Intentional Conversations

Nika White Consulting
  • 5.0 (3)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

A podcast intersecting the work of diversity, equity and inclusion with leadership and business by bringing different voices from across the DEI business spectrum to the table to educate, encourage and inspire.

  1. 09/23/2025

    Intentional Conversations with Jenn Tardy

    Welcome to Intentional Conversations, the podcast where thoughtful leadership meets meaningful impact. This week we’re honored to be joined by Jenn Tardy for a powerful discussion. 🎧 Grab your headphones, hit play, and let the conversation begin! ** Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel because we're all about keeping the great conversations flowing. ** KEY TAKEAWAYS JENN: The money that goes into a persons pocket is the money that goes into their home and feeds their home and their community. Money gives you access to people, places and things… whether you like it or not. There is so much conditioning with being Black and marginalized, being a woman and being marginalized, even today, there are still places that she can feel discouraged and realizes its conditioning. There are things you can have access to simply by the way you identify. It shapes how you view the world. If we can own we have a unique lived intelligence and employers can recognize the lived experience, imagine the innovation that can now happen. It’s not just your lived experience, it’s your lived experience intelligence. If you’re hiring someone people on how they identify, it’s as if you’re placing a period at the end of a sentence that needs a comma… this is not the “IT” factor, there is an intelligence from your lived experience. Oppression brings a unique skill set to innovation. If you’ve grown and been conditioned to constantly fight your way to success, then that intelligence is coming with you. Gravity has always been there, someone just identified it and named it. All I’m doing, is saying, the intelligence has always been there, but if we can’t name it, we can’t add value to it. Who’s nurturing you? I don’t care that we change the name, I just care that the work continues. When seasons change, it forces the pendulum to swing back to the other side. If history was written by the victors, the future is here for the visionaries. We can create what we want to see in the future! 🟣 CONNECT WITH JENN: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifertardy Website: https://www.jennifertardy.com Jenn's Book: https://www.jennifertardy.com/the-equity-edge Lived Experience Intelligence: https://www.livedexperienceintelligence.com 🟣 CONNECT WITH NWC: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikawhite/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikacwhite?fref=ts Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikacwhite/ NWC Website: https://nikawhite.com 🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤 Looking for a speaker for your next keynote, workshop, continuing education or panel, Dr. Nika White is actively booking for Q4 and Q1 2026 events now!...

    54 min

  2. 09/16/2025

    Intentional Conversations with Shayla Atkins

    Welcome to Intentional Conversations! This week we were honored to be joined by Shayla Atkins for a powerful discussion on authenticity and what that really means, future-proofing for leaders, how to practically do that and why we all need more S.P.I.C.E. 🎧 Grab your headphones, hit play, and let the conversation begin! ** Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel because we're all about keeping the great conversations flowing. ** KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM SHAYLA: The future-ready leader and work is NOW. It is what we’re living in today. They’re changing the approach of soft skills to no longer soft, they’re necessary, but really elevating soft skills and a human centered approach.There is a myth with authenticity, it’s not how real you can be, it’s about being in alignment with your values and how you show up. Telling our brains that our natural selves are not enough and that makes a trauma response every time, that activates your fight / flight response. We have to know how to lead self before leading others. You'll get compliant teams, but not committed teams. Understanding resilience, but it isn’t resistance, these 2 are conflated. It is taking the time to sit and plan, be strategic and proactive and the 1st thing is taking a Stress Inventory. Stress inventory - what is activating stress? What is a high fatigue period? Is it cyclical in nature? Put proactive strategies in place, you can do it with yourself, your team, your organization. We aren’t going to power through until the rubber band pops, we’re going to stretch, power down, cool down, recover. On your teams, are you planning and anticipating change and disruption? WHAT IS S.P.I.C.E.? It’s a ROAD Map and a guide to ascension that is aligned and strategic in nature. S - Savvy (Black women are most educated women on the planet. We are not able to translate our biz education to biz outcomes.) P - Performance I - Image / Your authentic brand C - Communication E - Exposure Data should drive and inform strategies and leadership, often it is missing, even the maturation of the data. We get qualitative data daily... when you blend the quantitative / qualitative - that is what gives you the human approach. Level setting on perspective, we understand long term sustainability over short term gains. "If you cannot be who you are, where you are, change where you are, not who you are." Carolyn Wanger - Former CEO of Essence 🟣 CONNECT WITH SHAYLA: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayla-n-atkins Website: www.theatkinsimpact.com Book: Women Redefining Leadership With S.P.I.C.E. Book: Black Women Lead With S.P.I.C.E.: Effective And Authentic Leadership Without Sacrificing Your Identity...

