Just Do the Thing: Lorrena Black on Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Finding Purpose

Andrea Walker-Leidy is the host of It's Not Just a Tuesday, a podcast that brings personal stories of transformation, leadership, and success to the forefront. In this episode, she interviews Lorrena Black, an Army veteran and entrepreneur who shares her inspiring journey from military service to entrepreneurship.

Topics Discussed:

• Lorrena's transition from 25 years in the Army to entrepreneurship
• How emotional intelligence and adaptability shaped her career
• The birth of her business, She Served, focused on helping veterans find purpose and leadership in their civilian lives
• Empowering women and veterans through leadership development workshops and coaching

Connect with Lorrena Black:

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lorrenablack/
• Website: www.sheserved.co
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lorrenablack/

Join us every other Tuesday for more inspiring stories and leadership insights. Don't forget to rate and subscribe!

Chapters

• 1:40 Lorrena's career journey
• 7:31 Learning emotional intelligence in the military
• 12:33 SheServed and how Lorrena serves veterans and professionals
• 13:35 Figuring out Your purpose
• 19:03 We can do hard things

Transcript

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Andrea Walker-Leidy (00:01.28)
Hello and welcome back to It's Not Just a Tuesday. I am Andrea Walker -Leidy, who gets to host this really fun idea that I had of just chatting with people and recording it. I think everyone has that idea these days and podcasts are doing such a cool thing to the world. I think it's letting people connect and also have a platform to share. I'm super grateful that

Lorrena, Black has agreed to spend some time with me today and just share more about your story and some new things that you're doing that are very exciting. But especially for a woman in business, you just have such a cool story and background. And I've been able to watch little bits of it on LinkedIn. And we've been able to collaborate before in your past career hat. And so I'm looking forward to what

you can share with us, but also just being able to talk through and let people know that transition in life can happen anytime and follow those passions. So welcome.

Lorrena Black (01:08.223)
Thank you.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (01:11.092)
Right? That's what it is. That's what it is. So I'm not even going to do any more introduction to you because I was saying before the podcast, I always start talking to people before we hit record. And then I'm like, wait a minute. This is everything I want people to hear. So I want you to just share with us your career journey and how you got here.

Let us into a glimpse in into your life.

Lorrena Black (01:43.007)
Yeah, well, so I joined the Army when I was 18 years old. I was raised by a single mom and didn't really have a path to college. My mom was a certified nurse's assistant, but she didn't go to college traditionally, so she wasn't really set up to help guide me in that way. So I didn't know what I was going to do. I was really a little lost. And an Army recruiter found me when I was on my sixth job of the year after graduating high school.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (02:05.216)
Thank

Lorrena Black (02:12.539)
And he presented me with this idea and this career path or this journey that I couldn't quit. And it scared the heck out of me. And I like to tell people this all the time, but I'd watched the movie Full Metal Jacket. So I was like, I'm not joining the military. Which in truth had nothing to do with the army, but that was my, you know, what my brain associated with. But then the more I thought about it, the more I was like, I'm going to do this. It can get me out of, I started to go down this path of following.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (02:26.272)
Right?

Andrea Walker-Leidy (02:32.693)
Right.

Lorrena Black (02:40.637)
And I was really nervous I was gonna follow somebody off a cliff because I was just making stupid choices and I just, again, going back to that feeling lost and this idea of doing something that was bigger than myself but also that would change my life for me. so against everybody's surprise and shock and horror, I joined the army. Yeah, maybe my mom was like, wait, what? My cousin even was like, no, Lorrena can't join the army. She's too nice for the army. It was not.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (02:51.637)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (03:01.294)
I love that.

Lorrena Black (03:09.215)
anything anybody who knew me ever envisioned me doing. But it changed, yeah, no, and it changed my life. And I left for what was supposed to be a four -year tour. And in 2022, I retired after 25 years. So it was, I got my college degrees from the military. I got to see the world from the military. had both my daughters. It pulled the leader out of me. I've met so many wonderful people and it was just really great.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (03:11.2)
Right, right. That's really cool.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (03:23.06)
Wow!

Andrea Walker-Leidy (03:29.066)
Yes.

