Lissa Appiah

Certified Career Transition & Job Promotion Coach | Career & Leadership Development Workshop Facilitator | Speaker & Trainer | Canada's Top 100 Black Women to Watch of 2022

Are you an introverted leader or founder who is delivering results yet still not getting the recognition, opportunities, or visibility you deserve? You are not alone.

Research shows introverts with a bachelor’s degree earn $290K less over their careers than extroverted peers, and $760K less with advanced degrees. Workplaces often reward visibility over quiet impact.

It is no surprise that 65% of senior executives view introversion as a barrier to leadership, and only 6% believe introverts have the people skills to lead teams. Without an intentional personal brand, introverted leaders and founders are often overlooked.

I know this struggle firsthand. As an introvert, I once believed I had to act extroverted to succeed. Everything changed when I built a personal brand rooted in my strengths. I earned five promotions in under eight years, and later, as a founder, went from avoiding visibility to becoming a LinkedIn Top Voice with a profitable personal brand.

Now, I help introverted leaders and founders do the same through The Introvert Leadership Method and The Brand Visibility Accelerator. These proven systems help you be seen, attract opportunities, and earn more without acting out of character.

💡 With these systems, you will learn how to:
✔ Position your résumé, LinkedIn, and personal brand so your value is clear and compelling
✔ Build influence and visibility without draining your energy
✔ Communicate your strengths in interviews, negotiations, client conversations, and stakeholder meetings
✔ Attract opportunities and step into roles or business growth where your quiet expertise is recognized and rewarded

📈 Client Results:

“Shortly after working with Lissa, I received a job offer exactly aligned with the role I was seeking.” — Anna Savelyeva, Director of Programs

“Lissa’s program gave me the tools to land new roles, negotiate better salaries, and not sell myself short.” — Linda Adwoa Aidoo, Certified Finance Professional

“Her coaching gave me clarity, confidence, and opened doors to new opportunities I never thought possible.” — Grace Udodong, Founder, Oasis Youth Care

🏆 Featured in: The Globe and Mail • Fortune Magazine • LinkedIn News • CTV News

👉🏽 Ready to turn introversion into your advantage and claim the opportunities you deserve, in your career or your business?
📩 Message me here on LinkedIn or book a discovery call at weapply.ca

Founder, Career & Leadership Development Workshop Facilitator

We help organizations develop and retain talent through career and leadership development workshops or programs. As a Workshop Facilitator & Keynote Speaker, my signature presentations are: 

"Building with LinkedIn: Mastering LinkedIn for Career Success"
"Brand You: Unlocking the Power of Personal Branding to Stand Out in Your Career"

All our workshops and coaching programs are customized based on your organizational needs.

Too often, loud gets mistaken for leadership.
But real leadership isn’t about making the most noise.

Some of the most impactful leaders lead quietly.
They lead with calm, clarity, and presence.

They don’t dominate conversations.
They guide them.

They don’t seek the spotlight.
They create space for others to shine.

Leadership isn’t about being the loudest.
Leaders create space, guide conversations, and move with purpose.

And when quiet leaders rise, everyone around them does too.

Your quiet strength is a career asset.
Find out how to use it. Take the Introvert at Work Quiz >>> https://lnkd.in/e8TsqSz5

I help introverted leaders land $150K+ roles & founders attract their 1st client on LinkedIn | Bilingual (EN/FR) Executive Coach & Personal Branding Consultant | Top 20 Career Coach & Top 20 LinkedIn Top Voice in Canada

Years from now, people won’t remember your title.
They’ll remember how you led them.
  
I've coached with 400+ professionals across 15 industries.
The leaders people talk about years later? They all do these 7 things:
 
What Makes You Forgettable:
❌ Leading with your title
❌ Talking about how busy you are
❌ Focusing on tasks over people
❌ Making everything about deadlines
❌ Taking credit for team wins
  
What Makes You Unforgettable:
✔️ Listen more than you speak → People feel heard
✔️ Remember personal details → Shows you care beyond work
✔️ Give credit publicly → Builds loyalty and trust
✔️ Support during tough times → Creates lasting bonds
✔️ Keep your promises → Builds unshakeable credibility
✔️ Stay calm under pressure → Becomes your leadership signature
✔️ Make time for 1-on-1s → Shows people they matter
  
Your projects will end.
Your title will change.
But how you made people feel becomes part of their story.

The leaders I remember most weren’t the loudest or busiest.
They made people feel seen.

Which one of these are you already doing well?
 
🔁 Repost to help a leader in your network

I help introverted leaders land $150K+ roles and elevate their personal brand without endless networking | Certified Executive Coach | Top 20 Career Coach & Top 20 LinkedIn Top Voice in Canada | 400+ client wins

“I’m stuck.”
She told me she couldn’t imagine spending the next chapter of her career counting down to retirement in a Director role that no longer inspired her.
 
