I was doing everything right. I had the degrees, the certifications, the relationships. And when the perfect role finally opened up — someone was quietly working behind the scenes to block me from getting it.

This week, I'm telling the full story: how I went from administrative assistant to certified coach, three levels up. The gut instinct that made me turn down a role I'd already accepted. The coach who told me I'd be good at this when I didn't even know what coaching was. And the advocates who had my back when someone was trying to push me out.

This is a story about trusting yourself, building real relationships, and refusing to do more to prove what you've already earned.

In this episode:

• My real career story — from retail to biotech to coaching, and the moment someone tried to block my promotion
• Why I turned down a role 24 hours after accepting it — and why trusting your gut matters
• How advocacy showed up from every direction: a skip-level manager, a peer leader, and a manager who wrote the letter for me
• Why administrative assistants are some of the most strategic people in the building (and why people sleep on them)
• The difference between a mentor and a sponsor — and why one sponsor isn't enough

The 3 things I want you to focus on:

1. Build your strategy — get advocates from different angles (your manager, a skip-level, a peer who isn't your boss)
2. Know your non-negotiables — your title, your pay, your market value, and where you stand next to everyone else
3. Know your sell — learn to name the impact you create, because nobody else will do it for you

What I want you to walk away with: Your skills, your credentials, and your relationships are your leverage. Diversify them — don't put all your eggs in one basket. And remember, the goal isn't for everyone to like you. It's for them to respect what you bring to the table.

🔗 Work with me 1:1 — The Career Lab: Three months of weekly coaching for the woman who's ready to get promoted, navigate someone blocking her, or grow into a leader even without the title. Book a call: https://coachingwithtasheena.as.me/sales

📬 Read my Substack — Off the Org Chart: New research-backed articles every Sunday.

https://substack.com/@tbraxtoncoach

Connect with me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coach_tasheena/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coachtasheena

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tasheena-braxton-msod-cpcc-orscc-ccmp-pcc-11b14a69/

🎧 New episodes every Wednesday. Missed last week? Summer Series Episode 2 "Code Switching Is Not a Strategy. It Is a Tax." — is the perfect lead-in to this one.

If this episode resonated, share it with someone who needs it and leave a comment — it helps others find the show.

Media Credits: Images and visual content created with Canva and licensed via Storyblocks.

You're at your kid's game, phone in hand—technically present, but are you really there?

In this deeply personal kickoff to her summer series Leading Through Every Season of Life, Coach TaSheena unpacks the difference between being in the room and being present in it. After a night at her son's basketball game made her confront a years-long pattern of showing up without actually being there, she started connecting the dots between the life you live outside of work and the leader you become inside it.

Drawing on Harvard research on parental presence, Gallup's end-of-career regret data, and a University of Texas study on phones and connection, she makes the case that how you show up at home is the same muscle that makes you a better leader at work.

In this episode:

• Why quality of engagement—not quantity of time—shapes how our kids turn out
• What people actually regret at the end of their careers (it's never the extra emails)
• The leadership link most people miss: presence at home and presence at work are one practice
• Three tools to shift from distracted to dialed-in—the Countdown, the Intention Check, and the Weekly Audit

Your question for the week: Where are your bleachers? Who is asking for your full presence and getting something less—and how many summers do you have left in it?

Count your summers. They're going by whether you're present for them or not.

🎧 Book a coaching call (https://coachingwithtasheena.as.me/sales) • Follow on Instagram @coach_tasheena

New episodes every Wednesday.

Somewhere along the way, many of us were taught that advancement requires becoming someone else.

Speak up more.
Be more visible.
Get comfortable with self-promotion.
Adapt to the culture.

And maybe it worked—at least on paper.

In this episode, I name a truth that doesn't get talked about enough: self-abandonment is often rewarded early in our careers—but it becomes unsustainable at higher levels of leadership.

I break down how women of color, especially introverted women of color, are conditioned to perform a version of leadership that was never designed with us in mind—and why that performance comes at a steep cost: our energy, our health, our creativity, and eventually our careers.

We explore:

• Why "executive presence" and similar feedback often masks a deeper systemic issue

• How code-switching, masking, and constant self-monitoring quietly drain your capacity

• Why performance may get you promoted—but stalls you at the next level

• The difference between burnout from work and burnout from inauthenticity

• How energy, presence, and conviction—not performance—create real influence

I also reframe the Peter Principle through an identity lens: when you perform a version of leadership that isn't yours, you don't just rise to the level of incompetence—you rise to the level of inauthenticity. And performance doesn't scale.

