Her Story
About Latisha
Latisha Burkes' leadership story began long before she held an executive title. Raised by a strong French-Portuguese single mother raising biracial twins in a military family, she learned early how to navigate different cultures, expectations, and environments while remaining grounded in who she was. Watching her mother balance responsibility, sacrifice, strength, and perseverance shaped Latisha’s understanding of what it means to lead with courage and determination.
As both a military daughter and military spouse, Latisha repeatedly adapted to change, rebuilt community, and learned how to establish trust in unfamiliar places. Surviving cancer in her early twenties further shaped her resilience and strengthened her commitment to live and lead with intention.
While living in Japan, Latisha owned and operated a licensed childcare business serving military families. She later spent nearly 18 years advancing through leadership roles at GNC before continuing her career in high-volume, multi-unit operations. Her professional journey has taken her from commission-based sales and business ownership to store, district, territory, regional, and large-scale multi-unit leadership. Across that journey, she has led portfolios of up to 28 locations, teams of hundreds of employees, and multimillion-dollar businesses.
Each chapter strengthened her understanding of what makes an organization successful: capable leaders, clear expectations, disciplined execution, meaningful accountability, strong customer relationships, and a culture where people understand how their work contributes to the larger goal.
Much of Latisha’s career developed in male-dominated environments where women were underrepresented and women of color were rarely present in positions of influence. She learned that being invited into the room and being fully seen, heard, and valued once inside it are not always the same thing.
Rather than allowing those experiences to make her smaller, Latisha learned to arrive prepared, speak with clarity, and allow her knowledge, integrity, and results to make her presence undeniable. She believes women should never have to choose between being confident and compassionate, ambitious and authentic, or strong and self-aware.
Her leadership philosophy is simple: people are not merely part of the process—people are the process.
Her approach to leadership combines trust, curiosity, empathy, and accountability. She believes sustainable performance begins when people feel respected, understand what success looks like, and know how their decisions affect the customer, the team, and the business.
Data can show a leader where to look, but curiosity and listening help explain why something is happening. Latisha strives to be direct without demeaning, supportive without lowering standards, and curious before reaching conclusions. For her, accountability is not punishment. It is clarity, consistency, and the belief that people are capable of more.
Latisha also believes confidence and emotional intelligence must work together. Confidence helps a leader enter the room without shrinking. Emotional intelligence helps her understand the room without allowing its reactions to redefine her. Experience has taught her that some moments require a direct conversation, while others require the wisdom to recognize that not every reaction deserves a response. As Latisha often says, not every eye roll deserves a meeting.
Today, Latisha is passionate about mentoring women and emerging leaders, especially those who do not yet see themselves represented in the rooms they hope to enter. She encourages women to interrupt the “thought traps” that cause them to question their worth, anticipate rejection, or disqualify themselves before anyone else has the opportunity to see what they can do.
She describes a thought trap as the story the mind begins writing before reality has had an opportunity to speak. Her message is not to ignore legitimate obstacles or bias, but to separate what is actually happening from what fear is predicting—and then focus on the next action within your control.
Her advice is grounded in her own journey: believe in your potential before you can fully see it. Invest in learning, seek mentors who will challenge and encourage you, and remember that confidence does not always come before action. Often, confidence grows because you chose to act while still uncertain.
Do not compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. Every successful leader once wondered whether she was capable. The difference is that she chose to take the next step anyway.
If you have a passion for serving people, developing others, and making a meaningful difference...
Do not let fear write your story. Let courage take the pen. Your future team may be waiting for the leader only you can become.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Latisha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute much of my success to the guidance, example, and love of incredible women throughout my life.
My mother, Brenda Taylor, taught me resilience, strength, and determination. My grandmother, who recently passed, taught me to stand up for what I believe in, remain strong through life’s challenges, and keep smiling because life is simply too short not to find moments of joy.