She was once passionate about her work.  
Now, she felt like she was just going through the motions.
 
Deep down, she knew she still had more to give.  
She just didn’t know how or if it was “too late” to pivot.
 
That’s where we started.
 
➡️ We assessed her strengths, accomplishments, and leadership style.  
➡️ Completed an energy audit to identify roles and environments that energized her. 
➡️ Repositioned her resume and LinkedIn to clearly communicate her value.
 
She stopped seeing herself as someone winding down.  
And started showing up as the leader she always was.
 
Within weeks, she was interviewing for roles she once thought were out of reach.
Last month, she landed a new role as an Executive Director at a non-profit organization. 
 
If you’re:  
➡️ Worried your experience isn’t relevant anymore. 
➡️ Unsure how to position yourself in a new field. 
➡️ Not hearing back from the roles you really want.

Join me January 7 at 7pm ET for a live webinar where I’ll show managers and directors how to tell their career story, improve their interview skills and land $150K+ offers.
 
👉🏽 Save your seat: https://lnkd.in/gCmMSxJ2

You think you're staying in your role because it's “stable.”
 
But really?
 
 You’re staying because of:
 ▪️ invisible loyalty
 ▪️ fear of stepping out there
 ▪️ not knowing your true value
 
This is the trap so many managers and directors fall into:
 
 ✔️ You feel guilty leaving a team that depends on you
 ✔️ You tell yourself it’s too late to pivot
 ✔️ You question whether you’re even qualified for something better
 
 I stayed in the same field for 14 years before I made my move.
 And here’s what I learned on the other side:
 
 ▪️ Loyalty shouldn’t cost you your growth
 ▪️ Time invested doesn’t mean time wasted
 ▪️ Being capable doesn’t mean being seen or valued
 
For a long time, I told myself I was already stretched.
That there was no room for change.

But the longer I waited, the heavier it felt.
Eventually, change stopped being optional and became necessary.

Coaching didn’t add more to my plate.
It created clarity, gave me time, energy, and direction.

Coaching isn’t about doing more.
It’s about doing the right things to build a career that actually fits.
 
I’ve lived this transition and helped 400+ professionals do the same.
On average, they gain $36K in salary and step into roles that finally reflect their value.
 
If your goal is to land your next $150K+ role by Spring 2026, now is the time to start.
Book a discovery call and let’s map out a promotion or transition strategy that works for you.
 >>> https://lnkd.in/gyGrMWVg

Kindness at work isn’t soft.
It’s one of the most effective leadership strategies there is.

The moments people remember at work aren’t the big presentations or polished speeches.

They’re the quiet moments most leaders overlook.

▪️Being asked how they’re really doing.
▪️Thanked when no one was watching.
▪️Supported without having to ask.
▪️Having your time and boundaries respected.

These small actions build trust.
And trust is what drives engagement, loyalty, and performance.

What makes quiet leadership powerful is this:
None of these require authority, charisma, or being the loudest voice in the room.
They’re available to anyone willing to lead with intention.
And over time, they compound.

Quiet leadership isn’t about doing more.
It’s doing the small things consistently and letting trust do the rest.

Career Coach | I Help Women of Color Thrive in Fulfilling Jobs and Get the Pay They Deserve in Supportive Workspaces | DM me for a FREE consultation to learn more about working together

I didn’t spend decades repeating unhealthy patterns because I was broken.I was carrying what I watched, inherited, and learned to survive.Like many women of color, I grew up observing strength that looked like silence, self-sacrifice, over-functioning, and emotional endurance. Love was something you earned. Safety came from being useful. Rest felt unsafe. Asking for help felt like failure.So I became hyper-independent.In my relationships.In my work.In my identity.And no amount of success, achievement, or “doing the work” actually changed those patterns — until I understood where they came from.I’m a Spiritual Neuroscientist and Generational Healing Expert. My work sits at the intersection of neuroscience, epigenetics, ancestral wisdom, and lived experience.I help women of color understand how inherited survival patterns live in the nervous system and quietly shape:• who they love• how they relate• how much they give• how safe they feel choosing themselvesThis work isn’t about fixing you. It’s about helping you see clearly — so you can stop reenacting what was never meant to be yours to carry.Healing, to me, means breaking cycles with compassion, not shame.It means honoring the women who came before you without continuing their suffering. It means choosing yourself — not as rebellion, but as repair.If this resonates, message me to learn more about my work.What I Do:🎥YouTube Channel – On my YouTube channel, I explore generational healing, relationship patterns, and identity through storytelling, science, and real conversations about what it actually takes to break cycles.Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@drjasmineescalera🧬 Relationship Pattern Quiz - Take the quiz to identify the unconscious relationship pattern you’re repeating — and the generational survival strategy beneath it.Link: https://linktr.ee/jasmineescaleracoaching📚 Coming Soon: “The Courage to Reinvent” – My debut book blending science, soul, and stories to guide women home to themselves.📍Based in Miami | Coaching Locally &amp; Globally

Jasmine Escalera, Ph.D

I’m 43, single, and childless.
And I’m just now starting to understand why no relationship has ever worked for me.

