Gurll Mind Your Business

What does it look like to keep growing when life has already taken you through several chapters?
On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, Cookie Cade sits down with Denise Brown for a heartfelt conversation about faith, personal growth, consistency, purpose, quiet time, and learning to embrace the fact that we are all still evolving.
Denise has built a career, raised a family, served in ministry, owned businesses, worked in financial services and government contracting, and fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a published author.
But what makes her story powerful is that she does not pretend to have everything figured out.
She simply says:
“I am still evolving.”
And that message speaks to every woman who is changing, growing, questioning what comes next, or realizing that the life she wants today may look different from the one she imagined years ago.
This conversation is a reminder that you can be accomplished and still be growing.
You can be grateful for where you have been and still want something different.
You can honor your past without allowing it to determine your future.
And you can give yourself permission to keep becoming.
🎧 Listen to STILL EVOLVING with Denise Brown on Gurll Mind Your Business.
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#GurllMindYourBusiness #DeniseBrown #StillEvolving #Faith #PersonalGrowth #WomenAuthors #Purpose #Reinvention #NewChapter #KeepGrowing

You are not starting over. You are building from experience.
On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, I sit down with Toshika Howard-Patterson for a powerful conversation about career reinvention, business ownership, and what it means to finally bet on yourself.
After 28 years as a nurse, Toshika expanded into project and program management, technology, organizational change, strategic leadership, and eventually consulting.
Her story is proof that your next chapter does not erase what came before it.
It builds on it.
One of the strongest reminders from this conversation is:
You may discover that you were ready long before you gave yourself permission to move.
🎧 Listen to From Nurse to Business Owner: How to Reinvent Your Career and Bet on Yourself with Toshika Howard-Patterson 
If you have been thinking about changing careers, starting something of your own, or stepping into a new chapter, this episode is for you.
What would you do next if you stopped waiting to feel completely ready?

How much influence could you have if you stopped underestimating your own voice?
On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, Cookie Cade welcomes Alexis Thomas, a Human Resources leader with 15 years of experience, Delta College Trustee, community advocate, and passionate supporter of young people. Alexis’s journey into community leadership began through her son’s PTA. After seeing inequities within the school district, she moved from attending meetings to actively advocating for change. That path eventually led to helping lead a recall effort, running for the local school board, and being elected. Her commitment to service continued long after that term ended. 
But this conversation is about more than public service.
It is about what happens when an everyday person realizes:
My voice matters.
Alexis talks about speaking up, protecting your values, sharing credit, serving without needing the spotlight, and learning that leadership also requires boundaries.
One of her biggest personal challenges has been learning to say no. Like many women who care deeply about other people, she is learning that she cannot be all things to everyone, and that rest and making time for the things that bring her happiness matter too. 
For Alexis, success is about the community thriving, not who receives the credit. 
Her message to listeners is clear:
Use your voice. Stand for what matters. Never give up on your values. And protect your integrity.
Listen, like, share, and subscribe to Gurll Mind Your Business.
#UseYourVoice #ProtectYourIntegrity #CommunityAdvocacy #Leadership #WomenInLeadership #Integrity #Boundaries #PurposeDrivenLeadership

How much influence could you have if you stopped underestimating your own voice?
On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, Cookie Cade welcomes Alexis Thomas, a Human Resources leader with 15 years of experience, Delta College Trustee, community advocate, and passionate supporter of young people. Alexis’s journey into community leadership began through her son’s PTA. After seeing inequities within the school district, she moved from attending meetings to actively advocating for change. That path eventually led to helping lead a recall effort, running for the local school board, and being elected. Her commitment to service continued long after that term ended. 
But this conversation is about more than public service.
It is about what happens when an everyday person realizes:
My voice matters.
Alexis talks about speaking up, protecting your values, sharing credit, serving without needing the spotlight, and learning that leadership also requires boundaries.
One of her biggest personal challenges has been learning to say no. Like many women who care deeply about other people, she is learning that she cannot be all things to everyone, and that rest and making time for the things that bring her happiness matter too. 
For Alexis, success is about the community thriving, not who receives the credit. 
Her message to listeners is clear:
Use your voice. Stand for what matters. Never give up on your values. And protect your integrity.
Listen, like, share, and subscribe to Gurll Mind Your Business.
#UseYourVoice #ProtectYourIntegrity #CommunityAdvocacy #Leadership #WomenInLeadership #Integrity #Boundaries #PurposeDrivenLeadership

How much influence could you have if you stopped underestimating your own voice?
On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, Cookie Cade welcomes Alexis Thomas, a Human Resources leader with 15 years of experience, Delta College Trustee, community advocate, and passionate supporter of young people. Alexis’s journey into community leadership began through her son’s PTA. After seeing inequities within the school district, she moved from attending meetings to actively advocating for change. That path eventually led to helping lead a recall effort, running for the local school board, and being elected. Her commitment to service continued long after that term ended. 
But this conversation is about more than public service.
It is about what happens when an everyday person realizes:
My voice matters.
Alexis talks about speaking up, protecting your values, sharing credit, serving without needing the spotlight, and learning that leadership also requires boundaries.
One of her biggest personal challenges has been learning to say no. Like many women who care deeply about other people, she is learning that she cannot be all things to everyone, and that rest and making time for the things that bring her happiness matter too. 
For Alexis, success is about the community thriving, not who receives the credit. 
Her message to listeners is clear:
Use your voice. Stand for what matters. Never give up on your values. And protect your integrity.
Listen, like, share, and subscribe to Gurll Mind Your Business.
#UseYourVoice #ProtectYourIntegrity #CommunityAdvocacy #Leadership #WomenInLeadership #Integrity #Boundaries #PurposeDrivenLeadership

