Coffee No Cream

Her boss's boss looked her in the eye and said, "We're not ready to promote you." Roxy Couse joins me on Coffee No Cream to talk about what happened next. She spent almost 15 years in corporate, Dillard's, Whirlpool, Avery Dennison, then over to tech at Bloomreach and Sitecore, before that one skip-level meeting changed everything. She started posting on TikTok, built close t...

She was eight months pregnant, stuck in a four-hour commute home, and done. Jamila Souffrant joins me on Coffee No Cream to talk about what happened next. She's the creator of the Journey to Launch podcast and author of Your Journey to Financial Freedom, and her story is proof that financial freedom isn't about luck; it's about a plan. In two years, she and her husband saved $169,000,...

Three Black women. Three different exits. One conversation the church doesn't want you to have. In this panel episode, Erin sits down with Abby The Attorney, Tammy Triolo, and Ashanti, The Unpunishable Woman, to talk about what it really looks like to leave organized religion. Not the sanitized version. The real one. The grief, the freedom, the rape nobody talked about, the community you lose, and...

Have you ever completely cut someone off because they said something you didn't like? As I've gotten older, I've realized that not everyone belongs in the same box. Some people are your people. Some people are Hey Girl Hey. Some people are small doses. And some people need no access at all. In this episode, I'm talking about friendship, family, disappointment, expectations, and the...

She has no man, no kids, and zero apologies about it. And she built a life that proves you don't need either one to win. Ashanti, known as The Unpunishable Woman, joins me on Coffee No Cream to talk about what it really means to be rooted, regulated, and resourced as a Black woman. Her story starts in a place most of us never talk about, being punished by her church for her own assault, and en...

What does it really mean to build wealth as a Black woman? In this episode of Coffee No Cream, I sit down with Teri Williams, President and COO of OneUnited Bank, the largest Black-owned bank in the United States, to talk about money, entrepreneurship, corporate America, purpose, and the lessons Black women need to hear about wealth. Teri shares the story of her great-grandmother, an entrepreneur...

Everybody's telling you to consult. But is that really the move? If you've been thinking about leaving corporate and someone told you to "just start consulting," this episode is for you. Consulting can be lucrative, but it's not a quick money grab, and it's not for everyone. It takes time, network, strategy, and a willingness to sell yourself. And a lot of us don't wa...

Black women are some of the most brilliant, capable professionals in any room...and we are chronically underselling ourselves. Not because we don't work hard. Because we've been conditioned to describe our tasks instead of our value. And those are two very different things. In this episode, I'm doing something I've never done before. I'm sitting down with Claude live, on screen...

One year ago this week, I launched the Coffee No Cream podcast to create community, conversation, and support for Black women navigating life, business, work, relationships, and the unique experiences we carry every day. But one year later, I think we need a reset. In this anniversary episode, I’m talking about mental hygiene, overstimulation, algorithms, emotional exhaustion, online discourse, di...

Some Black women don’t just survive trauma. They develop what Courageous calls “trauma upgrades.” In this episode of Coffee No Cream, Erin Braxton sits down with Courageous for a powerful conversation about survival, self-protection, emotional conditioning, healing, and the ways Black women learn to adapt in environments that were never designed to protect us. Together, they unpack the hidden cost...

✊🏾A lot of people say they don’t play games. At work. In relationships. In life. But the truth is… you’re in the game whether you like it or not. And if you don’t understand how it works, you’re the one getting caught off guard. This episode is about something deeper than quick comebacks or handling awkward moments. It’s about what you’ve built (or haven’t built) that determines whether somethin...

There are rules in corporate that nobody ever explains…and if you don’t know them, you can end up working hard and still getting nowhere. In this episode, we break down what’s really happening behind the scenes, especially for Black women navigating corporate environments. This is about more than just working hard. It’s about understanding how the game is actually played. Because a lot of us were...

What does “Black Excellence” really cost us? We celebrate it. We expect it. We demand it. But rarely do we talk about what it takes to sustain it, and who pays the price. In this episode, we sit down with Natasha to unpack her research on the real, often unseen cost of Black excellence. From pressure and performance to emotional and financial tolls, this conversation goes beyond the highlight reel...

