Whether You Were
In That Room โOr Wished You Were.
This page was created for every woman who was invited into this space โ those who gathered with us at the waterfront, and those who couldn't be there in body but were there in spirit. The work belongs to all of you.
Whether you sat in that penthouse overlooking the water, or you received this link because someone thought of you when they were there โ you are part of this. The gathering was never just about who could make it into the room. It was about who this work is for. And it is for you.
What happened on International Women's Day was not an accident. The women who gathered were called together because their presence, their wisdom, and their lived truth are part of something larger than any one of us. We poured libation. We breathed together. We named names. We watched the ancestors speak.
The pages below are your next steps โ whether you were there in person or are entering the circle now. Ways to listen, to protect the archive, to carry the work into your world. The door is open. Come in.
This gathering would not have existed without the hands and hearts of Jules, Chenire, Mike Jon, Krista, Brian, and Imara โ whose labor, care, and commitment to this work made every detail of that evening possible. Thank you.
Return to Presence
with Dr. Shawna
Black women have always known how to transform what's in front of them โ even when no one was watching, even when it wasn't called leadership. Return to Presence draws on nearly 100 years of Black women's oral histories to explore what their wisdom can teach us about leading without losing ourselves. Each episode offers mental health tools grounded in cultural wisdom, spiritual practices backed by research, and embodied healing strategies. Hosted by Dr. Shawna Murray-Browne, LCSW-C โ integrative psychotherapist, executive advisor, cultural historian, and womanist scholar.
Subscribe and leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts.
โ Follow the ShowFollow on Spotify and share with your community.
โ Watch + SubscribeWatch full video episodes and subscribe to the channel.
โYour review is an act of protection. Every 5-star review on Apple Podcasts helps Return to Presence reach more Black women leaders who need it โ women who couldn't be in that room but need what was said there. Listen first. Then let your review speak from that place.
Not sure where to begin? Let where you are right now lead you in.
Carry the Work
Into Your World
Ambassadors are the women who understand that this podcast travels the way all important things travel โ through trust, through relationship, through the living rooms and sanctuaries of people who already know and love each other. Whether you were in that room or are just now finding it, this invitation is for you.
You are not promoting a podcast. You are protecting a record. You are expanding a village. You are making sure that the women in your circle โ who are carrying exactly the weight we named โ find their way to a space that was made for them.
Our History.
Your History.
Preserved Forever.
The oral history archive at the heart of Return to Presence exists to do what institutions have too often failed to do โ to gather, protect, and make permanent the wisdom, lived experience, and leadership of Black women across generations. Not stories told about us. Stories told by us, in our own voices, on our own terms.
This is not documentation. This is preservation. This is the work of making sure that what we know โ what our elders knew, what our grandmothers carried in their bodies โ is not lost when they leave this earth.
The archive will include oral history interviews, contextual documentation, and preservation structures designed to protect this body of knowledge even as the landscape around us shifts. Every name submitted, every voice recorded, every introduction made โ it all becomes part of a record that will outlast all of us.
If you were in that room, you already wrote a name on a card. Now make it permanent. If you are joining us now โ your nomination matters just as much. The archive grows through your networks.
Do You Have a
Door to Open?
If you sit near funding, institutional reach, or organizational infrastructure โ foundations, universities, nonprofits, media, corporate partners โ Return to Presence is seeking sponsors and partners ready to stand behind this work. Your introduction could change what this archive becomes and how far it reaches.
Send us an email at
Presence Practice
Journals
A daily practice in your hands. The Presence Practice Journal is a companion for the return โ grounded in liberatory healing wisdom, designed to weave reflection, intention, and embodied action into your everyday life. Whether you were in that room or are just beginning, this journal meets you where you are. This is not a planner. It is a return.
Shop Journals at Kindred Wellness โCadence & Communion
If what you felt โ in that room or through this page โ is calling you further into sustained community, into your own healing, into leadership that does not cost you your life, these are the containers Dr. Shawna has built for exactly that work.
The Liberatory Leadership Incubator for Women Ready to Lead Without Losing Themselves
Cadence accepts women on a rolling basis โ you do not need to wait for a new cohort. When you are ready, there is a place for you. This is an 8-month container to heal your nervous system, reclaim your identity, and embody leadership rooted in ancestral wisdom rather than survival mode.
- 8 months of live Womanist Wisdom Sessions with a circle of women who understand the weight you carry
- 12 months access to the Return to Presence Healing Studio โ on-demand meditations, Qigong, African dance
- The Undoing Work curriculum: modules on burnout, masking, authentic presence, and liberatory leadership
- Laser executive coaching and collaborative huddle sessions
- Digital Return to Presence Workbook and guest speakers embodying liberatory leadership
A Nature Retreat on Liberatory Leadership & Embodiment at River Mountain โ on land once traveled by freedom seekers along the Underground Railroad
This retreat was nearly sold out before the Gathering. With only two spots remaining, this is a direct and urgent invitation. If Communion is calling you, the time to act is now.
- Black Heritage Hike and oral history listening session on sacred land
- Daily Qigong, African dance, lineage healing, and ancestral reflection
- Fireside storytelling, hammock time, and 150 acres of mountain nature
- All meals, nourishing snacks, and daily happy hour included
- Modern pod-style glamping with linens, hot springs soaking tub, and nightly bonfire
- Hosted by Dr. Shawna Murray-Browne and movement artist Mya Dixon Ajanku
Return to Presence
is not a podcast.
It is a movement.
You were invited into this space โ in that penthouse or through this page โ because your presence matters to this work. Every review left, every name nominated, every watch party hosted, every door opened โ it is all the archive. It is all the return.
Join Our Free Trial
Get started today before this once in a lifetime opportunity expires.