In a world that too often demands conformity, being your full, unapologetic self is an act of resistance, reclamation, and self-love. In this episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, Lisa is joined by award-winning playwright, speaker, and author Trey Anthony for a transformative conversation rooted in softness, truth, and deep alignment.
Known for her groundbreaking book Black Girl in Love (With Herself), Trey brings her signature blend of vulnerability, humor, and wisdom to this sacred space curated for Black women seeking rest, self-knowledge, and the soft life.
In “Be Yourself: Showing Up Authentic, Abundant, and Aligned,” Lisa and Trey explore how to live a life where your career, calling, and community are rooted in purpose. This is not about becoming; it is about remembering who you already are.
Get ready to discover:
🤎 How to curate a career and life that reflect your values, purpose, and passions
🤎 The art of thriving in abundance: how to secure the bags, claim your worth, and honor rest without guilt.
🤎 Trey's personal journey of releasing the "strong Black woman" trope to embrace joy and emotional truth
🤎 How to navigate success while staying rooted in softness and spiritual alignment
🤎 Practical tools to show up as your most aligned, abundant, and authentic self everywhere you go
This is your moment to reclaim your time, your tenderness, and your truth. It is time to exhale.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone! 😊
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
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CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Trey Anthony, author of Black Girl In Love (With Herself), and CEO of Trey Anthony Studios
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Trey on:
Learn more:
For updates, visit Trey Anthony
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Rate it and write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold. Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
What if the real glow up is not about “having,” but about “being?” What if it’s not about keeping up with the Joneses, but about keeping pace with your Self? 🙏🏾
In this deeply nourishing episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, Lisa welcomes Dr. Kathryn Tapper, Mayo Clinic–trained physician and Founder and CEO of GLOW Coaching, for a luminous conversation on what it truly means to glow from within.
Together, the two friends explore the sacred relationship between self-care, stillness, and strength. Dr. Tapper shares how her personal and professional journeys have led her to redefine rest as medicine, softness as strategy, and glow as a state of being—not just a look.
Tune in for a masterclass in soft living, led by two West Indian women who are walking the talk, and glowing while doing it.
In “The Real Glow Up: Soft Living as Self-Care,” you will discover:
💚 How to glow from the inside out: spiritually, emotionally, and energetically
💚 The transformative power of stillness and self care
💚 How embracing rest is a radical act of self-love, especially for Black women
💚 Ways to embody “quiet power” and attract what aligns with your peace
💚 Practical steps to cultivate a soft life that supports your highest good
This episode is a reminder that you do not have to be loud to lead, or busy to be worthy. It is your invitation to rest, reconnect, and rise in your own radiant rhythm.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone! 😊
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Kathryn Tapper, Mayo Clinic-Trained physician and Founder of GLOW Coaching.
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Dr. KTap on:
Learn more:
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Rate it and write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold. Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
Racism in the workplace is not always loud. It often whispers through microaggressions, gaslighting, and the exhaustion of proving one’s worth again and again. In this powerful continuation of Working While Black: Trials, Tribulations & Transcendence, anti-racism advocate and author of I’m Tired of Racism Sharon Hurley Hall joins Lisa Hurley, author of Space To Exhale and founder of The Great Exhale, for an unflinching, restorative conversation about navigating professional spaces that were never built for Black women to thrive.
Through humor, candor, and hard-won wisdom, Lisa and Sharon unpack the emotional toll of “The Working While Black Effect,” and discuss the radical act of reclaiming peace, self-confidence, and joy despite it all. This episode is both a mirror and a balm, especially for Black women who are ready to live a soft life rooted in truth and resilience.
You will leave this conversation ready to breathe deeper, stand taller, and create your own space to exhale. You will learn:
How “The Working While Black Effect” shows up across industries and identities.
The difference between allyship and true solidarity.
How cultural identity and environment shape self-perception at work.
Ways to protect peace and self-worth in predominantly white spaces.
Why choosing rest and self-preservation is a revolutionary act.
