INSPIRE YOUR AUDIENCE

Transformational, Enlightening and Life-changing Presentations and Workshops

Our founder, Laura Knights, equips audiences to deal with both the “head work” and “heart work” required to succeed at work and in life.  She has spoken to audiences ranging from 10 to 300 people, and has always had a passion for inspiring individuals to discover their talents, unleash their full potential, and walk in their destiny.
Her encounters with others through her speaking have been described as transformational, enlightening, life changing, and “an answer to prayer.” Her engaging, fun, and down-to-earth communication style allows her to connect with her audience to find common ground, and lead them on a path of learning and self-discovery.
Laura has provided a keynote and/or workshop for the following organizations:

Black Woman Leading® Signature Offerings

Customized Topics Also Available

The Black Woman Leading® Journey

In this signature talk, Laura walks participants through the Black Woman Leading® journey map. Participants will visit the three “pit stops” of leadership development, mental wellness and self-care, and relationship management on this exploratory journey. Laura validates the workplace experiences of Black women and helps them feel more empowered in their professional lives. Participants will gain additional insights to help them reflect, define, and execute on the next steps to holistically advance in their careers.

Black Woman at Work: Cultivating resilience, collective healing, and self-care

*Suitable for individual contributors & leaders.

In this session, Laura walks participants through her signature ACE framework to support personal wellness and effective job performance. She exposes the common “behind-the-scenes” challenges of Black women in the workplace, and provides actionable strategies to help participants speak their truth, develop healthy coping skills, and create an actionable self-care plan that addresses their personal wellness needs. Participants will walk away feeling seen, heard, and empowered for the next leg of their professional journey. After the session, participants will receive a resource packet with a template to create their own self-care plan.

Speak Up: Advocating for Yourself in the Workplace

In this actionable session, Laura will cover the heart work and head work required to develop a strategic plan for professional self-advocacy. Laura’s four-step framework empowers participants to feel more confident to guide the narrative of their professional contributions, perfect their “humble brag,” clarify their “asks” and “gives,” master mindset issues before they become stumbling blocks, and manage critical relationships without de-centering themselves in the process.

Audience Testimonials from 2023 Black Women in Data Summit

on the talk "Speak Up! Advocating for Yourself in the Workplace"

Building Influence Through Your Personal Brand

In this insightful talk, Laura shares the connection between influence and personal branding, and explores the application for professional growth. She helps participants shift their paradigm of personal branding, reframing it from a place of service and contribution. Together, Laura and the participants will explore the building blocks of influence and the overlap with the core components of one’s personal brand. Participants will conduct self-assessment to extract their individual personal brand elements, and receive a blueprint for creating their own brand story.

Becoming a More Strategic Communicator

Strategic communication skills are a sophisticated set of abilities that extend beyond the fundamentals of verbal and written expression. At their core, these skills require emotional intelligence, a nuanced comprehension of one’s diverse audiences, clarity on the specific purpose of the communication, and an understanding of the broader context in which the communication occurs. It’s part art and part science that requires use of your judgement and influence, and integration of a relationship management strategy to achieve your goals.

Participants will:

  • Explore communication as a core function of being an effective strategic leader
  • Conduct self-assessment of communication practices to identify strategic opportunities 
  • Understand the overlap between strategic communication, executive presence and one’s personal brand
  • Learn a framework for crafting a strategic communication message, and take the challenge to use the framework in a real workplace context within two weeks from the session.

Vision Mapping for Career & Life Success

Participants are invited to explore the possibilities of designing a professional journey that honors their skills, contributions, and vision for the future. Participants will review the Vision Mapping seven-step framework to support personal wellness and professional goal achievement. Considering personal learnings, historical context, and collective wisdom; participants will reflect on their current experiences, learn practical strategies to apply the vision mapping framework, and strengthen their sense of agency to direct their future growth and development. This session can be offered as a one-time overview talk or a three-part interactive workshop series.

Internal Round Table

Useful as a precursor to the BLACK WOMAN LEADING® program or as a stand alone initiative; the internal round table is a facilitated discussion with key Black women leaders and managers within the organization to share experiences and brainstorm solutions to increase engagement, feelings of belonging, and professional advancement. Includes strategic debrief presentation and recommendations report for senior leadership.
Learn more about Laura’s additional speaking topics for organizations through Knights Consulting LLC.