In The Lead with Dr. Carmela Nanton
By Jill Schreider
Jill Schreider is a marketing and communications intern at the International Leadership Association. She is a junior communications major at the University of Maryland College Park and looks forward to a future working in public relations.
Carmela Nanton, founder and CEO of Carmel Connections Inc., created In the Lead, a weekly podcast aimed at being America’s voice for women and leadership. Each week, Nanton “showcases and gives voice to the collective wisdom of powerful influential women of color who lead across all sectors and walks of life, and in the world.” For Nanton, there were few role models available growing up who were women of color. She wanted to remedy that for the current generation of young women so she began reaching out to contemporary role models — those “in the lead.” This show is the result of those interviews.
How do they “DO” leadership? That is the question Nanton explores through the interviews, as the women share their leadership experiences, thoughts, and insights. Nanton hopes that “their powerful stories will motivate, inspire, educate, transform, and embolden all who lead or those who aspire to lead.”
Nanton’s career and life achievements are impressive. She is an entrepreneur, a wife of 29 years, the mom of three children, and a minister. In addition, she has extensive experience in multiple leadership realms, including being a professor of leadership and management in higher education, serving as past chair of ILA’s Women and Leadership Affinity Group, and being appointed to nonprofit and city boards. She is also a leader developer and coach. Nanton has always had a passion for empowering women to follow their call to lead, but in the current climate, she decided now would be the perfect time to launch her podcast.
Launched earlier this year, each week Nanton interviews a different guest speaker, each of whom adds her unique perspective on women and leadership. As Nanton described to us, the interviews are with “actual leaders, thought-leaders, and women of color who lead in all sectors and walks of life in the world and who have influence. They are CEO’s, board members, administrators, founders, and presidents, in academia and corporate settings. The scope is global and includes politicians and people serving in ministries and consulates.” Nanton emphasized that “they are not looking to step into men’s shoes necessarily, but to bring their own shoes and leadership styles to the leadership experience. I talk with them about what they have done and what has made them successful.”
In her first ten interviews, Nanton has spoken with fascinating leaders such as Susan Hart, millionaire master trainer and founder of Hart Zone; Alexandra Boone Johnson, Chairwoman and Founder of Women of Color Foundation and Publisher and Chief Editor of SL Magazine; DeLores Pressley, internationally known motivational speaker and executive life coach; Vikki Pryor, CEO of Change-Create-Transform; and Katherine Tyler Scott, ILA Board Chair and Managing Partner of Ki ThoughtBridge.
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Susan Hart
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DeLores Pressley
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Vikki Pryor
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Katherine
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Nanton shared that all of her podcasts offer something special, as each interviewee has her own experiences and perspectives to offer. She mentioned that one of her favorite podcasts is the March 25th interview with Katherine Tyler Scott because “she embodies and integrates three facets rarely found in the same individual operating at the cutting edge of leadership: thought leadership, experience as a woman of color in leadership, and leadership development.” She urges everyone, regardless of their gender or racial identity, to listen to Tyler Scott’s take on perceptions others can have of your leadership capability.
The ILA is the organization for connecting leadership scholars, practitioners, and educators in ways that serve to enhance their learning, their understanding, and their impact in the world. These exchanges are professionally enriching and serve to elevate the field of leadership. - Katherine Tyler Scott
Another of Nanton’s favorite interviews was with DeLores Pressley. Pressley, who has appeared on Oprah, is a 2016 recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award — an award given by Trinity Girls Network in partnership with President Barack Obama. She explains how Pressley “touched the nerve of one of the challenges of women leaders: their embodied leadership. Her pioneering work with plus size women has been widely recognized. Women of DeLores’s caliber are the inspiration for the next generation of women leaders.”
Nanton is an avid podcast listener herself and she has used some of her favorites as inspiration for her own work. She listens to Conversation with Black Millionaires, Ted Radio Hour, Ask Me I’ll Answer It, The Full Ratchet, Glambition Radio, and Leadership University. Seeing what works on those shows, she has taken tips on various formats, methods of delivery, and ideas on how to present content and engage listeners.
In The Lead’s topics are useful and impactful in the world today. Nanton shares that this experience has been “exciting, but challenging; exhilarating and compelling,” and she continues to set her sights high in her quest to influence the future trajectory of women and leadership. If you’re thinking of starting your own podcast, Nanton reflected that one of her biggest takeaways in terms of process is that “listener engagement is key, but not automatic.” For the remainder of this season and into the next, she plans to focus on “different ways to grow listener feedback and engagement, while finding a way to make our talk about leadership — which is serious business — an intriguing mix of theory, stories, and practical, sometimes humorous experiences.”
I asked Nanton what the future holds for In The Lead and how ILA members can be involved.
“In the future, for this ambitious project, enjoying the journey is key. I want to present voices and perspectives that are largely missing from contemporary leadership discourse and theory. The goal is to build a library of voices of women leaders of color that includes top national, international/global, corporate, and local leaders. This library would become a recognized go-to resource and repository in women’s leadership to inspire and empower aspirant leaders. Ultimately, I hope these experiential perspectives on leadership will provide a complete picture of diversity in women of color who lead and become a path to normalize women’s leadership, and transform prevailing paradigms of leader effectiveness."
Nanton added, "I’m actively recruiting interviewees for future podcasts and am particularly interested in finding women leaders of color for the following: thought-leaders on women’s leadership; exploring the roles of social activism, art, music, sports, communication, government, and finance in leadership; engaging top public and political leaders as well as indigenous and organic leaders in local communities, and individuals with broad scope of influence in social media. I would like to push the envelope, even disrupt, the code of silence and undiscussables in leadership. This means: Including socio-political activists and authors who, as pioneers, have led the shaping of societal perception, policy and practice in the area of civil/women’s rights, feminism, and leadership practice; exploring the consequential intersectionality of race, gender, image, oppression, and privilege in the leadership experiences of women of color; answering leadership questions, and including topics requested by listeners.”
In addition to inviting all ILA members to tune in to the show, Nanton would appreciate referrals and introductions to potential interviewees. Furthermore, she extends an invitation to ILA members to participate: subscribe, review, and comment... “Let’s Talk!”
Download episodes on iTunes by visiting https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/in-lead-dr.-carmela-nanton/id1201905668. The podcast can also be found on Stitcher and Bshani Radio.
About Podcast Playlist
Podcast Playlist shines a spotlight on that digital dynamo of the early 21st century, the podcast. Each column features a podcast program or individual episodes from different programs that pertain to leadership.