Content Warning: This episode includes stories of childhood trauma, war, and suicidal ideation. Please listen with care. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or visit 988lifeline.org. For international listeners, go to findahelpline.com.

One of the reasons this platform exists is to tell the unaddressed stories—those lived experiences that don’t make the press release or polished keynote, but shape who we become as leaders. This season, I’m bringing you a special series: Pass the Mic: Black Man Power Moves. It won’t run back-to-back. It will live inside the rhythm of this platform, because that’s how these conversations show up in real life and when they’re ready.

In this opening conversation, we hear from Michael W. Allison—combat veteran, Purple Heart recipient, TEDx speaker, and CEO of University Academy. But what makes this episode unforgettable is not his résumé. It’s the honesty. The unguarded truth. And the moments most people never say out loud.

Michael shares his story from Jamaica to Miami, from warzones to corporate boardrooms, and the breaking points that nearly ended his life. He opens up about childhood trauma, combat loss, and the long silence that followed—until he finally broke the bottle that held it all. More than a survival story, this is an invitation into the truth about wholeness, recovery, redemption, and belief.

In this episode, Michael shares:

• The untold cost of compartmentalized leadership—and what it took to break that cycle

• The moments of clarity that emerged after personal collapse

• How he rebuilt his life, his family, and his purpose

• His Break the Bottle methodology and why emotional honesty is a leadership tool

This episode is for the leaders who know the cost of their oil, the ones who've been through the fire carrying weight privately, leading while wounded and still showing up. It's for those who need a reminder - or maybe even permission now to break the bottle.

Connect with Michael W. Allison: Website: michaelwallison.com IG: @IAmMichaelWAllison Preorder the book Breaking the Bottle: Available July 2025

Work With Felicia Ford & Co.®: https://media.feliciafordandco.com/work-with-us This episode is part of our new series, Pass the Mic: Black Man Power Moves—where we create space for the real, layered stories of Black men navigating life, leadership, and legacy beyond what the world expects or assumes.

You’re leading the charge, but still stepping in to cover what should’ve been handled.

You’ve built the system. Delegated the work. Set the expectations. But here you are again…

…checking behind, picking up the slack, and carrying responsibilities that weren’t yours to begin with.

This isn’t about failure or even about hiring. It’s about a pattern; one that smart, seasoned leaders fall into because your capacity keeps getting mistaken for consent.

If your latest search looks something like this:

• “Why am I still doing everything?”

• “Signs my team isn’t working out”

• “Delegated but still doing it myself”

• “Team keeps dropping the ball”

• “Leadership burnout symptoms”

In this episode, Felicia Ford walks alongside you as you confront the real cost of overfunctioning in leadership and what shifts when you decide to stop carrying what isn’t yours. Because being “the one who always shows up” shouldn’t cost you your vision.

You’ll learn:

• What overfunctioning disguised as leadership actually looks like in day-to-day operations

• How misaligned hires (even the talented ones) can erode your flow and momentum

• Why boundaries must protect your business, not just your team

You’re done leaking energy. Let's Move.

This is your invitation to recalibrate your leadership rhythm.

NEXT STEPS:

Want to keep the conversation going? Here’s where to find us: https://media.feliciafordandco.com

Join Felicia for the Off Record, On Rhythm Fireside Chat Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 12:30PM EST: https://media.feliciafordandco.com/events

Get Strategic Edge Magazine: https://media.feliciafordandco.com/power-moves

Related Episodes: Episode 031 | How to Stay Ready for Every Opportunity

Episode 034 | How to Get Clear on What's Keeping You Stuck

Episode 067 | Built to Move 2 of 3: Who's Carrying the Work With You?

#teams #leadership #burnout #fatigue #systems #growth #scale #smallbusiness #business #CEO #nonprofit

What if saying “I need help” is one of the clearest signs your business is evolving?

Not everyone gets to that moment. It usually means things are working—but growing. It means the weight of decisions is shifting. And it means your next move will ask something different from you.

