<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[National Black Women's Network]]></title><description><![CDATA[The NBWN is THE network devoted to empowering, informing and connecting black women across the UK. ]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/blog-full</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 19 Sep 2026 13:12:31 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.nbwn.net/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Stop Chat Yuh Business]]></title><description><![CDATA[Men are frequently told two contradictory things. Speak more about what is happening in your life, but remain strong enough not to burden anybody with it; be ambitious without appearing insecure, provide for others while somehow having all the answers yourself. 

Build the career, protect the family, manage the money, maintain the relationship and preferably look as though none of it is particularly difficult.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/stop-chat-yuh-business</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aac68b877684b726ca1e47a</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2026 23:09:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_e50105bd4ff34fe6b95ff9edbb8dd0d3~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[When Opportunity Flatters]]></title><description><![CDATA[The next impressive email does not require paranoia. It requires a process. Start by  verifying  the sender independently rather than relying solely on the biography, links and logos supplied in the approach. Move towards  clarifying  exactly what is being proposed before surrendering an hour to a meeting. Evaluate the complete exchange of value, including your time, expertise, intellectual capital, reputation, content, introductions, audience and community access. ]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/when-opportunity-flatters</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aae82c4ecd75f79cbaea156</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_6db970beff62423987ef54ad2b3a25d1~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Highest Start-up Rate. Lowest Capital. Same Group.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Only 39% of Black entrepreneurs receive loan approval, compared with 67% of White entrepreneurs. The applications are going in. The decisions are coming back differently based on who sent them. So when someone describes Black women founders as lacking confidence, what they are actually describing is a group of people who have correctly predicted the answer before submitting the question. That is not a confidence gap it is accurate forecasting.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/highest-start-up-rate-lowest-capital-same-group</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aa9be5e2dc1ddd4aedfb097</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2026 07:51:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_961a5e533f884bab9413cbc2be6e2176~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[You Changed. Did the Relationship?]]></title><description><![CDATA[The deeper issue is not that successful women inevitably end up with partners who under-function. It is  more uncomfortable than that. Their competence may be propping up a relationship arrangement built for a version of you that no longer exists.



Maybe they entered this relationship before the promotion, the business, the children, the financial independence or the confidence to name what you actually need. Their responsibilities, economic power changed and sense of yourself changed. ]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/you-changed-did-the-relationship</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aa785bff448a9cd17ba355a</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 06:20:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_efb4383d27db4bce8d7fb2d497ed1fc6~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Fix What Keeps Returning]]></title><description><![CDATA[The woman who accepted responsibility for particular household tasks at 35 may be a director, partner, founder or CEO at 50. Children who once needed practical care may now be adults requiring different forms of support. Parents who were previously independent may need increasing assistance, businesses may have expanded and relationships may have changed, yet the original distribution of responsibility can remain remarkably resistant to renegotiation.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/fix-what-keeps-returning</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aa52f9d1d9a7a0d0b0ab9cf</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 11:52:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_02bb51624f304068851df91cd9076176~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Your Job May Be Secure]]></title><description><![CDATA[A woman can spend twenty years building expertise inside an institution whose priorities shift in twenty weeks. Much of what she has accumulated, reputation, relationships, credibility, influence does not automatically travel with her when that institution changes course. The title, the email database, the platform, the programme. These belong to the employer, not to her. The same risk applies to founders and consultants who are, in effect, concentrated in a single client, funder or procurement ]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/your-job-may-be-secure</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aa1da4ff74f3329892503c3</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_0df0ca42027f46b7b9bbdb19af53e34e~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_810,h_540,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Strategic Decision Debt]]></title><description><![CDATA[Consider the executive who has known for six months that a member of her leadership team is no longer right for the role. Nothing catastrophic happens, so she compensates. She checks their work more closely, quietly corrects mistakes, steps into conversations they should be handling and gradually redesigns her own workload around a decision she has not made. The organisation continues to function, but at an invisible cost to her time, attention and leadership capacity.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/strategic-decision-debt</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9aa48de12fa7bad8b60d2f</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 11:11:55 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_22893a8a740140759b89bb1a86251f01~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[What Looks Like Tiredness ]]></title><description><![CDATA[A woman wakes at 2:47am because she is hot. She throws off the duvet. Twenty minutes later she is cold. Her mind starts running through tomorrow’s presentation, her mother’s hospital appointment, the unresolved conversation with a direct report, the invoice she forgot to approve and whether those palpitations she experienced yesterday are something she ought to mention to her GP.



Eventually she sleeps. At 5:45am, the alarm goes off. By 8:30 she is dressed, composed and leading other people.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/what-looks-like-tiredness</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a94276a7ba802b41b916c5e</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:00:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_d4d43ef52cf941f28cac5655b4313058~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[AI Is Making Competence Cheaper]]></title><description><![CDATA[AI can describe redundancy, but it has never carried the responsibility for a decision that changed somebody's livelihood. It can explain discrimination without having experienced the subtle shift in a room when a difficult subject is raised. It can summarise entrepreneurship without having faced the uncertainty of making payroll, just as it can construct a leadership case study without carrying the organisational memory of what happened after the decision was made.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/ai-is-making-competence-cheaper</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a93086b4f7694ed1eda53b5</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:00:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_d4944224d2734a558b135e1573977d08~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Welcome to September]]></title><description><![CDATA[There is something wonderfully optimistic about September. Summer begins to retreat, schools return, diaries refill, Q4 suddenly stops looking comfortably distant and organisations rediscover all the meetings they apparently managed perfectly well without during August.

