Dr. Chaneé Danielle Hawkins Ash is an educator, researcher, executive coach, and entrepreneur dedicated to helping individuals and organizations identify and leverage their unique gifts to drive purposeful transformation.
Dr. Hawkins Ash's career has traversed diverse paths that may seem unrelated at first glance — from community organizer to educator to executive coach. However, look closer and you'll see an underlying thread that ties it all together: empowering individuals to thrive amidst challenging circumstances.
Seeds of Dual Transformation
Dr. Hawkins Ash was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where she witnessed the stark realities of how one's zip code can dictate life outcomes. She credits her supportive family and educators for instilling in her a belief that she could achieve her goals despite systemic barriers. This motivated her to help create better conditions for others facing inequities.
Her career began in community and labor organizing, supporting workers seeking improved wages and workplace policies. In this role, Dr. Hawkins Ash observed adults disempowered by the very systems meant to serve them. She reflected on the children in those communities dealing with similar challenges, thinking, "If adults needed support and advocacy to get their basic needs met, surely children did too."
This prompted Dr. Hawkins Ash to pivot and pursue advanced degrees focused on education policy, leadership, and sociology. As a university instructor, she helped equip future teachers to understand the education system through historical and social frameworks. Her research centered on enhancing equity in education and society.
In working to improve unjust systems, Dr. Hawkins Ash witnessed the deep personal transformations occurring within the individuals with whom she collaborated. She realized that while fighting to change social structures was crucial, empowering people to harness their intrinsic value was equally important.
This led Dr. Hawkins Ash to expand her focus from systemic change to helping individuals unlock their potential within imperfect systems. Her diverse experiences fused together in her current work as an executive coach and consultant.
Promoting Life Balance and Purpose
Dr. Hawkins Ash founded The Cornerstone Concept ® to guide people in identifying their life purpose using mindfulness, somatics, and strategic planning. She helps clients tune into physical, mental, and emotional priorities essential for self-awareness, self-efficacy and strategic decision-making.
Individuals can then set goals aligned with well-being, values, and passions, creating balanced, purpose-driven lives. "When a person feels empowered to make decisions that prioritize their well-being, it boosts their confidence, resilience, and ability to achieve meaningful results," says Dr. Hawkins Ash.
Her signature coaching framework has clients define a cornerstone to guide their lives. This expands beyond career to their mind, body, and soul care, and how they show up in the world. The process allows tapping into inner wisdom to embrace passions and create a life nurturing various facets of identity.
"While I assist professionals in discovering their purpose, I often find they limit their understanding to their careers; however, our purpose is so much broader," explains Dr. Hawkins Ash. "Living a purposeful life requires understanding and tending to ourselves holistically across all facets of life." This empowers strategic decisions aligning aspirations, well-being, and heart's desires for holistic fulfillment.
Inclusive Organizational Change
Dr. Hawkins Ash also co-founded Foresight Strategy Solutions with her husband, Dr. Carey Hawkins Ash, J.D, Ph.D. Their organizational effectiveness consultancy, committed to DEI turns clients' visions into concrete results. The Cornerstone Concept addresses individual purpose, while Foresight Strategy Solutions helps organizations operate more purposefully.
Foresight provides organizations with technical expertise as they reinvent their operating frameworks to better serve their communities. They offer consulting, executive coaching, and professional learning services to create supportive and inclusive environments. Their leadership development leverages community research to help move organizations beyond theory to concrete measurable results. They carefully facilitate meetings, workshops, and engagement processes leading to empowered, culturally responsive learning and work. Both companies confront limiting beliefs, promote growth mindsets, and help individuals and organizations overcome challenges hindering impact.
Walking the Walk on Work-Life Balance
Despite wearing multiple professional hats, Dr. Hawkins Ash maintains a work-life balance rooted in purpose and values. "I've appointed myself as my 'Most Valuable Client,' recognizing if I don't live by my values, I'm not in harmony with them professionally," she explains. "I firmly believe successfully balancing a career and fulfilling life requires understanding that our purpose extends beyond work."
Dr. Hawkins Ash lives out her own life cornerstone by caring for her well-being, prioritizing family, and maintaining faith. This grounds her in her purpose and allows her to powerfully lead others to do the same. After years of working to change unjust systems, she now focuses on changing mindsets and lives from the inside out.
Leave a comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
