We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful La Juana (“LJ”) Chambers Lawson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with La Juana (“LJ”) below.

Alright, La Juana (“LJ”) thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When you were first starting out, did you join a firm or start your own?

When I first stepped out on my own, I didn’t join a firm—I built one. Not because it was glamorous or easy, but because the assignment on my life didn’t fit neatly into anyone else’s organizational chart. I had already been consulting informally, helping nonprofits, founders, and communities secure funding, navigate compliance, and architect bold solutions. People weren’t just coming to me for answers—they were coming for strategy, stewardship, and trust. Every hallway conversation turned into coaching. Every volunteer project revealed a solvable systemic challenge. I could see the gaps between what organizations needed and what traditional firms were actually offering.

At the time, I was young, under-resourced, and technically “supposed” to join a firm, gain experience, wait my turn. But the demand showed up before the infrastructure did. I kept being asked to lead, design, repair, and reimagine—from grant strategy to operational governance to economic development plays. So I turned that demand into a blueprint. That blueprint became Tacit Growth Strategies, LLC.

Those first years? A masterclass in grit laced with grace. I bootstrapped. I bartered. I trained thousands of founders, built partnerships across industries and continents, and raised millions for projects that mattered. I learned that influence isn’t always about resources—it’s about resourcefulness. Opportunity doesn’t always come with a door—you build a threshold and invite others in.

Was it the right choice? Without question. Creating my own firm meant I could architect solutions that honored community, equity, rigor, and legacy—not just revenue. It positioned me to serve at every level—from small grassroots nonprofits to major institutions and economic development agencies, from classroom to boardroom.

Looking back, I didn’t just start a business. I built a trusted engine—one that proves that impact and enterprise are not opposites, they are allies when designed well. And provides a safe and thriving workplace for commonly overlooked professionals and burgeoning professionals of color.

La Juana (“LJ”), 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?

I operate at the intersection of trust-building, strategic growth, and community-centered enterprise. I’m a project manager by discipline, a strategist by trade, and an educator by instinct. I founded Tacit Growth Strategies because I saw a recurring pattern: mission-driven leaders and institutions with extraordinary vision—but limited access to the right tools, language, positioning, partnerships, and capital to bring that vision to life.

I began my journey in the nonprofit and education sectors, writing grants, structuring programs, coaching executives, and designing systems that could withstand the pressures of real-world implementation—not just look good on paper. I soon recognized the through-line: whether it was a small grassroots nonprofit, a philanthropic institution, a real estate developer, or a national association, everyone needed the same thing—strategic clarity, operational discipline, and relational trust.

So I built a firm that provides exactly that.

What We Do at Tacit Growth Strategies:
We don’t just write grants or craft growth strategies—we architect growth engines. We help leaders position themselves, their organizations, their assets, their culture, and their opportunities in ways that attract funding, partnerships, and long-term viability. Our services include:

Project Management & PMO Build-Out

Grant Strategy & Fund Diversification (Public, Private, Corporate, Institutional)

Economic Development and Real Estate Advisory

Organizational Positioning, Governance, and Strategic Planning

Executive Coaching, Systems Thinking, and Workforce Strategy

Community & Capital Alignment for Transformative Projects

We bring together data, relationships, and design thinking to help organizations become investment-ready, fundable, sustainable, and relevant to the ecosystems they want to influence.

What Sets Me Apart:
I don’t operate solely as a consultant—I build trust-based infrastructure. I help clients think like both investors and impact-makers. I do the math with them. I map out the partners. I help them move from idea to execution, and from execution to legacy. I’ve raised over $20M across causes and industries; brokered high-value partnerships; supported commercial real estate deals; and equipped leaders across four continents to build enterprise with integrity.

People come to me when the stakes are high—when they must articulate what they do in compelling language; when they need to build a business case for investment; when they need to transform instability into momentum; and when they need someone who can both teach and walk beside them. My firm thrives because of two ingredients: trust and strategy. And here’s my philosophy—trust beats paperwork, and strategy beats guesswork.

