Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Annice Fisher .
Dr. Annice , let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My story is uniquely me but not unique to the plight of many who share my diverse identities: first generation, working class parents, daughter of an immigrant, and woman of color. I am a living example of what personal and professional development can do for a young woman of color born into poverty in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, neglected by city officials and local alderpersons. I literally went from dodging bullets from drive-by shootings to graduating with a Doctorate from Harvard. Even in the midst of the chaotic external environment, love surrounded me—from my mom, dad, brother, and aunts who nurtured my curiosity. In 1991, my mother made the decision to move to the Northside of the city and the trajectory of my life changed. I entered into an accelerated pace of gifted classes, oratory contests, photography classes, flagship universities, traveling the world, professional awards, etc.
To become Dr. Annice Enyonam Kwawu Fisher, I tackled imposter syndrome head on, learned how to strategically navigate office politics as a woman of color, confidently spoke my truth, and unapologetically owned my identity. Through the help of my parents, faith in God, mentors, coaches, work experiences, educational training, and pure trial and error, I birthed a string of professional successes from working for a White House Initiative, designing innovative strategies for world-renowned non-profits & universities, serving on city-appointed and elected leadership roles on Human Relations and African American Concerns, creating doctoral courses in equity and leadership, chairing a leadership conference for world leaders, and others that I am not going to recount here—you can find that on LinkedIn…LOL. What’s most important here is that my story created an inner power and motivation to create environments for people to actualize their full potential—to always use my power to open doors—to be a mirror for others to see themselves right and unleash their greatness.
The desire to fully commit to coaching people to reach their potential led me to step out on faith and launch Developing Capacity Consulting (now Developing Capacity Coaching) in July 2017 and The BEE FREE Woman in December 2018.
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?
When I think back—I can only clap with the joy of the Lord in my spirit for bringing me this far. You heard a bit about my story from the first question to know that I’ve overcome obstacles. For every blessing to occur, I had to overcome a set of obstacles standing in the way of that blessing. Sometimes the obstacles were personal barriers and other times barriers built by others. The only way to the other side was to remove the mask, experience the emotions, source the pain, and use my coach, therapist, and pastors to guide me through it. That was the path to freedom.
Despite being confident and successful, buried beneath was a woman too scared to fully let her guard down to unapologetically own her identity, brilliance, and expertise. Like many, I succumbed to the peer pressure of being outcasted by others and shrunk and hid parts of me to make people feel more comfortable around me and my gifts. This mask started to unravel in 2014 and I eventually welcomed the process to release the pain, hurt, and years of self-neglect to birth the BEE FREE Annice. God blessed me with teachers (past and present) to show me the places where my soul needed to heal and release the shame, guilt, insecurity, and detriments of people pleasing. I believe everyone we meet is our teacher. We get to decide how many lessons we want to learn from each instructor. Some instructors stay with us for a lifetime, some for a season, and some for particular reasons. I’m proud of the BEE FREE Annice that authentically represents my coaching brand and change I wish to see in the world.
Truth is, many of us walk around—(un)consciously distracted by the media, hustle culture, and false self-images that we’ve created to suppress the pain. When you look deep enough you can see the soul trying to break free from the mask. I wish everyone the courage to peel back to layers to reclaim their freedom. It’s truly a beautiful process and ongoing journey to stay free. I want everyone to be free and experience this authentic joy. This is why I became a coach.
Please tell us about The BEE FREE Woman & Developing Capacity Coaching.
You may have gleaned from my previous responses that I’m in the healing and freedom business…LOL! I’m certified in a unique type of coaching that helps people overturn their resistance to change and fear-based mindsets. My two coaching firms, The BEE FREE Woman and Developing Capacity Coaching breaks barriers by making this type of coaching accessible to the masses by offering affordable rates and pushing out free content. The firms have a dual mission of peeling back the layers to help people unleash their inner power and gifts to benefit our collective humanity. This inside-out approach provides the perfect combination of inner work and outer tools for breaking barriers, maximizing performance, and building a legacy.
Specifically, with The BEE FREE Woman, I coach women of color to reclaim their inner power as the source for shattering the glass ceilings (racism, sexism, doubt, etc.) that threaten their progression. I do this through 1:1 coaching and our Sister Squad Coaching groups–4 week group coaching communities based on thematic topics such as imposter syndrome, trusting my voice, etc.
I am an equal opportunity coach! With Developing Capacity Coaching, I coach individuals and teams to go inside and expand their capacity to reach their full potential. I offer three types of coaching for individuals and teams: life, adaptive leadership, and social justice coaching.
I am unique because I take a healing approach based on unleashing your inner power. Inner power comes from the inside and based on living our life through the lens of love and trust versus the default of fear and doubt. When we live and lead from a love and trust lens, we see and actively participate in the plethora of opportunities in front of us versus seeing our world as constricted. Unleashing your inner power requires a willingness to heal our insecurities, fears, and other doubts that keep us stuck in recursive loops of unhappiness and masks that hide our brilliance and gifts. I’m proud of God using me to partner with people on their healing journey. You can read the testimonials on both sites to learn how people have become free using my unique methodology.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Family gatherings over the holidays. I have a HUGE family and we love to joke, dance, and have a good time. As a kid, we rotated houses over the holidays and gathered around food, fun, and the family line dancing. The highlight of our family gatherings included doing the electric slide as a family. My auntie Dollie was the MC and called out the moves. Every time I hear the electric slide at a party, I’m reminded of our family version. In fact, I didn’t realize the electric slide was a single move dance until I heard the song outside of my family. LOL!
Pricing:
- I would love to have you in one of our BEE FREE Woman Sister Squad Coaching Groups. Prices range from $170-$300 per group, depending on the topic and experience. June’s group, Trusting My Voice has already started. Visit www.beefreewoman.com for more on the July group.
- In order to be accessible to more people, we create our One-on-One coaching rates based on income. Visit either of our websites and submit a contact us form for a free consultation!
- Team coaching through DCC is based on the type of coaching workshops and length of time. We negotiate with teams to meet their budget and training needs. Visit either of my websites and submit a contact us form for a free consultation!
- I also serve as a keynote speaker and panelist on race & gender, leadership, entrepreneurship, mindset, and social justice. Prices are based on event type and organizational budgets. Visit either of my websites and submit a contact us form for a free consultation!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.beefreewoman.com, www.developcapacity.com
- Phone: 213-290-1076
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @thebeefreewoman, @anniceespeaks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebeefreewoman/
- Twitter: @thebeefreewoman, @anniceespeaks
Image Credit:
Francis Tang, Francis Tang Photography
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