Today we’d like to introduce you to LaKendra Norman.
Hi LaKendra, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My story has never been a straight line, and I think that is one of the things I appreciate most about it now.
I’m Detroit born and raised, and I’ve lived enough life to understand that sometimes the very things meant to break you end up introducing you to yourself. I’ve experienced trauma, survived domestic violence, navigated complicated family dynamics, raised a family, built businesses, lost things, rebuilt things, changed direction and, more than once, had to decide who I was going to be after life didn’t go according to plan.
For a long time, I was surviving before I realized I was actually building. And today, I don’t really consider myself a survivor anymore. I survived a lot of things, absolutely—but survival is about making it through. I consider myself a thriver. There’s a difference between simply getting by and building a life in which you are growing, creating, loving, succeeding and becoming more than what happened to you. I didn’t survive all of that just to spend the rest of my life identifying with survival.
Entrepreneurship became part of my story years ago, but over time my purpose became much bigger than simply owning a business. My education in business, my lived experiences, my work in the community and especially my work with young people began intersecting. I realized that some of the things I had learned through experience—communication, emotional intelligence, accountability, resilience, leadership and understanding people—were the same things I was being called to teach.
That realization changed the direction of my life.
Today, I’m in a season where everything that once seemed unrelated finally makes sense together. I’m an entrepreneur, author, youth development consultant, speaker, curriculum designer and creative. I’ve expanded my work in youth development and restorative practices, published the 44 Edition of my book, Fck It, MASK OFF: Exposing Secret Animosity Among Women*, created my Healing Over Hatred course, and continued developing Noir Royale Brand alongside other projects that allow me to create, teach and tell the truth in different ways.
I don’t look at my story as one of simply overcoming hardship. I look at it as evolution. Every version of me gave something to the woman I am now.
And at 44, I feel like I’ve reached a point where I’m not trying to become somebody anymore. I know who I am. Now I’m building from that place.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not. My road has had potholes, detours, construction signs and a few roads that probably should have been closed altogether.
Some of my earliest challenges were personal. I experienced trauma at a young age, survived domestic violence and had to learn some very difficult lessons about family, relationships, boundaries and self-worth. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that one of my greatest challenges wasn’t simply surviving what happened to me—it was making sure I didn’t build my identity around it.
Professionally, the challenges have looked different. Entrepreneurship will humble you. I’ve had ideas that worked and ideas that taught me something. I’ve had to pivot, rebuild, advocate for my value, navigate inconsistent contracts and funding, and learn that being passionate about serving people does not mean I should undervalue myself in the process.
Working with young people and families has taught me another lesson: purpose doesn’t always come packaged as a job title. Some of the biggest opportunities in my career came because I was willing to recognize what I was already doing well and give myself permission to expand beyond the role someone else originally hired me to fill. I had to stop waiting for someone to validate that I was a consultant, speaker, curriculum designer or leader before I allowed myself to operate as one.
I’ve also had to become comfortable with being misunderstood. Growth changes relationships. Boundaries change relationships. Success changes relationships. Sometimes people are comfortable with the version of you they understand, and your evolution requires you to keep moving even when everyone doesn’t understand where you’re going.
But I genuinely don’t believe in failure. I believe in lessons. I don’t look at my life in terms of wins and losses because even the things that didn’t work gave me something I needed for what came next. Some lessons cost me money. Some cost me relationships. Some cost me time. Some hurt like hell. But if I walked away wiser, clearer, stronger or better equipped, I didn’t leave empty-handed.
That’s how I approach my life now: no failures, only lessons. No losses. Everything gets used.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The easiest answer is that I do a lot. The more accurate answer is that everything I do is connected.
My professional work sits at the intersection of youth development, education, personal growth, communication, storytelling and creative entrepreneurship. I’m a youth development consultant, speaker, restorative practices facilitator and curriculum designer. I work with young people, parents, educators, schools and community organizations to create programming that strengthens social-emotional skills, communication, accountability, relationships and the environments young people need to thrive.
Youth development has become one of the most meaningful parts of my career. I’ve had the opportunity to work with hundreds of young people, facilitate mentoring circles and workshops, develop programming, work alongside families and educators, and take my work beyond Detroit—including presenting nationally. What I’m most proud of isn’t a title or a number, though. It’s the relationships. Young people know when you’re performing for them. I don’t. I meet them where they are, I tell them the truth, I hold them accountable, and I make sure they know accountability and love can exist in the same room.
That philosophy extends into my work with adults. Through speaking, consulting, my writing and projects like Healing Over Hatred, I explore self-awareness, emotional intelligence, accountability, relationships, generational patterns and what it actually looks like to grow beyond the experiences that shaped us.
I’m also an author. My latest release is the 44 Edition of Fck It, MASK OFF: Exposing Secret Animosity Among Women*, which examines relationships between women, jealousy, accountability, identity and healing through both lived experience and reflection.
And then there is my creative side. I’m the founder and designer behind Noir Royale Brand, where fashion and storytelling meet. Creativity has always been part of how I communicate, whether I’m designing a custom piece, writing a book, developing curriculum, speaking to a room or building a program.
What sets me apart is probably the very thing that once made my career difficult to explain: I don’t fit neatly into one box. I’ve stopped trying to.
I can sit in a room with executives, educators and community leaders, and I can sit in a circle with a teenager who has already decided adults don’t understand them. I know how to speak to both without becoming somebody different.
Everything I do comes back to the same thing: helping people see themselves more clearly, communicate more honestly and recognize that growth requires both compassion and accountability.
Different rooms. Different tools. Same purpose.
What does success mean to you?
Success, for me, is freedom, peace, choice, impact and legacy.
And yes, money is part of that. I’ve never subscribed to the idea that wanting financial security or wealth somehow makes you less purpose-driven. Money gives me choices. It allows me to take care of my family, experience life, invest in the things I believe in and make decisions based on what is right for me instead of what I can afford to survive without.
But money by itself isn’t success to me.
I want a life that actually feels good to live. I want peace. I want to enjoy my husband, my children and the people I love. I want the freedom to create, travel, build, rest, change my mind, say yes when I want to and say no without fear when something no longer aligns with me. I’ve survived enough in my lifetime. I’m not interested in spending the rest of it proving how much I can endure. I want to thrive.
Success is also being able to be completely myself. I don’t want to shrink one part of myself to make another part easier for people to understand. I can be a wife and mother, an educator and entrepreneur, a speaker and author, a mentor and creative. I don’t have to choose one version of myself in order to be taken seriously.
Impact matters deeply to me, too. Some of my greatest measures of success will never show up in my bank account or on a résumé. They’re in the young person who remembers something I taught them years from now, the parent who sees their child differently because of a conversation we had, or the person who reads something I wrote and recognizes themselves enough to make a different choice.
And ultimately, I want legacy. Not simply for people to remember my name, but for something to be different because I was here. I want my children to inherit more than things. I want them to inherit wisdom, opportunity, emotional health and something solid to build upon. I want my work, my words and the things I create to continue serving people long after I’m finished creating them.
So I don’t define success by how impressive my life looks from the outside. I define it by how much of my life actually belongs to me, how well I loved, what I built, who I helped, what I left behind—and whether I enjoyed myself while I was here.
That’s success to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Lakendranorman.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010637941276
- Other: https://Linktree.com/noirroyalebrand
