An Inspired Chat with LaKendra Norman of Detroit-based

We recently had the chance to connect with LaKendra Norman and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning LaKendra, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
What I’m being called to do now?
Be unapologetically me—in public, in print, and in practice.

For years, I edited myself: dimmed my light, made myself smaller, worried my shine might bruise someone else’s ego. I tiptoed around my own truth to keep the peace. Now I understand: my peace is the highest luxury. I’m done negotiating my voice.

Today I’m called to tell the truth clearly, create boldly, and let the chips fall where they may. That looks like setting firm boundaries, celebrating my wins out loud, and building the kind of legacy that helps millions—especially Melanated women—choose themselves without guilt. If my growth offends, that’s a mirror, not my assignment.

I’m not performing “palatable.” I’m practicing purpose. I’m choosing courage over consensus, impact over approval, and alignment over access. I’m finally giving myself full permission to be the main character in my own story—and to invite others to do the same.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Love those tweaks. Here’s your updated intro in your voice, with your notes woven in:

I’m LaKendra Michelle—Detroit-born creative, mentor, and CEO of Noir Royale Brand. I build at the intersection of style, story, and service. Think couture energy with community impact: custom pieces and Italian-made footwear that have touched Vogue Italia and Vanity Fair Italia, paired with mentoring work that helps young, melanated brilliance choose themselves, build skills, and build wealth.

I don’t separate the soft life from the real work. **I’m the woman who will sew a jacket at 2 a.m., mentor a student at 8 a.m., then speak at noon about boundaries and becoming—**and you might catch me later at a party, a family BBQ, or on a romantic vacation, enjoying life to the fullest.

What I do: I mentor by day, design and write by night. My brand mantra is Luxury. Loyalty. Legacy. Luxury, to me, is peace and alignment; loyalty is how I love my family and community; legacy is the work that outlives me.

What makes it different: Detroit grit wrapped in melanated luxury—unapologetic, practical, and rooted in healing. I create art you can wear, language you can live by, and rooms where people remember who they are.

What I’m working on now:

Expanding Noir Royale and curating my public-figure lane on social.

Releasing F*ck It, Mask Off —truth, boundaries, becoming.

Scaling mentoring and civic-engagement projects to help thousands (and then millions) move from survival to sovereignty.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child, I believed I wasn’t enough. I didn’t always feel beautiful, and I thought love had to be earned. I wore that feeling like a quiet weight—misunderstood, dimming myself to keep the peace.

Now? I know better.

I know exactly who I am. I am confident, grounded, and gloriously self-defined. I don’t audition for approval—validation is for parking. I self-validate. The parts of me that were once “too much” are the same parts that make me magnetic and memorable. If my certainty reads as arrogance to some, that’s simply not my business.

I am an unstoppable anomaly—once misunderstood, now unapologetically embraced. I am a magnificent, marvelous soul, and I move like it.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
The switch flipped when I realized I was in the wrong rooms—fun to party with, no vision to build with. Like H.E.R. says, I looked up and saw “nothing but a bunch of haters,” and that was my cue. I started therapy two years ago and finished early this year. In between, I did the real work—shadow work, mirror work, boundaries. I wasn’t broken; I was misplaced.

Before therapy, I had already felt the tug to choose myself. That’s why I wrote Toodle Loo: Everybody Can’t Go—a straight-up guide to naming the energies around you, identifying the patterns, and finding the courage to let go of what’s blocking your future. It breaks down the types you might be carrying and teaches you to release them; the workbook turns those lessons into action so you can detach with clarity and heal forward.

When I stopped giving my energy to the wrong circles, the noise got loud—gossip, discouragement, smear attempts. That’s when my pain became power: if my healing threatens you, that’s your mirror, not my assignment. Therapy gave me language, boundaries gave me backbone, and purpose gave me a map.

Now I move like a woman who survived her old life and designed a new one—out loud, on purpose, without apology.

I stopped hiding my pain the day I stopped performing—then turned it into a blueprint.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
Absolutely—same soul, different settings.

What you see in public is not a persona; it’s my prioritized self. Curated, not counterfeit. I don’t perform “palatable”—I practice purpose. The private me just gets more context and longer chapters.

Think of it like this:

Public = highlight reel of my truth (boundaries on, message clear, impact first).

Private = director’s cut (deeper details, softer edges, sacred nuance).

Both are me—melanated, healed, and intentional. I don’t hide behind a mask; I honor rooms and roles. Some people get my sparkle. Some get my strategy. A chosen few get my silence and sanctuary. Same truth, different volume.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
If I laid down my name, role, and possessions—what would remain?

The current that runs everything I touch: a maker’s spirit, a mentor’s heart, and a mouth full of truth.

Strip the titles and the trappings, and you’d still find a voice—turning pain into poetry and blueprints. You’d find faith that doesn’t fold, joy that renews itself, and discipline that keeps promises my feelings can’t. You’d meet a woman whose luxury is peace, whose loyalty is practiced, and whose legacy is people.

And braided through it all are the integritous teachings of my great-grandparents—their prayers, grit, and grace. My lineage lives in my posture, my pace, and my principles. I have the crown and the calling.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/noirroyalebrand
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noirroyalebrand/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lakendra-norman-a328b3a9/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lovethemnormans
• Other: Toodle Loo: Everybody Can’t Go book: https://a.co/d/5BV1Vm2
  Toodle Loo: Everybody Can’t Go workbook: https://a.co/d/g7wkBTn

Image Credits
My photographer, myself, or a member of my team takes photos for me. All rights are mine.