Menopause, unfortunately, has no respect for the corporate calendar.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/welcome-to-september</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9ffb7fb82076cb2d2dee79</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_46cb35882cb54245b1183215674ecbc7~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Authenticity Trap]]></title><description><![CDATA[Across Canada, the Caribbean and continental Africa, similar patterns repeat wherever Black women move through majority-white or majority-male institutions. Strong entry-level representation, a "leaky pipeline" at every promotion gate and disproportionate attrition once bias, tokenism or restructuring hits. Diaspora leaders often carry an added layer, navigating authenticity expectations shaped by multiple cultural contexts ]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/the-authenticity-trap</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a90006c8bec28748d3b9186</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:08:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_ff24dddf8d4143dfadac30ff02d7f144~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Generational Wealth]]></title><description><![CDATA[Generational wealth is not simply a financial transaction. It is a leadership transition. A family can inherit property without understanding leverage, inherit a company without understanding customers, inherit investments without understanding markets and inherit substantial cash without understanding the discipline required to preserve capital. When financial assets travel faster than financial capability, one generation's sacrifice can very quickly become another generation's spending money.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/generational-wealth</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9540812dd9f1aed9c5f8b6</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_1c5b4314832645bea5776f6580315e5b~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Are You Still Waiting for the Promotion]]></title><description><![CDATA[Career advice becomes considerably more complicated when race, gender, class, migration history and cultural expectations enter the workplace. Advice about making your boss look good can sound politically astute until a high-performing employee becomes permanently associated with supporting somebody else's success rather than being recognised for creating her own. 



Being told to wait until you are ready appears reasonable until readiness and confidence are assessed differently depending upon ]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/why-are-you-still-waiting-for-the-promotion</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9834bd473d9678fee0b340</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_9086373ce21a4eb3b22f19d65c659181~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ Expensive Clutter ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Your Calendar Tells Us How You Spend Your Time. Your Mental Clutter Tells Us What Is Spending You.



There comes a point in a Black woman's life at the top of her field when the problem is no longer having too much to do. It is having too much still unresolved in her mind.

The decision she has postponed. The contract that needs a second look. The difficult conversation she keeps rehearsing instead of having. The family responsibility everyone assumes she will handle. ]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/expensive-clutter</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a8ac9008eed5abe8162acc8</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:00:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_8b0d61d8c70f4b109332514e239e3887~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Say It or Prove It]]></title><description><![CDATA[Purpose Has Not Disappeared, It Has Become Personal

Purpose-first branding begins with a deceptively simple idea. Establish why an organisation exists before deciding how it should position, communicate and sell. Done well, this gives the brand a clear centre of gravity. It helps leaders make more consistent decisions, gives employees a stronger sense of direction and makes it easier for customers to understand what the organisation stands for beyond the products or services it provides.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/say-it-or-prove-it</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a8c943516311e23431b47d1</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2026 22:29:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/11062b_09bb6172e51a4ea1ac8b4dfd974df610~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Exercise After Menopause]]></title><description><![CDATA[Midlife can bring a particularly frustrating contradiction. You may be exercising regularly, trying to eat well and doing more than you did five years ago, yet recovery feels slower, sleep is less predictable, body composition is changing and the routine that once energised you can sometimes leave you depleted. ]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/exercise-after-menopause</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a956e70738fc05073c592ce</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 20 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_dd67b3df5f844c0aa35b7bcd47ad5304~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Time-Restricted Eating In Menopause]]></title><description><![CDATA[New Science, Ancient Wisdom… or Are We Asking The Wrong Question?

When science gives an old behaviour a new name, who gets recognised as the expert?

Time-Restricted Eating (TRE) is becoming one of the more interesting conversations in midlife health. In simple terms, TRE is a way of eating where you only consume food within a set number of hours each day. For example, eating all your meals between 10am and 6pm and then having nothing but water or non-caloric drinks outside that window.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/time-restricted-eating-in-menopause</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a8732e5566689c28ad6d3f1</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/11062b_2eb8e58b34ff4e4991cdd699d77b6b63~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[You’re Still Functioning]]></title><description><![CDATA[There is a particular kind of woman who can be awake at 3am, lead a difficult meeting at 9am and still convince everybody, including herself, that she is functioning perfectly well.

She has spent decades becoming exceptionally good at carrying complexity. Career pressure, family responsibility, financial decisions, caring, deadlines and the invisible work of remembering what everybody else has forgotten have all been absorbed into a life that still appears remarkably well managed.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/you-re-still-functioning</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a7f789562cc0da001dbd669</guid><category><![CDATA[SistaTalk]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 15 Aug 2026 08:00:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_a5184e10df32423f9a8b7f1426eac5bb~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Invisible Work Trap]]></title><description><![CDATA[Deloitte's global research on Gen Z and millennials has found younger professionals place considerable value on learning, mentorship and development, while many believe managers are not providing enough of it. This creates an interesting leadership contradiction. Managers can spend significant amounts of their time solving immediate operational problems while the people beneath them are asking for more coaching, development and opportunities to grow.]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/the-invisible-work-trap</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a96b414e25608e51aae2564</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_8e59ac96c21749d1b49daf14ef04f9c6~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Beyond the Headline]]></title><description><![CDATA[What the Conservative Party's DEI Graphic Teaches Us About Leadership, Evidence and Public Trust

Every experienced board director understands that numbers rarely speak for themselves. A figure presented in isolation can appear definitive, objective and beyond dispute, yet the meaning of any statistic depends entirely on the context in which it is presented. Before approving an investment of £631 million, a board would not begin by debating whether the amount sounded reasonable. ]]></description><link>https://www.nbwn.net/post/beyond-the-headline</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a711a3674653e170f8c658f</guid><category><![CDATA[NBWN]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 09:05:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a2ae28_988419b1514e404593904f0fa65b600a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sonia Brown MBE</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>