Episode
Building the Table:
Leadership, Power & The Climb
with Felicia Smith, Founder & Board Chair, The Climb
Everyone talks about getting a seat at the table. Nobody talks about what it actually costs to get there — or the power dynamics, the politics, and the unspoken rules that determine who actually stays.
Felicia Smith, founder of The Climb — a nonprofit advancing women of color into leadership through mentorship, coaching, and real development — joins Des and Ashley to break down what leadership readiness actually means, why “fit” and “potential” are loaded words, what sponsorship really looks like versus what companies pretend it is, and why access without support is not opportunity.
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Episode Transcript
Full conversation — searchable and screen-reader friendly
Desiree: Today we are joined by Felicia Smith — co-founder and board chair of The Climb, a nonprofit focused on advancing women of color into leadership through mentorship, coaching, and real development. Not performative programming. Felicia is a senior executive with more than 17 years of experience leading global workforce and enterprise operations, and she believes leadership isn't about waiting for permission. It's about building better tables so more people can actually lead. Felicia, what pushed you to create The Climb? Was there a specific moment?
Felicia Smith: I was the moment the whole time. I'm a first-generation college student. My parents didn't work in corporate spaces. When I got there, there was so much I just didn't know. I was navigating, making mistakes, wishing I had someone to tell me how to do this. I wanted a mentor who looked like me. When I got to senior leadership, so many women of color came to see me asking the same questions: how do I navigate this? How do I have difficult conversations? What do I do around promotion? I'm only one person. Why aren't we having these conversations in larger forums? Why aren't we talking to each other in community? Regardless of industry, there are things about the workspace that are the same no matter what. So how do I create a venue where we do it together — and we don't feel like we're all just alone, navigating in the dark, hoping we don't run into a wall?
Desiree: Most leaders are not prepared for leadership. What's the difference between being invited into leadership versus being prepared for it — and feeling supported once you're there?
Felicia Smith: A lot of people are invited for the wrong reason. They're invited because they're an amazing individual contributor — producing, making money, meeting milestones. So people think: if you can do this alone, imagine what you can do with a team. That's a completely different dynamic. My ability to succeed alone is a whole different thing from leading 20 people and giving them the tools they need to be successful. It's no longer about me. Now it's about motivating them to get to the goal. We get invited on the wrong premise. And if you're going to invite me into a space that requires me to operate completely differently, at least give me the basic fundamentals first. Without that, leaders are flailing. And no one is willing to tell them the truth about it.