    53 min

  3. 09/09/2025

    Intentional Conversations with Charlotte Otter

    Welcome to Intentional Conversations — the podcast where thoughtful leadership meets meaningful impact. In this episode, we sit down with Charlotte Otter, author and reputation management expert, to explore what reputation truly means, why the world is calling for new leaders, and the essential qualities those leaders need today. 🎧 Tune in for a conversation that blends insight, challenge, and inspiration. ** Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel because we're all about keeping the great conversations flowing. ** KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM CHARLOTTE: Storytelling reminds us how human we are. It is so important in this AI age to privilege this human connection and emotion. Vulnerability - stories show our human side and how vulnerable we are. Leaders think they need to be seen as the most powerful person in the room, but it’s when they crack and show a little bit of vulnerability, they are so much more likely to create the fans they need to change their ogranizations. If your words and your actions don’t match, that is a credibility gap. No leader ever gets up and says everything is gonna stay the same, all communication is about change. Leaders have gone through obstacles, obstacles teach empathy and that makes them amazing leaders. Trust is reputation’s closet sibling - so it’s very important!Important for people to say their values out loud, tell the stories that match their values The best way to counteract bias is a stellar record of success. By living your reputation out loud as a leader, your creating a bridge for the next generation to cross. Leaders who are single loop learners, leaders who are double loop learners, fix the problem, but they ask what was it in my behavior that caused this problem and what can I do in my future to not do it again! The single loop leader never wants the feedback. But the double loop leader wants to know more. If you’re leading change, spend a LOT less tie talking and a lot more time listening. The hierarchy breaks when you have that expoenentional amount of pressure… to future proof themselves in a culture of high autonomy and high freedom. Single loop learning leaders don’t like this, but it is the only way that managers will be able to cope with the pressures on them. AI is super useful for 1st drafts, don’t rely on it for the final copy. It will always be incumbent on humans to tell human stories. Leaders who understand this and know their stories, these are the leaders and brands that survive. To be a good communicator, you have to understand what you’re communicating.We privilege confidence over competence. The key to breaking the LOUDNESS is authenticity! Being prepared to be vulnerable, being prepared to show everything isn’t perfect, being prepared for feedback. Knowing who you are as a leader is the prototype to breaking the archetype of a noisy, loud leader. A new leader is someone who knows their values, tells stories, who’s behavior matches their stories and values, and has strong communities. It is not enough to talk about yourself, you need others to confirm your reputation. Writing is a way to figure out what she thinks. But it takes the writing down of ideas to work out what they think. And it’s a place of flow and joy. Think about your reputation as vitamins, not aspirin. Your reputation protects your immune system and it’s a way to help you succeed. 🟣 CONNECT WITH CHARLOTTE: LinkedIn: a href="https://linkedin.com/in/charlotteeliseotter" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

    49 min

  4. 09/02/2025

    Intentional Conversations with Lisa Hurley

    Welcome to Intentional Conversations, the podcast where thoughtful leadership meets meaningful impact. This week we’re honored to be joined by Lisa Hurley for a powerful discussion. 🎧 Grab your headphones, hit play, and let the conversation begin! ** Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel because we're all about keeping the great conversations flowing. ** KEY TAKEAWAYS: I’m an introvert, so I’m not protesting in the streets but I still want to contribute to the movement, so how can I use my talents to help the movement? I grew up in Barbados, and my upbringing was soft. I was driven to school, and it was safe, no bullying. The island closed down at noon to 1p, and the entire island would rest. This informs how I show up in my life. Soft centered serine life: Life work balance vs. Work life balance. Life has to come first. Include a strong sense of self and a group of people to support you. It can’t be work life balance, what if you lose your job. Then what? This can’t be the center. You have to be the center. Your wants, needs, health, happy, must be centered for you and then there’s everything else. When I think of balance everything isn’t always 50/50... sometimes it’s 70/30. I love to speak with people who are thinkers because they make you think more. I love words. I had to delete 30,000 words from my book. I called my dad and sister for advice. They said to eliminate the breathing exercises and meditation prompts, but I couldn’t... that’s my book! I edited another way. Anyone that’s stressed, sometimes you need someone to say I understand, here’s something that you can do. We’re not use to people offering help. This is what this book (Space to Exhale) is for. Let me help uplift you. I have difficulty prioritizing, I call someone to help me prioritize (do the least and get the most benefit from).  The work is always going to be there, but the people and moments are gone. You can’t get them back. I have a Budda sitting under the tree as inspiration. That is not me... I have some wisdom, but I am not perfect.  🟣 CONNECT WITH LISA: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamlisahurley Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelisahurley Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelisahurley Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thelisahurley Book: www.spacetoexhalebook.com  🟣 CONNECT WITH DR. WHITE: LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/nikawhiteconsulting Facebook: https://facebook.com/nikawhiteconsulting Instagram: https://instagram.com/nikawhiteconsulting Website: a href="https://nikawhite.com" rel="noopener...

    55 min

  5. 08/26/2025

    Intentional Conversations with Gisele Marcus

    Welcome to Intentional Conversations, the podcast where thoughtful leadership meets meaningful impact. This week we’re honored to be joined by Gisele Marcus for a powerful discussion on networking! 🎧 Grab your headphones, hit play, and let the conversation begin! ** Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel because we're all about keeping the great conversations flowing. ** KEY TAKEAWAYS: Make sure you’re visible to people when you’re away. Always hear, “Keep your head down, do your job and by doing those things you’ll get promotion”, but the networking piece is what was missing. There is a special art to networking… lots of times people say networking and it’s not really networking. The term “networking” has gotten a bad rap. It’s really about building a 2-way, authentic relationship. It has a negative connotation when people are doing it in an inauthentic way. When it feels like you’re pushing it and not doing it in a natural way.On LinkedIn, 95% of people she actually knows who they are, why she’s connected and how she’s connected to them.Always know how you know someone. First or 2nd DM on LinkedIn is how am I connected to them. People love to hear things about themselves, so if there’s someone you want to meet… find out something you have in common with that individual. Connecting with them on something that is a connection with them. To ask someone to do something for you and you do not have the pleasure of meeting them, that is not authentic. She never connects to someone with a cold connection. Use the tools that you have to grab someone’s attention. People want to connect with you because they want to follow you. When you walk into an in-person event, see groups of people chatting with each other, as an introvert you do not want to jump into the conversation, look for the other people who are by themselves. That person would love to talk to someone. Introvert don’t appreciate back to back meetings. To get the best outcome, be prepared to plan in a way as if they were introverts. That way there is a comfort to receive the information, you’re not sending them home totally exhausted. Conversation starters are good for you to have in your hip pocket - “What brought you to this event?” “What high school did you go to?” “What church do you go to?” Give a compliment. “I see you’re here by yourself, are you meeting anyone?” Not too invasive as well.Don’t let opportunities slip by, use the resources you have and use the spaces you’re in because you never know when it will land you where you want to be. On the days you’re in the office, make the most of those days. Be politically astute at work, part of that is being visible. Just walk around, but also have at least one meeting on her calendar, not even with an agenda, but just to get to know someone better. You can still network virtually!It is a lot easier to hold onto a job when people know who you are. What advice for people who don’t like small talk?They have a decision to make… does it serve you well to just cut the networking out. What are you missing out on? Or commit to it for 10 - 15 minutes or meet 1 - 2 people, then walk away. You don’t have to stay forever. Don’t allow networking to be the one TON guerrilla in your mind. Move it out of the way so that you can have a better path to fulfilling the goals you have. Don’t allow the heaviness of networking get in the way of you propelling the goal you have, think about it accelerating where you actually want to be! 🟣 CONNECT WITH GISELE: LinkedIn: a...

