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Black History Month: From the Birth of the Internet to the Age of AI

Unbeknownst to me at the time, I lived through a moment of Black history that would quietly—but profoundly—shape my future. Picture this. It’s my senior year at Texas A&M, and while making Black history myself as only the second Black female petroleum engineering graduate, I became fascinated with computers and the early internet. I wasn’t interested in changing my major, but I was deeply curious about possibility. I started asking questions—especially about how oil and data might mix. I watched [...]

By |2026-02-06T20:02:52-06:00February 6th, 2026|Culture & Inclusion|Comments Off on Black History Month: From the Birth of the Internet to the Age of AI
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Reclaiming Merit: Why Culture Change Demands We Mend—Not End—Meritocracy

An effective weapon doesn’t have to be new—it just has to be familiar, emotionally charged, and poorly understood. Right now, that weapon is merit. In a recent Los Angeles Times essay, David Glasgow explains how the language of meritocracy is being deliberately used to undermine culture-change efforts. Calls to “restore merit-based opportunity” suggest that fairness has somehow been lost—when in reality, fairness has often been selectively applied. The implication is subtle but powerful: if inclusion exists, merit must be absent. [...]

By |2026-02-18T17:04:29-06:00January 21st, 2026|Culture & Inclusion|Comments Off on Reclaiming Merit: Why Culture Change Demands We Mend—Not End—Meritocracy
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Women in Leadership: From Milestones to Momentum

This week, I have the privilege of speaking at the Foundation for Women’s Leadership and Empowerment's Women's Leadership Conference in Las Vegas. The energy in the room is electric—leaders from every sector, gathered to not only celebrate our progress but also to lean into the work that’s still ahead of us. And let me tell you, the timing couldn’t be more perfect. For the first time in history, women now lead 11% of Fortune 500 companies. Eleven percent may not [...]

By |2025-10-23T16:50:14-05:00September 23rd, 2025|Culture & Inclusion, Leading|0 Comments
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Turning Conflict into Clarity: How Leaders Can Leverage Ideational Differences

In every room where progress is made, there’s bound to be some tension. As a leadership expert and engineer by trade, I’ve learned that not all conflict is personal. Sometimes, it’s the push and pull of ideas—what I call ideational conflict—that creates the spark for innovation. This type of conflict doesn’t stem from personality clashes or miscommunication. It arises when team members have fundamentally different ideas, perspectives, or approaches to solving a problem. And when managed well, it can lead [...]

By |2025-07-09T10:51:37-05:00July 9th, 2025|Culture & Inclusion, Leading|0 Comments
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Faith at Work: Respect, Grace, and the Gentle Invitation

The Most Spiritual Act at Work Might Be Respect One of the most spiritual things we can do in the workplace isn’t preaching or praying out loud—it’s respecting and appreciating someone else’s faith practice. At its core, honoring another’s beliefs reflects the grace that Jesus modeled throughout His ministry. Much of the New Testament is filled with stories of Christ engaging people where they were, not forcing them into belief, but inviting them through compassion, humility, and truth.   An [...]

By |2025-06-27T11:16:29-05:00June 26th, 2025|Culture & Inclusion, Leading|0 Comments
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From Inner Critic to Inner Coach: Reframing the Voice Within

We all carry a voice within us — that persistent inner monologue that often tells us we're not good enough, smart enough, or talented enough to pursue what we truly desire. For many of us, especially women navigating leadership, entrepreneurship, and personal growth, this "inner critic" can be the loudest voice in the room. But what if I told you that this inner critic could also be your inner coach? What if, instead of silencing it or letting it hold [...]

By |2025-03-13T15:47:10-05:00March 13th, 2025|Culture & Inclusion, Healing, Leading, Lifting|0 Comments
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The Door of No Return: Honoring Those Who Couldn’t Contribute

Last summer, during my trip to Ghana, I had the solemn privilege of visiting Cape Coast Castle—one of the many sites that served as a final holding place for enslaved Africans before their forced journey across the Atlantic. Within its walls lies the Door of No Return, a small, narrow passage through which countless men, women, and children were taken—forever severed from their homeland, their culture, and the futures they might have built. Walking through that space was an overwhelming [...]

By |2025-02-27T09:49:16-06:00February 26th, 2025|Culture & Inclusion|0 Comments
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The Tale of Three Interns

When I was a project manager leading global change initiatives, I had the opportunity to mentor interns and add them to my team. My first intern, we’ll call him LM, performed well, exceeded my expectations, and presenting his work to executives at the end of the summer. This young student from an HBCU showed everyone what young Black engineers were capable of (I didn’t need convincing, but I knew my peers did). The next summer, I had another Black engineering [...]

By |2025-02-05T13:56:49-06:00January 30th, 2025|Culture & Inclusion|0 Comments
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Want to be an ally? Just ask!

Fear stands in the way of well intentioned people when it comes to allyship in the workplace. Many senior managers and executives are wary of doing and saying the wrong thing. So they stay quiet. High profile missteps and misfires have contributed to a miscalibration in how allyship efforts are perceived. It doesn’t have to be this way. New research has found that advantaged groups greatly underestimate the positive effects of allyship in the workplace. On average, attempts at allyship [...]

By |2024-06-23T05:39:56-05:00June 23rd, 2024|Culture & Inclusion, Leading|0 Comments
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