Dr Makeba & Friends LLC

10/23/2026

Has this year been harder than you expected? It has been for me, too. I keep noticing how rarely the people who hold everyone else together get asked how they're really doing.

So on Tuesday evening I'm opening The Living Room for an honest Tea Talk about how 2026 has really been. Share as much or as little as you like. Listening counts just as much as speaking.

🗓 Tuesday, October 27, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Zoom 🍵 FREE one-time guest evening, no membership needed

RSVP at the link in the comments and I'll send the Zoom link straight to your inbox.

If someone you love has carried a lot this year, send this to them too.

With Love,
Dr. Makeba 🌻

10/20/2026

Episode 12 is live, and this one is personal.

In 2005, I flew to Ethiopia for two weeks with my job at Emory. My daughter was two years old. And almost every woman in my family asked me the same question before I left.

Who's gonna keep the baby?

I went anyway. My daughter stayed with her father. Everyone survived. But that question followed me home and quietly governed more choices than I realized, for years.

This episode is about generational healing, what it actually looks like when it isn't dramatic. Sometimes it's simply hearing an old question and choosing a new answer.

And it ends with the question I wish somebody had asked the women who came before me, and asked me much sooner.

Who's gonna keep YOU?

🎧 Listen here or on your favorite podcast platform.

If something in you has been quietly wondering what it would take to go somewhere for yourself, I'm holding a free, no-pressure info session about the Soul Bloom Retreats I'm leading in 2027. Just 45 minutes. Every question welcome.

🗓 Thursday, October 29 · 7-7:45 p.m. Eastern 👉 Reserve your spot: https://calendly.com/drmakeba4love/soul-bloom-costa-rica-india-info-session

What old question are you still answering? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

In 2005, a simple question from my stepmother followed me all the way to Africa, and honestly, for years after that.

10/14/2026

You've been hearing a quiet voice about your next step for a while now, and you keep waiting for someone else to confirm it before you trust it.

That voice is your higher self, and it has never needed a second opinion.

I recorded this on retreat in Costa Rica with 10 women who came to start the new year fresh. Each arrived for her own reason, and nearly all of them were wrestling with the same thing. They could hear something true inside, and they didn't trust it yet.

In this video I share how to tell the loving voice of your higher self apart from the negative one that keeps you small. The loving one won't steer you wrong, though it will ask you to stretch past what feels comfortable, because it knows what you're capable of.

When you get still and ask yourself "who am I?", what comes back? Tell me below. 🌸

Awaken, our Costa Rica retreat, runs April 11 to 17, 2027. The link is in the first comment.

🦋 Want to know when healing sessions, classes and courses, Soul Blo...

10/14/2026

If AI can do in thirty seconds what used to take an hour, does a job still need eight hours a day?

Most organizations haven't asked. They've simply filled the time AI saves with more work, and called it efficiency.

A new tool arrives. People learn it, check its output, correct its mistakes, and still carry responsibility for the final result. The task takes less time, but has anyone's load actually gotten lighter?

What we do with the time we get back is the real decision. We can fill it with more work, or we can make room for reflection, creativity, relationships, and the judgment calls that still need a human being.

That decision belongs to leaders shaping how their teams use AI. It also belongs to each of us, every time a tool hands us back an hour.

My Soul Bloom Method™ starts with the people doing the work and the friction they're actually facing, so the time a new tool frees up goes back to people.

Technology changes work. Humanity determines whether work is worth doing.

❓ If AI gave you back five hours a week, what would you do with that time? And leaders, what would you want your team to do with theirs? Tell me in the comments.

10/13/2026

It’s always meaningful to see the work you care deeply about recognized.

I’m grateful to have been featured by Influential Women, alongside women who are leading, innovating, and creating meaningful impact.

Over the past 25+ years, my work across healthcare, higher education, and philanthropy has shaped how I view leadership, not just in terms of results, but also in terms of people, culture, and the lasting impact we leave behind.

Thank you to Influential Women for this recognition and for creating space to celebrate women who are making a difference through their work.

I’m honored to be part of it.

10/12/2026

Facebook decides who sees my posts. I'd rather you didn't miss the next retreat or healing session because of that.

My invitations list is where I share news when healing sessions, classes and courses, Soul Bloom Retreats and sacred gatherings like Sunday Supper open. I only write when something meaningful is opening, and you choose what reaches your inbox.

If you'd rather read and listen, my podcast and In the Trenches reflections are on Substack, free. Both options are on one page.

👉 https://stay-connected-with-dr-makeba.subscribepage.io/

10/11/2026

Have you ever wondered if anyone is really listening?

I have. For years I was the quiet one, even in meetings. My mind would be working nonstop, and I wouldn't say a word until something was bubbling up so deep I had to let it out. So showing my face and sharing my heart online every week is still very much a practice for me.

This week I caught myself asking if any of it matters. My spirit revved up and answered: "Hey, chill out, ma'am. Keep speaking. You're doing this for you, too." 😄

If you've been quiet a long time, tell me in the comments: where have you been waiting for permission to speak?

The full Sunday Reflection from In the Trenches is here: https://drmakeba4love.substack.com/p/my-spirit-said-speak-even-if-no-one

P.S. Finding my people is why I'm starting Sunday Supper Club here in Atlanta. Our first table is October 25, 4 to 6 p.m., with five seats left. Reservations close October 18. https://sundaysupper.drmakeba4love.com

10/09/2026

I got over 10 reactions on one of my posts last week! Thanks everyone for your support! 🎉

10/08/2026

Being the one who can handle anything is a skill you were rewarded for long before you ever chose it.

I learned it as a girl in the Bronx, keeping track of what my mother needed and standing between my little sister and whatever was coming. By the time I was leading strategic planning at Emory University, I was very good at it. People called me dependable, and they called me when something had to go right.

Six weeks after my daughter was born, I went back to work, and my car became my sanctuary, the one place where nobody needed a single thing from me. At the time I thought that was simply what capable women do.

A strength can become a survival strategy when you no longer know how to put it down. I had no idea I was performing, because it felt like personality, like being an independent woman or a perfectionist who handles her own business and doesn't ask for help.

I go deeper into what that car was really holding for me in the Coping in the Car episode of Living 4.Love Notes. The link is in the first comment.

If there's a woman in your life who always has it handled, share this with her. She won't ask for it, and that's exactly why it matters.

And tell me honestly, in the comments: who do you let carry something for you? If the answer is nobody, I see you. I read every one.

10/07/2026

What happens when you are expected to lead in a room that was not built with you in mind?

I will be exploring that question with Shanequa E Moore, MPA, LMSW,SIFI, Public Policy Certified, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of I'RAISE Girls & Boys International Corporation, during an upcoming Fireside Chat.

Our conversation will center on identity, leadership, and belonging, and what it means to lead authentically when you are navigating spaces where you may not always feel seen, understood, or represented.

I am looking forward to sharing my perspective from more than 25 years across healthcare, higher education, and philanthropy, while having a meaningful conversation about creating spaces where people can lead without leaving parts of themselves behind.

📅 Thursday, October 8, 2026
⏰ 12:00 PM Eastern Time

Join us live for the conversation on LinkedIn.