My mission is to build the internal capacity of leaders through daring leadership, clear visioning, and unwavering intentionality.
I’ve always been a dreamer, but I haven’t always been a doer.
I could envision what I wanted and how I wanted to be or show up, but there was a block. A serious block. A self-imposed block.
I didn’t realize it then but I do now.
“No one nominated Harriet Tubman to her purpose, to her courage, to her mission.”
CLEO WADE
As a child, I was an engaged student, an achiever. Involved. A people-pleasing perfectionist. I wanted to do well and be liked. On the other side of this, I had ideas, opinions, and dreams. I wanted to lead. I wanted to influence people and processes. However, I suppressed most of this, especially in educational and professional settings. I didn’t trust myself enough or the setting to speak up, speak out, fully showcase myself, my views, and be seen AND heard. I was afraid. Fearful. I lacked courage.
As I got older, much of this fear (armor too) came with me. It manifested as shame i.e. my thinking I wasn’t good enough and hustling for a sense of self-worth. Whenever I thought I could become a doer, my inner critic told me to fall back in line. I continued to mute myself and hold back from fully being ME for fear of what was on the other side. Meanwhile, I was still striving for excellence in ways that were not healthy or conducive to my wellbeing while shying away from leadership.
I have always had a keen interest in people. I wanted to understand their minds and behaviors. In my pre-teen years, I’d use my babysitting money to purchase books from the self-help section as I wanted to understand people and how I could support them. This eventually led to a career in social work and executive coaching.
Within the last ten years, I’ve had an opportunity to acknowledge and own my power as a leader. I am a leader. I enjoy leading people and processes. I’ve been fortunate to work with many aspiring and seasoned leaders of companies and organizations across the country.
Through this work, I’ve learned that there are many people who want to use their gifts and step into leadership or even be a better leader, but there is a block- a block similar to what I experienced much of my life and continuously fight against. This is when everything began to click. I realized that I had an opportunity. I have an innate ability to connect with others, so I wanted to use this ability and myself as an instrument to empower and support other leaders to fully become the leader they envision. Thus the birth of Lakeya Cherry LLC, an executive coaching and consulting business.
