Shameless Reinvention

Sometimes you don’t get to see the harvest. You plant the seed anyway.
This week, it’s just Sonya and Sharon at the table, celebrating Black Girl Magic and asking what the women before us made possible, and what we’re making possible for the women who come next.
From Octavia E. Butler’s imagination to the faith and creativity our grandmothers nurtured, we explore how the seeds one woman plants can shape generations.
We also revisit the “re-words” we chose for 2026 and get honest about what actually happened. For Sharon, reconnect became rebuild and reach. For Sonya, rest and recovery opened the door to an unexpected new chapter and a redo.
With laughter, a little sci-fi nerd talk, and two Shameless Truth Bombs, we talk about reclaiming our voices, reimagining what’s possible, and recognizing that legacy is something we live every day.
Who is lighting the way for you? What’s your re-word, and what seed are you planting now?
Share with us at shamelessreinvention@gmail.com.
New episodes every Friday at 8 AM ET.
“You are not starting over. You are starting from here.”

What happens when someone asks "So what do you do?" and your title doesn't tell the whole story?
Sonya and Sharon talk with Carole Smith, a marketing and AI transformation executive and founder of CDS Advisory Group, about defining yourself beyond your job title. Carole shares what she had to unlearn ("I am not my job title" and "My productivity is not a measure of my worth"), why setting boundaries is part of reinvention, and why it's never too late to learn AI, even with free resources and a little "ChatGPT playtime."
She also explains how to get seen when you're the new one, the junior one, or the only one in the room, and gives us her Truth Bomb: "You belong in every room that you enter."
In this episode:
Reframing your identity after a career change
What is "enough," professionally and personally?
Practical first steps for learning AI
Belonging, imposter syndrome, and protecting your energy
Her reinvention song: "Seasons of Love"
Connect with Carole Smith and CDS Advisory Group on LinkedIn.Got a question for the Group Chat? Email shamelessreinvention@gmail.com.
New episodes every Friday at 8 AM ET.

50 Fridays. 50 Episodes. Zero Regrets.
50 Fridays ago, we sat down at this table with a microphone, a vision, and no idea where this journey would take us. Today, we are shouting it from the rooftops—welcome to Episode 50 of Shameless Reinvention!
Join hosts Sonya Seymour and Sharon LaSure-Roy in What 50 Episodes Taught Us About Reinvention as they look back on six foundational moments from the first 50 episodes that fundamentally changed how they think about confidence, rest, sisterhood, and leadership.
In this milestone episode, we dive into:
Returning to Sender: Reclaiming control over open letters, viral commentary, and social media lectures (Dear Black Women).
Imposter Syndrome at the Top: What happened when legendary leader Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole almost talked herself out of directing the Smithsonian.
The Healing Myth: Unpacking Dr. Thommi Odom’s unforgettable insight: "Healing is not the process of creating a more convenient Black woman."
Fireman vs. Fire Marshal: Are you constantly putting out daily fires, or are you building structures so the fire never starts in the first place?
Rationing Confidence & Rest: Why we need to stop treating confidence, rest, and celebration like rewards we have to earn.
Plus, stay tuned for our bonus segment where Sonya and Sharon reveal the personal anthems carrying them into their next 50 episodes!
Episode Timestamps:
00:00 – 50 Episodes of Shameless Reinvention
02:15 – Gratitude for Our Listeners & Guests
04:24 – Clip 1: Smothering the Fire on "Dear Black Women"
10:12 – Clip 2: Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole on Stepping Out on Faith
16:45 – Clip 3: Velma Monteiro Tribble & Intergenerational Legacy
22:18 – Clip 4: Sharon’s Backyard Mural & Reclaiming Personal Joy
27:30 – Clip 5: Sonya on Stop Rationing Confidence & Rest
32:10 – Clip 6: Dr. Thommi Odom on Unbecoming "Convenient"
37:05 – Fireperson vs. Fire Marshal: Living the Answer
39:40 – Bonus: What's Your Reinvention Theme Song?
Thank you to every listener who pressed play on a Friday morning, sent a text, or shared an episode with a friend. You built this with us.
Listen to more episodes on our Shameless Reinvention PodBean Site.