Look, I’ve done the work.
Therapy. Journaling. Inner child healing.
Y'all...I can spot a red flag from space.

But I was still attracting the same kind of relationships.
Ones where I gave too much.
Lost myself.
Felt unseen.

And I couldn’t figure out why.
Until I realized this: Most healing work helps you recognize the pattern.
But it doesn’t help you break it.

Because the love I kept calling in wasn’t what I wanted...it was what I’d learned to feel safe in.

And what I learned came from what I saw.
What was modeled.
What got passed down.
Generation after generation.

It wasn’t until I uncovered the actual relationship pattern I was stuck in, and the generational wound underneath it, that things started to shift.

That’s why I created this quiz.
To help other women see their pattern clearly, trace it back to the wound, and start the process of choosing something new.
 
Something safe.
Something HEALED.
The Relationship Pattern Quiz is live. And it will help you go from unhealthy to thriving relationships in every area of your life. 

Take the 3 minute quiz now: https://lnkd.in/eeg5_CNT

And let me know your results in the comments below 👇🏾

Dr. Jasmine Escalera

Career Expert @BOLD | Generational Healing Expert | Spiritual Neuroscientist helping women of color break inherited patterns in love, life, and self-worth

Ten years ago, my life looked successful. But behind the scenes, it was quietly falling apart.

I was fresh out of a divorce.
Convinced I had failed at the very things I was told would make me happy.

I had given the marriage everything I had.
And it still wasn’t enough.
At the same time, I was stuck in a toxic workplace.
Disconnected from my own life. Numbing the pain however I could.
Drinking more than I should. Partying more than I wanted.

It felt like the promise had been a lie.
The marriage.
The job.
The money.
None of it delivered the fulfillment I was told to chase.

That’s when something shifted.
I stopped asking, “What’s wrong with me?”
And started seeing the patterns.

Overgiving.
Self-sacrifice.
Self-abandonment.
Hustling myself straight into burnout.

I wasn’t broken.
I was repeating what I had been taught.
And that’s when I made a decision.
Everything I watched the women before me endure...the silence, the suffering, the constant giving...I would no longer normalize.

The cycles would end with me.

The next ten years weren’t easy. They were filled with falling down and getting back up. With grief, anger, healing, and long stretches of uncertainty.

It wasn’t polished. But it was honest.

And now...here I am. At peace. I didn’t just rebuild my life. I changed its direction.

And likely you have too. Just by deciding that the unhealthy cycles end with you. So if you are a cycle breaker then I want to hear from you. What cycles have you broken? Drop them in the comments below 👇🏾

The most powerful moment in my life came when I finally said:
 F*** it. I don’t have to justify my life to anyone.

Not my healing.
Not my boundaries.
Not the time I needed alone to cultivate peace.

I stopped trying to make my choices make sense to everyone else.
I stopped defending why I needed space.
I stopped trying to get people on board with my healing.
And I started focusing fully on ME.

What I wanted.
What success actually looked like for me.
The life I wanted to live.
The cycles I was ready to break.

Here’s what I learned along the way: Not everyone will understand the life you’re building when you stop living for their approval.
Not everyone will be comfortable when you set boundaries and actually hold them.
Not everyone will get your healing.

And that’s okay.
They’re not supposed to.
Healing isn’t about convincing people.
Breaking cycles isn’t about consensus.
It’s about making choices for yourself and loving yourself through the discomfort those choices create.

It’s trusting (deep in your bones) that the people meant to walk this path with you will stay.
And having the courage to release the ones who require justification.

Some paths aren’t meant to be explained.
They’re meant to be lived.

✨ Let’s normalize choosing ourselves without apology, without justification, and without permission.

👇🏾
If this hit something in you, drop a “hell yeah” in the comments.

It's vulnerability time! Here are some of the toxic generational cycles I’ve broken in my life👇🏾

• Overgiving until exhaustion
• Believing love had to be earned
• Staying longer than I should have out of loyalty
• Confusing chaos with connection
• Being the “strong one” while quietly abandoning myself
• Tying my worth to performance and productivity
• Hustling for approval instead of choosing peace
• Normalizing emotional unavailability
• Silencing my needs to keep the peace
• Carrying what was never meant to be mine
• Living a life that looked good on paper but felt empty inside
• Explaining myself to people committed to misunderstanding me

✨ I want to celebrate you.
Drop one pattern you’ve broken (or are actively breaking) in the comments below.
Let’s end this Friday honoring the work we don’t talk about enough.



