Speaker: Marsha Davis, CEO, Davis Squared Consulting
Introduce yourself by sharing your name, organization, and title.
Marsha Davis: My name is Marsha Davis and I'm the co-founder and CEO of Davis Square Consulting.
Why did you engage Tracey and Indigo Innovation Group, and what were the critical areas that I helped you focus on?
Marsha Davis: I started working with Tracey while I was in my prior position as the Executive Director of Tzedek Social Justice Fund. We had just under undergone a process of transitioning the fund from a community donor driven model to a community driven model. And at that point in my leadership, I was ready to step into the wider field of philanthropy and determine how I can make my best impact there based on what I learned as the leader of the Tzedek Social Justice Fund. And specifically I engaged with Tracey because of her deep experience in philanthropy and her ability to be a voice and a mover in that space. So I, as someone who I looked up to, as someone who had deeper experience in the field, I brought her on as a coach to be able to support me in finding my voice in that industry.
What expertise did I bring, and what was unique about working with me?
Marsha Davis: I had a wonderful time working with Tracey in part because of the expertise that she brought into the room. She is someone with extensive background in philanthropy, uh not just in the organizations that she has, worked in, but also just as a wider social change agent in that field, and so it's really unique to be able to work with someone who has both experience in traditional philanthropy, but also in innovative models in that space. It was also amazing to work with a black woman who had that leadership experience and could help to normalize some of the experiences that I've had as a black woman. stepping further into my leadership in a wider field. And I'll say that also what was unique is it was beautiful to work with Tracey in a way that I originally thought was going to be purely about enhancing my impact as a leader. And I thought it was going to be purely about just the professional career driven piece of my work. But she was really able to dive deep into some of the older narratives that I grew up with and some of the deeper underlying patterns that were holding me back as leader. So, I found it to have an impact beyond my career. Speaking to her really helped me to just step into myself and my self confidence and be honest with myself about the impact that I can have in the world and what it would take to, to move into that space.
Highlight specific achievements, challenges overcome, and our collaboration's value to you and your organization.
Marsha Davis: The biggest impact of my work with Tracey was being able to challenge some of the negative narratives I had in my mind that were keeping me from fully stepping into what I could be as a leader. But also, what I truly desire to be. I stepped into my work with Tracey thinking that she was going to just impact my leadership at my current organization. And part of what happened as a result of working with her and the confidence that I gained from working with her is I decided to step into my consulting business full time, and my business had been around since 2014. So, for almost... for almost nine years, I had had this dream of stepping out fully into my business, and yet I had never made the transition in part because I didn't have any business owners in my family, the concept of being a business owner was very new to me, and very scary, but because of the vision that Tracey helped me hold of how I wanted to impact the social justice sphere, and how I wanted to impact philanthropy, it felt she helped me to go from feeling scared of stepping into my leadership for it to feel like the natural next next step. By the time we were done working together, I was full of confidence about my ability to take that work to the next level, the connections that I can make within the the philanthropic industry, and just got clear about who I could be in that space and why I deserve to be in those spaces. I'll say that part of the confidence, that part of the impact of the confidence that she helped me to develop in our time together was that in my first year as a full time business owner and full time consultant, I was able to meet my financial goals by April of that year. I think in part because of some of the groundwork that she and I were able to lay together, and because I knew that I was no longer being held back by some of those old patterns that I had held.
Provide inspirational words you would like to share to invite others to work with me and Indigo Innovation Group.
Marsha Davis: Tracey is a kind, compassionate coach with a deeply strategic mind. I think it would be a benefit for anyone who's looking into executive or leadership coaching to work with her.
