190: Speaking Truth to Power and the Importance of Language with Karla Manning, PhD [Use Your Voice Series]

Have you had an experience that made it so you couldn’t *not* speak up and use your voice?

It could have been something that happened directly to you or it could have been something you witnessed or learned about.

My guest is Dr. Karla Manning, who had such an experience when she taught in South Africa, which she calls a transformative experience that led her to be more vocal about injustice and disparities, particularly in education.

Karla is the founder of The Equitable Leadership Group, LLC, a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultancy focused on K-12 schools. Karla received her PhD in Curriculum & Instruction and Multicultural Teacher Education.

• How she sees what she does as a spiritual pursuit
• Using love to overpower fear
• Speaking truth to power
• Where Karla got her courage froKarla and I have a deep conversation in this episode about:
  • The experience in South Africa that inspired her to speak out
  m
• The importance of language and using certain words
• The impact of silence

This episode is part of our podcast series called Use Your Voice.

About My Guest: The Equitable Leadership Group, LLC is a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultancy based in Brooklyn, NYC. The Equity Leadership Group was founded by Dr. Karla Manning, who serves as the CEO and lead trainer for the company. Previously, she was a high school English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools System (2007-2011) and received her PhD in Curriculum & Instruction and Multicultural Teacher Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017. Bringing her 13+ plus years of teaching experience to ELG, she has developed systems and strategies designed for educational equity and excellence in K-12 classrooms and schools.

Dr. Manning has delivered trainings and speaking engagements at the American Educational Research Association, National Association of Multicultural Education, Wisconsin Council for Teachers of English and is a member of The National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa. She also teaches pre-service educators in culturally responsive teaching at the CUNY University system in New York City.

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/190

Karla’s website: https://equityleadershipgroup.com/

Karla’s podcast “The Equity Experience”: https://equityleadershipgroup.com/the-equity-experience/

Register for our one-of-a-kind live virtual summit on October 15: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/summit/

Schedule a consult call to talk about creating your signature talk and thought leadership platform: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/contact.

Connect on LinkedIn:

• Carol Cox = https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox
• Karla Manning (guest) = https://www.linkedin.com/in/karla-manning-phd-a22773163/

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 171: 5 Types of Webinars You Can Do to Build Your Business and Visibility with Carol Cox and Diane Diaz
• Episode 175: The Work of Anti-Racism as White Women with Carol Cox and Diane Diaz
• Episode 180: You Say You Want to be a Thought Leader: What That Really Means & How to Find Your Voice with Carol Cox and Diane Diaz [Finding Your Voice Series]

Become Bookable Live Online Workshop - April 15, 2026
If you want to speak more but you’re not sure where to start or your efforts haven’t produced the results you want, I’m hosting a live online workshop called “Become Bookable: How to Get Speaking Invitations” on Wednesday, April 15th.

A lot of brilliant women assume they just need to pitch themselves more. But the real reason speakers get invited isn’t because they pitch harder — it’s because they’re positioned as bookable.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop live on Zoom, I’ll show you how speakers actually get invited — and help you clarify the positioning that makes event organizers say yes.

As a podcast listener, use the coupon code “Podcast100” to save $100 on your registration.

Learn more and register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/bookable