We recently connected with Akilah Willery and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Akilah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

On paper, everything looked fine. I had spent over two decades in education, led innovation in a major school district, and was recognized for my work in digital learning. But underneath the accomplishments, I felt an ache I couldn’t ignore anymore. The same systems I had helped others navigate had started to feel too small for who I was becoming.

So, my husband and I did something that felt both terrifying and liberating: we downsized our home, I left a leadership position that defined me for years, and started building a new life centered around alignment instead of titles and to-do lists. It wasn’t just a career pivot. It was a personal redesign. We sold the big suburban house and moved downtown into a smaller, simpler space with more light and less noise. That move became symbolic of everything else we were shedding.

The risk wasn’t just financial. It was emotional. When you’ve built your life around being the “responsible one” or the “strong one,” choosing yourself can feel selfish. But I learned that midlife isn’t a crisis. It’s a crossroad. You either keep performing the version of you everyone else expects, or you pause long enough to ask, “What do I actually want next?”

At first, I didn’t know it would become a business. It started as a podcast, a space to tell the truth about what midlife really looks like for Black women who’ve lived, led, and given so much. We weren’t having honest conversations about the pivots, the burnout, the identity shifts, or the freedom waiting on the other side. So I created Melanated Midlife as a love letter and a lifeline for people like me who were ready to redesign their next chapter with intention instead of obligation.

The logic came from lived experience. I had spent my career in education and technology helping others transform systems and implement change. But I realized that personal transformation follows many of the same principles. We just don’t give ourselves permission to apply them to our own lives. So I built a framework, a redesign process, for midlife reinvention across self, career, and home.

What made me certain it would work was the reaction from the very first podcast episode. Women were writing me saying, “You’re telling my story.” That’s when I knew it wasn’t just a passion project. It was a movement. Melanated Midlife became a space where success meets softness, where ambition meets authenticity, and where women get to ask not “What do I need to do next?” but “Who do I want to be next?”

That same question inspired my book, and later my framework for The Redesign Lab, which is a guided experience that helps women move from awareness to action. Together, they form the foundation of my work, teaching that midlife isn’t an ending, it’s an opportunity for reinvention.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I spent more than twenty years leading digital learning initiatives in K-12 education, helping schools and districts embrace technology to make learning more engaging and accessible. That work taught me a great deal about change, how it feels, how people resist it, and how powerful it can be when it is done with intention.

After years of helping others innovate, I realized it was time to apply that same mindset to my own life. That realization led to the creation of Melanated Midlife, a platform and community dedicated to helping midlife professionals redesign their next chapter. Through my podcast, book, and my framework in The Redesign Lab, I provide tools, coaching, and guided experiences that help people declutter their lives, reimagine their careers, and rediscover who they are now, not who they were ten years ago.

I solve a very specific problem that often goes unnamed. Many midlife professionals, especially Black women, have done everything right yet still feel disconnected from joy and purpose. They have mastered resilience but often struggle with rest, boundaries, and reinvention. My work gives them language, structure, and permission to realign their lives with who they are becoming.

What sets me apart is that I blend strategy with soul. My background in education and instructional design means every program or course I create is grounded in real frameworks and results. My storytelling, lived experience, and community approach make it deeply human. Whether through a podcast episode, a workshop, or a page in my book, I want people to feel seen and supported as they take bold steps toward redesigning their lives.

I am most proud of the women who have used my work as a mirror and a map. These are the women who have left jobs that drained them, downsized homes that no longer fit their lives, or finally chosen themselves after decades of serving everyone else. That is the heart of Melanated Midlife: showing that midlife is not the end of something. It is the upgrade.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been rooted in authenticity and community. I have learned that the best marketing tool is not a perfectly crafted campaign but a real conversation that makes someone feel seen. My clients often find me through my podcast, Melanated Midlife on YouTube, or through speaking engagements where they hear a story that sounds like their own. That sense of recognition builds trust before we ever talk about coaching or courses.

I also believe in giving before asking. Not everyone that connects with me will be able to afford my services. Through free workshops, downloadable guides, and my online community, I offer real value that helps people take immediate steps toward change without ever spending a dime. That approach attracts clients who are not just curious but ready to do the deeper work. When they join The Redesign Lab or one of my coaching programs, they already feel connected to the mission, not just the marketing.

Another lesson I have learned is that referrals are incredibly powerful. When my former clients share their stories of transformation, new clients come to my platform already trusting what they have heard. They believe in the results because they have seen them in someone they know. That kind of word-of-mouth connection brings in people who are not only interested but truly ready to begin their own redesign.

Consistency has also been key. I show up in the same voice across every platform including LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, my book, and my emails. People know what to expect from me, and that consistency builds credibility. Over time, it has created a loyal audience that grows through both resonance and results.

What sets my growth apart is that it is organic. The women who join my programs often become ambassadors for the brand because they experience real transformation. They tell their friends, share their results, and keep coming back for new seasons of growth. It is not about chasing followers. It is about building relationships that last.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the hardest lessons I had to unlearn was that productivity equals worth. For most of my life, I wore “busy” like a badge of honor. As a Black woman in leadership, especially in education and technology, I thought my value was tied to how much I could handle and how well I could hold it all together. I measured success by how full my calendar was and how many people depended on me.

That mindset served me for a while, but it also drained me. Somewhere along the way, I realized I was achieving a lot but feeling very little. My days were packed, but my life was not full. I had mastered doing, but I had forgotten how to simply be. I had to unlearn the belief that rest was laziness or unproductive, and that slowing down meant falling behind. I learned that stillness is not the absence of ambition; it is the space where clarity can finally breathe.

Now I teach that lesson often in The Redesign Lab and through my book. Midlife is not about chasing more. It is about choosing what truly matters and creating a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside. The real work is not doing everything. It is deciding what is worth your energy.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://melanatedmidlife.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akilahwillery AND https://www.instagram.com/themelanatedmidlifepodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/akilah.willery
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akilahwillery/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@melanatedmidlife
• Other: Books: https://melanatedmidlife.com/shop

Image Credits

The photographs were taken by the team at Indigo Productions, which is owned by Derrick Owens, and the photoshoot was facilitated photographer Patrick Thompson.