If you know what it’s like to be “the only,” to be overworked but underpaid, to be punished for being excellent, or you’re simply tired of dealing with racism, this conversation will help you feel seen, relieved, and able to exhale.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone! 😊
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Sharon Hurley Hall, author of I’m Tired of Racism, and Founder of Sharon’s Anti-Racism Newsletter.
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Sharon on:
Learn more:
Subscribe to Sharon’s Anti-Racism NewsletterBook Sharon to speak
For updates, visit SharonHH.com
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Rate it and write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold. Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
Empathy is more than a feeling—it’s a daily practice that shapes how we live, love, and lead. In this episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, host Lisa Hurley sits down with Tammy Triolo, Founder of PCQ Consulting, creator of The Empathy Scorecard, and author of The Empathy Gap: It Is Black and White. Together, they explore the power of empathy as a pathway to joy, self-love, and liberation.
Tammy offers a blueprint for grace that doesn’t bypass accountability, love that is a practice not a theory, and joy that doesn’t ignore injustice. Grounded in emotional intelligence, she speaks directly to everyone who needs to reclaim or relearn radical empathy as a path to healing.
How The Empathy Scorecard transforms emotional intelligence into liberatory practice
Why empathy is not softness for the sake of comfort, but strategy for justice and global transcendence
How empathy creates space for rest, joy, and inner peace.
Why grace and self-love are essential to living a soft life.
Practical ways to cultivate empathy in daily life.
Affirmations to help you feel ready to exhale and live with intention.
If you’ve ever felt disconnected from yourself or others, it’s time to exhale into empathy. This episode is your invitation to center empathy as your most powerful form of resistance.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone! 😊
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Tammy Triolo, CEO of PCQ Consulting, and author of The Empathy Gap.
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Tammy on:
Learn more:
Get your copy of The Empathy Gap: It is Black and White
Get the Study Guide for The Empathy Gap
Download The Empathy Scorecard and The Self-Empathy Scorecard
Watch Tammy’s TedX Talk–Empathy: The Thread That Connects Us
For updates, visit TammyTriolo.com
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Rate it and write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
Soft living begins with knowing who you are. In this episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, host Lisa Hurley sits down with Dana Brownlee—globally recognized speaker, trainer, entrepreneur, and author of The Unwritten Rules of Managing Up—to explore the power of self-knowledge as the foundation for living a soft, centered, serene life.
With wisdom and empathy born of their lived experience, Lisa and Dana dive into how every Black woman can curate a life that feels restful, intentional, and aligned. Rooted in cultural resonance, this conversation offers practical insights for anyone ready to stop glamorizing the grind and instead embrace a gentler approach to life.
If you’ve been searching for your blueprint to a more fulfilling life, this episode will provide you with the soulful reminders and soft-life strategies you need.
This episode offers:
💚 Insights into why self-knowledge is the key to building a soft life.
💚 Tips to help Black women release hustle culture and embrace rest.
💚 Practical steps to align work, relationships, and wellness with your truth.
💚 Ways to reclaim joy, rest, softness, and serenity in your daily life.
Listen in to learn how self-knowledge becomes your blueprint for soft living—and why the present moment is always the right time to exhale.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone! 😊
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Dana Brownlee, Speaker, Trainer, and author author of The Unwritten Rules of Managing Up
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Dana on:
Learn more:
Monetize Your Brilliance (Webinar launching Q1 2026)
Pitching Yourself Without a Publicist
The Unwritten Rules of Managing Up
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Rate it and write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
Too often, Black people are forced to hold their breath, bracing for the next microaggression, the next demand, the next wave of exhaustion. But we were never meant to live in survival mode, so what if we were to step out of survival mode and start breathing with intention?
In this deeply affirming and practical episode Lisa is joined by Zhalisa "Zee" Clarke, breathwork expert and author of Black People Breathe, whose groundbreaking work centers the healing power of the breath for Black folks navigating everyday racism, overwhelm, and exhaustion.