Lorrena Black (03:38.367)
So in 2018, I left active duty after 21 years and went into the reserves. And there's a whole story there too of why I did that. But that was my first time in adulthood now I'm stepping into, because what do I do now that I'm not in the army? And I went to a Hiring Our Heroes hiring fair and got talked into being a financial advisor, which was never really on my radar. But they intrigued me with this idea that I could serve people.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (03:46.976)
Right.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (03:52.458)
Yeah, yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (04:01.768)
Yeah!

Lorrena Black (04:06.365)
and that I could help people, but in that way. I underestimated the selling component of it a little bit and the amount of time that it would require me to be away from my daughters. And I had already done that for so many years that I wasn't, I didn't realize consciously, but subconsciously I did that I wasn't willing to do. yeah. And so in trying to find clients and build that, I

Andrea Walker-Leidy (04:06.656)
Okay. Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (04:27.072)
Right. wasn't your retirement career that you wanted. Yeah.

Lorrena Black (04:35.443)
found myself at Inform, which is where I just recently left, which is an organization geared toward helping women accelerate in their careers. And I had no intentions of working there, but I had started going to an Inform event to network and do all the things that the model's designed to help us do. And in that, they had a veteran, well, Inform has a veterans, a women veterans program, and they asked me to come and be a panel speaker.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (04:48.522)
Yeah.

Lorrena Black (05:02.847)
And then they, my predecessor was leaving and they'd asked me to share the job description. And then I helped, didn't for whatever reason. think I was like, I don't really know anybody. don't know. But about two months later, when I realized financial advising wasn't it for me, I looked back at the job description. was like, my gosh, this is everything. Like I want to do this. And then, yeah. And so I, I went to work at Inform. I started March 2nd of 2020. So my whole.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (05:04.394)
and they have to share the full description.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (05:23.316)
I can do this. Yeah, that's so cool.

Lorrena Black (05:32.617)
journey in the beginning was learning the job as we were changing everything. But the cool thing is the military had really set me up to take a role at the start of a global pandemic and figure it out on the fly why we were changing everything. But the parts of the job that I loved were the parts that weren't really meant to initially be the job, which was the facilitating and the coaching and the really, and so that's why this year I decided

Andrea Walker-Leidy (05:34.58)
I'm gonna say virtual world, yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (05:47.476)
Right.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (05:57.894)
Yeah.

Lorrena Black (06:02.079)
That's what lights me up. That's what I love, but I want to do that for veterans. Like I realized that there are so many awesome programs out there for veterans that are geared toward helping with PTSD or sometimes, you know, often military sexual trauma, homelessness or things like that. And I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to find, you know, I want to find veterans that are thriving in their careers or they're in their careers, but they want to.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (06:07.478)
Okay.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (06:18.742)
you

Lorrena Black (06:31.689)
There's more. And they want to figure out, what's my purpose? What do I want to do now? How can I just unleash it all? And so that's right. Jumped into entrepreneurship. Feet first.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (06:32.576)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (06:37.846)
That's amazing. Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (06:43.19)
Welcome. It's a crazy world. I love that. you just launched, She Served. it's so exciting to hear you talk about just your willingness to kind of take those risks since you were 18. You said something about your career in the military prepared you to lead and start things during a pandemic. Talk to me a little bit more about that.

Lorrena Black (06:50.547)
Thank

Andrea Walker-Leidy (07:11.834)
what are those things that maybe you didn't know you were prepared for that that experience gave you?

Lorrena Black (07:17.533)
Yeah. So I, one of the things I do love talking about too is emotional intelligence. And so I was learning emotional intelligence in the military before I knew that's what was happening. So adaptability, emotional self -control, you know, those types of things, but really the resiliency and the adaptability. So when I was on active duty, I was moving, we call it PCSing, but moving duty stations every three to five years.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (07:42.879)
Okay.

Lorrena Black (07:42.897)
Sometimes it might, I might've been at a duty station. My last couple, was there six months and then nine months, but you move until my role toward the end of my career was communications. I was a communications officer. And that means it could be radios, it could be Blue Force trackers, or it could be your IT department. And so it's broad, but you had to get to a new place. You had to meet your new soldiers. You had to meet your new boss.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (08:02.133)
Okay.