    55 min

  6. 08/19/2025

    Intentional Conversations with LaShawn Davis

    Welcome to Intentional Conversations, the podcast where thoughtful leadership meets meaningful impact. This week, Dr. Nika White is joined by LaShawn Davis, founder of The HR Plug and creator of The Greatness Lab, for a transformative conversation on leadership, identity, and purpose in the workplace. Together they explore: ✨ What companies must redefine to retain talent and foster equity ✨ Why so many Black women are leaving corporate America—and what that means for the future of work ✨ LaShawn’s three types of leadership and how to identify your own ✨ What comes next once you understand the kind of leader you are ✨ Insights from her powerful new book and how The Greatness Lab is shaping the next generation of leaders 🎧 Grab your headphones, hit play, and join us for this timely and empowering episode. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to keep the great conversations flowing! 🟣 KEY TAKEAWAYS LASHAWN (We had SOO many key takeaways from this one, so don't just read them, you MUST listen to this episode!) You’re not meant to survive your work, but you’re meant to live your greatness! It’s not something you have to chase or define, it’s already in you.If I can’t attract one paying client, then it is not what I was created to do! There are NO failures in life, there is ONLY learning! The areas you learn from the most are the areas you’ve encountered the most in life. You have a whole master class from what you’ve learned. What are you struggling with in a business? What are you struggling with in a career goal? It’s probably because its not what you’re meant to do, you are just out of alignment. One way that we can lean into alignment is through emotional regulation. Don’t suppress the emotion, it’s a sign. Emotion is the very thing we give other people too much power over. The best revenge is your paper! Let you outcomes speak for you! There is power in agreement - focus on making YOU better and how that translates in work and what that requires. We’ve allowed our success in careers, to be determined by our job titles, etc, that we become strangers to who we are. Then you return as an indespensible asset. Start showing our value, identity, and powerfully so they know they can’t operate without YOU. We need to unlearn how we have defined professionalism, it isn’t what you look like, professionalism is simply how you show up to do what I’ve hired you to do. If you’re praying and not seeing results, it might be time for you to stop and listen. Thoughts come and go but when you write it down, it’s conditioned to stay there. You can condition your mind to receive what you’re putting on paper!Emotional regulation - we don’t realize how much we relinquish - stop emotionally relinquishing and start emotionally regulating!Knowing and articulating who you are - how do you expect people to respect you if you don't know who you are? Once you learn who you are, and the things you thought were bad, and that there is NOTHING wrong with you, once you know who you are, you’re able to flip that and explain why that is a power move instead!Black women are exiting corporate America faster than any other race. Tap into who you are because you cannot be rejected! 3 types that you lead in your life: discovering what type of leader are you: Visionary (see the future / plan for it), Alignment leader (get people together on one course), Execution (administration, planning, organization). We aren’t supposed to lead in all three, but we try to. What type of leader OF your life are you? Then...