My peer, Lisa Alire has been a consistent source of support and encouragement. Former leaders Jennifer Haffenden-Muñoz, Carrie Teeter and Brenda Hlavac showed me that it is possible to succeed, rise into executive leadership, and remain grounded in who you are.
And then there is my daughter, Adreanna, who inspires me every day. She reminds me why the work of creating opportunity for women matters so deeply to me. I want her to enter whatever boardroom, profession, or path she chooses knowing she belongs there. More importantly, I want her to find a community of remarkable women ready to mentor, challenge, encourage, and support her—not only her mother standing beside her.
Through these women, I learned that strength does not have one personality. Women can be firm and kind, strong and compassionate, courageous and direct. We can communicate clearly, bring humor and humanity into the workplace, hold people accountable, and still ensure they feel respected and valued.
I also attribute my success to remaining teachable, having the courage to take action, and committing myself to lifelong growth, service, and personal development. I have been blessed to know many remarkable women—far more than I could name here—who have influenced me in meaningful ways. You know who you are.
Influence can take many forms, but what often stays with people longest is how you made them feel: seen, respected, capable, and worthy of the opportunity in front of them.
My success was shaped by the women who made a way for me, and my purpose is strengthened by the women I hope to make a way for next.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve received is that not every challenge requires overthinking. Be yourself, stay teachable, and focus on what you can control. You do not need to know everything to be an effective leader, but you must be willing to listen, ask thoughtful questions, learn from your mistakes, and keep growing.
I have also learned that feedback is information—not a verdict on your worth. You can refine your delivery without shrinking your voice, and you can adjust your approach without changing who you are.
Let your preparation, consistency, and results speak for you—and remember, not every eye roll deserves a meeting.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Do not compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. Every successful leader once questioned whether she was capable, qualified, or ready. The difference is that she took the next step anyway.
Stay authentic, remain curious, and invest in continuous learning. Seek mentors who will challenge you, encourage you, and tell you the truth. Focus on earning trust and respect rather than chasing popularity and remember that confidence does not arrive before action—it grows each time you speak up, accept a challenge, and follow through.
You may enter rooms where few people look like you or share your experiences. Do not mistake being underrepresented for being unqualified. Come prepared, know the value you bring, and never shrink to make others more comfortable.
Read the room, but do not let it rewrite you.
Most importantly, let courage—not fear—write your story. Your future team may be waiting for the leader only you can become.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Multi-unit leadership is becoming increasingly complex. Leaders are expected to deliver strong business results while navigating rapid change, evolving customer expectations, workforce pressures, competing priorities, and the need to develop capable leaders at every level.
The opportunity is to build organizations where operational discipline and humanity are not treated as competing priorities. Businesses need leaders who understand the numbers, but who are also willing to listen, remain curious, develop people, and create cultures of ownership and accountability.
One of the defining challenges throughout my own career has been leading in environments where I was frequently one of the few women—and sometimes the only woman of color—at the table. Those experiences taught me that authentic leadership requires courage, not conformity.
Women are often encouraged to earn their place quietly, question their instincts, or reduce their presence to make others more comfortable. I believe the opportunity before us is to change that.
We need more women to recognize that their impact is not determined by a title, the size of their platform, or how many people applaud them. Impact is created when we use our voices, share what we have learned, advocate for others, and help another woman recognize what is possible for her.
The goal is not simply to place more women in the room. It is to ensure they know they belong there, understand that their perspectives have value, and recognize that they do not have to become someone else to lead effectively.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Everything I do comes back to a few core values: trust, respect, accountability, compassion, courage, growth, and belonging.
I believe people perform at their best when they feel respected and trusted, but they also need clear expectations, honest communication, and meaningful accountability.
Data helps me understand what is happening in a business, but people help me understand why. That is why I lead through both operational discipline and genuine human connection.
My goal has never been simply to improve a metric. It is to leave people more confident, more capable, and believing more deeply in themselves than when we first met.
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