La’Kita Williams is the founder and principal strategist of CoCreate Work, a workplace culture consultancy guiding businesses to systems-level changes that result in measurable successes and true inclusivity. As a certified professional coach with a Masters in Social Work and 20+ years of experience, La’Kita is passionate about helping leaders perform the deep work of personal transformation, which is a critical element for organizational transformation. She firmly believes culture is not separate from strategy — it IS strategy. She has done culture-building work with organizations from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. La’Kita has been quoted in several national outlets including The New York Times and written for Harvard Business Review. While I love and admire everything La’Kita is doing professionally, I really wanted to talk to her on a more personal level for this conversation. I’m grateful she was willing to dive in and go deep with this conversation! Listen to hear La’Kita share: How a health crisis in the middle of the pandemic upended her life and resulted in her diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis How her diagnosis impacted her 4 children who were ages 10-20 years old at the time of her diagnosis The changes she had to make with her relationship with ambition as a result of her diagnosis How she uses Spoon Theory to manage her energy daily Her advice to other leaders or folks who are managing chronic illnesses, including what pieces and resources to get in place to protect yourself at work What needs to happen systemically to provide protection for people with chronic illnesses so that disclosing chronic illness isn’t putting someone at risk of losing their job  The critical importance of flexible schedules and WFH flexibility across all organizations and industries who claim to be creating accessible, inclusive workplaces and communities What her company, Co-Create, does to create a great culture in the organizations they partner with   Her vision of the future of leadership Links mentioned: Connect with La’Kita and her work: cocreatework.com La'Kita's Instagram La'Kita's LinkedIn CoCreate Work Instagram CoCreate Work LinkedIn We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsor Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices