Breaking barriers: empowering Black Women leaders
As a CEO or senior executive, you’ve likely spent much of your career solving problems and overcoming challenges. For Black women in leadership roles—founders, executives, and entrepreneurs alike—this skill is essential not only for driving business success but also for navigating spaces where inequities persist.
However, the very strategies that have helped you achieve success may also contribute to a hidden cost. The constant drive to "fix" or "solve" problems, especially when it comes to your health and well-being, can actually limit your growth, both personally and professionally. This is particularly relevant in light of the health inequities faced by Black women, which often remain unaddressed by traditional corporate wellness programs.
The Health Disparities Affecting Black Women
The statistics around health inequities for Black women are startling and deserve serious attention, particularly in executive and entrepreneurial spaces:
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for Black women, and they are 60% more likely to suffer from high blood pressure compared to non-Hispanic white women.
Black women are more likely to suffer from chronic stress, which contributes to higher rates of illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. This stress is often driven by racial discrimination and the pressures of being underrepresented in leadership roles.
Maternal mortality rates for Black women are 3-4 times higher than those for white women, and these disparities exist even when socioeconomic factors are accounted for.
Mental health disparities are also significant: Black women are only half as likely as white women to receive treatment for depression, despite experiencing higher rates of stress, anxiety, and other mental health challenges due to societal pressures.
These health disparities are compounded for Black women in leadership roles, who face additional stressors in corporate environments where they are often the only or one of few women of color.
These figures highlight the immense challenges Black women face in climbing the corporate ladder and sustaining their own businesses, often while dealing with the health inequities that come with navigating these spaces.
The Hidden Cost of constantly Problem-Solving
As Black women, we are often the “fixers”—whether it’s in business, family, or the wider community. This ability to solve problems is celebrated, but when it comes to our mental and physical health, constantly fixing can sabotage our healing and growth. Health disparities, chronic stress, and the unique pressures of leadership create cycles of burnout that can go unnoticed because, from the outside, we’re "handling it."
But what if the solution isn’t about fixing or problem-solving? What if the approach should be about creating space for tending to the body’s deeper needs—those needs that are often ignored or suppressed by our relentless focus on performance and resilience?
How This Impacts Your Business
Most of those I work with are Black Women who are founders, executives or CEO’s who carry burdens that frankly aren’t quite theirs to carry. Leaders who are caught in this cycle—trying to push through stress, exhaustion, and trauma by solving problems at the surface level—can miss out on the deeper, transformative work that leads to true healing and sustainability. This can show up as feeling stuck, constantly operating in survival mode, or facing recurring mental and physical health issues that just won’t go away.
In the long term, this affects the ability to lead with clarity, creativity, and compassion. Burnout doesn't just impact the individual; it affects entire teams, departments, and ultimately the company's bottom line. When executives and founders are not functioning at their best, it creates a ripple effect throughout the organization.
What CEOs and Organizations Can Do
This is where integrative, body-based approaches come into play. Traditional corporate wellness programs often miss the mark for Black women leaders because they don’t address the specific needs related to racialized stress, historical trauma, or the nuanced pressures of being "the only one" in many executive spaces.
Offering your leaders access to services that focus on somatic healing—like integrative embodiment coaching—helps them reconnect with their bodies’ wisdom. Instead of trying to fix the problem at the mind level, this approach facilitates a deeper sense of coherence and allows them to metabolize trauma, reduce stress, and unlock their full potential.
By addressing the unconscious patterns driving chronic stress and fatigue, Black women leaders can experience true healing—one that doesn’t come from trying harder but from allowing the body to complete its natural cycles of response and recovery. This ultimately results in more engaged, vibrant, and effective leadership.
The Value of Investing in Holistic Wellness for Executives
As a CEO, founder, or executive, the well-being of you and your leadership team is directly tied to your company’s success. Providing access to wellness programs that address specific needs of Black women leaders ensures that they are not just surviving but thriving in their roles. This is an investment in the longevity and success of your most critical assets—your people.
If you’re interested in exploring how integrative embodiment coaching could benefit you or your team, I invite you to reach out. Let’s create space for a new way of leading—one that is grounded in resilience, healing, and the full aliveness of every leader. Here are some ways to support: 1-1 Coaching, Workshops and Group Sessions.