Writer. Coach. Speaker. Faith-walker.
I deploy my intellect and writing/journalism skills to help thought leaders, visionaries, creatives and game-changers amplify empowering messages, and to help laypeople understand complicated topics, often related to racial equity.
I use my executive coaching skills to help BIPOC thought leaders, visionaries, creatives, and game-changers fulfill their potential, excel in their career, and fulfill their destiny. I also help ordinary people imagine a life that inspires them and equip them with the belief they can carry out their faith-walk into their destiny.
As a public speaker/trainer, I extend my research into communities by translating difficult topics into compelling narratives that inspire people into action.
I feel most joyful helping people fulfill their spiritual destiny.
Writing.
Books
I collaborate with leaders, visionaries, creators and game-changers to unleash the power of their voice and amplify their message to empower humanity.
Adult
Among the many books I have written, two have won the NAACP Image Award for Instructional Literature: Promises Kept: Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life (2015), the companion book to the award-winning documentary American Promise, directed by my co-authors, filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, as part of a campaign to support Black males to close educational opportunity gaps; and Health First!: The Black Woman's Wellness Guide (2013) written for Eleanor Hinton Hoytt, the former president and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative. These have become New York Times best sellers: 21 Pounds in 21 Days: The Martha's Vineyard Diet Detox, with Roni DeLuz, N.D. Ph.D., and James Hester; and Friends: A Love Story, with Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance. I’ve also written one nonfiction book about spiritual transformation for men: The Code of the Righteous Warrior: 10 Laws of Moral Manhood for an Uncertain World with Rev. Dr. Alyn E. Waller; an done nonfiction book about the spiritual transformation of a couple: No Crowns in the Castle: Building a Strong Relationship and a Harmonious Life with Fantasia and Kendall Taylor.
Middle Grades and Young Adult
I’ve penned several award-winning books for young adults, among them: We’re In This Together by 2017 Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour, a Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2022 and a School Library Review Best Nonfiction Book of 2022; We’re Better Than This: My Fight for the Future of Democracy by Congressman Elijah Cummings, an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Non-Fiction and Library Journal Starred review; The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 with Tim Madigan, recipient of Booklist and Kirkus Starred and School Library Recommended reviews; Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson by Katherine Johnson, a Parents’ Choice GOLD Award winner and Amazon Editor’s Pick Best Nonfiction for Kids; Mo'ne Davis: Remember My Name: My Life From First Pitch to Game Changer, with the Little League female pitching phenom; and Venus and Serena Serving from the Hip, with the Williams sisters; and Reach for the Skai: How to Inspire, Empower and Clapback by Skai Jackson. Several children’s books I’ve written have received starred reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus and other sources.
Children
I even challenged myself to write a picture book: One Step Further: My Story of Math, the Moon, and a Lifelong Mission with Mrs. Katherine Johnson. It’s a lot harder than you might think!
Journalism
I was the editor-in-chief of HealthQuest: The Publication of Black Wellness, the first health magazine targeting Black Americans, then went on to run Real Health: The Publication of Black Wellness; the National Medical Association's Healthy Living magazine; and The Black AIDS Weekly, the electronic publication of the Black AIDS Institute. Two of these publications have won National Health Information Awards. I led the Black AIDS Institute’s team of volunteer journalists that reported from the International AIDS Conference, the world’s largest health conference, when it was held in Mexico City, Mexico; Vienna, Austria; Sydney, Australia; and Durban, South Africa.
I have written for numerous publications, including Dr. Phill, Essence, Ebony, Health, Heart & Soul, Plum and POZ. And I have counted The American Diabetes Association, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and American Express, Penton, Rodale and Smart + Strong custom publishing companies among my clients.
I am a graduate of the National Institutes of Health's "Medicine in the Media" program held in conjunction with the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention invited me to participate in "HIV/AIDS and African American Women: A Consultation Supporting the Center for Disease Control's Heightened National Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis Among African Americans".
Reports
I researched and wrote the first "White House Report on African Americans and Education" for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence and African Americans, a gold-standard report that was to have been the transitional document from the Obama administration to the incoming administration, and used to guide policymaking on the state, local and national levels. (The Trump administration chose not to publish it.) I also penned "Getting Real: Black Women Taking Charge in the Fight Against AIDS," the first report on this topic, which I then presented at a national gathering of Black women leaders from major government, civic and civil rights organizations.
Coaching.
I am a Board certified (BCC), Certified Professional Coach (CPC), and an Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner (ELI-MP) and study racial abolitionism and somatic coaching with Resmaa Menakem, author of My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Minds.
Executive & REDI
I help BIPOC leaders, visionaries, creators, and game-changers break barriers by creating a sustainable structure of work/life balance that centers their health, unleashes their gifts, and transforms their spirituality into a Force for good.
In addition, I bring to the coaching moment 20+ years of expertise as health writer covering BIPOC communities — including as the editor of two Black health magazines, and as an author of two NAACP Image Award-winning books: “Health First! The Black Woman’s Wellness Guide” and “Promises Kept: Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life”. I also spent 13 years in sales, marketing and management experience with Fortune 100 companies.
Personal development
I offer personal development coaching in group and individual settings. As a result of working with me, people who are outgrowing their job or career, push past fear, uncover their current passion, and develop strategies to step into their new season professionally. I match best with people who are ready to end the uncertainty, gain greater clarity, and break free from outdated parts of themselves so that they experience greater meaning and purpose and have the joy they deserve at work. I come to this work as one who engaged in a mid-career transition with little support and lots of people questioning my sanity. After progressing through a series of increasingly responsible sales, marketing and general management positions with Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and Pepsi, I stepped out on faith to follow my childhood dream of becoming a writer. I have reinvented myself four times, as I’ve morphed from health writer/editor, to book collaboration specialist, to Certified Professional Coach, to public speaker and trainer.
Public Speaking.
As one who engages in a tremendous amount of research, I seek opportunities to share that often life-saving information with new audiences. In order to equip them to support youth in achieving their promise, I present regularly to parents, youth leaders, social service providers and other members of the village surrounding children of color and those with vulnerable identities to help them support the youth. You can click here to learn more about the topics I’ve spoken about and some of the clients I’ve served.
I also share my research in the form of professional development sessions that empower educators, school leaders, staff and administrators to push past fears that they’re ineffective or will make a stigmatizing mistake in their work with children of color, so that they can enjoy human diversity, feel confident even when challenged, succeed in educating children of all backgrounds and reconnect with the joy of teaching as they prepare the next generation of citizens and leaders. I also equip parents and the village surrounding children of color with the skills they need to rear young people who face institutional and structural racism, the challenges of the digital era and the rise of White supremacy.
Faith-walking.
Prior to stepping out on faith to become an entrepreneur, I worked for 13 years at Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Pepsi, where I progressed through a series of increasingly responsible positions in sales, marketing and general management. I have owned my own business since 2001.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, I live in Philadelphia, where I enjoy yoga, swimming, cycling and preparing my pipes for my next life, when I hope to come back as Cassandra Wilson, Liz Wright or Bonnie Raitt. I am active in my community and as an alumna of Princeton University, where I graduated with honors. I obtained my coaching training from the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching and have received subsequent coaching training from organizations ranging from Bill Baren's Big Shift Coaching Program, to Lisa Nichols’ Motivating the Masses, to Susie Carder’s Global Leaders Program, to Education for Racial Equity’s Somatic Abolitionist Training.
Follow me on Twitter @HilaryBeard, Instagram @HilaryBeard and Facebook.