Meet Dr. Claire J. Green-Forde, the Founder and CEO of Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC, a consultancy dedicated to dismantling systemic inequities in healthcare and education.
Driven by her personal experiences, Dr. Claire hopes to empower change agents and transform healthcare. Through Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC, she equips organizations and institutions with tools to infuse health equity, justice, and wellness into their practices and policies. By rejecting unrealistic expectations and cultivating authenticity, she embraces her identity as a humanist, mental health practitioner, and advocate. Her journey is a welcome reminder that true leadership means recognizing our strengths, seeking support, and evolving for the collective good. Through this visionary approach, Dr. Claire is paving the way for a more equitable and empathetic future.
We asked Dr. Claire about the story behind her company’s founding, the achievements she’s most proud of so far, and what’s next for her and Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC.
Q: Tell us the story behind your company’s founding. How and why did you start working on Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC?
A: As a trained healthcare professional and academic, woman, immigrant, and person of the global majority, I have experienced and witnessed pervasive inequity and harm in healthcare organizations, institutions of higher learning, governmental/social policies, and society at large. Growing up in a culture and world that told me to be quiet, ignore the injustices I experienced, and appease others if I wanted to avoid the many harmful stereotypes automatically thrown upon me as an immigrant Black woman never felt honoring to my soul or humanity.
I have always had a sense of “this isn't fair.” As I grew and discovered my purpose, that sentiment grew louder until it became, ”this is unjust” and “I must do something about it!” I became a social worker to make a positive difference in the lives of others and the world. I created Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC because, through my pain and journey toward empowerment, I embraced that I am a humanist, advocate, and leader at my core, and therefore wanted to help empower others.
Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC is an evolving act of radical love to myself and to the many people who face injustices, are intentionally silenced, and those who are often marginalized and oppressed. Dr. Claire SPEAKS! is an outpouring of my desire to serve and lead in health care through centering empathy, health equity, knowledge, authenticity, cultural humility, and justice.
Q: What problem does Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC solve?
A: Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC helps corporate and nonprofit social and healthcare service organizations, healthcare educational institutions, and government entities embed health equity, racial and social justice, and wellness into their practices, policies, service delivery, and education. We provide clients with expert guidance, policy development strategies, and experiential training designed to enhance skill and knowledge development, support provider wellness, improve client outcomes, and mitigate risks that impact organizational brand and legacy.
Q: What makes Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC different from other similar companies in the industry?
A: Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC is the only consultancy that provides science-backed, human-centered, culturally-humble, actionable strategic support, training, and thought leadership to help equip and empower change-agents within systems of care. We collaboratively develop and implement practices that foster more equitable, healing, and inclusive environments while driving holistic and meaningful changes in communities and organizations.
Q: What’s the biggest misconception that others have around entrepreneurship?
A: That it is easy; that you instantly make money if you have the skills and knowledge; that people will be willing to pay you for your decades of experience; and that biases/prejudices don’t influence the contracts and opportunities opened to you.
Q: We dare you to brag: What achievements are you most proud of?
A: Starting my company even though I was and am still terrified, and continue questioning whether it will be worth it. I’m proud that I continue to build Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC to be an authentic brand educating about the intersection of wellness, policy, and racial and social injustice, with a focus on health equity. Many people have told me that while they agree with and understand the importance of addressing health equity and the ways in which policy, healthcare systems, and educational institutions foster harm, taking a position to truly speak about injustice in these systems will anger the powers that be and I may not get contracts or opportunities. While I certainly appreciate guidance from others, I am most proud about continuing to be authentic to myself, the communities I’m working to empower, and no longer silencing my voice despite the real fears of challenging the status quo.
Q: How do you celebrate successes along the way?
A: I pray and I dance. I celebrate in ways that honor me, my culture, and who I am. I identify as Christian, and my spirituality and connection to God is very important to me. My celebrations always include acknowledgment of God first. I am from Barbados and my country has a lot of lively, colorful, and music-centered celebrations. Carnival is in my blood and so, any small, medium, or big win is reason enough for me to throw on music and dance!
Q: How have you grown as a leader since starting Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC? What experiences have contributed to this growth?
A: I’ve grown as my view of leadership continues to change. I continue the journey of discovering myself, how to position myself, my company, and my brand in a way that is always authentic to me and honoring to others. Often, the message we are told about how to be a leader is that to be effective/successful, we must be everything, do everything, and know everything. As a humanist, trained mental health practitioner, and advocate, the fact is, the message we’ve been sold is an impossible task for any individual human being. It’s true that we can grow, learn, and develop skills. It’s also true that there are some skills that we have no interest in developing or learning. It’s okay to focus on your giftings and get support from others who are gifted in the areas that you aren’t. Trying to live up to unrealistic expectations and do all, be all, and know all not only takes us away from strengthening the talents and the interests that we do have, but it's also detrimental to our mental, emotional, physical, and social well-being.
Q: What would you tell your younger self if you were to start your entrepreneurial journey all over again?
A: I would tell myself that I am more than enough, that I am more than capable, and that all I have is all I need. I would lovingly tell myself that there are many things I will discover about myself and about others on this journey; they are neither bad nor good. They are lessons. On this journey, there will be areas of growth, celebration, pain, frustration, confusion, and uncertainty. There will also be lessons and areas of limits, triumphs, pushing past obstacles, and I have a choice in what I accept or reject. The idea of “being yourself” is an evolving journey. When people say “be yourself,” an acknowledgment that doing so requires an intimate knowledge of who we are at a specific time is absent. However, who we are, and hope to become, is in direct response to our experiences. It’s okay to be unsure—the only constant in life is change. Embrace it even though it scares you!
Q: What’s next for you and Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC?
A: Continuing my purpose-given journey to uplift and empower others, building and forming partnerships to expand my reach and do the work that I am called to do, and serving and leading with empathy and authenticity. My vision is that in service to humanity, Dr. Claire SPEAKS! LLC is a highly sought after advisory and thought leadership consultancy leading health equity at the intersection of mental health, racial and social justice, and advocacy.
Dr. Claire is a member of Dreamers & Doers, an award-winning community that amplifies extraordinary women entrepreneurs and leaders by securing PR opportunities, forging authentic connections, and curating high-impact resources. Learn more about Dreamers & Doers and get involved here.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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Gesche Haas
Gesche Haas is the Founder/CEO of Dreamers & Doers, a private collective that amplifies the entrepreneurial pursuits of extraordinary women through visibility opportunities, resource exchange, and collective support.
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