What Do You Know To Be True?

What do you do when you cannot find a community that serves your needs?
If you are Michaela Corning, you create it.
As an entrepreneur, an outgoing sales person, an amplifier, a woman, and a Muslim, Michaela found herself in the middle of an “intersectionality twister” game in workplaces that were not safe for her and she could not find the community that she envisioned. One that provided regenerative well-being and joy for her and other Muslim women.
So in 2021, she created Barakah Beauty Collective – the first women only salon and boutique in Seattle focused on uplifting Muslim women economically, spiritually, and physically.
***True Snacks is a bite-sized learning excerpt from the full What Do You Know To Be True? podcast episode. To watch the full episode with Michaela, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HO_xHrIzWM&list=PLbWfh34FP_dWsmhLMNNz6IPXanydwpH-U&index=6 ***
With love, business smarts, and a boatload of hard work and perseverance, Barakah Beauty Collective is thriving.
And she has built something that is serving the needs of Muslim and non-Muslim woman, and inspiring the next generation of Muslim girls to dream and achieve bigger.
In this episode, Michaela answers the following questions:
- How to build community?
- How to build community where one does not exist?
- What is modest fashion?
- Is it necessary to have a cat to make a video go viral?

My favorite quote from the episode: “If it’s going to focus on serving the needs of the community, then it needs to reflect the community it’s in and what they need, right? That’s a ‘duh.’”

What I know to be true about the episode: Michaela is an inspiration. She is the change she wants to see in the world.

What I learned from the episode: A good friend, Lakshmi Gopalkrishnan, just shared with me the idea that whatever you have been told that you are too much of, or too little, that thing you are “not the right amount of” is your superpower and your strength, and you need to find the place where that can shine. Michaela is proof positive of that.

Resources mentioned in the episode:
- Michaela’s Modest Fashion Company: https://michaelacorning.com/
- Barakah Beauty Collective: https://barakahbeautycollective.com/
Keywords

#Community #Community Building #How to build a community,

Music in this episode by Ian Kastner.

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superhero power, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us which allows us to connect more deeply with our purpose and achieve our potential.

For more info about the podcast or to check out more episodes, go to: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/

Writing a resume is hard for most people. OK, I’ll say it: the process sucks.
Keelan Hawkins and I recently met when she was helping me rewrite my resume, and while I thought my resume and career story was pretty good before, I can confidently say both are much better now.

Keelan not only makes the process easier, her focus is in empowering people to be better equipped to tell a clearer, more relevant career narrative and having a better resume that highlights that career narrative.
Keelan brings a thoughtful process and approach that invites the individual to explore their purpose and their impact, and to be vulnerable in understanding what is meaningful for the individual. It is from that understanding that a relevant and differentiated story can begin to be told.
In this episode, Keelan answers the following questions:
- What is the best resume advice?
- What are hiring managers looking for in a resume and interview?
- How to re-write your resume to get attention?
- Why is answering 'Why do I do what I do?' so important to your resume and career narrative?
Keelan a Master’s degree in Creative Writing and Poetry from Bowling Green State and a Master’s degree in Rhetoric and Composition from Appalachian State. It is not hard to image how poetry and rhetoric would be helpful in writing a resume and crafting a career narrative. Keelan is also a career coach, an instructor, and a writer, and in this conversation, we get to hear how this background of seemingly separate journeys weave together to create an amazingly strong and resilient tapestry that empowers and informs this work.
I’m excited to share this conversation with Keelan because she has a superhero power most of us can benefit from. Based on my experiences, anyone that can make that process easier and can help us craft a better career story, that is undoubtedly a superhero power with a meaningful impact on others.
The book mentioned in the episode: “Triggering Town” by Richard Hugo
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/67599
For those interested in hiring Keelan for career narrative consultation, you can reach out to Keelan at [email protected]
If you like the conversation, please share this episode with one other person. Thank you!
Music in this episode created by Ian Kastner.
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superhero power, and in doing so a maybe learn something about the special talent in each of us that makes us unique.
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/

Introverts can be as effective leaders as an extrovert. Introverts don't have to shout out the first answer or pound their fists on the table to be just as influential. They do this by leading with quiet confidence.
As a female leader in a male-dominated industry, Jennifer Marcou found that her natural style of working, and her gender, was not well represented in her peer group, and definitely not in the ranks above hers. She was faced with challenge of putting on a mask and leading inauthentically, or learning how to lead in a way that was authentic to her own style, to, as she says, how her brain works.
This conversation is with Jennifer Marcou and how she coaches others to Lead with Quiet Confidence.
In this episode, Jennifer answers the following questions:
- What is like to be an introvert? And what is like to be an introverted leader?
- What is the difference between introverts and extroverts?
- How to use the introverted behavior as a strength?
- What it's like to be an introvert in an extrovert world?
- How to Lead with Quiet Confidence?
In this conversation, Jennifer shares with us how she recognized how to work with and how to lead with her introversion, and how she now coaches other leaders to work with their natural styles and use those styles as an advantage, not something to cover over.
Her message, like that of others who speak on the advantages of introversion, is a great one for introverts to embrace and to embrace their introversion as nothing more than a style.