In this episode, I walk through the four readiness shifts that make space for support to work—without creating confusion, delays, or extra pressure.

You’ll hear:

• What it actually looks like when your business is ready to receive outside support

• How to shape a container that helps—not just hires

• Why readiness is more than a feeling—it’s structural

• How leaders build the rhythm and clarity to bring others in

If you’ve been thinking about hiring a strategist, OBM, or support team, this conversation is designed for where you are now. Ready to talk about it? Join me for Off Record, On Rhythm.

A LIVE Fireside Chat happening June 24 at 12:30PM ET.

We’re talking about real readiness: what it looks like before you bring in outside support, how to build the structure that helps you lead without bottlenecking, and what shifts when your business is built to move.

Save your seat: https://bit.ly/offrecordonrhythm

Apply now to work directly with Felicia Ford & Co.® through Momentum Day, a one-on-one or one with your team working session for business and nonprofits who've outgrown how things where working. It's time to create for where you're going. https://media.feliciafordandco.com/work-with-us

You’ve delivered the program. You’ve hosted the event. You’ve handled the follow-up. Your work has been referred, recommended, and repeated because it works. But even with that level of traction, you’ve likely also seen interest that doesn’t convert. Referrals that pause. Conversations that don’t lead to clear decisions. And when you’re running a service-based business or nonprofit with a small team and a full plate, the space to analyze what’s missing is rare.

In this episode, Felicia shares what she’s been experiencing behind the scenes from the real-time rhythm of producing, serving, and re-evaluating what’s next. She brings forward a pattern that leaders like you are facing: when the response doesn’t match the reputation, the next move is more structure.

From internal operations to external messaging, this conversation offers grounded shifts you can use now.

You’ll take away:

• How to identify where people pause and what to adjust without overhauling your entire operations

• The difference between being known and being ready to be worked with

• What it looks like to reduce friction in your service delivery and still remain true to your values and timing

If your work is steady but the number of clients and sales aren’t converting at the pace of interest, this episode gives you space to reflect and reposition. To speak directly with Felicia about your needs, visit media.feliciafordandco.com/work-with-us Next Steps: Get Strategic Edge: Power Moves for Businesses + Nonprofits https://media.feliciafordandco.com/power-moves

Work With Felicia Ford & Co.® - https://media.feliciafordandco.com/work-with-us

Access Your Resources: https://resources.feliciafordandco.com

If you’ve been sitting on something, waiting for the right moment—this is it.

This episode is about power moves—the ones that shift how you work and protect how you move through the rest of the year. The kind of moves that free up your calendar, position your next campaign, and make space for what you’ve already said you’re building.

I’m not offering a checklist or a pep talk. I’m walking you through the structure I use with my own clients—including how we’re preparing right now for Q4 across events, campaigns, culinary partnerships, and community programming.

Here’s what you’ll take from this episode:

• The 4 power moves every community-rooted leader needs to make before August

• How to recognize the moment when it’s time to move—without second guessing

• What staying ready actually looks like when you're running a business embedded in people, deadlines, and places

• Why your next move isn’t about speed—it’s about space

“Staying ready means building ahead of demand. It means making space before the pressure hits. It means getting clear now so that when the door opens, you’re not caught holding too much to walk through it.”

If you’re preparing something for the fall—an event, a program, or something bigger than a social post—Immersion is open now. And if you’re a chef, a musician, or someone who curates culture through movement and flavor, the Rhythm & Taste™ waitlist is open too.

Next Steps: Join the Rhythm & Taste Waitlist: https://media.feliciafordandco.com/rhythm-taste-waitlist

Apply to Immersion with Felicia: https://www.media.feliciafordandco.com/immersion

Get Resources: https://resources.feliciafordandco.com

#Creatives #Culinary #HRVA #Foodie #Culture #Musicians #FeliciaFordandCo

Why does it feel like you’ve built everything—your service, program, even a book—but it’s still waiting to move? How do you shift when your ideas are racing faster than your systems? What does it take to design growth that carries your work beyond you?

