Codeswitch Rebellion

You tired, ain’t you? You got some sleep, maybe even took the weekend off, and you still woke up Monday feeling exhausted. What if it's because you're doing double duty in your business? In this episode I get into the name for what you’ve been doing in every meeting and on every client call, why it has you tired before the real work even starts, and how hiding it is quietly costing you the trust o...

You got the version of you that shows up to the sales call. And the version who talks how she talks, wears her hair how she wears it, laughs at the jokes she laughs at. Somewhere along the way, you decided only one of them gets paid. My guest this week is CT Luna, author of Brown Beyond Borders: Emerging into Golden Multi-Dimensionality . I read it in two sittings and closed it feeling lighter. So...

I built a business over 15 years on a persona. It worked. Clients paid big. Journalists called for quotes. People lined up for me to mentor them. And I hated it. It took me four years from the day I decided I was done to get back to who I really am. This episode is about why it took so long. I tell you how I studied about a thousand resume writing websites, noticed something about the people at th...

What happens when you build something new, and the pushback comes from the last people you expected? Dr. Melissa “Melz” Jones has been a dentist for 30 years. Her daughter Ariel is her co-founder. Together they built something her colleagues didn’t think a doctor should touch. This is a fun one, full of mama-daughter shade, real talk, and a whole lotta laughs. We get into why I side-eyed my friend...

Sometimes it's not the client telling you to tone it down. It be your own people. Your mama. Your auntie. The mentor who looks just like you. "Girl, I hear you. But we gotta get paid." They mean well. So you listen, you play it safe, and save the real you for the group chat. In this one, I get into where that advice really comes from and why it made sense for the people who gave it. I tell you abo...

What happens when the Black girl who learned to survive through silence finally decides to speak? My guest this week has spent her whole career on that. Dr. Ayana Tyler Hardaway is a sociologist and the author of From Crack Mother to Wildflower, and in her book she calls codeswitching "shape-shifting." She says it's our superpower, a gift that got passed down so we could survive. We did it because...

Somebody asks what you do and you fumble... You downplay it, give a generic job title that explains nothing, and even try to change the subject. That's shrinking. How you talk about your work tells people what you believe about your work. In this one, I get into where the shrinking comes from and why "humble" ain't gonna get you paid. I pull from 15 years as a resume writer, including the one word...

You post the win. The launch. The client result. The 40 under 40. You skip the part where you were crying in the car. Because you a strong Black woman. You got this. But what if being the strong one is the exact thing keeping your brand from growing? This episode is about the strong Black woman narrative...where it came from, what a 2025 study found, and how we can tell start telling the true stor...

So you decided. No more shrinking, no more gray blazer version of you. You're going to show up as your full authentic self in business. Then you get on the call and do it again anyway. Deciding is not the same as being able to. My guest this week is Michelle Lynn, a certified clinical hypnotherapist and breath work practitioner who spent 30+ years in the Navy and government service before she went...

You pick the outfit an hour early. You practice the intro. You decide how much personality is safe to bring in the room. You spend an hour networking while constantly self-editing. Then you get in the car afterward and you can barely keep your eyes open. You call it a long day. Your body would call it something else. This episode is about what all that editing is actually doing to you. Not just th...

Somebody says something to you. On the surface it sounds fine. Almost like a compliment. Then your stomach does that thing. WAYMENT! Was that shade? Season 2 opens with the question every Black woman in business has asked herself, and then talked herself out of asking. I share 3 stories. One I had to decode. One I didn't have to decode at all. And one where I chucked dueces. There's no HR departme...

You've heard Mel talk about stopping the performance. But what does it actually look like when you do? In this episode, Mel sits down with career development and leadership coach Torriel Harris for a conversation that gets real about what happened when two Black women decided to stop code switching in their businesses, their branding, and how they show up every single day. Links: Torriel's Command...

You've been rewriting the same email. Tweaking the same post. Waiting until it's ready. But what if ready never comes? In this episode, Mel gets into the lie we've all been sold about perfection, and why the standard you've been chasing was never about excellence in the first place. Links: Book a Digital Brand Audit: mellynated.com/digitalbrandaudit Join the rebellion on Substack: substack.com/@me...

