Meet Leticia Francis

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Leticia Francis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Leticia, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?

I didn’t just occasionally find myself as the only one who looked like me, I was consistently the only Black woman in the rooms I walked into. Boardrooms, strategy meetings, corporate tables, entrepreneurial spaces… you name it. My face, my voice, my background? Rare. Almost never reflected back at me.

And for a long time, that came with its own kind of heaviness, the silent pressure to shrink, the unspoken expectation to be “easy,” “grateful,” “well-behaved,” and absolutely not disruptive.

But here’s the shift that changed everything:
I stopped seeing myself as the only one, and started seeing myself as the first one.

There’s power in that reframing.

I became effective by deciding that my identity, the very thing that once made me feel out of place, was actually my competitive edge.

Here’s what helped me thrive:

1. I embraced that my story is my superpower.
Being a Black Bermudian woman in rooms not built for me taught me to walk in with lived wisdom no degree can replicate. Trauma recovery. Reinvention. Resilience. That’s not theory, it’s my DNA. I stopped diluting my voice. I started owning it.

2. Radical self-awareness became my anchor.
When you know who you are, nobody in that room, not the titles, not the whispers, not the stares, can destabilize you. I know my values. I know my purpose. And that clarity is exactly what keeps me grounded when I stand out for reasons that have nothing to do with ability.

3. I lead with purpose, not permission.
I don’t wait to be chosen. I don’t wait for validation. I don’t wait for an invitation to the table. I show up as a force. I speak with weight. I bring the truth people dance around. And the right rooms make space because I walk in already knowing I belong.

Being the only Black woman in the room taught me how to be visible without apologizing, vocal without softening, and powerful without shrinking.

I don’t enter rooms hoping to blend in.

I enter them knowing I’m there to shift the temperature, not decorate the space.

And if I’m the only one in the room today?
That just means I’m clearing the path for the next Black woman walking in behind me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m known as The Survival Mode Disruptor, a trauma recovery mentor, speaker, and author helping high-achieving women stop living on autopilot, stop overfunctioning through their pain, and finally build lives that feel like the truth, not the performance.

My work sits at the intersection of lived experience and neuroscience.
I survived childhood trauma, emotional neglect, spiritual manipulation, domestic abuse, and the long-term residue that lingers in your nervous system long after the danger is gone. I know what it means to look “strong” on the outside while quietly drowning on the inside. And now I teach women how to break those patterns with compassion, clarity, and a little bit of disruption.

What makes my work special?
I don’t do surface-level empowerment. I do soul excavation.
This isn’t “positive vibes only.”

This is:

Why do you keep choosing chaos over peace?

Why do you shrink your voice even though you’re brilliant?

Why does your body go into fight-or-flight every time you try to rest?

Why do you love everyone else more than you love yourself?

My signature 6-step Survival Mode Exodus framework guides women through the deep work:
Self-Awareness → Releasing Old Identity → Reprogramming → Redefining Success → Embodying → Integration.

And I do it in a way that feels honest, human, and safe — but still disrupts the hell out of the patterns keeping them stuck.

I run a global coaching practice, I speak on stages about the residual impact of trauma, and I host the Survival Mode Disrupted podcast, where I interview women who’ve rebuilt their lives after the unthinkable.

What’s new? A LOT.
This season of my brand is expansion and elevation:

Season 3 of my podcast is underway, featuring powerful survival stories and trauma modalities people aren’t talking about enough.

My new membership, Survival Mode Exodus, recently launched, designed for women who are tired of “starting over on Monday” and ready for consistent support around nervous system regulation, identity reinvention, self-forgiveness, and inner peace.

I’m also booking speaking engagements and workshops, especially my newest talk, People Pleasing Is Not Kindness… It’s Self-Abandonment in Disguise and my signature keynote The Death of Me: How Breaking Survival Mode Resurrected My Life.

My mission is simple:
To help women stop surviving their own lives and finally start living them.
With truth. With power. And without apology.

If I do nothing else on this earth, I want women to know that the cycle ends with them and their healing begins right now.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, the three things that truly shaped my journey weren’t the shiny achievements people love to put on LinkedIn, they were the internal qualities I had to fight for. The first was radical self-awareness. Everything changed the moment I stopped pretending I was okay and actually confronted the patterns running my life, the overachieving, the people-pleasing, the shrinking. Self-awareness isn’t glamorous. It’s uncomfortable. But it’s the foundation of every breakthrough I’ve ever had.

The second was learning my nervous system. For most of my life, I thought my reactions made me “too much” or “too emotional,” when really, they were survival responses. The day I understood that my body wasn’t betraying me, it was protecting me, everything clicked. Understanding my cues, my triggers, and how to regulate myself didn’t just change my healing; it changed how I showed up in every room.

And the third was the courage to reinvent myself. Every major shift in my life came from choosing a new version of me, even when the old one felt familiar and safe. Reinvention is not easy. It requires shedding identities that once helped you survive but no longer help you thrive. But choosing myself, again and again, has been the most life-changing decision I’ve ever made.

For anyone at the beginning of their journey: don’t rush your becoming. Get honest with yourself. Learn your body. And give yourself permission to evolve into the version of you your past self never believed was possible.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Absolutely, I’m always open to collaborating, but I’m intentional about who I collaborate with. I’m looking for partners who are as committed to disrupting generational survival patterns as I am. That includes trauma-informed practitioners, therapists, coaches, wellness professionals, domestic violence organizations, women’s empowerment leaders, and platforms that want to amplify real, raw conversations about healing, identity, and rebuilding your life from the inside out.

I love working with people who aren’t afraid to go deeper than the surface-level “self-help fluff.” If you’re passionate about nervous system education, trauma recovery, women’s mental health, storytelling, or creating safe spaces for women to unlearn survival mode, then we’re speaking the same language. I’m also open to media features, podcast interviews, keynote opportunities, corporate wellness collaborations, and organizations that want to bring trauma-awareness into their culture.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “This is exactly the energy we need,” then let’s talk. You can connect with me through my website, reach out on LinkedIn, or email me directly. I’m always excited to partner with people who are here to make healing accessible, conversations honest, and transformation inevitable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.leticiareneefrancis.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leticiareneefrancis/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leticia.r.francis
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leticia-f
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@leticiareneefrancis
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/disruptingsurvivalmode/