The Run The World Summit, hosted by the Women In Power Collective from June 19–22, delivered an unforgettable weekend of unity, sisterhood, and connection. Both women and men from around the globe gathered in New York City to share inspiration, build dreams, network, practice wellness—and MadameNoire was there front and center to capture it all.
Before the summit kicked off, Women In Power Collective founder and wellness visionary Kadeisha Placide hosted a private mixer held on the Lower East Side on Friday with tasty bites and cocktails made courtesy of Lobos 1701 Tequila. While chatting with MadameNoire’s Managing Editor Danica Daniel during an insightful panel, Placide said she hoped the weekend would bring restoration, opportunity, and community for all attending.
“I want everyone to leave more fulfilled than they came in and also leave with amazing connections,” she told the audience. “The one thing about the Run The World events is that we have great connections that come out of it. You literally leave with a Rolodex of new people, new partnerships, and new collaborations. It’s a great place to grow personally, but also professionally.”
The Power Of Alignment
On Saturday, attendees gathered at A Safe Space Studio in Brooklyn, a wellness center with stunning views of the Bay Ridge Channel, for a day dedicated to fitness and connection at the summit’s “Power of Alignment” event. The day kicked off with an energizing workout led by Monice Small, a Rockaway Beach-based Pilates and strength coach. Her dynamic session challenged participants’ cores, balance, and strength, setting an invigorating tone for the exciting activations to follow.
Following the workout, guests explored a curated marketplace featuring a variety of Black-owned businesses, offering everything from wellness and skincare products to delicious food and household essentials.
One standout was Gldnhaus, a faith-based luxury candle brand with a heartfelt mission to uplift and empower women through purpose and spirituality. Founded by mother-daughter duo Alanna and Lesleigh, Gldnhaus was born from a shared dream to infuse faith, luxury, and community into every candle they create. Hand-poured with 100% coco-soy wax, each candle offers more than just fragrance; it delivers an experience rooted in intention, inspiration, and empowerment, as each candle comes with a personalized intention card that can be used to write down words of affirmation or personal goals.
“For us, it really shows up as ministry in the marketplace,” Lesleigh told MadameNoire. “You’re not always going to be able to minister to folks in church. Not everyone’s always going to come there, but there are places and spaces just like this, where you can give people a message of hope, just a message to understand that there’s all different ways that they can build their prayer life, build their faith life– and it doesn’t have to always be the way that people think it looks.”
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For Lesleigh and her daughter, the Run The World Summit provides an opportunity to build community and a platform to showcase their amazing products.
“We really love having these opportunities to get in touch and one-on-one with people. It’s the best kind of product research that you can ever have, to really see people’s immediate reaction to how the candles are making them feel,” Lesleigh shared.
The Formal Summit
Community and purpose were at the heart of “The Formal Summit” on Sunday as women and men from all industries gathered at Brooklyn’s Tillary Hotel for soul-nourishing and enlightening fireside chats centered on purpose, personal and professional success, mental health, and emotional wellness.
Pilot, marketing strategist, and founder of AI to the World, Tanyka Renee, delivered a powerful message about the importance of staying aligned with your God-given purpose, even when it challenges the expectations of those closest to you. Reflecting on her upbringing in a Jamaican household, Renee shared how her family envisioned a traditional path of stability: securing a good job and climbing the corporate ladder. But for years, those well-meaning expectations held her back from fully embracing her true calling.
“I realized a lot of my choices in the past were out of fear or because I was seeking validation, but once I got rid of that and was doing things for joy, and I became closer to God, everything just flowed,” the beautiful entrepreneur shared during the “Passion Into Purpose” panel led by our incredible managing editor Danica Daniel on Sunday. “I was doing things that weren’t aligned with me.”
Content creator Jessica N. Oduro added that staying aligned with your purpose often means turning down opportunities that conflict with your morals and values. She recently faced that exact challenge when offered a huge opportunity to work with Target, a brand she had dreamed of working with for years. However, following the company’s controversial decision to roll back its DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and the resulting public backlash, Oduro made the difficult choice to walk away.
She said prioritizing her community and core values meant more than any brand deal.
“I feel like sometimes it’s not worth it even with a price tag. If you’re disobedient, you’re going to feel it,” Oduro shared.
Navigating the difficult decisions that come with pursuing your purpose can take a toll on your mental health, not just for women, but for men as well. This year’s summit, which welcomed male attendees, featured a strong presence of men making strides in their respective industries. During Sunday’s “Wellness & Winning As Men” panel, speakers like Dr. Brandon Frame of The Black Man Can and Nas Nworu of Positive Vibes Only Global (PVO Global) opened up about the often-overlooked mental health challenges that can accompany success.
Dr. Frame, who leads The Black Man Can—a platform dedicated to empowering Black men and boys—spoke candidly about his own struggles. He shared that in his mid-20s, as he transitioned from “surviving to thriving,” his mental health suffered. Growing up economically disadvantaged, he was conditioned to focus solely on getting by. So when he finally landed a stable job and could support himself financially, it came with an unexpected emotional burden, what he described as “survivor’s remorse.”
“You’re trying to navigate survivors’ remorse. You’re trying to navigate being the one who made it from your community,” he said.
With help from therapy and years of healing, Dr. Frame finally learned how to embrace his success.
Similarly, Nworu, who runs PVO Global, a socially conscious event series centered on mental health awareness, shared that he was hit with a wave of depression and imposter syndrome after he was accepted into NYU’s esteemed occupational therapy program. Being the only Black student in a 70-person cohort, Nworu said he felt out of place and as if he didn’t belong.
“I felt like an imposter and I did not know what to do. I felt a wave of depression because I was constantly successful, the person that you could come to. Now, I had to turn into the person that has to go to someone,” Nworu told the audience at the Run The World Summit.
Therapy helped the young entrepreneur gain perspective, and after seeking help himself, he made it a mission to support others facing similar mental health struggles. Through his platform, PVO, he creates spaces where people can enjoy fun, uplifting events—like concerts, brunches, and pool parties—all centered around wellness and mental health advocacy.
There is always a way to build community, and when you do, your tribe will come, a sentiment expressed by Allie Joy Tsahey, founder of Baddies in Tech, a professional development community for women of color in tech.
During the “Purpose Project: Relationships Into Platforms” panel, the Ghanaian entrepreneur shared how her search for sisterhood and community in the tech industry led to something far bigger than she ever anticipated. Feeling isolated in a male-dominated space, Tsahey took initiative one day posting a selfie on Instagram with the hashtag #BaddiesInTech. Within days, women of color across the tech world began sharing their own stories and photos under the same hashtag, sparking a movement she hadn’t planned but deeply resonated with.
At the time, Tsahey wasn’t fully aware of the systemic barriers keeping women of color out of tech, or keeping them from finding each other. Mashable noted that while women earn just 19% of computer science bachelor’s degrees, only about 3% go to Black women. Even more stark—Black women hold just 2% of tech roles overall. Tsahey is on a mission to change this.
Since its launch, Baddies in Tech has grown into a powerful community that supports women of color in breaking into—and thriving in—the tech industry. The platform offers resources for career advancement, networking, and mentorship, all rooted in equity and representation. Their upcoming event, BaddieCon, will take place this August and focus on career growth, leadership development, and creating meaningful industry connections.
Tsahey shared that Baddies In Tech has made the industry more “accessible, even for the women who never thought they could see themselves in this space.”
This year’s Run The World Summit was amazing! We can’t wait to see what next year’s event has in store.
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