In “Reclaiming Our Breath: Moving from Survival Mode to Serenity,” Zee shares her powerful journey from corporate burnout to embodied liberation, and invites us to reclaim our right to rest, centeredness, and serenity. Whether you're new to breathwork or a longtime practitioner, this conversation offers a space to pause, reset, and return to yourself.
In this episode, you will learn:
💨 How breathwork can help Black people heal from the trauma of racism and systemic stress
💨 Practical techniques to move from fight-or-flight to calm and grounded
💨 Why your nervous system needs rest—not just sleep
💨 How to breathe through microaggressions, overwhelm, and uncertainty in real time
💨 The importance of reclaiming joy, ease, and bodily autonomy—one breath at a time
This episode is your reminder that you deserve the healing that comes from bonding with your breath. No more waiting: it is time to exhale.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone! 😊
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Zee Clarke, Breathwork and resilience expert and the author of Black People Breathe
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Zee on:
Learn more:
Resources:
Learn more about the Rejuvenation Retreat for Women of Color, held in Barbados
Explore Zee’s programs: Breathwork@Work™, Women@Work, and Black@Work™
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Loved the episode? Rate it and write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
Rest is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.
It’s a strategy, and investment, a full-body “no” to the constant grind that tries to eat us alive.
The return we get from investing in our rest is a payoff in health, longevity, clarity, creativity, and liberation—but many of us hesitate to rest for fear we’ll be “left behind.”
In this restorative episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, Lisa sits down with the phenomenal Dr. Nika White—President and CEO of Nika White Consulting, host of the Intentional Conversations vodcast, and author of Inclusion Uncomplicated—to break down why trading our health for hustle is the worst deal we could ever sign, and explain how ease is a form of ROI that hustle culture can never deliver.
In this paradigm-shifting discussion Dr. Nika and Lisa dive into:
💚The hidden costs of overwork—especially for Black women
💚 Why rest is both boundary and blueprint for sustainable leadership
💚 How to choose ourselves over “the system”
💚 Practical ways to reclaim your time, your energy, and your softness
💚 The radical power of saying “no” to hustle culture, and “yes” to a life of ease
This isn’t your typical conversation about burnout. This is about legacy, liberation, and the ROI of doing less. Because rest is the new success, and it’s finally time to exhale.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone! 😊
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Dr. Nika White, President and CEO of Nika White Consulting, host of the Intentional Conversations vodcast, and author of Inclusion Uncomplicated
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Dr. Nika on:
Learn more:
Resources:
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Loved the episode? Rate it and write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
To beat burnout, press pause. Sometimes the most radical act of self-preservation is to stop.
In this affirming episode, Lisa is in conversation with the brilliant Samantha-Rae Dickenson, PhD, to talk about what happens when we finally stop over-performing and instead start listening to what our minds and bodies actually need. Which is lots and lots of rest.
Together, they peel back the layers of masking, over-functioning, and navigating capitalism’s clawed grip on our health, speaking from their lived experience as Black women who have both navigated autistic burnout.
In this episode, you will learn:
💚 Why autistic burnout is more intense for Black women
💚 Why taking a sabbatical isn't a luxury—it's a necessity
💚 The role that reclaiming stillness plays in achieving healing
💚 Tools for building a life that honors your energy, boundaries, and capacity
This show is a love letter to every listener (especially if you're on the spectrum) who has ever needed to hear these words: you are allowed to rest before you break.
Tune in for an episode that will help you feel seen, get balanced, and obtain practical tools for living a more rested life.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone! 😊
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Samantha-Rae Dickenson, PhD, CEO of DSRD Consulting, creator of the Autistic Burnout Framework, and author of Back to Center: A Guide to Reclaiming Clarity in Times of Change
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Dr. Sam on:
Learn more:
Resources:
Learn more about the Autistic Burnout Framework™
Learn more about autistic burnout recovery
Get your copy of Back to Center: A Guide to Reclaiming Clarity in Times of Change
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Loved the episode? Rate it and write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
“Wow! You’re so nice!” So many of us have been raised to crave those words. We’ve been socialized to be agreeable…amenable…accommodating.
