You build a space rooted in Black values, Black vision, Black leadership, and then people walk in carrying every unresolved thing from every other space they've ever been in.

David and Trenia discuss what happens when participants of all identities, ethnicities and backgrounds show up to values-driven spaces and expect to be coddled, and their comfort to be accommodated. Replaying old roles like savior, fixer, or devil's advocate, centering their discomfort over the people and culture that already exists, and undermining Black leadership while staying charming to everyone else.

They also discuss how to tell the difference between a healthy challenge and someone importing their organizational demons. Protecting a Black-led space is about stewardship more than gatekeeping. And the people who call it gatekeeping are usually the ones the gate was built for.

Have you ever had someone bring their organizational demons into a space you helped build? What did you do, and what do you wish you'd done?

Want to get in touch with David at StrivEquity? Visit https://strivequity.com/

Are you a new nonprofit executive director or senior leader that’s overwhelmed in your new position and looking for support? Schedule a complimentary, 30-minute consultation with Trenia. Click the link to book your call https://bit.ly/slconsultation

Leaving a job, starting a business, and walking away from an institution for Black leaders are not simple career moves, nor have they ever been. From convict leasing and sharecropper contracts to sundown towns, the freedom to exit has always come with a price.

David and Trenia trace that line from history to right now, asking what it means that entrepreneurship is being offered as the solution to mass displacement from the workforce, and how we distinguish between choosing to leave and being pushed out when the system may not allow that distinction at all. The "just start a business" advice ignores a history where Black exit was criminalized, and a present where the safety net is disappearing.

Has fear of what comes after ever kept you in a job you knew you needed to leave? What did that cost you?

Want to get in touch with David at StrivEquity? Visit https://strivequity.com/

Are you a new nonprofit executive director or senior leader that’s overwhelmed in your new position and looking for support? Schedule a complimentary, 30-minute consultation with Trenia. Click the link to book your call https://bit.ly/slconsultation

What do Black people inside nonprofits owe the communities they came from?

That's the question at the center of this episode, sparked by Kevin Hart's defense of a George Floyd joke at his own Netflix roast, and sharpened by a story Van Lathan Jr. shared about his time at TMZ: a brother from the Nation of Islam told him plainly, if this goes wrong, we're blaming you, not the institution.

David and Trenia dig into the dishonesty of claiming limited power when it's convenient and outsized credit when it's not, and what accountability looks like when you're the one inside the room.

Have you ever been the Black person in the room when an institution did something harmful to your community? What did you do, and what are you still carrying about it?

Want to get in touch with David at StrivEquity? Visit https://strivequity.com/

Are you a new nonprofit executive director or senior leader that’s overwhelmed in your new position and looking for support? Schedule a complimentary, 30-minute consultation with Trenia. Click the link to book your call https://bit.ly/slconsultation