Meet Keisha Shields of She Will Not Be Silenced in Newnan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keisha Shields.

Keisha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
For the majority of my school years, I was usually in the top 1% of academic scorers – priding myself and finding my worth in how well I could perform; how well I could achieve. By the time I left elementary school, I had between 95-100 certificates of achievement plastered all around the wall in my room, with the majority of them being Student of the Month and Citizenship Awards. The Citizenship award was a teacher-nomination award that went to the one student in the entire school (in all grades K-5, combined) who was recognized as going above and beyond to help the students and the school be a better place for those in it. I won that award every year that I was at that school. I think that was a testament to recognizing the importance of kindness, compassion and humanitarianism even at a young age.

If you needed someone for advice, for a laugh, for assistance, for guidance, for a cry or any of the above – I was the person that most people identified as the one they could count on to be there for them no matter what. This served me well until it didn’t. I didn’t realize it at the time, but being deemed ‘the one” by so many people, created a culture within me that made my worth and value dependent on 1) what I achieved and 2) what I could do for others, even if that meant doing for them above my own needs. I spent the bulk of my life striving to check boxes that assured me I was excelling and working toward achieving my goals. I spoke up and advocated for others all the time. But, I didn’t feel safe speaking up and advocating for my own needs and wants, even as a child. There was a belief instilled inside of me that focusing on yourself was selfish. I didn’t realize it then, but those moments were the beginning of silencing of my voice that would take nearly two decades to undo.

As I got older and began working and building a career, all the way through my role as an executive, I noticed that even though I brought significant value to the spaces where I worked, that my voice wasn’t as valued and considered as the White men who worked alongside me. It was then that I truly started to notice how many women were struggling to find that balance between not being seen as too aggressive, yet, feeling fully confident to wield the power of their voice in the boardroom. And that’s when I begin specializing in that line of work.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not. On this journey, I personally navigated the struggle of every single element of speaking up and not being silenced that I teach. One of the biggest pitfalls that had to be overcome on this journey is first gaining the confidence to rise above other people’s mean, nasty opinions of your life and your work. So many women struggle to show up fully in their voice because they don’t want to have to deal with online trolls, they don’t want to have to explain away the choices and decisions they made in their life and they don’t want to be misjudged and misperceived based on one small element that they choose to share.

I navigated all of those pitfalls. From worrying tirelessly about the fear of being negatively judged by others who don’t even know who I am, to learning not to be ashamed because of stereotypes and stigmas that society has around the experiences that I have gone through in both my life and at work.

Being a walking example of a woman who will no longer be silenced (in the boardroom, in the workplace, or anywhere else for that matter) and who will speak her ideas, her perspective and her expertise at all tables and in all rooms is very important to me. To have other women executives and women in other leadership and professional roles see that things can be drastically different if they are able to safely and powerfully speak up on their own behalf and on behalf of others.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
As the creator of She Will Not Be Silenced™, I specialize in how stigmas, stereotypes, grief and other people’s opinions can keep high-achieving women from using their voice to build the legacy, success and wealth they actually want, on their terms. I am the executive and leadership adviser that women turn to when they need to find their voices in and out of the workplace, family and boardroom, break through the glass ceiling and turn their story into million-dollar messages.

In my work as a personal adviser to executives and high-level professionals, I show women how to finally let go of other people’s expectations of what their life and career should be and how to show up authentically in every way, with zero apologies. I am most proud of walking my talk. I am extremely effective at what I do because I have the trio of personal experience, business acumen and the professional expertise to walk alongside the journey with clients. What we do together works!

What sets me apart from others is the focus and expertise surrounding the impact that stigmas and stereotypes have on already successful women. These stereotypes and stigmas keep many women hiding behind success in their roles at work. Even when they know that to get to the next dimension of their legacy, it is going to require them to be more boldly in roles at the forefront. And that is part of the work that I do that is so fun. I love specializing in that.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Being authentic and genuine to who I am, at my core, has been a central checks and balance system that keeps me in integrity and that pushes me out of my comfort zone as a leader. Once the internal checks and balance system was in place, a few key characteristics and qualities have consistently contributed to my success:

Contact Info:

• Website: keishashields.com
• Email: support@keishashields.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/keishapshields
• Facebook: facebook.com/keishapshields
• Twitter: twitter.com/keishapshields
• Other: linkedin.com/in/keishashields

Image Credit:
Photo with dog – Nicole Boardman Benitez
All other photos – John Antaki

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