Lorrena Black (08:09.193)
You had to figure out whatever system they were working with all while pretending that you knew it all. So, yeah, you know, so I really just learned you just that adaptability piece is huge. And I was a single mom for a big chunk of the time in the military. So I also have these two little girls that I'm trying to get through life at the same time. And so you just learn to just adapt and to move and to be in the flow of things, you know.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (08:11.584)
Yeah. Okay, that is a really good skill. That's all of life right there.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (08:26.934)
Okay.

Wow, yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (08:37.706)
Yeah, yeah, just keep going. That's so cool. And I think that's so important. I think all of us have that touch of, we learned this thing that we didn't know we were learning, right? Or we did this thing. I just today was sharing something about the fact that when I started the podcast, I was getting ready for the podcast and I thought, when I started this, just thought, well, everybody's doing a podcast and I listened to a course about a couple of courses in my business research about

Lorrena Black (08:40.5)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (09:06.966)
the benefits of being able to share your expertise and share other people's expertise and just collaborate, right? And I, being in the media and wanting to help people share their stories through social media and PR, it just seems like such a good fit. And I thought, wow, I could be that source of storytelling, right? And if 10 people listen or if a million people listen, I'm another spot where people can share. So why not, right?

And one of the things that I've realized is what this has forced me to do is as an introvert business owner who loves being behind the scenes and I love doing other people's PR and I love sharing their stories. I'm a writer for a reason. I like to write it and give it or write it and share the words. I don't love to be like in the front, right? And so today, you know, it was a Friday. We've had, we had to reschedule this a couple of times and be flexible to life.

from, you I think once me, once you, maybe twice me, once you, I, know, that's that adaptability to other people's schedules that I don't usually have to do. being a, a solopreneur and having a small business where we all kind of work remote. And the other thing that has forced me to do is just like get ready, right? you know, I need to know that I feel like I look okay if somebody's going to watch this on YouTube and not hear it, right? I need to feel prepared.

in my home office to present and be in front of people in a way that I'm proud of and in a way that's on brand for me and all those things that I teach other people, it has forced me to do once, twice, three times a week or a month. And that's that emotional intelligence piece that I forgot that I wasn't learning before, right? And I love how you said, you joined the military, you didn't know what that path was gonna look like.

You started financial planning. You didn't know what that path was going to look like. I just, you know, today I said, just, just do the thing. Right. Like I, I don't think we always know actually what it's going to mean. Right. Or we might have an idea and we don't actually know what it's going to mean. You know, when you and I met, was the pandemic. had really dove into relaunching my business and, and it was growing at that time. And I hadn't done very many.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (11:34.262)
virtual workshops and things like that, but I love it. And so you were doing virtual events for Inforum and said, hey, do you want to do this workshop? And I had done two before and I was like, yeah, I do workshops. Sure. Let me come on to your workshop. It's that whole like, yes, I know what I'm doing because I can, right? I've done it at a different scale in a different space. So why can't I? And I think that's so much a part of the empowerment that people just forget.

Lorrena Black (11:48.633)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (12:03.658)
that they already, you can do it. If you did it small, you can do it big. If you did it here, you could do it there. Like I love that you are taking all of that. So talk to me about she served and what you're gonna be doing and how you're serving veterans, who should be connecting with you. What does that look like?

Lorrena Black (12:23.32)
First I want to say I love who you said just do the thing right because that I mean sometimes it is as simple as just do the thing shut out all the voices telling you you can't do it and just do it so she served is is that I'm just doing the thing and I want to help other veterans and professionals really anyone but

leadership development. love creating workshops. I love delivering workshops. It's the same with you. Like, can you do a workshop on? Yes, yes, I can. I can. I can do that. Because I think that the lived experience that I have just coupled with the things that I am so thankful to have learned through inforum over the last four years. I want to share that with other people. I want to help other people. And really that focus on veterans is like I said,

Andrea Walker-Leidy (12:51.744)
Sure, I'll figure that out.

Lorrena Black (13:11.839)
There I was looking up some data. I didn't say this part, but I was looking at data recently for something I'm doing. There are roughly 6 ,000 veterans that commit suicide every week. And I lost a former soldier back in December. And I didn't realize until very recently that she is part of my why and other soldiers that I've lost before. But I can't help thinking if she had had a purpose, if she had known what her purpose was.