But here’s the truth folks never tell you (especially the ones benefitting from your niceness 👀: being “nice” can cost you everything.
Your peace. Your boundaries. Your energy. Your well-being. Your power.
Being nice can leave you feeling completely depleted.
In this unapologetic episode, Lisa sits down with Amira Barger—Executive Vice President at Edelman, and author of the upcoming book The Price of Nice—to unpack the unspoken toll that niceness takes, especially for Black women and femmes who have been socialized to shrink, smile, and smooth things over; who have been trained to say “yes” even when our bodies and souls are screaming “no.”
Together, Lisa and Amira get all the way real about:
✅ How "niceness" became a survival strategy rooted in systemic oppression
✅ How people-pleasing disconnects us from our truth and our voice
✅ The double-bind of being Black and “nice” in corporate and community spaces
✅ How to distinguish between genuine kindness and performative niceness
✅ The liberating path from performative niceness to authentic power
✅ Why replacing “nice” with “no” can increase our self-respect
Plus you’ll learn practical tools for unlearning chronic niceness, and setting boundaries without guilt, hesitation, or apology. Tune in and enjoy the show!
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Amira Barger, author of The Price of Nice
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Amira on:
Learn more:
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
Sometimes you just have to tell it like it is. Because there is healing in the telling. And there is liberation in your legacy.
In this powerful continuation of their conversation in Episode 12, Lisa Hurley welcomes back Elona Washington, MSM, Chief Publishing Officer of The Author’s Journey and editor of the award-winning anthology Triumph in the Trenches: The Green Book for Black Professionals. In Part 2 of “Writing To Exhale,” they explore the sacred, collective, and transcendent power of Black storytelling as a means of healing, connection, and cultural preservation. Together, they dive even deeper into the sacred, liberating practice of writing one’s truths—out loud, on purpose, and without apology.
Whether you’re a seasoned author or a journal-on-the-nightstand type, this episode will affirm that your story matters and your voice is vital.Tune in to discover:
🖤 Why Black voices must be preserved, centered, and celebrated
🖤 How to turn your lived experience into legacy.
🖤 How writing in community (e.g. as with an anthology) can spark connection, conversation, and even communal healing?
🖤 How your story can create space for others to breathe, release, and transform.
🖤 What it means to lay down your armor down on the page, and how can that create space to finally exhale.
This is your sacred invitation to write your way to freedom. Because your truth isn’t just powerful—it’s necessary.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone!
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Elona Washington, Chief Publishing Officer of The Author’s Journey, and editor of Triumph in the Trenches: The Green Book for Black Professionals
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, author of Space To Exhale and Founder of The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Elona on:
Learn more:
Join Elona's Author Community on Skool
IngramSpark Author Spotlight
Black Enterprise Feature: Navigating the Book Publishing World
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn more:
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
*TW: Mention of suicidal ideation*
Black women are done working twice as hard for half as much.
In this hard-hitting episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, Lisa sits down with Janelle Benjamin, B.A., J.D.—Founder & CEO of All Things Equitable Inc., and host of the Twice As Hard Vodcast Series—to unpack the exhausting, systemic reality that Black women are expected to work “twice as hard to get half as far.”
The friends and activists also discuss the “last in/first out” treatment that many Black women are subjected to, a topic that is particularly poignant at this time in history when thousands of Black women have lost their jobs.
Together, they explore the toll these dynamics take on Black women’s lives, health, and careers—and why it’s time to rewrite the rules.
🎧 In this candid conversation, you will learn:
✅ The historical roots of the “twice as hard” narrative, and why it persists today
✅ The hidden costs of overwork on Black women’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being
✅ Strategies Black women can use to set boundaries, rest unapologetically, and reclaim ease
✅ Practical ways organizations can dismantle inequitable systems and create cultures of care
✅ Why centering equity isn’t charity—it’s essential for sustainable success in every workplace
✅ How workplaces can stop perpetuating grind culture and start centering equity
This is your invitation to be more, do less, and live abundantly.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone!