In this final episode of the Built to Move series, we close the loop on how design creates the architecture your work needs to be experienced, distributed, and sustained. You’ll discover how to move from reactive decision-making to strategic structure, why growth doesn’t happen by accident, and how to build momentum that fuels your vision without burning out.

You’ll learn:

• How to design the plan for your work to move forward even when you can’t be everywhere.

• The difference between building new things and designing better growth for what already exists.

• Real-world examples from Strategic Edge magazine and National Black Girl Month that show how intentional design supports lasting impact.

This episode is your invitation to lead from structure, giving your work the rhythm and follow-through it needs to reach further and breathe easier. Ready to stop cycling and start moving? Let’s go.

Next Steps: Apply to work with Felicia: https://media.feliciafordandco.com/work-with-us

Get Strategic Edge Magazine: https://media.feliciafordandco.com/power-moves

Explore the Built to Move series: Episode 066 | How I Build the Rhythm Behind Every Program, Platform & Team Episode 067 | Who's Carrying the Work With You?

How do you know when someone is truly moving with you—and not just watching you move? What if the reason your systems feel strained has nothing to do with your structure and everything to do with who’s standing inside of it? And in this season of building, scaling, and leading—who’s actually carrying this with you?

In this second installment of Built to Move, Felicia Ford shifts the focus to alignment—not the buzzword, not the catchphrase—but the actual pace, posture, and presence of the people in your circle. This conversation is about rhythm as leadership, about systems that breathe, and about what it really takes to sustain your work without breaking your back (or your spirit). Whether you’re leading a team, mapping out your next season, or just trying to determine what’s “off” in your growth—this episode names what most people ignore.

In this episode, you’ll explore:

• How to define alignment by pace, posture, and energy—not just intention

• The three questions every Change Maker must ask before calling someone a power partner

• Why rhythm matters more than readiness—and how to spot misalignment before it costs you

If the pace looks right on paper but nothing’s flowing the way it should, this conversation will meet you there.

Next Steps:

Next Steps:

Email me "Structure": https://resources.feliciafordandco.com/thelist

Limited Time - Get Your FREE Power Partner Playbook: https://resources.feliciafordandco.com/partnerplaybook

Work With Me: https://media.feliciafordandco.com/services

Get the National Black Girl Month Toolkit: www.nationalblackgirlmonth.com

Access Resources: https://resources.feliciafordandco.com

You’ve already learned how to manage the work. But at this stage, it’s not about management—it’s about movement. Not more doing. Not more hours. Just rhythm. The kind that frees your time without compromising the weight of what you’ve built.

If you’re running a licensed program, managing a multi-channel campaign, or holding the leadership seat in a nonprofit, school, small business, or ministry—you already know what it means to lead across overlapping timelines. And yet, you may not have named the structure that’s holding all of it together.

In this first episode of the Built to Move series, I’m walking you through how I design the rhythm that keeps the work moving—without chasing tasks or micromanaging the pieces. You’ll hear exactly how I’ve built systems that support five-month podcast content plans, multi-platform campaigns like National Black Girl Month™, and high-level client advisory—while still serving as a CEO and Executive Director.

But more importantly, you’ll see what that looks like in your world—in real, local, people-powered community work. Whether it’s coordinating volunteers, onboarding team members, or documenting your impact for funders and partners, this episode unpacks the thinking, the structure, and the tools behind consistency that doesn’t rely on burnout.

This is not about hustle. It’s about leadership that breathes. Because when the systems work, you show up ready—for strategy, for people, and for what’s next.

Ready to hear how I built it? Let’s go.

Next Steps:

Email me "Structure": https://resources.feliciafordandco.com/thelist

Get the National Black Girl Month Toolkit: www.nationalblackgirlmonth.com

Access Resources: https://resources.feliciafordandco.com