Would she still be here? And so that's in the back of my mind with what I'm doing now because I want to help people figure out what their purpose is and live into that and lean into that and just do that thing. And so, sorry.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (13:43.552)
Bye.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (13:50.454)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

That it, I mean, and I think that, like you said, you you don't always know what your why is, right? It's in there somewhere. And I think that's when I, you know, I always say, I trust, I trust my gut. I don't know always what it's doing, right? But if I trust it, I might find the why later. But if I know who I am and how I work and you're right, I think so many people are struggling, especially veterans, right? And I think purpose is so much.

or a purpose in who you are, right? You don't have to do anything grand. can't even imagine the transition. I've got some family who are veterans. And the transition from a life where there is so much of a structure and not, the decisions are...

different and some made for you, right? And then all of a sudden to transition into civilian life, I can't imagine that transition, right? And I can assume, right? I'm stumbling here. I can assume that that mental load that that has is probably so overwhelming and to feel isolated and to feel like people don't understand. And I think that's so much of

Andrea Walker-Leidy (15:21.236)
And I talk really openly and honestly about mental health and my struggles with mental health and the fact that I really believe firmly that we can use our superpowers for good or bad, right? And I think everyone has them. And I think that, you know, the reasons that people go into the military are something about them, right? Whether it's a moment in their life or the type of person they are or whatever. And then when they get out, they're still that person. And I mean, because we all are, right? And so

Lorrena Black (15:49.012)
you

Andrea Walker-Leidy (15:50.26)
I love that you're trying to just get to people and say, who are you? Why do you want to be here? What do you want to do? That's so needed everywhere, but I can imagine so much more in that veteran world where there's, you're right, I don't know that there's anybody doing what you're doing on that professional level or just that self -empowerment level to say, you know,

you're a mom now and you're working now and you're not in the military. What do you want that to look like?

Lorrena Black (16:25.695)
We tie so much of our identity to the military. And that could be sometimes with people, whether you've served 25 years like I did, or some people, you make it through basic training and then you get injured and you're hurt, but you still get so quickly indoctrinated into that culture and what it is. So there are people that struggle with how it feels more on the outside. It sounds like prison when I say it like that, on the outside.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (16:37.843)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (16:42.751)
Okay.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (16:49.706)
Yeah. No, I think that's so, I mean, it's the unlearning, right? And the deconstructing of it. I have that conversation a lot with folks. It's very similar if you grew up or spent a lot of time in a church or religious environment, right? That is the way of thinking, that there are truths that you...

Lorrena Black (16:55.879)
Mm -hmm.

Lorrena Black (17:09.606)
Thank

Andrea Walker-Leidy (17:14.848)
hold because of that space, you understand the world through that lens, everything. And I think sometimes you have those moments where you transition and then you're like an infant again, right? You don't know, you have to relearn a lot of things.

Lorrena Black (17:29.011)
Well, yeah, and I think even not even just like I'm learning because there's so many great things that we learn in the military, but it's learning how to take those things and recognize that like these actually are really great skills that could really help me be successful in this new life, new venture and giving employers to understand too that you've got a bold mind in veterans and not every veteran is perfect. Like not every person is, but we've learned a lot of really

Andrea Walker-Leidy (17:35.71)
Yes. Yeah.

so true.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (17:46.014)
Yeah. Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (17:52.628)
Yes.

Lorrena Black (17:57.533)
valuable things in the military that can be, it's just learning how do I take that? How do I stop saying I was just this in the military and recognize that you weren't just anything, like you did something, you're big deal. And how do you use that?

Andrea Walker-Leidy (18:03.275)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (18:07.092)
Yes.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (18:12.778)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that's the part I think that is probably so important for people to connect with you on is because when it's just your job or when it's just your task or when you're that's just where you're, you know, where you're stationed or what you're supposed to do because that's your task, it's probably not an empowering, you know, you're probably not like, yes, I'm so good at this. You're like, this is what I'm supposed to do. Right. And so transitioning out and feeling how amazing you are.

Lorrena Black (18:27.401)
for the evening.

