Discover how authentic leadership drives real results. Learn three transformative shifts that help high-achieving women lead with presence, boundaries, and embodied authority—without burning out.
Influential Woman · Coaching Consultancy
Jande Freeman-Brewer
Founder, Life Coach, Author, Keynote Speaker, Empower U Coach & Consultancy, LLC
Newport News, VA
14Years experience
1Article published
Her Story
About Jande
Jande Freeman-Brewer, a coaching consultant specializing in business and life coaching, is dedicated to empowering women, children, and teenagers. Her expertise is rooted in her extensive education background.
From a young age, Jande has been passionate about assisting individuals in expressing themselves, finding solutions, and cultivating a sense of safety and support. She underscores the significance of a robust support network and draws inspiration from her family, including her parents, Edith and Melvin, and grandmother, Rebecca, who exemplified generosity and community involvement. Jande offers valuable guidance to aspiring women in the coaching field, encouraging them to cultivate self-belief, discover their unique voices, initiate projects without the need for ideal circumstances, seek mentorship when necessary, and extend self-compassion. She emphasizes that their personal experiences can serve as a beacon of inspiration for others.
Jande FreemanBrewer operates a coaching consultancy focused on business consulting and life coaching. Her work centers on empowering women, children, and teens, informed by her education background. From childhood, she has been drawn to helping people express themselves, find solutions, and feel safe and supported. She emphasizes the importance of a support system and draws inspiration from her family, including her parents Edith and Melvin and grandmother Rebecca, who modeled giving back and community support.
Jande advises aspiring women in the field to believe in themselves, find their voice, start their projects without waiting for perfect conditions, seek mentors when needed, and give themselves grace, noting that their stories can serve as a lighthouse for others.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jande
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I’ll definitely tell them to take action. We often delay taking action, waiting for the perfect moment or circumstances. As women, we tend to prioritize our responsibilities and put ourselves on the back burner due to our multifaceted roles.
Embrace your inner strength and find your voice. If you want to write a book, don’t hesitate to start it. Begin with it, and you’ll naturally flow as time progresses. Seek a mentor if necessary. Trust in yourself and be patient with yourself. Your story and voice have the power to inspire and uplift others. You could be that guiding light for a sister in need.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Jande
The Permission Slip You’ve Been Waiting For
From Permission to Power: Three Shifts That Transform How Women Lead
As the founder of Empower U Coach & Consultancy, LLC, I work with women leaders who are not lacking confidence—they are lacking permission. And I learned this lesson in my own life first.
Achievement without alignment is just expensive burnout. I was doing everything right and feeling everything wrong. That disconnect is what pushed me to build Empower U—not just as a business, but as a permission slip for women who were tired of performing leadership instead of living it.
Here's what I've learned after coaching hundreds of women through that shift: Authentic leadership is not soft. It's strategic.
For too long, we were told that leadership had to look like command-and-control to be respected. That empathy was a liability. That vulnerability would be used against us. So we built armor.
But the data and the women I work with tell a different story. Teams don't leave jobs; they leave environments where they don't feel seen, safe, and stretched. And retention, innovation, and revenue all rise when leaders lead from wholeness, not just hustle.
This is not about being nicer. It's about being more effective.
If you are that woman who knows you are meant for more influence, here are the three shifts I teach inside my practice that change everything:
From Perfection to Presence
Perfection says, "I have to get this exactly right before I speak."
Presence says, "My perspective has value right now, as it is."
One of my clients, a senior director in healthcare, came to me because she was being passed over for executive conversations. On paper, she was the most qualified. In the room, she was invisible. We discovered she was spending 80% of her energy trying to craft the perfect sentence and only 20% on connection.
We flipped it. Her new practice: Before any high-stakes meeting, she asks herself, "What is the one truth this room needs to hear from me today?" Not 10 points. One truth. She started speaking earlier, shorter, and with more conviction. Within 90 days, she was leading the strategic initiative she had been waiting to be invited to.
Your presence is more powerful than your perfection.
From Protector to Empowered Boundary Setter
Many of the women I coach are natural protectors. We protect the team, the client, the family, the culture. We absorb. We overfunction.
But unspoken boundaries become resentment. And resentment is a terrible leadership strategy.
A boundary is not a wall to keep people out. It's a clear line that lets people know how to work well with you.
I teach the Empower U Boundary Script:
"I want to do excellent work here. To do that, I need [clear need]. What I can offer is [clear solution]."
For example: "I want to support this deadline. To do that, I need the final data by 3 p.m. today. What I can offer is a full review first thing tomorrow morning."
No apology. No overexplaining. Just clarity. Clarity is kind. And clarity is what high-performing teams crave.
From Performance to Embodied Authority
Performance asks, "How do they want me to show up?"
Embodied authority asks, "How do I want to show up and still honor my values?"
This is the core of executive presence. It's not about the blazer or the deeper voice. It's about alignment between what you say, what you value, and how you behave when no one is clapping for you.
Try my nightly Energy Audit—it takes 3 minutes:
- What gave me energy today?
- What drained me?
- What is one adjustment I will make tomorrow to honor what I learned?
Leadership is not a performance review. It's a daily practice of coming back to yourself.
To the woman reading this who is waiting for someone to notice, promote, or finally give you the title to make you feel legitimate—this is your permission slip.
You don't need more credentials to be credible. You need more courage to be consistent.
Your voice is not too much. Your story is not irrelevant. Your leadership—the empathetic, intuitive, resilient, no-nonsense, deeply human way you lead—is not the exception. It is the future.
Influential women don't wait to be chosen. They choose themselves, and then they build the door for others to walk through.
That is what we do at Empower U. We don't just empower you to lead. We empower you to lead as you.
Your Next Step
This week, choose one room where you have been playing small. Use one of these shifts. Speak your one truth. Set one clear boundary. Do your 3-minute audit.
You don't need to overhaul your entire leadership identity. You just need to give yourself permission to start.
Because the world isn't waiting for a more perfect version of you. It's waiting for the real one.
Author Bio for Submission:
Empower U Coach & Consultancy, LLC is a leadership and empowerment coaching firm dedicated to helping high-achieving women move from burnout and self-doubt to embodied confidence, clear boundaries, and authentic executive presence. Founded by Jande' Freeman-Brewer, Empower U provides coaching, workshops, and consultancy for women ready to lead without abandoning themselves.
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