You've been watching what everyone else is doing online and trying to keep up with the aesthetic, the content style, the messaging. You think it's a good move, but that's how you become completely forgettable. In this episode, Mel gets into why your personal brand has zero competition and why the one thing you've been seeing as a weakness is actually the whole point. Links: Exploring the Impact of...

You've been calling it safe. But what if it's not? The conditioning taught you that staying comfortable was smart. That not rocking the boat was wise. That waiting was responsible. In this episode, Melanie gets into the real cost of playing it safe and why the most dangerous thing you can do for your business might be the thing that feels the most comfortable. Links: Book a Digital Brand Audit: me...

This one is going to make you rethink every time you gave the credit away. When someone calls you a leader, what do you do? Do you deflect, laugh it off, or pass the credit to the team, then call it humility? But what if that's not humility at all? What if that's just conditioning? In this episode, Mel gets into something nobody talks about when it comes to leadership. And once you hear it, you're...

You didn't invent the way you shrink. Someone passed it down to you. And before her, someone passed it down to her. In this episode, Melanie goes back (way back) to trace where professional conditioning for Black women actually started, why it made sense then, and why it's still running your business now. Links: Black Women and International Women's Day, a story: aaregistry.org/story/black-women-a...

Codeswitching doesn't stop when you quit your job. It follows you. It shows up in the content you water down before you post it, the offers you soften before you launch them, the opportunities you don't even apply for because you're already convinced the answer is no. And because it feels normal (and like the right thing to do) you don't even question it. In this episode, Mel breaks down 3 real co...

Mel gets real about approval addiction and the fear of pivoting in business. She shares her own messy journey from resume writer to unapologetic personal branding coach, calling out how easy it is to let other people’s opinions run the show. She urges Black women to ditch perfection, embrace their true selves, and build brands that actually reflect who they are...not what society expects. Tune in...

Mel calls out the tired script that tells Black women to shrink themselves for everyone else’s comfort. With her signature mix of real talk and encouragement, she unpacks how this conditioning starts early and lingers everywhere. She shares her own journey to owning her presence, urging listeners to journal, reflect, and unlearn these patterns. Shrinking is canceled; authenticity is the move. Link...

Mel calls out the exhausting circus act of code switching Black women perform just to be “professional.” She breaks down how it’s more than just swapping words. With her signature sass and authority, Mel urges listeners to ditch survival branding and show up as their real, vibrant selves in business. Tune in, get real, and stop letting someone else’s rules dim your shine. Links: More on Codeswitch...

In this episode Mel serves up a much-needed reality check on self-acceptance. She unpacks why embracing your whole, imperfect self is the secret sauce for authentic branding and business success (spoiler: perfection is a scam). She dishes out practical tips, a dash of tough love, and a reminder that you don’t need anyone’s permission to be yourself. If you’re tired of shrinking and code-switching,...

In this episode we get real about why showing up boldly is so hard for Black women: years of being told to shrink, edit, and perform for acceptance. She unpacks the fears and calls out the exhausting cycle of self-censorship. With her signature wit, Mel reminds us that true confidence starts with self-acceptance, not chasing approval. Links: Book a Digital Brand Audit: mellynated.com/digitalbranda...

In this episode, Mel calls out “survival branding”...that bland, play-it-safe, corporate-flavored personal branding so many Black women entrepreneurs drag with them from their 9-to-5 days. She breaks down how code-switching, underpricing, and hiding your true self only keep you stuck and forgettable. With her signature mix of encouragement and sass, Mel urges listeners to ditch the corporate mask,...

In this episode, Melanie calls out the exhausting charade of “performing professionalism” for Black women entrepreneurs. She unpacks how so-called professionalism is just code for “fit into white middle-class norms”. Mel urges listeners to ditch the self-policing, embrace their authentic selves, and redefine professionalism on their own terms. If you’re tired of shrinking to fit someone else’s mol...