Lorrena Black (18:36.306)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (18:42.036)
because you can do these things in so many different settings and all of that. I think that's probably a lot of it. We've kind of talked a little bit about this already, but I would love to just have you share a little bit just in your, you know, in your journey and as you've worked with people and met people, what do you see are those spots where we are not as confident as we should be? What do you really wish that people were?

feeling empowered with and especially women because we're women and I love being able to empower women. Men, please also listen to this podcast and feel empowered also, but I have a passion for that and she served obviously also does. What do you wish we understood and felt empowered with?

Lorrena Black (19:35.079)
I think that the reminder that one, can do hard things. We really can. And you said something earlier about trusting your gut. That's that inner wisdom. We have that. That is there to guide us. And we don't often trust it. We second -guess ourselves so much, or we let the inner critic or the imposter syndrome, we let those things stop us from being our true, authentic and great selves. And so it's just keeping and just trusting.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (19:46.964)
Mm -hmm.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (20:01.962)
Yeah.

Lorrena Black (20:04.659)
yourself, knowing you can do hard things, quieting that voice. And sometimes the voice is there to serve us, right? It's in, it's there. Like I have this whole people pleaser thing that drives me crazy sometimes and that I've been working against, but I recognize that kept, that has kept me safe in my life. That kept me safe when I was a child dealing with things. Yes. And it's there. And so I, you know, I call her little Lorrena now and I tell her, you know, I'm taking the reins. We're not, we're taking care of ourselves first.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (20:10.742)
for sure.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (20:21.362)
It's the superpower, right? Good or bad? Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (20:28.63)
Love that. I got this.

Lorrena Black (20:33.699)
and then will serve versus plead. So there's this rule, sometimes it is that. I have a coach friend who I think is amazing and she names her saboteur Agnes and she will literally say, Agnes, go sit down. Like we don't have time for this today. So it's just trusting ourselves. Again, you can do hard things, quiet your imposter and just do the thing. I'm gonna steal that today. That's like my mantra.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (20:33.706)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (20:41.939)
UF

Andrea Walker-Leidy (20:45.157)
my gosh, that's so funny.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (20:52.01)
Yeah. Just do the thing. I literally, I made a, in a different world, I make TikToks for fun. And so I was getting ready to talk to you today and I was, I just hit record because I was just thinking about that. I was like, I'm just getting ready on a Friday and I don't usually do that, right? Sorry. It's not a Tuesday. It's a Friday. just let...

Lorrena Black (21:16.369)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (21:16.896)
I let everyone know that we're recording this. It's not just a Friday on Tuesday when you listen to this. But I think it's important to say that because it's not just a Friday either, right? I don't usually plan meetings on Fridays. It's an office day. It's a day that I try to recap everything, get the work done. So because I had that time slot, Phil, I had time to spend with you and to do this. so after I took my son to school, instead of just diving into work, I took a minute.

Lorrena Black (21:22.206)
you

Lorrena Black (21:30.347)
Okay.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (21:46.678)
and got ready. And I almost never do that on Friday mornings. And I was sitting there like, wow, this feels good. And this feels different. And this feels like a little breath of fresh air. And it was because I made a decision in 2023 that in 2024, I would do a podcast. I had no idea that that would help my mental health on Friday morning on September 6th or whatever. And so when you hear this on a Tuesday in a little bit,

You know, just know that whatever thing that you're doing today, you may not know what that's gonna, you don't know what it's impacting. You don't know where it's leading you. And I just, you know, when I met you, I was reaching out to grow my business and just connecting with people on LinkedIn. And I didn't know that four years later, I didn't realize it was, well, 20, I don't know, maybe it was 21 when I did some workshops within Forum. But I joined InForum for the same reason. Wow.

Lorrena Black (22:40.733)
Yeah, I think it might have.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (22:45.886)
I'm really actually going to be a woman in business. I made that decision. Like, I'm not just faking this. That's really, that imposter syndrome is so real for women, especially in the workforce and in building business and being a business owner. And I, you know, I didn't know what that path was going to do, but I said, I've got to connect with other women in leadership. I've got to learn and be around folks. And it's

It's wiser to the podcast. I want a reason to invite people to share their story, right? Because they're cool and I just want to spend some time with them anyway. So I might as well record it and maybe share something with someone else that helps them feel empowered, you know? So talk to me a little bit. I always ask people about what's on their calendar that they don't think is important that they might be able to share. And because you've been to a couple of my workshops, you know that I do this.