How much influence could you have if you stopped underestimating your own voice?
On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, Cookie Cade welcomes Alexis Thomas, a Human Resources leader with 15 years of experience, Delta College Trustee, community advocate, and passionate supporter of young people. Alexis’s journey into community leadership began through her son’s PTA. After seeing inequities within the school district, she moved from attending meetings to actively advocating for change. That path eventually led to helping lead a recall effort, running for the local school board, and being elected. Her commitment to service continued long after that term ended. 
But this conversation is about more than public service.
It is about what happens when an everyday person realizes:
My voice matters.
Alexis talks about speaking up, protecting your values, sharing credit, serving without needing the spotlight, and learning that leadership also requires boundaries.
One of her biggest personal challenges has been learning to say no. Like many women who care deeply about other people, she is learning that she cannot be all things to everyone, and that rest and making time for the things that bring her happiness matter too. 
For Alexis, success is about the community thriving, not who receives the credit. 
Her message to listeners is clear:
Use your voice. Stand for what matters. Never give up on your values. And protect your integrity.
Listen, like, share, and subscribe to Gurll Mind Your Business.
#UseYourVoice #ProtectYourIntegrity #CommunityAdvocacy #Leadership #WomenInLeadership #Integrity #Boundaries #PurposeDrivenLeadership

How much influence could you have if you stopped underestimating your own voice?
On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, Cookie Cade welcomes Alexis Thomas, a Human Resources leader with 15 years of experience, Delta College Trustee, community advocate, and passionate supporter of young people. Alexis’s journey into community leadership began through her son’s PTA. After seeing inequities within the school district, she moved from attending meetings to actively advocating for change. That path eventually led to helping lead a recall effort, running for the local school board, and being elected. Her commitment to service continued long after that term ended. 
But this conversation is about more than public service.
It is about what happens when an everyday person realizes:
My voice matters.
Alexis talks about speaking up, protecting your values, sharing credit, serving without needing the spotlight, and learning that leadership also requires boundaries.
One of her biggest personal challenges has been learning to say no. Like many women who care deeply about other people, she is learning that she cannot be all things to everyone, and that rest and making time for the things that bring her happiness matter too. 
For Alexis, success is about the community thriving, not who receives the credit. 
Her message to listeners is clear:
Use your voice. Stand for what matters. Never give up on your values. And protect your integrity.
Listen, like, share, and subscribe to Gurll Mind Your Business.
#UseYourVoice #ProtectYourIntegrity #CommunityAdvocacy #Leadership #WomenInLeadership #Integrity #Boundaries #PurposeDrivenLeadership

How much influence could you have if you stopped underestimating your own voice?
On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, Cookie Cade welcomes Alexis Thomas, a Human Resources leader with 15 years of experience, Delta College Trustee, community advocate, and passionate supporter of young people. Alexis’s journey into community leadership began through her son’s PTA. After seeing inequities within the school district, she moved from attending meetings to actively advocating for change. That path eventually led to helping lead a recall effort, running for the local school board, and being elected. Her commitment to service continued long after that term ended. 
But this conversation is about more than public service.
It is about what happens when an everyday person realizes:
My voice matters.
Alexis talks about speaking up, protecting your values, sharing credit, serving without needing the spotlight, and learning that leadership also requires boundaries.
One of her biggest personal challenges has been learning to say no. Like many women who care deeply about other people, she is learning that she cannot be all things to everyone, and that rest and making time for the things that bring her happiness matter too. 
For Alexis, success is about the community thriving, not who receives the credit. 
Her message to listeners is clear:
Use your voice. Stand for what matters. Never give up on your values. And protect your integrity.
Listen, like, share, and subscribe to Gurll Mind Your Business.
#UseYourVoice #ProtectYourIntegrity #CommunityAdvocacy #Leadership #WomenInLeadership #Integrity #Boundaries #PurposeDrivenLeadership

How much influence could you have if you stopped underestimating your own voice?
On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, Cookie Cade welcomes Alexis Thomas, a Human Resources leader with 15 years of experience, Delta College Trustee, community advocate, and passionate supporter of young people. Alexis’s journey into community leadership began through her son’s PTA. After seeing inequities within the school district, she moved from attending meetings to actively advocating for change. That path eventually led to helping lead a recall effort, running for the local school board, and being elected. Her commitment to service continued long after that term ended. 
But this conversation is about more than public service.
It is about what happens when an everyday person realizes:
My voice matters.
Alexis talks about speaking up, protecting your values, sharing credit, serving without needing the spotlight, and learning that leadership also requires boundaries.
One of her biggest personal challenges has been learning to say no. Like many women who care deeply about other people, she is learning that she cannot be all things to everyone, and that rest and making time for the things that bring her happiness matter too. 
For Alexis, success is about the community thriving, not who receives the credit. 
Her message to listeners is clear:
Use your voice. Stand for what matters. Never give up on your values. And protect your integrity.
Listen, like, share, and subscribe to Gurll Mind Your Business.
#UseYourVoice #ProtectYourIntegrity #CommunityAdvocacy #Leadership #WomenInLeadership #Integrity #Boundaries #PurposeDrivenLeadership

On this episode of Gurll Mind Your Business, Cookie Cade sits down with Yolanda Jones, CEO of Wise Hands Homecare Services, for a meaningful conversation about what it looks like to turn experience, compassion, and service into a real business.
Yolanda’s story shows that the path to entrepreneurship is not always a straight line.
The idea for the agency began with a suggestion from her mother. At first, it was just an idea, but it kept returning.
Eventually, Yolanda decided to act on it.
Yolanda’s message is grounded in service:
We are here to serve.
If you are thinking about starting a service-based business or wondering whether your current skills can become something of your own, this episode will give you something to think about.
Listen, like, share, and subscribe to Gurll Mind Your Business.