TaNisha Smith
IT Business Partner
Can you share your journey into the work you do? What experiences, moments, or values led you here?
My journey into this work did not begin with ambition. It began with survival.
I know what it feels like to lose yourself after tragedy. To question your worth so deeply that you begin sabotaging the very happiness you once prayed for. I know what it is like to live in a season of pain so overwhelming that you reach for comfort in relationships, friendships, and environments never meant for you that ultimately deepen the wound. Not because you lack strength or intelligence but because you are carrying shame that was never yours to carry.
There was a time when I believed joy belonged to other people. Abuse, betrayal, and character assassination have a way of distorting your reflection. They convince you that you are too much, not enough, or somehow responsible for the harm done to you. When shame settles in, it quietly rewrites your story. It teaches you to shrink. To overperform. To accept less. To sabotage opportunities before someone else can take them away.
Healing required radical honesty. It required acknowledging the ways pain shaped my choices and deciding it would not shape my future. I realized that shame only holds us hostage when we protect it. When we stay silent. When we believe we are alone.
That realization changed everything.
The work I do now, whether in leadership, technology, or in spaces that center women’s growth, is rooted in that truth. I am committed to building environments where women feel seen, respected, and capable of reclaiming their power. I want women to know they are not broken. They are not disqualified by what they have endured.
Every day, I choose to shed shame. Every day, I choose truth. And every day, I work so other women know they can choose it too.
Who or what has most influenced your leadership and commitment to this work? This could include mentors, community, lived experience, books, faith, or movements.
I’ve always gravitated towards wisdom, the Black women elders who speak to your soul kind of wisdom. I’ve found some of my most freeing and affirming moments in the midst of a women who have lived, loved, failed, broken, and emerged unapologetically and imperfectly whole. Co-workers, a couple of seasoned Sorors, friends I’ve met along my travel journeys…amazing Black women who defy societal limitations and expectations to arrive at a place of freedom and acceptance. These are my inspirations.
Audre Lorde has a quote I return to in seasons of doubt and have committed to memory: “If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.”
For those who feel called to doing this work, where would you suggest they begin? Is there a book, organization, practice, or resource that helped shape you?
Therapy and coaching have worked wonders for me. I thrive when I’m working with a competent therapist. This world is not friendly to Black women. Hell, Black women aren’t friendly to Black women. Someone helping to navigate the myriad of expectations placed upon us and societal and cultural pressure to have it (or appear to have it) “together” has a cumulative tax we pay with our bodies and our peace. Releasing and unlearning takes a team of emotionally intelligent support.
A book that is changing my life that I recommend for all over givers is Set Boundaries, Find Peace: a guide to reclaiming yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab. It’s slowly helping me give less of a damn.
What wisdom or encouragement would you offer to the next generation of Black women leaders entering this space?
F&&* Black Girl Magic or the internalized the concept. It causes judgement, shame, and delusion that harms and divides leaving little room for radical honesty which is the only path to true healing. Shed that weight from your neck. You aren’t magic. You are human. Period.
Be authentic and by authentic I mean okay looking messy. Glossy is nice. Real is kind. Don’t mistake thriving for survival mode. Thriving isn’t the ability to keep going through unimaginable circumstances. It’s having the ability to see you deserve rest, support, and to move beyond “getting through the day”. That’s thriving. It’s speaking the truth even if your voice shakes (another nod to Audre Lorde). It’s saying this no longer serves me and walking away. It’s standing up for yourself emotionally.
Show women how to thrive instead of survive. That’s my advice. Labels, vacations, and new businesses are nice but don’t equal a soft life. Self-care, self-reflection, the courage to identify and separate from what no longer serves you… The truly difficult things that make us question our programming lead to soft living. Unlearning…shedding. Not a hashtag.
How do you decompress? How do you rest? How do you take care of you? How are you navigating your competing priorities and relationship demands? What is your biggest failure and how are you healing from it? How are you nurturing your inner child? When is the last time you cried?
Be authentic. Your mess and message make way more of a measurable impact than your gloss and floss.
How can people stay connected to and support your work? Please share your website, social media, current campaigns, or other ways to get involved.
Check out my Substack at: Nisha Chantel | Substack
For Black women ready to rebuild without shame. I write about aligned relationships, healing through travel, growth through stillness, faith, boundaries, and choosing yourself.
Self-love. Sharp mind. Whole on purpose.
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