💡 ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Natalie sits down with Alana Cheeks-Lomax, Co-Founder and CEO of Untold Impact and former Global Head of Inclusion & Diversity at Cash App, for a conversation about what leadership actually looks like right now. A two-time Carnegie Mellon graduate and trusted advisor to executives across tech, nonprofit, and public sector organizations, Alana brings over 15 years of experience navigating the hardest rooms in business and doesn't sugarcoat what she's seeing. From the generational exodus happening inside organizations to the conscious DEI rollback, she's watched the table shift in real time and has a lot to say about who's being left out of the conversation.
They get into the wealth gap widening inside major industries, the AI reckoning that most companies aren't having honestly, who's leaving the table and why, and what it means to stay grounded when the chaos around you isn't entirely accidental. Alana also hosts the Office Hours Black Girl podcast, now in its third season, dedicated to centering Black women's stories and experiences in the workplace. This conversation covers the stuff leaders are thinking but not saying out loud, and it's worth the full listen.
🎯 KEY TAKEAWAYS
🔹 Leadership burnout is a system problem — the compounding crises of the last six years have pushed leaders to a breaking point that individual resilience alone can't fix.
🔹 The workforce formula is broken — younger generations are uncoupling their identity from their job title, and organizations still operating on the old model are already behind.
🔹 Accountability starts at the top — leaders who are afraid to be wrong create cultures where mistakes get buried instead of owned.
🔹 AI is not the revolution it's being marketed as — many companies are using it to solve cashflow problems, not efficiency ones, and the human cost is being undercounted.
🔹 High performance and high quality are not the same thing — speed without intention produces output, not impact.
TOPICS
LEADERSHIP
INNOVATION
STRATEGIC THINKING
