In this episode, TaSheena Braxton talks about her path from growing up as the oldest of six in San Francisco to building a coaching business grounded in her real-life experience.

We cover the leadership skills she learned early on, the impact of her education and corporate roles, and the challenges she navigated along the way. TaSheena explains how authenticity, relationship-building, and her personal story have shaped her work and helped her grow her business.

She also shares her approach to networking, creating content, and showing up in professional spaces without losing who she is. This conversation is a clear look at how lived experience can become a powerful foundation for your coaching and leadership.

And if you want more from TaSheena,

Follow TaSheena on IG: @Coach_Tasheena

Connect with TaSheena on LinkedIn @TaSheena Braxton

Check out TaSheena’s website: tasheenabraxton.co

Join us by subscribing & following me on IG @catdelcarmen 

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Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the show, TaSheena Braxton from the Bay Area. Hey, I am so excited you are here. I am so excited to talk about you, talk with you, and I am excited to talk about your story and share your story with people. I know a little bit about it. We worked together last year, one-on-one, and I got to know your story and everything that you have created, not just in your coaching business, but also in your career that led there.

Outside of that, I know you also work with a lot of corporate gigs, and they come, you do one-on-one coaching too. I feel like I have seen you work through so many corporate gigs and how you interact with them, so I want to touch on that too. But I am just so excited to have you on the show and for you to be here and for me to share your story. So let us get into it.

How are you doing? Good, good. Okay, let us get into the beginning. I actually do not know a lot about your younger years. Are you from the Bay Area, were you born there?

Yes, I am from San Francisco, born and raised, still here, still representing. Wow. So you have seen the birth of Silicon Valley. I was born in San Francisco too and we moved out when I was about nine. My whole family was in San Francisco, so I get that.

I would love to know a little more about your earlier story, what it was like growing up in San Francisco and whatever parts of that connect to who you have become now and the leader you are today. Obviously pull those parts out, but just tell us a little bit about your childhood leading up to college for the first piece.

I am the eldest of six, so my life has always been about being the first, the first to graduate college, the first to get married, the first to have children. I always say my parents tested on me, that is where they learned how to be parents. It was not an easy life, but I was telling my husband the other day, I never felt like I went without. I did not have the best clothes or the best shoes, but I still looked cute when I showed up to school.

I was a church girl too. Not only was my immediate family in the Bay Area, but my grandmother, uncles, and aunts were all here too, so we had a lot of family and we were always able to be together. Being in church was a big part of that experience. It was a training ground for being upfront and leading, from speaking in church to teaching Sunday school to leading. And being the eldest of six meant I was the babysitter in the summers when school was out. I held it down while my parents worked. I learned so much about leadership from that.

I always thought I was going to be a teacher. Education has always been huge for me. In Sunday school I was always the teacher, even as a youth teacher. I just knew I was going to be a teacher when I got out of school. Then you learn how much teachers make in San Francisco and think, that is probably not going to work. But teaching has always been central to me, which is why I started to want jobs that had that element of teaching.

I majored in psychology. My bachelor’s degree is in psychology and my master’s degree is in organizational development, which still connects to working with people.

So, how did you go from that into your career? Like from childhood and college, what took you into the work world?

Like every other child, I started in retail. I got the token San Francisco job at The Gap. I started as a sales cashier, then moved into management. I was exposed to hiring, employee onboarding, operations, and the backend of the organization. I remember during a big seasonal hiring push, I was hiring people with no experience at all, and I felt so much pride doing that. Then I started doing more onboarding, and I loved it. It felt like training and development, learning and development.

Then I started having kids, and I could not keep doing retail. The schedules were all over the place. So I got a job at The Gap corporate office. The exposure in corporate was incredible. I learned everything about business and retail and how to work with people, how to manage the books, and really be with people. I fell in love with it.

I was an administrative assistant, but honestly a high-level administrative assistant. I ran background checks, paid bonuses, did so much beyond the title. Titles are just whatever a company decides to call them. It is not about the title, it is about how you step into leadership.

Eventually I went to biotech as a lateral move, again as an admin. I told myself I would get into learning and development. I wanted to do L&D, not HR because HR felt more policy than transformation. Someone came in to deliver a training for our team, an external coach, and I asked her what she did and how she did it. She told me about a coaching school where I could learn coaching. I sat on it for a year. Within that year I applied for a job in learning and development, got the job, accepted it, then declined it two days later because something in my spirit told me not to take it. My coworker told me it was career suicide, but I stuck with my instinct.

Then I went to the coaching school and took an entry-level course. I had no idea what coaching was. It felt very white-dominant and there were not a lot of people who looked like me. But once I took the class, I realized I did not need to be the expert. Coaching is about allowing people to figure out what they want and supporting them. I do not need to know how to run a data report to coach someone who does. I knew that was what I wanted.

My job would not sponsor my certification, so my husband, who was not my husband yet, helped me pay for it. As soon as I received my certification, about a year and a half later, the organization created an internal coaching program. Someone saw my certificate in my cubicle and told me about it and connected me, and everything fell into place. It started temporary, and six months later, I was offered the role permanently. That changed everything.

When we worked together, we talked about the mindset of being in administrative roles. I went through this too in corporate, feeling stuck in admin or coordinator roles and wanting to be seen for what I was actually good at. Looking back, I think, why did anyone put me in admin, the thing I am worst at? For you, what helped you make the biggest leap?

