Episodes

Demarra West: From Trauma to Authority — Building a Business on Your Own Terms Welcome to Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation, where we dive deep into the lives and journeys of incredible women. In this episode, host Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Detroit-based Trauma Responsive Therapist, Author, and Founder, Demarra West. This intimate conversation explores what it truly means to build a business—and a life—on your own terms. Demarra, also the author of Me Too: A Therapist's Journey to ...

When Life Lifes: A Real-Time Pivot with Oryn Stewart What if the most powerful asset you possess for your next chapter is precisely what you've been told to leave behind? In this episode, we close out The Execution Series: Power, Pivot & Purpose with a demonstration of true leadership. When the unexpected happens and plans change, real leaders adapt. In this instance, life intervened. Our scheduled guest was unable to join, and instead of canceling, we executed a real-time pivot strategy . Oryn ...

purpose-driven leadership The Purpose Catalyst: Leadership, Risk & Resilience with Dr. Connie Y. Bell What if the most powerful thing you can bring to the boardroom is exactly what they told you to leave at the door? Host Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Dr. Connie Y. Bell in this episode of The Execution Series: Power, Pivot & Purpose . Dr. Bell is a transformational executive leader, doctoral mentor, and author who excels at the intersection of leadership, risk governance, and human resilience...

Healing Lineage Trauma Part 1 was the story. This is the work. In Part 2 of this two-part conversation, Rima Desai — transformational life coach, spiritual healer, and Masters-trained counseling psychologist — goes into the interior work that changed everything. Where do limited beliefs actually come from? How does inherited trauma live in the body across generations? And what did energy healing shift for Rima when years of traditional approaches alone couldn't get her all the way there? This is...

Career Pivot What if the most powerful story you ever tell isn't the one on the screen — but the one you coordinate behind the scenes? In this installment of The Execution Series: Power, Pivot & Purpose , host Deneen L. Garrett is chatting with Nicole Welch — seasoned Production Manager, Television Academy member, and 2026 Produced By magazine spotlight honoree. From Detroit's control rooms to managing global broadcasts and live sports, Nicole defines what it means to execute at the highest leve...

Own Your Voice and stop letting your communication style hold your career back. In this episode, Tanya Spencer — founder of FCK Being Stuck Coaching and Master of "Bad-Asshery" — breaks down the Likability vs. Competence matrix, why credentials alone aren't enough, and how to reclaim 200 hours of non-promotable work. This is the conversation that shifts how you show up in every room.

What happens when the traditional path doesn't fit the legacy you are building? In the powerful conclusion of our "She Who Mothers: Redefining Legacy, Love & Lineage" series, host Deneen L. Garrett sits down with RIMIDI (pronounced RE-ME-DY or RIM-IDI) — a Miami-born visionary creating sacred impact through sound, soul, and story. As an independent artist and mother, RIMIDI recently bypassed industry norms to release her latest work, JUNO: THE LATE BLOOMER, directly to her fans. In this conversa...

"She didn't shrink to fit the room. She expanded what the room could hold." In the third installment of our May series, She Who Mothers: Redefining Legacy, Love & Lineage, host Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Violette Omotosho — Senior Relationship Manager, Pastoral Leader, Speaker, and Writer — to explore what it means to lead with your full self intact. For over 15 years, Violette has navigated the intersection of faith, corporate leadership, and cultural identity — without leaving any part o...

"She didn't wait for the system to catch up. She built a new one." In this episode of our May series, She Who Mothers: Redefining Legacy, Love & Lineage, host Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Muji Bekomson — Medical Laboratory Scientist, Founder of FEMME Health Companion, and Top 50 Voice in African Tech — to explore what happens when a woman stops waiting to be heard and starts building what should have existed all along. When a doctor dismissed Muji's severe symptoms with "just get pregnant," ...

What happens when a child grows up carrying grief she has no language for — and discovers at age 12 that she can read minds? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Rima Desai — transformational life coach, spiritual healer, and Masters-trained counseling psychologist — takes us all the way back. Born in Mumbai, India, Rima lost her mother at age 6 in a moment that shattered her entire world. She grew up in a home heavy with silence, in a culture where grief was never spoken aloud — and where e...

"She who mothers, prepares. She who mothers, builds a world without borders for her lineage." In the kickoff to our May series, host Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Lynelle Baker-Hall — Senior Government Advisor, entrepreneur, and author — to explore what it truly means to mother a legacy without borders. After experiencing the loss of her mother, Lynelle transformed grief into a global mission: the Plan B philosophy. Today, she shares how she is passing this legacy of freedom down to her adult...

"You don't wait for permission. You become it. And when you become it — everything rises to meet you." In the final installment of our Women Who Build: Legacy in Real Time series, we're diving deep into the architecture of influence. How do you take years of high-level expertise and turn it into a global platform? Host Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Trish Lindo — a FAMU graduate and storytelling strategist who spent over a decade at media giants like CNN, Yahoo!, and Oprah.com. As the Founder ...

