A Mixed Executive Perspective

Is standing your ground a strength, or does it depend on who you are? Grace Fooden Correy explores confidence, cultural identity, and workplace belonging through the story of a young Black woman she mentors. Educated in predominantly white environments and working in a predominantly white, male industry, this woman finds that the confidence she was taught to value becomes a source of conflict with...

If Black America is living inside The Truman Show, where does that leave mixed people? Grace Fooden Correy explores biracial and multiracial identity through a powerful metaphor: mixed people as the seam in a painted sky, exposing the boundaries of society’s racial categories. From performing different versions of yourself to navigating spaces that never quite make room for you, this episode asks...

Can parents act on their progressive beliefs while overlooking what their own children need? Grace Fooden-Correy reflects on Nikole Hannah-Jones’ essay about her daughter’s education and connects it to her own childhood navigating a predominantly white private school and a Black public school. In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective, Grace explores mixed identity, race, class, school choi...

When does cultural appreciation cross the line into blackfishing? Grace Fooden-Correy explores how white influencers can profit from Black hairstyles, features, and beauty standards without experiencing the discrimination attached to Blackness. She also examines the unintended consequence of the backlash: real mixed women being questioned, accused, and forced to defend their identities. This direc...

When people tell someone of mixed heritage to “pick a side,” what are they really asking that person to give up? Grace Fooden-Correy explores the emotional cost of having other people define your racial identity. Inspired by a young biracial woman who was told she was Black, not mixed, Grace examines how these labels can erase the love, culture, and influence of one parent. This episode challenges...

For years, Grace Fooden Correy navigated corporate culture as one of the few people of color in the room. What once made her feel distinctive eventually became emotionally exhausting. Grace reveals how leaving corporate life helped her recognize the identity-related burnout she had been carrying. She shares how consulting, mentoring Black women, marrying another mixed person, and changing her dail...

In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden Correy shares what happened when she entered her first vice president role wearing her natural hair and refusing to let corporate expectations completely define her. Grace reflects on moving from the creative freedom of New York’s fashion industry into executive leadership, where race, appearance, professionalism, and belonging carrie...

Grace Fooden-Correy has heard two seemingly opposite judgments throughout her life: “She thinks she’s white” and “You don’t have to tell people you’re mixed. You look Black.” In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace explains how both comments placed the same burden on her: making her identity easier for other people to categorize. She explores mixed identity, Black identity, belong...

Grace Fooden-Correy always knew she did not want children, but the real reason had little to do with career, freedom, or ambition. In this deeply personal episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective, Grace reveals how growing up biracial shaped her decision not to become a parent. She reflects on learning how race, whiteness, wealth, and social status affected power and belonging, navigating dating a...

Can you be certain of your Black identity while still questioning where you culturally belong? Grace Fooden-Correy delivers a deeply personal reflection on being a Black biracial woman raised largely within white, college-educated culture. She explores why her mother made that intentional choice, how it prepared her to navigate the world, and the emotional trade-offs that followed. Grace discusses...

How can someone experience racism throughout their life yet never fully learn the Black history behind it? Grace Fooden-Correy shares the uncomfortable reality of growing up as a mixed woman immersed in white culture. Although she experienced racial bias personally, much of the history surrounding systemic racism, the crack epidemic, mass incarceration, and racial inequality was absent from her ed...

Grace Fooden-Correy recounts helping a mostly white executive search firm recruit a leader for a Black-owned wellness brand. She immediately understood that “cultural fit” meant a Black candidate. But the deeper reckoning came when Grace caught herself repeating the same coded phrase. In this candid episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace explores mixed identity, executive hiring, workpla...

What does pretending to be perfect cost you professionally and personally? In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden-Correy explores the pressure many mixed professionals, Black women, and women of color experience to appear more prepared, polished, and composed than everyone else. After several things went wrong before an important client meeting, Grace made a different choi...

What does it cost emotionally to see multiple sides of a divided world? In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden-Correy shares the complex reality of being a mixed woman raised in white culture yet perceived by the world as Black. A photograph of a young Black woman surrounded by masked members of a white supremacist group forces Grace to confront two truths at once: the fea...

In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden Correy reflects on the pressure many people feel when they need to change direction in life. Through a powerful mentoring story, Grace explores family expectations, cultural identity, shame, and the courage it takes to admit that the path you are on may no longer be the right one. This conversation reminds listeners that changing scho...

Who taught us what it means to fit in? In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden Correy examines how collective expectations can shape identity, success, and belonging. Drawing on ideas from Dr. Todd Rose’s Collective Illusions and her own career in fashion, Grace explores how style, status, and professional image can become tools for navigating corporate culture, especially...

In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden Correy examines what it feels like when people begin to see identity before they see your career, experience, and body of work. Grace shares a candid reflection on mixed identity, workplace perception, hair, fashion, authenticity, and the pressure professionals can face when moving between different cultural and professional spaces. T...

In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden-Correy examines how AI can help leaders communicate with clarity without surrendering their voice, identity, or lived experience. Through the lens of mixed identity, corporate culture, and belonging, Grace reflects on the pressure to translate yourself in professional spaces and how technology can support communication when used with...

In this episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden-Correy explores why mixed-race celebrities, athletes, and politicians are often publicly recognized, while mixed-race executives and business professionals remain far less visible. Grace reflects on corporate assimilation, workplace safety, leadership, belonging, and the pressure mixed professionals can feel hiding parts of their iden...

Grace Fooden-Correy shares a personal reflection on mixed identity, travel, visibility, hair, race, and belonging. What begins as a family trip becomes a powerful look at the emotional calculations mixed-race people often make when entering unfamiliar or predominantly white spaces. This episode explores how leaving a familiar bubble can reshape how safe you feel, how visible you become, and how de...

Grace Fooden Correy reflects on mixed identity, Black womanhood, corporate culture, and the emotional cost of performing until it becomes automatic. After a high-pressure trade show in New York, Grace realizes the performance she uses to navigate white corporate spaces has followed her home. Through a moment of shared recognition with another Black woman, and a quiet morning filled with music and...

In this audio episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden-Corry examines identity, belonging, and workplace equity through the story of a Black woman raised in white culture who now works in a predominantly white male profession. Grace explores what happens when someone is seen one way, shaped another way, and forced to navigate corporate culture without easy answers. This is a convers...

On this audio episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden Correy shares a personal reflection on mixed identity, emotional regulation, corporate culture, and the hidden emotional labor many professionals carry in racialized spaces. From workplace politics to client conversations to a powerful moment inside a racially charged exhibit, Grace explores what happens when you realize you hav...

In this audio episode of A Mixed Executive Perspective , Grace Fooden Correy reflects on identity, assimilation, safe spaces, and the first time she truly felt seen in corporate culture. Grace shares what it was like to work as the only Black executive in a Southern office, where fitting in often meant hiding parts of herself. She explains how a daily fifteen-minute conversation with another woman...

Today, Grace Fooden Correy reflects on a powerful realization about mixed identity, childhood belonging, workplace bias, and the stories we carry into adulthood. Grace shares how, as a child, she interpreted being different as being “bad.” Years later, she sees that feeling differently. It was not a personal flaw. It was a cultural experience without language, support, or space. This episode exami...