Listen, I know what it feels like when your soul is too big for the cage they’ve built for you.
For years, I navigated the highest levels of research, insights, and strategy at Netflix, Twitter, and Colgate-Palmolive with what looked like ease. But behind that executive smile? Exhaustion. The constant calculations of how to maintain my true self, sustain a healthy amount of my natural energy and enthusiasm, and analyzing the people, personalities, and politics around me, all while growing a diverse team of talented individuals and nurturing a psychologically safe environment for them to do their best work. The weight of being the “only one” carrying perspectives from worlds my colleagues couldn’t see.
I spent many years excelling in spaces not designed to nurture my true purpose. I am deeply grateful for these experiences because I would not be where I am today without them. But while these corporate environments expected excellence and spoke of valuing authenticity, the reality did not always match up.
As a Black woman from Trinidad & Tobago leading research teams at companies like Netflix and Twitter, I brought a different approach: one centered on human connection, authentic expression, and truly seeing others.
While this approach made me successful, it also revealed how rare it was to find spaces where people could bring their whole selves—not just their professional selves, but their whole selves.
Again and again, I heard the same quiet ache: the weight of performing, the cost of shrinking to fit, the loneliness of the journey, the hunger for something more aligned and true.
Birds Uncaged emerged from my hard-earned liberation. From a recognition that my deepest calling is to create spaces where restless spirits can shed constraints and discover the power of their authentic expression—in all areas of life.