You know it’s toxic… but somehow you keep questioning yourself instead of the situation. In this episode of Coffee No Cream, Erin sits down with Dr. Kimani Norrington-Sands unpack the subtle (and not-so-subtle) signs of toxic environments—especially the ones that are easy to normalize, excuse, or overlook. From being dismissed and talked over to constantly having to prove your worth, this conversa...

This episode is about something we don’t talk about enough. Not when something happens to you…but when nothing happens… and you still don’t move. A lot of us are not stuck because we lack ability. We’re stuck because of the stories we tell ourselves. Full stories. Detailed. Emotional. Convincing. And none of them are real. In this episode, I walk through four patterns that keep showing up:Comparin...

What do you do when someone tries to quietly move you out of position? In this episode of Coffee No Cream, Erin Braxton sits down with attorney, consultant, and coach Tashun Bowden-Lewis to talk about a workplace moment that said far more than words ever could. Tashun shares what it felt like to be asked not to sit next to the person presiding over a meeting, even though she was the one leading th...

There are moments when something feels off… but nothing was said directly. In this conversation, Dr. Mel breaks down how some women avoid direct conflict with Black women and instead create experiences that slowly wear on you emotionally. If you’ve ever questioned yourself in those moments, this is that conversation. We talk about what’s actually happening, why it shows up this way, and how to rec...

If you’ve been laid off more than once, it can start to get in your head. You begin to question your work, your decisions, and sometimes even your worth. But when something keeps happening in your career, it’s also worth stepping back and asking some honest questions about the environments we’re in, the dynamics we’re navigating, and how we respond to them. In this episode, I’m responding to comme...

Before you accept that next corporate job, there are a few things you should know. In this episode of the Coffee No Cream Podcast, Erin sits down with Celeste Warren, former Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Merck, where she spent 28 years leading global diversity strategy. After four decades in corporate America, Celeste retired and launched her own consulting firm to continue helping or...

Black women know the assignment. We know what we’re not attending. We know what we’re not supporting. We know when to speak. And we know when to be quiet. But while we’re being unbothered and minding our own Black female business, we still have work to do. In this episode, I walk through five shifts Black women need to make to position ourselves for whatever is coming next. Not panic. Not reaction...

This Is the Real America for Black Women. Not the one in textbooks. Not the one in corporate diversity brochures. Not the one that says “we’ve come so far.” In this episode of Coffee No Cream, we connect the dots from Jim Crow to the C-Suite and examine what has actually changed… and what hasn’t. When a woman who integrated her high school under armed protection speaks about corporate leadership t...

In this episode of Coffee No Cream, Erin sits down with Dr. Pamela Buchanan, an ER physician who shares what it’s really like to be a Black woman doctor in America. From being called the N-word by patients during the pandemic to navigating daily micro and macroaggressions in the emergency room, Dr. Buchanan opens up about the emotional toll of practicing medicine in today’s climate. But this isn’t...

So many Black women know something has to change at work. Some are thinking about starting their own business. Some do not know what they want to do yet. But the feeling is the same. What you are doing now is not sustainable. In this episode, Erin shares the real story of her first business FAIL. Not the highlight reel. Not the boss narrative. The truth. Erin talks about how fear ran her business....

In 2025, over 319,000 Black women lost their jobs, while 365,000 white men gained jobs during the same period. As DEI initiatives are rolled back and federal and public-sector jobs are cut, many Black women are being forced to reconsider what stability, safety, and success really look like. In this solo episode, Erin Braxton speaks directly to Black women who don’t want to return to corporate but...

What happens when your body forces you to stop? In this episode of the Coffee No Cream Podcast, we talk openly about stroke, stress, and the health risks Black women face far earlier than many realize. This conversation centers on a stroke at 39 and what it reveals about how stress, pressure, and survival mode show up in Black women’s bodies. Black women are disproportionately affected by stroke,...