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Janelle Benjamin, Founder & CEO of All Things Equitable Inc., and host of the Twice As Hard vodcast series
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Janelle on:
Instagram: @AllThingsEquitable
Learn more:
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
What does it take to rebuild trust in workplaces that were never designed with us in mind? In this illuminating episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, Lisa sits down with Minda Harts, bestselling author of "The Memo" and of her latest groundbreaking title "Talk To Me Nice: The Seven Trust Languages for a Better Workplace."
Together, the two authors unpack the silent crisis of broken communication at work, and reveal a liberatory new framework for repairing connection, restoring respect, and reinstating psychological safety—especially for Black women and women of color navigating systems that weren’t built for our brilliance.
Rooted in both lived experience and powerful research, Minda’s Seven Trust Languages® framework offers a practical path toward equity, empathy, and more human leadership.
In this episode you’ll discover:
✅ What the “Seven Trust Languages” are, and how they mirror love languages
✅ How to identify your own trust language and honor others' trust languages in the workplace
✅ The real impact of broken trust on teams, morale, and mental health
✅ How inclusive leaders can build (and repair) trust, intentionally and equitably
✅ How organizations can incorporate the trust languages into their formal processes like performance reviews
Whether you’re a people leader, team member, or aspiring changemaker, this episode will equip you with the tools to work smarter—not harder—and reclaim your peace while you’re on the clock.
🎧 Tune in, take notes, and remember: You deserve to feel safe, seen, trusted and supported at work.
Remember to:
Listen, follow and rate on Spotify
Listen, follow, rate, and review on Apple
Listen, follow, and rate on Audible
Watch, subscribe, and comment on YouTube
Share your favorite episode with someone
Get a copy of Space To Exhale
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Minda Harts, bestselling author of The Memo and Talk To Me Nice: The Seven Trust Languages for a Better Workplace
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Minda on:
Learn more:
Get Your Self-Advocacy Starter Kit
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Engage
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
In a world that often equates volume with value, what does it mean to honor the quiet power of introversion, especially as a Black woman? In this illuminating episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, Lisa sits down with Jeri Bingham, Founder of Black Introvert Week, Host of the HUSH LOUDLY Podcast (WGN Radio), and creator of Hush Loudly: Introverts Redefined, to celebrate the brilliance, boldness, and beauty of those who speak softly but live powerfully.
Together, the two introverts unpack the intersections of race, identity, and personality, and explore how introverts are not only navigating but also transforming the workplace, community spaces, and the culture at large.
🎧 Tune in to learn:
✅ Why redefining introversion is a radical and liberating act for Black women and femmes
✅ How to thrive as a quiet leader in loud, extrovert-centered spaces
✅ The truth about rest, solitude, and reclaiming your energy as a superpower
✅ What inspired the creation of Black Introvert Week, and why it’s so necessary
✅ How to build a life and career that honors your authentic self
Whether you’re an introvert, or you love someone who is, this episode is a love letter to all the quiet ones—and a bold reminder that softness is strength.
Remember to:
Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.
Subscribe on YouTube.
Share your favorite episode with someone.
Get a copy of Space To Exhale.
Sign up for The Gentle Breath newsletter.
Rate the show and write a review.
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Jeri Bingham, host of the HushLoudly: Introverts Redefined Podcast
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Jeri on:
Learn more:
Listen to HushLoudly on WGN Radio
Black Introvert Week, every year from July 8-15
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn More
Rate & Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
What does it take to alchemize your pain into purpose—and your triggers into triumph? In this powerful episode, Lisa sits down with the ever-impactful Alechia Reese, MBA, CSM: speaker, author, and host of the Triggered AF Podcast.
