We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Angel G. Henry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Angel G. below.

Angel G. , appreciate you joining us today. Any thoughts around creating more inclusive workplaces?

One of the most impactful memories that I have as my journey of a woman of color in tech is when my supervisor saw me, he actually saw ME. We had a 1:1 meeting about my performance and he said that he could only imagine how I felt being the only African American female and the youngest project manager on his team. The moment he actually spoke those words, I felt SEEN, from that moment on our relationship deepen. I trusted him to share my career aspirations, my struggles at work, and in turn he advised me, functioned as my mentor, and recommended me for advanced assignments.

The key is that my supervisor and I were from difference races, ethnicities, races, and religions; we had different lived experiences but none of that stopped us from making a true connection. I vowed that I would carry on this connection when I became a manager and spread inclusive leadership practices. I went on to successfully build high-performing, innovative, and diverse teams for several IT departments; and now I get the privilege to educate others on how to do it for their organizations.

Angel G. , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The core of the work that I do is to educate others on the Agile Mindset Framework. I spent over 20 years in tech, most of which was in the project management discipline. As a project manager, I learned a framework called Agile, which at the time was markedly different from the traditional methods used to accomplish work. Over time, I realized that “doing Agile” wasn’t enough, it was truly about the mindset of those implementing the work that mattered most. By focusing on the Agile Mindset- similar to Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset- I personally have been able to apply that mindset to losing weight, authoring an award-winning book, and even homeschooling my kids during Covid.

An Agile Mindset is the foundation of an inclusive workplace. Agile thinkers have high Emotional Intelligence (EI), have an ability to navigate ethical dilemmas in the workplace, and are highly empathetic. For those that are willing, once they are taught how to break their own bias, learn how to mature their emotional intelligence, practice their new learnings, then (most importantly) continuously improve, then they can teach others and advance agile thinking.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Devine intervention led me to the leader of a nonprofit. When her and I met and she learned of The Agile Mindset Framework that my team and I leverage to educate supervisors to grow their inclusive practices and support their staff, she excitedly replied: ” We need that for nonprofits!” So, we shifted Corporate Trauma to “How to Navigate Secondary Trauma” and added diversity surveys to the list of corporate leadership assessments we offer, and a whole new service package tailored to nonprofits was born!

This shift to focus on nonprofits and educating Executive Directors with an Agile Mindset opened us up to a completely new business model. We realized that our passion in transferring our corporate experience applied to youth, family, and community workers ignited a new purpose for our company. The transition was so profound that we launched Amulet Consortium and decided to target our marking efforts to Executive Directors of nonprofits. Our clients are leaders who experience declining employee engagement, struggle to retain their top talent, and/or see their staff struggle with secondary trauma from the amazing, but often EMOTIONAL work they do every day.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

My side hustle certainly turned into my full-time business. I began by conducting breakout sessions during IT conferences. I enjoyed the rush of conference attendees enjoying the information that I shared and stories I told. Once I launched my book, “Dents in the Ceiling: Tools Women and Allies Need to Breakthough,” I went on the “speaking circuit,” content with helping women break their career glass ceilings. I reasoned that I would be a part-time professional speaker on evenings and weekends. My business coach who assisted me in marketing my book, asked me, “Well, Angel, what’s next?” My initial response was “this is it.” I honestly thought that I would just keep speaking for years to come but the Lord had other plans for me. I soon realized that I was to share the inclusive leadership practices I learned more deeply than just a 60-minute breakout at a conference.

People managers need help shifting from being good managers to great leaders but just TELLING them about the Agile Mindset Framework isn’t enough. They need my team and I to come alongside and provide coaching and feedback for them to continuously improve. So, in just a couple of short years me speaking about IT methodologies went from what I did in my spare time to creating a collaboration of other women-owned small business owners where we each have an opportunity to share our expertise. I am blessed to do this work with some seriously talented ladies and partner with the most passionate nonprofit leaders and workers that genuinely serve their clients in a thoughtful and passionate way; so together we all get to make a positive impact on our communities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amuletconsortium.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_aspeaking/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Aspeaking/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theagileenthusiast/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@angelsspeaking2578

Image Credits

Crystale Vail
Faith Blackwell
ArriaWoolcock