Two hundred episodes. And we're just getting started. Episode 200 of Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation is here — and it arrives exactly the way it should: with a conversation that goes straight to the heart of what this podcast has always been about. Identity. Legacy. Leading as your full self. Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Kaila James — senior strategic global leader, cultural architect, and recording artist — for a milestone episode that doesn't celebrate by slowing down. It celebrat...

Santana Inniss walked away from corporate, looked around at the women being left behind, and decided to do something about it. In this episode, the Founder of The Glow Initiative (Glowi) joins Deneen L. Garrett to share how she is ending barriers to professional coaching and what it really means to build a legacy that opens doors for others. In this episode of Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation, we explore: The Corporate Pivot: The specific decision that shifted Santana from the corporate ...

What if the thing holding you back isn’t your circumstances — it’s the story you keep telling yourself about your circumstances? Dr. Brandy Peer has spent her career inside that question — and built an entire practice around helping women answer it, dismantle it, and move. In this episode of Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation, Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Dr. Brandy Peer — CEO of BMPowered Consulting, LLC, Identity Architect, speaker, and consultant who has dedicated her career to dism...

She arrived in the U.S. at 27. Never been on a plane. Left her entire family in India. Faked her accent so no one would notice where she came from. Worked harder than anyone in the room — and learned the hard way that hard work without a voice is invisible. Dr. Charu Chopra is a physical therapist of 17 years. For the past 7+, 100% of her patients have been women. She specializes in pelvic floor and breast rehab therapy — and she is one of the most honest, direct voices in women’s health working...

You were built to lead. So why does the path keep feeling out of reach? In this episode of Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation, Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Gia Warren — strategic operations and program management leader, MBA, and global executive with leadership experience at Lumen, Intel, Amazon, and AT&T — for a conversation about what it truly means to be built to lead. Gia shares the decision that shifted how she sees herself, what she had to unlearn on the road to operational exce...

Deneen L. Garrett is joined by internationally recognized advocate and empowerment coach Kalyn Fahie for a powerful conversation on money, safety, and rebuilding self-trust. Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation — a 100 Best Women ’ s Empowerment Podcast — continues its LIVE era by exploring what financial power truly means for women who are rebuilding their lives, identities, and futures. In this episode, Kalyn shares the deeper framework behind “ Money as Safety” — and how women, particular...

Stop shrinking. Raise your standards. Your experience doesn’t expire — it compounds. In Episode 194 of Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation , host Deneen L. Garrett sits down with luxury personal brand strategist Cheryl Pullins for a masterclass in visibility and positioning. This is a mandate for the woman 50+ who is ready to be seen, positioned, and paid at the level she has earned. Building a luxury brand isn't about "fluff"—it’s about the architecture of your authority. In this episode, ...

Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation — a Top 20 podcast on the 100 Best Women’s Empowerment Podcast list — is entering a new era. In this episode, Deneen L. Garrett is joined by Leon Thomas (The Leon Thomas Group) to share the shift from a traditional podcast format to a LIVE weekly experience. Why go live? What changes? And what does this mean for Women of Color — especially Black women 50+ — seeking conversations centered in leadership, visibility, wealth, and legacy ? This conversation br...

EPISODE 192 — Alcohol as a Coping Mechanism: Grief, High-Functioning Binge Drinking & Life Beyond the Binge Full episode notes: https://www.womenofcoloranintimateconversation.com/high-functioning/ High-functioning doesn’t always mean okay. Sometimes it’s a mask for grief, binge drinking, and survival. In this episode of Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation (a 100 Best Women’s Empowerment podcast), host Deneen L. Garrett sits down with Colleen Clifford — author, speaker, coach, and commercial...

In this powerful return conversation, Victoria Finch — known as The Heart Healer — joins host Deneen L. Garrett for an intimate, deeply reflective dialogue on inner child healing, emotional freedom, leadership, and the power of community . Victoria shares the origin of her healing work, the childhood moment that shaped her life’s mission, and how decades of trauma recovery, hypnotherapy, and personal healing now inform the way she supports women at pivotal turning points. Together, Deneen and Vi...

Episode 190 In this intimate and deeply necessary conversation, we’re joined by Dr. Wendy Ashley — a nationally recognized Black and biracial clinician, professor, author, change agent, and Department Chair of the MSW program at Cal State Northridge. Her current book is a bold act of reclamation: a vulnerable exploration of biracial identity, anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and light-skinned privilege — and the healing that becomes possible when we stop suppressing our truths. Together, we unpa...

Episode 189 In this powerful conversation, Cultural Producer and Artrepreneur Dontae T. Muse joins Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation to explore his journey through creativity, community, and legacy-building in Black art. Dontae shares how getting fired became his catalyst for stepping into purpose, how he built Above Art Studios into a cultural home for creatives, why documenting knowledge became part of his mission, and how he is shaping the future through his roles at the Harlem Fine Ar...