Alechia keeps it real about what healing actually looks like, beyond Instagram quotes and “positive vibes.” Together, Lisa and Alechia explore the messy middle of transformation, discuss how to honor your triggers without becoming them, and reveal why healing is both a personal rebellion and a collective revolution.
If you’re navigating trauma, reclaiming your voice, or seeking tools to thrive (not merely survive), this conversation is for you.
In this episode, you will learn:
✅ Why your triggers aren’t your enemies; they’re invitations to heal.
✅ How to stop performing strength and start practicing wholeness.
✅ Tools for navigating trauma while still choosing joy, softness, and community.
✅ What it looks like to build a life rooted in value, truth, and transformation.
✅ Why healing out loud is radical, sacred, and necessary for Black women.
Join us. Heal with us. Exhale with us. Transform with us. It is time.
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Alechia Reese, host of the Triggered AF Podcast
👸🏽Host & Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author, Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Alechia on:
Learn more:
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn more:
Engage!
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
There is power, and profound healing, in telling our stories out loud, in our own voices, and today’s guest knows that for sure. Elona Washington, MSM is the Chief Publishing Officer of The Author’s Journey, and editor of Triumph in the Trenches: The Green Book for Black Professionals, a groundbreaking anthology that centers the lived experiences of Black people navigating corporate spaces.
In "Writing to Exhale: Triumph, Truth, and Transcendence," Elona joins Lisa to explore how writing becomes a path to reclamation, how storytelling becomes a salve, and how naming one’s personal truth creates space for collective healing. This is not just a conversation; it’s a call to write, to release, and to rise.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
✍🏾 How writing your truth can be a powerful form of healing, release, and resistance
✍🏾 Why storytelling is essential for Black professionals navigating systems designed to silence us
✍🏾The behind-the-scenes journeys of Elona's memoir and of Triumph in the Trenches, and what they revealed about the power of vulnerability and voice
✍🏾 Ways to begin documenting your own story, even if you’ve never called yourself a writer
✍🏾 Practical ways to honor your lived experience and turn it into a legacy that uplifts others
✍🏾 Why we must write ourselves into history
✍🏾 How sharing your truth can help others heal, grow, and exhale
This is your invitation to remember that your story is both your sanctuary and your superpower.
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Elona Washington, Chief Publishing Officer of The Author’s Journey, and editor of Triumph in the Trenches: The Green Book for Black Professionals
👸🏽Executive Producer: Lisa Hurley, author of Space To Exhale and Founder of The Great Exhale
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Loved the episode? Write a review! 😊🙏🏾
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Elona on:
Learn more:
Black Enterprise Feature: Navigating the Book Publishing World
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn more:
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
Class is in session! 👩🏾🏫👩🏾🎓 In this nourishing and necessary episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, Lisa is joined by the brilliant Chantell Frazier, Ph.D., founder & CEO of Anansi Research, founder of the Healthy Scholars community, and creator of the Love Notes for Black Women in Academia campaign.
In “Soft-Life School: Black Genius and the Need for Rest,” Lisa and Chantell unpack what it means to center rest as a radical act of self-preservation, especially for Black women navigating the grind culture of academia.
In this first episode in the Soft-Life School series, you are invited into a space where Black brilliance does not require burnout, where healing is just as valuable as achievement, and where you are worth more than your credentials. This is a masterclass in unlearning the violence of overwork and reclaiming the healing energies of ease, imagination, and rest. 💚
In this episode, you will learn about:
✅ How grind culture impacts Black women in academia
✅ Dr. Frazier’s journey creating communities of healing and care
✅ How Dr. Frazier’s "Love Notes for Black Women in Academia" became a balm for burnout and a blueprint for collective care
✅ Why rest is not a reward but a requirement—especially for Black women intellectuals and creatives
✅ How to honor your genius and your humanity in high-performance spaces
✅ Simple, sustainable strategies for building a soft life that sustains your genius
Tune in and exhale. Because your body AND your brain deserve to rest.
Join us for what will be a healing and inspiring show.