At the administrative level, people assume you do not have a lot of power because of where you sit on the org chart. People think you are just support. But I knew I had developed so many skills, and I asked myself why I was sitting on them. I had a coworker, another Black woman, who poured into me, let me talk through my ideas with her, and was an advocate for me. Relationships in organizations are everything. You cannot work in a silo. Relationships help you move to the next level.

I had to get out of the mindset that I had to prove myself because of my title. Administrative assistants have so much power. You know everything happening in the organization. You hold the secrets. You get to be in rooms where major conversations happen. You might be taking minutes, but you have visibility and access. I had to remind myself that being in those rooms mattered, and I needed to take advantage of it.

I started asking to participate in different projects and initiatives. Even if it was just taking minutes, it positioned me to be seen. I had a coaching certification and a degree, so it was not like I was coming empty-handed. I brought so many skills from The Gap. Once I started building those relationships and getting coached through my own blind spots, everything shifted.

One time someone printed their salary at the copy machine, and I saw it. I was like, what am I doing here when I am just as qualified? That was a turning point. I wanted to be paid for my skill set.

Fast forward to 2024. My entire coaching team got eliminated in a layoff. But this layoff did not shake me like the first one. When I got laid off at The Gap, I was eight and a half months pregnant, making maybe 60K, and I did not know what I was going to do. I had to learn how to network because of survival. The second layoff, I had skills, education, experience, and I was already working on a business behind the scenes.

We found out about the layoffs on April 1st, which was wild. That same week I was headed to an event I had already bought tickets for months before. I had been following Cat and knew I wanted to work with her. So I went to the event, not treating my business like a side hustle but like it was my full business. I packaged my skills. I started connecting with people. I posted on LinkedIn that I was no longer with Genentech and available. People reached out. I leveraged my network. And it all unfolded from there.

Comparison has to go out the window. Every skill is transferable. You just have to learn how to communicate the story behind it. A mom coaches her kids every single day. Everyone has transferable skills.

Let’s talk about how your relationship building affects your coaching business. Some people listening want corporate clients. They may be posting on LinkedIn or not. How has networking and connection helped you?

I pull on the lowest hanging fruit first. I build relationships by joining small initiatives, projects, or communities where there is already a shared purpose. At work, I joined the fun team. I am not great at small talk, so I need a shared connection. I am more introverted. You are great at working a room. I need an anchor.

For corporate clients, a lot of connections come from people I worked with during my coaching certification, people at school, or coworkers from previous jobs. I also led two ERGs at Genentech and I still nurture those relationships. You do not have to network in a room full of strangers. Relationships come from people you already know.

And I am intentional about nurturing. It is not passive. One thing I always teach is the 2-2-2 method.

Two days after meeting someone, follow up.
Two weeks after that, follow up again.
Two months after that, follow up again.

Two days might be, “Hey, great meeting you.”
Two weeks might be sending them an article or something that made you think of them.
Two months might be, “Want to get together for coffee or catch up?”

We used the 2-2-2 method to get my son into his private school. We met someone at a basketball game who happened to be on the board. We followed up at two days, two weeks, and two months, and he got into the school. It works.

Busy people appreciate reminders. You are not bothering them.

Let’s talk about when we started working together. The biggest transformation I saw was your relationship with content, and LinkedIn specifically. You loosened up and started being yourself.

Yes, completely. I came to you because I wanted the authentic energy of the Cringe Challenge. I watched you for a while and the moment you opened one-on-one coaching I knew I wanted to work with you.

Before you, I barely posted on LinkedIn. One time a boss questioned why I was on LinkedIn during work hours, and it made me feel like I could get in trouble. So even after leaving corporate I still had that fear. But you told me to get on LinkedIn. I did not want to at first. When I started, I was still very structured. Then I posted something specifically about Black women, and it blew up. It was the first time I really said what I wanted to say. I intentionally posted it on a Friday because it felt safer. And it blew up.

From that point on I just got more open. Whoever loves it loves it, whoever does not does not. I still push myself. It is layered. But “cringe” stays in my head from you, and it pushes me to be real. People are tired of fake, tired of code-switching. Someone out there needs to hear my story to know I can help them. If I show up robotic and corporate, the wrong people pay attention. If I show up as myself, the right people find me.

For people listening who want corporate clients, what are your top three recommendations?

First, show up as your authentic self and share your actual thought leadership. Do not water it down. I got a corporate coaching opportunity simply because I posted about building relationships with the C-suite in an unconventional way.

Second, do not discount your relationships. You have relationships everywhere. The administrative assistant, the CEO, the PTA parent, your old colleague, someone from retail years ago, your neighbors. People know people.

Third, nurture relationships intentionally. The 2-2-2 method works. Relationships matter.

Thank you so much, TaSheena. You are amazing. You are an incredible mom and an incredible coach. You make it look easy. I do not know what I would do with four children. Thank you for being on the show. I appreciate you.

Where can people find you?

LinkedIn is where I am most present. TaSheena Braxton on LinkedIn. I am also on Instagram at Coach_TaSheena. I am sometimes on TikTok at TaSheena Braxton. I also have an email list, and you can find those links in my LinkedIn or Instagram bios.

Beautiful. Thank you for being on.

Thank you.