It’s also a powerful message for extroverts and ambiverts to learn so we can be better aware of what we can do differently to be more inclusive and be better partners and co-creators with everyone in the room...not just the ones who are first to speak or speak the loudest, but for those who whose voices are equally valuable, important, and worthy of being heard and being engaged in the conversation.
Resources mentioned in the episode...
Jennifer’s company, Marcou Coaching: https://www.marcoucoaching.com/
Lead with Quiet Confidence Program: https://leadwithquietconfidence.com/
Book: “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain https://bookshop.org/p/books/quiet-the-power-of-introverts-in-a-world-that-can-t-stop-talking-susan-cain/8213418?ean=9780307352156
Book: “Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead” by Tara Mohr https://bookshop.org/p/books/playing-big-practical-wisdom-for-women-who-want-to-speak-up-create-and-lead-tara-mohr/7788504?ean=9781592409600
If you like the conversation, please share this episode with one other person. Thank you!
Music in this episode created by Ian Kastner.
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us. For more information, go to www.WhatDoYouKnowToBeTrue.com
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is under attack today and the topic came up in my conversation with Kevin Jones. Rather than discuss the current backlash and the temporary pendulum swing of systemic oppression pushing back, Kevin and I got into the role of curiosity, empathy, and accountability in how we think of and approach the work.
This bonus episode of the "What Do You Know To Be True?" is an excerpt of the "Intentional Curiosity with Kevin Jones" episode.
Kevin and I share a sense of purpose in helping others achieve their potential. We recognize that when systems are not designed for equity, we are not able to live into our potential when others are systemically blocked from achieving theirs. In order for us to be better coaches and consultants for others, we need to engage in dismantling those barriers.
To be clear, as my friend Mark Meadows shared with me once, “all perspectives are valid and partial,” meaning that Kevin and I want to acknowledge that our views are partial, that they come from a position of privilege we did not earn, and that they are reflective of where we are at in our journeys of unlearning and relearning at this moment.
In this episode, Kevin and I try to answer the following questions:
- How can I approach DEI with curiosity?
- What is the role of a leader with DEI?
- What is the role of empathy in DEI?
- How can you act with accountability in DEI work?
Resources:
- Book: “Opening the Corporate Closet Transforming Biases to Gay Advancement in Corporate America” by Kevin Jones: https://bookshop.org/p/books/opening-the-corporate-closet-transforming-biases-to-gay-advancement-in-corporate-america-kevin-w-jones/20037562?ean=9798888964422
- Book "The Sum of Us" by Heather McGee https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-sum-of-us-what-racism-costs-everyone-and-how-we-can-prosper-together-heather-mcghee/14618549?ean=9780525509585
- Book "Inclusion on Purpose" by Ruchika Tulshyan https://bookshop.org/p/books/inclusion-on-purpose-an-intersectional-approach-to-creating-a-culture-of-belonging-at-work-ruchika-tulshyan/17170649?ean=9780262046558
- Book: "Say The Right Thing" by Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow https://bookshop.org/p/books/say-the-right-thing-how-to-talk-about-identity-diversity-and-justice-david-glasgow/18751579?ean=9781982181383
- Book: “The Oz Principle” by Roger Connors, Craig Hickman, and Tom Smith https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-oz-principle-getting-results-through-individual-and-organizational-accountability-roger-connors/10796528?ean=9781591843481
- Song: "Invisible" by U2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajVoeX4eqIQ
We welcome your voice in this conversation and encourage you to engage with us in this discussion. Please share your thoughts in the comments section of the YouTube episode (https://youtu.be/YbRgJ5g0dl0) and we’ll see you there.
None of us alive today created the systems of inequity we live and work in today. But we have do a choice, and that’s to willfully ignore them, to actively work to change them, or to continue to try to benefit from them. This is the choice in front of us.
If you like the conversation, please share this episode with one other person. Thank you!
Music in this episode created by Ian Kastner.
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. For more info: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/

Organization transformation, whether driven by strategy or technology imperatives, will often attempt to treat the human side of change as an afterthought or something to be managed.
And that is why most transformations fail.
Transformation and innovation consultant, Kellee Franklin, understands that most transformation efforts needs to flip the script. They are not adding humans to a technology or strategy system, they are inserting technology or strategy into human systems.
To design successful transformation, Kellee knows that it’s the human system that needs to be understood, respected, mapped, and attended to.
And the best way to do this, is to pay deep attention.
On an individual level, when everyone craves human connection and want to be seen and be heard, the most valuable and powerful thing we can give someone is our attention.
Once we’ve been able to do that, when the other person feels truly seen and heard, and you’ve being doing the seeing, what becomes possible together then?
Kellee Franklin is a consultant, a leadership development advisor, a coach, and an instructor. While she helps businesses design and implement advanced technology into their organizations, she emphasizes that those organizations as human systems. The technology has to fit inside those human systems – and not the other way around.
Kellee shares what she knows to be true after years in consulting, years advising business and technology transformations, and years teaching in the classroom. You might think from all that experience and knowledge she’s accumulated, she shares nuggets of wisdom she’s gathered along the way.
But instead, it’s how she shows up and how she attends to the people and their needs within those spaces.
In this episode, Kellee answers the following questions:
- How to give attention to someone?
- How to attend to someone’s needs?
- How to show you're paying attention?
- How to be radically present with others?
My favorite quote from the episode: “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”
From the Mary Oliver poem “Yes! No!”
What I know to be true about the episode: Kellee is probably in a lot of spaces where she is the smartest person in the room, and others where she’s rubbing elbows with geniuses, but her approach to paying attention does not waver because of a deep belief in the value of each individual, what they can contribute, and what can be learned from them.
What I learned from the episode: It is further reinforcement of several threads we can pull on in these conversations where Kellee and other guests, all super-high achievers and people who enable and support highly accomplished people, highlight the powers of curiosity, empathy, and being radically present with others.
The resources shared in this episode can be found at https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/video/how-to-pay-attention-to-one-another-pay-attention-with-kellee-franklin:
- Book: The Mind of the Leader by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter
Music in this episode created by Ian Kastner.
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superhero power, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us which allows us to connect more deeply with our purpose.
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on,