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Dr. Chantell Frazier, founder & CEO of Anansi Research, founder of the Healthy Scholars community, and creator of the Love Notes for Black Women in Academia
👸🏽Producer: Lisa Hurley, Author Space To Exhale and Founder, The Great Exhale
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Chantell on:
Learn more:
Storytelling for Researchers Webinar
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn more:
Engage!
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
Join Lisa and Herisa Stanislaus, MPH (aka Herisa The Traveler and Herisa The Traveling Poet) for Visas, Verses, and Vulnerability: Healing Through Words. In this episode the two Caribbean-American creatives discuss what it means to journey inward and outward as Black women finding healing in unfamiliar places.
In a world that demands our resilience but rarely offers us refuge, Herisa reminds us that we can create sanctuary in our stanzas, liberation in our luggage, and softness in our steps. Because for those of us who’ve had to cross oceans just to breathe, poetry can be a passport to peace. 🙏🏾
In this episode, you will learn:
💚 How travel and poetry can become tools of healing, resistance, and return
💚 What it means to reclaim the visa narrative as a third-culture woman of Caribbean heritage
💚 The role of ritual and writing in nervous system regulation and creative grounding
💚 Why vulnerability is revolutionary for Black women—and how to make space for it
💚 What “home” means when you’re always in motion—but still rooted
Join us for what will be a healing and inspiring show.
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Herisa Stanislaus, MPH, founder House Poetry with Herisa, and creator of the Breathe, Speak, Thrive workshop.
👸🏽Producer: Lisa Hurley
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
🔗 Connect with Herisa on:
YouTube
https://www.instagram.com/herisathetraveler; www.linkedin.com/in/herisastanislaus; https://www.facebook.com/HerisaTheTraveler
Learn more:
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
What does it really mean for Black women to “have it all,” and who gets to decide? In this nourishing and truth-telling episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, Lisa Hurley is joined by powerhouse attorney, podcast host, wife, and mother of two, Liku Amadi, Esq., Founder of the Anasa Law Firm and host of the Black Women Can Have It All podcast.
Together, they dismantle the limiting narratives around Black womanhood, success, and “balance,” and instead offer a liberatory reframe rooted in choice, community, and joy. Liku brings her signature brilliance, candor, and care to the mic, sharing what it looks like to define success on your terms—and live it out loud.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
✅ Why the phrase “having it all” can feel both empowering and oppressive—and how to make it yours
✅ How Liku balances entrepreneurship, motherhood, and rest with grace, and without guilt or grind
✅ The difference between society’s expectations and your soul’s calling
✅ Why reframing “success” is crucial for Black women’s liberation and mental health
✅ How focusing on life-work balance, in that order, can help you create space to exhale
💚 Come exhale with Lisa and Liku as they redefine what “having it all” really means.
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Liku Amadi, Founder of the Anasa Law Firm and Host of the Black Women Can Have It All Podcast
👸🏽Producer: Lisa Hurley
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
Liku Amadi is an award-winning attorney and three-time-published academic author. She graduated magna cum laude from Thomas Jefferson School of Law and had the honor of serving as the first Black Editor-in-Chief on California’s first all-Black woman law review board.
As a first-generation Tanzanian, Bay Area native, and mother of 2, Liku blends legal expertise with the practical, forward-thinking solutions that only come from managing family and work life.
Her goal is to help you build a proactive legal foundation that supports your vision and growth so you can lead with peace of mind and security instead of worrying about whether your business is protected. It is.
🔗 Connect with Liku on:
Learn more:
Black Women Can Have It All website
Listen to Black Women Can Have It All on Apple
Listen to Black Women Can Have It All on Spotify
STAY IN TOUCH:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn more:
Engage!
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
What does it mean to write while Black? To put your truth on the page in a world that so often tries to silence or sanitize it?
In this deeply personal and insightful episode, Lisa sits down with her brilliant big sister, Sharon Hurley Hall: author, anti-racism activist, and a fierce advocate for equity everywhere—including in the publishing industry.