    52 min

  7. 08/12/2025

    Intentional Conversations with Mikki Bey

    Welcome to Intentional Conversations, the podcast where thoughtful leadership meets meaningful impact. "Emotional regulation is for YOU! You get the benefit first!" In this powerful episode, Mikki Bey—the “Queen of Emotional Regulation”—shares why managing your emotions is essential for your health and success. Discover what suppressing emotions does to your body, her top 3 tips to start practicing emotional regulation today, and how embodiment can help you lead with confidence and clarity. Keep reading for more of her key takeaways and tips! 🎧 And grab your headphones, hit play, and let this conversation begin! ** Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel because we're all about keeping the great conversations flowing. ** 🟣 KEY TAKEAWAYS MIKKI: CHECK OUT MIKKI's EMOTIONAL REGULATION BUNDLE Don’t believe in giving the world your best until you have the best for yourself. I was clinically burnt out - that looked like no longer could I push through - when you have burnt out, it’s not an option. I got to a point where I wasn’t taking care of herself or my child, that’s when I discovered emotional regulation, which literally saved my life! Many people don’t know what it is, but they can identify with it. Emotional regulation is not luxury, it is a necessity. 90% of emotional regulation is learning what you do when something happens. Being in control means you’re regulating, that is not right. When we’re constantly controlling our emotions, we’re suppressing. You will either implode or explode. Most people aren’t calling out because they’re sick, they’re calling out because they’re overwhelmed. This goes directly to the money you can make because your workforce is out.You cannot be future-proof if you cannot regulate your nervous system. Your brain isn’t working, and your making decisions from lack and from scarcity. The idea is to get back to a neutral state, because you and also not listen to guidance when you’re in fight or flight. How do we future proof? You start with your internal environment, meaning you have to be able to pinpoint what you are feeling in the first place. There is no such thing as a good or bad emotion, it’s just trying to send a message. You have to take account to what the emotion is trying to tell you. You have to GO IN before you GO OUT!Suppression is like a bucket… and it can only be suppressed for a time. If you aren’t moving the energy, it has to go somewhere. It will create disease of your body or you will have an outburst. Your triggers are a map to where you still need to heal. You will be triggered mostly by people you have a connection to!When triggered, it is your responsibility to clean up the trigger, it isn’t the persons.When you start to become aware of what your triggers are, now you can interrupt your nervous system. A Trigger is an ever evolving capacity of healing - the trigger may never dissipate fully, but you can get it to a point where it is very, very manageable. 3 TIPS TO MAKE EMOTIONAL REGULATION PRACTICAL 1. Start to embrace the pause, take a breath, then you choose your response. Take your breath in through the nose, then out through the nose. Do not feel like you have to make an action after you pause. 2. Name it to tame it - When your...

    53 min

  8. 08/05/2025

    Intentional Conversations with Dr. Rosalind Cohen

    Welcome to Intentional Conversations, the podcast where thoughtful leadership meets meaningful impact. This week we’re honored to be joined by Dr. Rosalind Cohen for a powerful discussion. 🎧 Grab your headphones, hit play, and let the conversation begin! ** Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel because we're all about keeping the great conversations flowing. ** KEY TAKEAWAYS: I think, I belong, I feel. I belong and I feel can be changed with how a manager acts and you can teach it. Orgs and managers can’t affect this. How can HR people discover how to learn about the “I think” part. Managers should walk through what the job is and activate people connecting with it and making sure the right candidate is stimulated by it.  We don’t engage with the employees and employers on how they can create a mutual relationship of trust, respect and belonging. There needs to be mutual accountability.  You should not have to ask for respect, but there can be a conversation about what that looks like between the employer and the employee. For example, “How do you want to be recognized?”  People are afraid to do something that could hurt someone else or put the spotlight on them because of cancel culture. If you have trust and respect, then you can ask/answer whatever question and you know I’m not trying to hurt you.  Leaders need to be vulnerable enough to ask questions and not assume to know what they want.  Upcoming book is titled Hiring for Engagement: How to Create a Culture of Belonging.  Employers need to look at what behaviors/attributes are more successful in their organization: threshold attributes. If they have them it doesn’t matter how they got them.  How can you stop culture fit? It becomes wanting to be about people like me. Work success has to do with work attributes, organizational values, and behaviors and not social and sameness.  Vulnerability is critical. Leadership started with top down with no vulnerability. What works is acting as humans and creating relationships. Showing up authentically   We should assume that everyone is not ready to be a people leader. Just because you are good at your job doesn't mean you can lead a team: give feedback, create an inclusive culture, have tough conversations. We need to give them the skills and tools to lead, because they may know how to teach and not manage.  In what ways can I give back to make it better, how do I repair it. People in power have a responsibility to make the world better. What can you do daily?  🟣 CONNECT WITH DR. ROZ: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosalindfcohen/ Website: https://drrozcohen.com/ 🟣 CONNECT WITH NWC: LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/nikawhiteconsulting Facebook: https://facebook.com/nikawhiteconsulting Instagram: https://instagram.com/nikawhiteconsulting Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@nikawhiteconsulting Visit our website to learn more: https://nikawhite.com Check out Dr. Nika White’s book, *Inclusion Uncomplicated*: https://nikawhite.com/inclusionuncomplicated

    54 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

A podcast intersecting the work of diversity, equity and inclusion with leadership and business by bringing different voices from across the DEI business spectrum to the table to educate, encourage and inspire.

Information

  • Creator
    Nika White Consulting
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    175
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 Nika White Consulting
  • Show Website
    Intentional Conversations