How to tell the difference — and how to ask for the latter without groveling.
Read & discuss in session →The “needs more executive presence” loop
What that phrase often means, and how to force a more useful conversation.
Read & discuss in session →Leaving the meeting without taking it home
A closing practice for the days that cost more than they should.
Read & discuss in session →Watching room
Talks that tell the truth about the workplace.
A starter library — not homework. Use them to name what you have been carrying, then bring the live questions to coaching.
The danger of a single story
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on who gets to narrate a life — and what happens when they get it wrong.
Color blind or color brave?
Mellody Hobson on why pretending not to see race is not the same as leading well.
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable
Luvvie Ajayi Jones on speaking when the room would rather you stay pleasant.
Get serious about inclusion
Janet Stovall on what companies owe people who are already doing the extra work.
From the work
What clients tend to say when they can finally exhale.
“I stopped translating every sentence in my head. That alone changed how I show up in the staff meeting.”
“She did not ask me to be less angry. She asked me what the anger was protecting — then we wrote the ask.”
“First time a coach understood both the politics and the hair-touching. I did not have to educate her first.”
The practice
Arlene Kelly, founder
I spent fifteen years in strategy rooms that praised my “polish” and then asked me to wait my turn. I learned the map. I also learned what it cost. This practice exists so you do not have to invent that map alone.
I coach Black, Latina, Asian, Indigenous, and other women of color who are high-performing and quietly exhausted — the ones who are “fine” in public and keeping a second set of books at home.
Sessions are virtual, confidential, and paced like a serious conversation, not a webinar. If you want a cheerleader, this is the wrong door. If you want a thinking partner who has sat in the chair, book the calendar.
See open times