"Aya" - Adrinkra symbol of Endurance, Perseverance

African American women who lead in organizations and communities, bring unique perspectives as well as unique challenges to their work.  They are expected to do more, overcome more, give more often while experiencing racism, sexism, and other "isms."  Leading in the face of all of these challenges can impact overall health, wellness and the ability to lead effectively.   My program development and coaching approach takes these factors in account and thoughtfully designs programs that supports an ethnically relevant leadership development model.  A model that centers key strengths, challenges and needs of African American leaders.

My leadership retreat programs are designed to give leaders who are often so busy that they do not attend to their own needs including physical, emotional and spiritual, with a special place and time to reset, connect, get support and share perspectives and resources.   All retreats are held with no more than 8 leaders in order to maintain safe, intimate learning environments.   Group coaching is offered as a component of each retreat.

Culture matters! I take into account the cultural and ethnic values of the women I serve throughout all of my work.  My programs effectively enable women at every level of an organization or in communities to substantially increase capacity to:

v  Strengthen personal voice 

v  Build critical networks

v  Re-examine personal, organizational and cultural expectations to achieve higher levels of wellness and leadership effectiveness

My approach to coaching women of color is to make space for the client to share from a whole-person perspective, e.g., race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, gender identity.  I work in partnership with each client to support them in taking reflective pauses, constructing new meaning and behaviors in self-identified coaching areas.   My practice is Trauma Informed;  a coaching approach that acknowledges and holds space for clients to work through past and current trauma i.e., racial, gender, sexual orientation, etc. and develop healing strategies.

Outcomes of this intentional whole-person approach is, clients increase use of self, personal voice, range of choices, broaden and clarify perspectives and take meaningful action that can foster transformational learning and change.

The only cure for the dis-ease of racial injustice and it's by-products, is for organizations, communities and people to fully commit to the long-term personal and organizational work that is necessary to heal and transform.

   -  Dr. Charlyn Green Fareed

Within organizations, my goal is to partner with leaders to  design organizational change that is equity-centered.   This process begins when  long-term commitments are made to be an anti-racist organization where people of color become more empowered through taking leadership, power sharing, what work gets done as well as how it gets done, have increased voice in how decisions are made, and being allowed to make the same mistakes as white people. 

This type of organizational change goes beyond simple knowledge and skill acquisition, but creates a type of learning and change that can transform the very nature of an organization.  It creates long-term organizational effectiveness that builds capacity for sustained growth for people as well as the organization.

My understanding of organizational systems enables me to co-design environments that are equitable and meets the development needs of people as well as the organization.  

For over 25 years,  Charlyn's expertise has been in human and organizational systems development in both non-profit and for-profit organizations.  Her primary focus is supporting the personal and professional development of African American women leaders in organizations as well as in communities.  Dr. Green Fareed founded a non-profit dedicated to serving the whole-life development needs of African American women and conducts action research on culturally-based health and wellness issues related to Black women.

Charlyn approaches her life, as well as her work from a perspective of equity and inclusion.  This approach challenges individuals and organizations to build anti-racist, equity centered environments that expands personal, interpersonal, and organizational effectiveness.  She is a lifelong learner who strives to remain open to better understanding self and others.

Dr. Green Fareed earned a doctorate in Human & Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University.  She completed coaching certifications from the Evidence Based Coaching Program at Fielding , Board Certified Career Coach from the Center for Credentialing & Education, and Trauma Informed Coach from Moving the Human Spirit.

She holds certifications in Diversity Facilitation from NTL Institute,  Race Relations Group Facilitation from Stir Fry Consulting.  Charlyn completed certificates at Fielding in Transformative Learning for Social Justice; and Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement - a dialogic process for leading community-based groups through collaborative decision-making on issues impacting their communities.

Charlyn is a  native of Philadelphia and lives in the Atlanta, GA area.