Meet: LaTanya White!

Please introduce yourself and profession to our readers: I am Professor LaTanya White, a growth mindset and business coach helping aspiring African American entrepreneurs get over their fear and take their power back from the Dream Killers around them so that we can collectively create Black economic independence in our communities.

What inspired your interest in this area of pursuit? I have been in business for myself for more than 10 years and have been teaching management and entrepreneurship at one of the largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the country since 2010. Ever since I returned from Indonesia back in 2013, I have wanted to create a legacy of being the best resource for people of color and specifically African American women to get over the fear they have of starting or growing a business. It wasn't until I started my doctoral journey that I realized that layers of our identity, upbringing and personality as people of color that need to be unpacked and addressed for we can collectively change the dialogue about Black wealth.
 
What advice would you share with other women interested in this profession? For other women considering becoming coaches, consultants and educators, the most important thing that I can share is to create a platform that is as unique as you are. You can't be everything to everybody and that's okay! Just promise me, promise yourself, that you will be the best version of YOU to those who value you and those you serve.
 
Tell us about a challenge and how you overcame it: One challenge that I recently overcame was an identity crisis that I had been dealing with in one way or another for the last 10 years. I share more highlights about this in my chapter of the "Glambitious Guide to Greatness" being released this summer but it all came to a head last November when I was fired from a teaching appointment at one University and had a student grievance filed against me at another University. Devastated from both instances occurring within weeks of each other, I now recognize that it was because I was pushing the envelope faster and further than either of them were ready for.

That is when I realized that I had an immunity to change: when it comes to pushing people to the potential that I see in them, I do everything in power to help make that happen. What I wasn't doing was picking up on the cues they were sending me that they either weren't ready or weren't comfortable with the type of transformation that I wanted for them. Immunity to Change is an evidence-based concept that show how our individual beliefs--along with the collective mindsets in our organizations - combine to create a natural but powerful resistance to change. I was first exposed to the book of the same title and authored by Keagan and Lahey for my doctoral program. It has truly altered the lens I look through now. It has made me a better version of myself as leader, educator and partner. 
 
It was also from these experiences that I began to see the importance of identity. If my students and clients can't see themselves the way I see them. Which is full of passion and potential and perfectly capable of creating businesses that spur financial freedom for them and their families- nothing I teach and preach about Becoming FEARLESS is going to truly resonate. So what's next for my brand is to help change the dialogue about Black identity. We are more than entertainers and athletes. I will be launching a Leadership and Identity Training Institute that will implement the Becoming FEARLESS training model for aspiring entrepreneurs.

The Becoming FEARLESS Leadership and Identity Training program will focus on building a Foundation of positive identity; Evaluation of the stories we are told and the stories we tell ourselves; Analysis of our own immunities to change; Retraining ourselves to write and tell updated versions of the story; how to Leverage the time, talent and resources we already have; exposure to the Efficient Systems that will us allows us to monetize that talent all to create a Sustainable approach for generational wealth and economic independence in Black communities. We are scholars. We are warriors and we are resourceful. We are responsible for creating generational wealth, access and opportunity for those that will lead this world long after we are gone. #wakandaforever
 
How can readers connect with you online? 
Twitter: @MeetProfWhite 
Instagram: @MeetProfWhite 
Facebook: @MeetProfWhite 
Visit www.meetprofwhite.com/DreamKillers to learn the 7 proven ways to launch and grow your business...because you shouldn't let the Dream Killers win.