And I have seen and I love, have seen on your social media and with places that you share, you do this now. And I love it. I, you know, it's casual, but I know it's intentional because we've talked. And I love seeing where you have found these ways to incorporate that personal life of who you are. it makes, you know, having seen you do that over the last couple of years, it makes perfect sense to me now that you

Lorrena Black (23:57.448)
Mm -hmm.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (24:13.034)
decided to go out on your own, right? And decided that you had this thing to give because I've been able to watch that on social media and we forget that social media is such a powerful place to actually share the who of what we do. And so I've seen you do that. I love that. I've gotten to know more about you. My favorite of all time was the day that you talked about your tattoos on a professional platform like Bravo, right?

Lorrena Black (24:37.31)
you

Andrea Walker-Leidy (24:41.14)
doesn't matter what it is, right? It's those things that we think we need to hide about who we are. And that I think is, know, going back to the mental health piece of it and folks who don't feel purpose. I think it's also the things that we don't think people will understand that we want to hide that really just trap us and hurt us so much. And so I...

Lorrena Black (24:45.288)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (25:07.41)
I love that you have tested the waters with that. And I think it's worked and here you are. So talk to me a little bit about what's your Tuesday look like? What's your Tuesday look like this week?

Lorrena Black (25:21.215)
Yeah, well first I have to say I do this every time you ask me a question, but when you gave the workshop that you did, was that you gave such great like advice and tips and it really, I made a, like you said you went into 2020, I think you said 23 or 24, you're gonna do a podcast, for me 24 was truly like authentically like being Lorrena. And so I've been taking those small little steps and even in the places that you wouldn't think like LinkedIn, know, it's super.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (25:44.714)
Love that.

Lorrena Black (25:50.88)
It surprises me how many people say that that resonated with them or that they saw something that I posted or that they, and so it does let people, because we're people and there's this human being that it lets people connect just deeper and I do love seeing that. But back to the Tuesday question, I had to write it down because I was like, what did I do? So this past Tuesday, I actually have lunch with two of the women. I've been honored to be selected to be a finalist for this Warrior Rising.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (25:55.007)
Yes.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (26:00.617)
Yes!

Lorrena Black (26:20.879)
veterans thing. You know, it's so exciting. And so I met with two of the women that are also in the Detroit area. One started a business making vegan hair products, which is really cool. And another woman has purple heart pastries where she's taking purple yam and making putting it into dessert. So just to get to meet these women I've never met that are also once a veteran, once a family member of a veteran, but connecting with them just at a

Andrea Walker-Leidy (26:21.002)
Yeah, I saw that. Congratulations.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (26:31.186)
wow.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (26:42.143)
Yeah.

Lorrena Black (26:47.305)
had a restaurant downtown Detroit, getting to know their stories. That was a really cool day. So that was my Tuesday this week.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (26:50.698)
That is cool.

Yeah. That is a very cool Tuesday. that, I love, again, when I talk about, you know, when you share your Tuesday, you're sharing moments that are actually important to your mission and to your life and everything else, right? I, you know, you look at that and it's lunch and it's on your calendar, but it's celebrating the success of where you are. it's wanting to connect with other women that you can celebrate.

It's learning more about other professionals so that you can grow your network. mean, that's everything rolled into a lunch, right? On your calendar, it's everything about what I know is important to you and where you're at in your life, but also just that mission of yours to connect with women and empower them. so I think that's a perfect example of, yeah, it's just a Tuesday.

Lorrena Black (27:29.395)
Mm

Andrea Walker-Leidy (27:49.534)
It's just lunch, but if you break it down, it's who you are. It's your mission. It's your life, right? You're from Michigan. You celebrate Detroit. You are in the city having lunch and you're connecting with the people who are your neighbors that you didn't even know were your neighbors, right? That's really, really cool. So before we start wrapping up, I would love for you to just share a little bit about

Lorrena Black (27:49.897)
Is it?