This episode is an invitation to stop treating self-abandonment as a strategy and start leading from a place of alignment, embodiment, and trust in who you already are.

If you've ever felt exhausted not by the work itself—but by who you have to be to do the work—this conversation is for you.

00:00 The Cost of Becoming Someone You Don't Recognize
02:00 Why Corporate Standards Were Never Designed for You
05:00 Performance, Promotion & the Bigger Cage
06:00 The Peter Principle — Reframed Through Identity
09:00 Burnout Isn't About the Work, It's About the Performance
12:00 Why Energy Always Tells the Truth
15:00 Leadership Is Connection — And Performance Blocks It
16:00 What Happens When You Lead Anchored vs. Masked
18:00 Reclaiming Quiet Strength, Depth & Discernment
21:00 Where Are You Abandoning Yourself and Calling It Strategy?
23:00 Leading Beyond the Title — Without Self-Betrayal

🔗 Work With Me: 1:1 Leadership & Career Coaching

If you're a woman of color who wants to grow your career without becoming someone you don't recognize—this coaching is for you.

Together, we'll define your leadership on your terms, create visibility that doesn't require performance, and strengthen the relationships that actually shape decisions—so you stop waiting to be picked and start being pursued.

🔗 Apply for 1:1 coaching by booking a call here:
BOOK A CALL HERE

Where to Find TaSheena
Sign up for "A Seat At The Table," my Weekly Newsletter that empowers WOC leaders and their teams to build their own seats at the table.

LinkedIn | Instagram | Website | TikTok

Welcome back to Leadership Beyond the Title Podcast!

📜 Summary
If you've ever struggled to get your quieter team members to share their strengths — or felt frustrated when team discussions get dominated by the loudest voices — this episode is for you.

In this episode, I share how I used a football analogy combined with Visual Explorer cards to unlock collective leadership in a recent team session. I break down why most teams misunderstand collective leadership (hint: it's not about everyone doing everything the same way), and why asking people to "name their strengths" directly often backfires — especially for introverts, women, and anyone who finds self-promotion uncomfortable.

You'll learn the football principle: why you can't win with 11 quarterbacks, and why every position — from the offensive line to the running back to the coach — is essential to a winning team. I walk you through how I used visual thinking tools to help even the quietest people articulate their unique contributions without feeling like they were bragging.

By the end of this episode, you'll have a framework for teaching your team what makes a good team, plus a practical tool to help everyone — especially the quiet ones — claim their position and feel valued.

📖 Chapters
00:00 Introduction: Why Quiet Team Members Struggle to Share Strengths
03:00 What Collective Leadership Actually Means
04:30 The Football Principle: Every Position Matters
08:00 Breaking Down the Positions: Quarterbacks, Offensive Line, Running Backs & More
13:00 Coaches, General Managers & The Full Team System
15:00 Collective Leadership: Everyone Doing Their Thing
17:00 Why Asking Directly About Strengths Backfires
21:00 Using Visual Explorer Cards to Unlock Strengths
25:00 Work With Me: 1:1 Leadership Coaching
27:00 What Happened When the Team Used Visual Cards
30:00 The Four Elements of Collective Leadership
33:00 Combining Framework + Tool for Real Results
36:00 Reflection Questions for Your Team
38:00 Why Visual Tools Work (Even When You Think You Don't Need Them)

🔗 Work With Me: 1:1 Leadership & Career Coaching
If you're a woman of color who wants to grow your career without shape-shifting, overperforming, or silencing yourself — my 1:1 leadership coaching is designed for you.

We'll get clear on the kind of leader you are (and want to be), create simple ways for you to be seen at work that don't require you to be loud or "on," and strengthen the relationships that actually influence decisions — so opportunities come to you instead of you waiting to be picked.

🔗 Apply for 1:1 coaching by booking a call here:
BOOK A CALL HERE

Where to Find TaSheena
Sign up for "A Seat At The Table," my Weekly Newsletter that empowers WOC leaders and their teams to build their own seats at the table.

LinkedIn | Instagram | Website | TikTok