At The Table
What Black Women in Leadership Actually Want.
Your voice belongs in this report and yes, that means you.
If you have ever been the one holding it together in any room, in any capacity - this survey was built for you.
Leadership is not a title. It never was. It is the woman running the meeting and the woman holding the room together without one. It is the pastor and the teacher and the entrepreneur and the executive and the one everyone calls when something needs to happen. It is the woman in transition, the woman who was pushed out, and the woman still figuring out what leading looks like for her.
If that is you - in any form - keep reading.
Black women in leadership have been studied, surveyed, and cited for decades. Often without being asked what they actually want. Often without being trusted to define what leadership even means for them.
This is different.
This survey does not start with assumptions. It starts with you - your experience, your truth, and your vision for what leading well could actually look like if the conditions were finally right.
Your voice belongs here. Don't count yourself out.
At The Table is a cultural initiative by Holistree LLC documenting what Black women in leadership truly need, want, and deserve in their own words. The findings will be published in a national cultural report in late 2026. Before we go to print, we're collecting testimony from two directions: from Black women living it, and from the organizations responsible for supporting them.
Find your survey below. It takes less than ten minutes. And it matters.
The Survey
Which best describes you?
Leadership looks like a lot of things. And if you have ever been the one holding it together in any room, in any capacity -this survey is for you.
Are you a...
C-suite executive or senior leader
Vice President or Senior Director
Founder, CEO, or entrepreneur running your own business
Executive Director or leader of a nonprofit or community organization
Manager navigating a system that was not built for you
Pastor, ministry leader, or faith community leader
Teacher, principal, or education administrator
Entertainment industry professional or creative entrepreneur
Community organizer, activist, or movement builder
Small business owner wearing every hat in the building
Coach, consultant, therapist, or advisor who leads others through their work
ERG leader or corporate diversity champion
Board member or civic leader
Leader in transition - recently left, recently displaced, or stepping into something new
Black woman who was laid off this season your experience is not a dis-qualifier. It is the heart of this conversation.
The one everyone turns to - with or without a title.
I represent an organization.
Are you a...
HR Director or Chief People Officer
ERG leader or diversity and inclusion practitioner
People operations or talent management professional
Direct manager of Black women in leadership
Small business owner or entrepreneur with Black women on your team or in your professional community
Foundation or corporate giving decision-maker
Organizational leader invested in retention and advancement
If any of these describe you or if you make decisions that shape the environments Black women work in, this survey is for you.
This survey is short, anonymous, and designed in good faith. We are not here to audit. We are here to understand what organizations are offering, investing in, and building for Black women in leadership so we can be honest about the gap between intention and experience. Your responses will be featured as organizational context in the published report.
Are you also a Black woman in leadership? You are warmly invited to fill out the individual survey as well - your personal voice belongs in this report too.
All survey responses are confidential. Individual responses will never be published. Findings will appear in aggregated, anonymized form in the cultural report. Questions? Email Atthetable@holistree.com
Why This Initiative Exists
(For Marie. And every Black Woman she represents.)
I have spent ten years building spaces that prove Black women deserve, not eventually, not after they've earned it - now. In full. As they are.
At The Table is the next expression of that belief. And to understand why it matters so much to me, you have to understand where it comes from.
My mother passed away without the resources she deserved. Not because she hadn't worked hard enough. Not because she hadn't given enough. But because the systems around her were never designed to pour back into women like her - Black women who carried everything and were rarely asked what they needed in return. I watched that. I felt it. And I made a quiet promise that the work I build will always move in the opposite direction.
That promise lives inside everything Holistree has ever created. It lives inside every retreat, every gathering, every membership, every conversation held in spaces designed entirely around Black women being poured into and loved well. And it lives - most urgently - inside At The Table.
At The Table was born because I kept finding myself in rooms listening to Black women in leadership tell the truth about what it costs to lead at this level. The burnout. The invisibility. The gap between what they give and what they receive. And I realized we have mountains of data about Black women but almost none that asks us what we actually want, what we need, and what we would build if we were truly resourced.
This initiative is my answer to that gap.
Three facilitated virtual conversations with a curated cohort of Black women in leadership. A nationally co-published cultural report documenting what Black women actually want and need in their own words. And a tribute dinner in December to honor the women who helped us tell this story.
But At The Table is also the beginning of something larger.
It is the foundation for what I intend to build next - a Fund for Black Women. A living, resourced vehicle that ensures finances and access to resources are never the reason a Black woman cannot get what she needs. Not a one-time gift. Not a gesture. A sustained, structural commitment to making sure the women who carry the most are finally, unambiguously, poured into first.
My mother deserved that. The women in these rooms deserve that. And I intend to spend the next decade building it.
That is why I do not take this initiative lightly. That is why 1,000 voices is not an aspiration - it is a commitment. That is why the report we produce will not sit on a shelf. It will go somewhere it cannot be ignored.
Black women have been leading since before anyone was handing out titles. It is time the resources caught up.
This is my contribution to making sure they do.
With sweetness and deep intention,
Rakita Lillard-Brown Founder & Sweet Life Maven · Holistree LLC · Est. 2016
This work needs partners behind it.
At The Table is independently produced and community funded. We are actively seeking organizations, brands, foundations, and media partners who want to put their name and resources behind research that will move the needle for Black women in leadership.
Sponsorship supports participant honorariums, the production of the cultural report, and the tribute dinner closing out this initiative in December 2026.
If your organization believes Black women deserve to be resourced, heard, and centered - this is a tangible way to show it.
Presenting Partner · Community Partner · In-Kind Partner · Media Partner
Questions? Reach us at atthetable@holistree.com