Together, they explore the joys and challenges of writing as Black women, the publishing paths they've each chosen (Sharon is a self-published author; Lisa went the traditional publishing route), and the power of using their words as tools of both resistance and restoration.
This is more than a sibling conversation—it’s a masterclass in writing with purpose, publishing with intention, and building legacy on their own terms.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
✅ The pros and cons of self-publishing vs. traditional publishing—straight from two sisters who’ve done both
✅ How to navigate racism, gatekeeping, and erasure in the publishing industry
✅ Why writing as a Black woman is both a radical act and a sacred responsibility
✅ The emotional labor of telling the truth, and how to care for yourself in the process
✅ How Sharon and Lisa each define success: not by sales alone, but by impact, agency, and integrity
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guest: Sharon Hurley Hall, author of I’m Tired of Racism
👸🏽Podcast Producer: Lisa Hurley, author of Space To Exhale and Founder of The Great Exhale
SHOW NOTES
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST:
Sharon Hurley Hall (she/her) is an author, educator and anti-racism activist. A former journalist and writer, Sharon is also the author of I'm Tired of Racism: True Stories of Existing While Black and Exploring Shadeism. In addition, Sharon is the Founder of Sharon’s Anti-Racism Newsletter (where she's on a mission to fight racism one article at a time) and the SHHARE anti-racism membership community. In what passes for her spare time, Sharon provides mentoring for introverted Black women and creates courses to help people share their important stories.
🔗 Connect with Sharon on:
Learn more:
https://www.antiracismnewsletter.com/
https://books2read.com/tiredofracism#
STAY IN TOUCH:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn more:
Engage!
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
Join Lisa and her fabulous soul-tribe of sisters for a very special episode of Space To Exhale: The Podcast! This show is a celebration of Lisa’s first-ever pub day of her first-ever book, Space To Exhale!! 😁🎉📚
The show is moderated by Alexis Mobley, PCC 💚 (@imattercoaching), and features these special guests:
💚 Liku T. Amadi, Esq. (likutmadoshi)
💚 LaTonya Davis (@iamlatonyadavis2025)
💚 Sharon Hurley Hall (@shurleyhall)
💚 Elona Washington, MSM (@elonawashington)
Each of these phenomenal Black women played a sacred role in helping Lisa get Space To Exhale to the finish line. This episode is about giving flowers, expressing gratitude, sharing space, and exhaling together.
Join the sistahood and bask in the good energy and high vibes of the extra-special episode.
CREDITS:
👸🏽Guests:
💚 Sharon Hurley Hall 💚 Alexis Mobley
👸🏽Producer: Latrice Torres, CEO of LeaderKeysConsulting
STAY IN TOUCH:
🔗 Connect with Lisa on
Learn more:
Engage!
Share your thoughts about the episode using the hashtag #TheSpaceToExhaleShow
GET SPACE TO EXHALE:
📚Get your copy of Space To Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Already read it? Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads. (Or all three! 😊)
ABOUT SPACE TO EXHALE:
It is time to exhale: to say no to hustle culture, and yes to a life of ease. In Space To Exhale, Lisa Hurley, Anthem Award-winning activist, founder of The Great Exhale, and leader in the rest movement for Black women, provides you with an uplifting and practical guide to help you beat burnout, embrace rest, and live a soft life.
As a soft Black woman, and an advocate of rest for Black women, Lisa supports readers via modalities like affirmations, meditations, and breathwork, as well as her powerful Exhalation Point framework. This inspiring self-help book guides you on a life-changing journey to:
Know Yourself: Remember who you are, align with your values, and celebrate your strengths.
Love Yourself: Practice positive self-talk, select your close circle, and prioritize rest.
Be Yourself: Show up authentically, protect your energy, and live a soft, centered, serene life.
Ready to exhale? Get your copy today. Published by Wiley, Space To Exhale is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and wherever books are sold.
Need several copies for your book club, event, retreat, or ERG? Visit our bulk orders partner Porchlight Books.