In our "Dear Black Women" episode, we answered every unsolicited letter and lecture with a clear message: be confident and keep it moving. This week, we're asking the question we never got to. What does it cost to stay confident, composed, and ready every single time, for years?
Sharon and Sonya welcome back licensed therapist and longtime friend of the show Dr. Thommi Odom for an honest, funny, and deeply healing conversation. Dr. Thommi explains why "keeping it moving" is sometimes conditioning or survival rather than confidence, how the body keeps score of repeated microaggressions, and the real difference between being genuinely unbothered and performing it.
She also shares practical tools for the moment something lands: grounding your feet, unclenching your tongue to force a breath, a one-dollar bottle of bubbles, checking what's factual, and choosing your response. Plus, why "should" is really shame, why being able doesn't mean being obligated, and the anthems on her daily playlist, including "I Love Me Loud" by China Styles and Jill Scott's "Golden."
In this episode:
Confidence vs. conditioning
The body keeps score: stress, health, and microaggressions
Genuine vs. performed "unbothered"
Self-regulation when confidence hasn't caught up
Unlearning over-performance
Stop shoulding on yourself
Truth bomb: Healing is not the process of creating a more convenient Black woman
Connect with Dr. Thommi: @DrThommi on all socials | drthommi.com
Connect with us: shamelessreinvention@gmail.com. Send us your stories, and drop your thoughts in the comments.
Next week: our 50th episode! New episodes every Friday at 8 AM ET. Subscribe so you don't miss it.

If your phone stopped ringing today and no one needed anything from you, would you feel free or would you feel erased? Sharon and Sonya sit with that question this week, no guest, just the two of them, on what happens when being needed quietly becomes your whole identity.
What happens when the identity built on being needed goes quiet
The real difference between being valuable and being needed
One honest question to sit with this week
Tell us when you first noticed you'd built your identity around being needed. Join The Shameless Re and share your answer.
Hosts: Sharon LaSure-Roy & Sonya Seymour.
Next week: Dr. Thommi Odom breaks down the conversation from our top-rated episode, 'Dear Black Women.'

What happens when “Dear Black women” becomes the opening line to yet another unsolicited lecture?
In this episode of Shameless Reinvention, Sharon LaSure-Roy and Sonya Seymour invite Jeri Tidwell and returning guest Nannette Sandy to the table for an honest, spirited conversation about the open letters, viral posts, stereotypes and backhanded advice constantly directed at Black women.
Together, they examine why these messages are often disguised as concern, how rage bait keeps them circulating and what it costs Black women to continually explain, defend and prove themselves. The women also share personal experiences with racism, microaggressions, workplace expectations, reinvention and the pressure to make other people comfortable.
Their conclusion? Not every message deserves a response. Some letters should simply be returned to sender.
Dear Black women: Be yourself. Stay confident. Know that you are more than enough—and stop giving oxygen to conversations that were never worthy of you.
Nannette Sandy’s novel, Bad Intentions, is available wherever books are sold.
New episodes of Shameless Reinvention drop every Friday at 8:00 a.m. ET.

Are you constantly putting out fires in your life, or are you actively preventing them?
In this episode of Shameless Reinvention, Sharon and Sonya dive deep into what happens when "keeping the peace" starts costing you your own peace.
From the "Black Auntie Playlist of Life Seasons" to the subtle trap of silent compliance, we’re unpacking how unaddressed conversations fuel major life burnouts.
Key Topics & Timestamp Highlights:
00:00 – Intro: The Black Auntie Playlist & Seasons of Life
05:40 – The Hidden Cost of "Being Fine"
10:15 – "What You Permit, You Promote" & Silent Compliance
15:10 – Are You the Fireman or the Fire Marshal in Your Life?
16:30 – Delayed Fires: Why Avoiding Hard Conversations Costs More Later
18:30 – Truth Bombs & This Week's Homework Assignment
This Week's Homework: Where in your life have you been the fireman when you needed to be the fire marshal? Name it, assess the room, and give yourself permission to have that hard conversation this week.
Connect With Us:
Instagram & YouTube: @ShamelessReinvention
Email: shamelessreinvention@gmail.com
New Episodes: Every Friday at 8:00 AM EST

Before the world saw twenty three seconds of a press conference in January 2026, Lynn Jones Turpin had already given thirty years to community journalism in Jacksonville.
In this episode, we sit down with the associate editor of the Jacksonville Free Press, a woman who has interviewed Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, and countless mayors and entertainers, but who says her proudest stories are the ones nobody else was chasing. Lynn takes us from her roots in Detroit to becoming Jacksonville made, from building a ten year run on local television with Lynn and Friends, to the moment a young man in a post game locker room called her fake media and tried to have her credentials pulled.
We talk about what it actually costs to hold your ground in a room that was not built for you, why she stayed off social media while the world debated her, and how she turned that moment into the Lynn Jones Experience. She also opens up about losing her husband this past June, and what it means to stay focused through grief while healing publicly.
This is a conversation about legacy, about the more than two hundred Black owned newspapers still printing in this country today, and about a woman who has never needed a viral moment to prove she belongs in the room.
Homework this week: name someone in your community who has been showing up for thirty years before anyone pointed a camera at them. Tell them what they mean to you.
Email us at shamelessreinvention@gmail.com or find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. New episodes drop every Friday at eight in the morning Eastern.