What I’m Most Proud Of:
It’s not just the capital raised or the contracts awarded. It’s that I have been trusted to sit at tables where community and commerce meet; where change is not just talked about, but brokered. I’ve been privileged to steward conversations that turn vacant properties into housing, small dreams into funded initiatives, and struggling organizations into stable engines of opportunity. I’ve led at the micro-level in grassroots settings—and at the macro-level in major institutions and policy environments. In both, I’ve stayed rooted in the belief that strategy is stewardship.

What I Want Potential Clients & Followers to Know:
If you work with me or my firm, you’re not just hiring services. You’re entering into a partnership that will stretch your capacity, sharpen your vision, and help you shape something that lasts. We won’t just ask, “What do you need now?”—we ask, “What must this become?”

Tacit Growth Strategies doesn’t just help organizations grow; we help them grow wisely, sustainably, and in alignment with their purpose, values, and market reality.

At the end of the day, I build bridges—between resources and readiness, between vision and viability, between today’s mission and tomorrow’s legacy.

That’s the work. That’s the calling.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the belief that excellence alone would open the right doors.

For years, I operated under the assumption that if I just delivered flawless work—perfect grant proposals, airtight strategies, impeccably built partnerships—opportunity would naturally find its way to me or to the organizations I served. I believed precision and performance were the ticket. Quality, I thought, was the loudest voice in the room.

The truth? Quality matters—but relationships move the needle. Trust moves capital. And timing, context, and alignment move dreams from theory into motion.

The backstory runs deep. Early in my career, I wrote stunning proposals for small, under-resourced nonprofits—beautifully structured, needs-based, high-impact, clear return on investment. But they didn’t always get funded. Meanwhile, less sophisticated proposals—thin on detail but anchored in relationships, credibility, and trust—were sailing through. It wasn’t about favoritism; it was about confidence. Funders don’t invest in paperwork; they invest in stewardship—into the people they believe can deliver the mission with integrity, stability, and endurance.

I had to unlearn the quiet, invisible rule that said “Just work hard and you’ll be discovered.” Instead, I learned to lead conversations, build strategic alliances, educate stakeholders, advocate for readiness, and boldly step into spaces I used to think I needed an invitation to.

Now, I teach this to my clients, my students, my partners:
Trust beats polish. Alignment beats perfection. Relationship beats résumé.

Excellence is still my standard—but now it walks hand in hand with visibility, partnership, and relational confidence.

That unlearning turned my work from quietly excellent into impactfully effective.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

One of my defining pivots came when I realized that being “the best kept secret” in my field was no longer a badge of honor—it was a bottleneck.

I had built a thriving consulting practice, powered almost entirely by referrals. I was leading multi-million-dollar funding strategies, building partnerships for economic development, coaching executives, and stewarding projects that turned vacant buildings into community anchors. The work was strong, impactful, intimate, and deeply relational. But it was also invisible. I was doing transformational work—quietly.

The pivotal moment came during a client meeting where one of my biggest champions introduced me this way:
“You’ve probably never heard of her—but she’s the one behind a lot of what’s happening in this city.”

That sentence landed differently. It was meant as a compliment, but it struck me like a mirror. Why hadn’t more people heard of me? Why was my work known, but not my name? My firm was building solutions, strengthening institutions, shaping strategy—but I had not positioned myself to scale the influence, the access, or the leadership that could come from being seen.

So, I pivoted—from quiet success to visible stewardship.

I invested in storytelling. I began speaking on global stages. I published an international best-selling book. I taught more intentionally. I built branding infrastructure. I started showing not just the results—but the process, the thinking, the philosophy behind the work. I stopped waiting for invitations and began building platforms—platforms for collaboration, community-building, investment, and legacy.

That pivot changed everything. It expanded my client base across industries and continents. It opened doors to policy spaces, major institutions, real estate development, and advisory roles I had once only dreamed of. It took me from solving problems project-by-project—to equipping others to architect systemic solutions.

I didn’t pivot because something failed. I pivoted because something was ready to grow.

And that’s the beauty of every real pivot: it’s not always about switching directions. Sometimes, it’s about stepping into full visibility, owning your lane, and letting your work speak with a stronger voice.

That pivot helped me move from impact to influence—and influence, when used wisely, builds legacy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://growthistacit.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthistacit/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lajuanachamberslawson/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@growthistacit