Lorrena Black (28:07.976)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (28:19.354)
You talked a little bit about she served and just the impact there. But talk to me and other folks listening about what you want to do for folks and what that looks like and how people can engage with you. What does that look like? What does she served look like in the next six months or a year? And who should be reaching out to you? Besides me, maybe I'll be the first nana.

Lorrena Black (28:32.976)
Thank you.

Lorrena Black (28:44.031)
Thank

Andrea Walker-Leidy (28:47.102)
non -veteran client just because I like hanging out with you and hearing your wisdom of life.

Lorrena Black (28:47.485)
Thank

Lorrena Black (28:53.513)
Well, I love that. And I know, like, I called the business SheServe, and it does give the impression that I'm only serving women, but I called it SheServe because that represents me. Like, I am she, and I want to serve all, regardless of your gender, like, I want to help you, you know, unlock whatever that is for you. So, I do, I got to figure out how to incorporate that more so people know, like, I'm not just serving women. I want to serve, like, all my veteran friends and battle buddies.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (29:05.216)
Beautiful.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (29:11.523)
my gosh, that's beautiful.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (29:18.346)
Yeah.

Yeah, you are. She, I love that. need, yeah, let's, we need to brainstorm that a little bit because you, I mean, that is the servant mindset I think that you have. And I think being able to serve people, which also, I mean, of course that empowers people who have served, but that's gorgeous. Okay. So I interrupted you. I got excited about that one. I didn't realize that at all. So,

Lorrena Black (29:23.357)
Yeah.

Yes.

Lorrena Black (29:35.046)
Thank

Lorrena Black (29:45.629)
Yeah, that's okay.

day.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (29:50.794)
So definitely share more about that with us in the future because I think that's so important that, you know, we talk a lot about servant leadership in Leadership Now. So the fact that you are calling it that really just means you're taking that big leap into servant leadership.

Lorrena Black (30:07.817)
Well, when I thought about it, I'm like, represents so many things for me because it represents that I served in the military. I'm a Christian, I serve God, and then I'm really called to serve people. So it just, it just wrapped it up. But I, I realized how it to others, it might seem like that that's my main target. And of course I'll always have a passion for women veterans because again, but my, my hope is to create and deliver leadership development workshops, offer coaching, one -on -one or group.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (30:17.567)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (30:24.083)
Right.

Of course, yeah. Yeah.

Lorrena Black (30:36.349)
and really get a chance to have those keynote speaking opportunities sharing my story because it's been really cool the times I've done that where I have had women come up to me and say, my gosh, your story is my story. Like there's just something so powerful about that. And I just want to inspire other people. And again, just the gifts that I've been given, want to share those.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (30:46.483)
wow.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (30:50.709)
Yeah.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (30:57.194)
I love that. Well, I will. All of your information is going to be with the podcast. So if you want to connect with Lorrena, if you are a veteran or a man or a woman or anyone who or an organization that wants to connect and empower your veterans or just the individuals in your space that need to learn about that, I love that. think if you, know, just to work those workshops on adaptability,

Lorrena Black (31:11.143)
or an organization looking to do something for your better.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (31:26.344)
alone could be life changing for people and for organizations. So that's amazing. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today. I can see us doing this again in the future and maybe circling back and hearing more about the story of who you have served as you grow the business and do more. And I'm looking forward to seeing you share that story on social media and continuing to connect.

As always, this It's Not Just a Tuesday is very real life and you might be hearing the people coming to mow my lawn right now because that is what's happening today. I don't know if that is going to happen or not, but I always like to be incredibly real with people when I'm talking. And, you know, we talked at the beginning of the before we got on about the dogs might bark and I did not expect the lawn to get mowed. So here we are. Here we are.

Lorrena Black (32:22.562)
Here we are.

Andrea Walker-Leidy (32:24.534)
Thank you so much, Lorrena. I will look forward to seeing you at events coming up and just sharing with you. Thank you for listening. If you have a story that you want to share or that you know of someone else that's an amazing story to share, please reach out and let me know. If there's something that you would like to hear on the podcast or someone's story or expertise that you just need to hear in your life, please let me know.

This is, it's not just a Tuesday. I am Andrea and I look forward to seeing you on another Tuesday or Friday, but usually Tuesday. Thanks.