PS...The most important cycles I’ve broken are the ones that changed how I relate in love, with my family, and within my community.
Dropping Monday: The Relationship Pattern Quiz.
It helps you identify:
• the cycles keeping you stuck in unhealthy relationship dynamics
• the deeper generational wound beneath them
• and what real disruption (not just insight) actually looks like
Be on the lookout 👀

The things we see become the way we live.

I didn’t understand how true that was until I stepped back and really looked at my own relationship history.

After multiple failed relationships…including a divorce…I’ve spent five years single by choice. Not because I was giving up on love, but because I needed to heal.

And in that space, something became painfully clear.

In every relationship, I was repeating what I had seen growing up.

Codependence.
Overgiving.
Changing myself to be loved.
Seeking attention and affection by becoming whoever I thought I needed to be.

It wasn’t random.
It was familiar.

What I saw modeled in my parents’ relationship—and in so many relationships in my family—quietly became the blueprint for how I loved.

Now, as I step back into dating, what I’m looking for has completely changed.

I’m no longer drawn to intensity or drama.
I’m searching for peace.
For calm.
For a relationship between two healing individuals who want to support each other’s growth…not recreate old wounds.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

While what we see often becomes how we live, we always have a choice.

For me, that choice meant deciding the cycle stops here.
Choosing healing over familiarity.
Choosing to do it differently—even when doing it differently felt uncomfortable.

To be a cycle breaker is to recognize that the time is now.
To create a new legacy for those who come after you.
And to bring peace to those who came before you…many of whom never had the privilege to live another way.


👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
✨ Coming next week: The Relationship Pattern Quiz
This quiz helps you identify the unconscious relationship pattern you learned, the generational wound beneath it, and why certain dynamics keep repeating—even after you’ve done the work.

Because clarity is what makes real change possible.

If this resonates, stay tuned.

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Most women aren’t stuck because they lack clarity.
They’re stuck because they’re carrying patterns that didn’t start with them.

I’ve seen this show up in careers, relationships, and the way we define success...especially for women who’ve done “everything right” and still feel misaligned.

This video is about what happens when you stop living the life you inherited
 and start choosing the one that’s actually yours.

🎥 I go deeper in my latest YouTube video: "Reinvention Was Made for Women Like Us (And Your Ancestors Know It)"
Watch now: https://lnkd.in/ezSSEMtV

And don't forget to subscribe to the channel for weekly drops on breaking patterns, understanding generational wounds, and reinventing your life.

I was never broken.
I was just stuck in some wild AF patterns that kept me from having the life and love I truly wanted.

I grew up watching the women in my family:
– Overgive to be loved
– Stay silent and sweep things under the rug
– Earn love by doing the most
– Handle every single thing on their own

So when it came to any kind of relationship, I acted out what I saw.
I played out the same survival scripts I was raised on.
That’s what a generational wound is.
It’s witnessing the people before you live based on fear, scarcity, and survival…
and then repeating those same dynamics in your own life.

But if you want a different outcome then you have to break the wound.

Here are 4 of the most common ones:
Self-Abandonment – You learned to disappear to stay safe
Worth-Proving – You learned love had to be earned
Silence for Safety – You learned to stay quiet to avoid conflict
Hyper-Independence – You learned to do it all yourself to avoid disappointment

Want to learn more???👇🏾
I created the Relationship Pattern Quiz to help you:
→ Identify your pattern
→ Name the wound underneath it
→ And start breaking the cycle for good

It takes 3 minutes. But it might just shift how you see everything.
Take the quiz now: https://lnkd.in/eeg5_CNT

Then drop in the comments: What pattern do you think you’ve been living in?
Or share what the quiz reveals.

Let’s support each other in breaking the cycle for real.

When I began my healing journey, I could feel it almost immediately.
That what I was working through was deeper than what I could recall, name, or trace back to a single experience in my own life.

It felt like I wasn’t just healing what I went through...but I was working through deep patterns I inherited. 

And here's the real talk...Science now shows we don’t only inherit beliefs or behaviors...we inherit patterns of survival.
Stress responses and even ways of relating.

They are all shaped by environments our ancestors had to survive and are passed down to us. 

That’s why many high-functioning, self-aware women say:
“I’ve done the work… so why does this still feel hard?”

It doesn’t mean the work didn’t work.
It means there’s more happening beneath the surface.
That’s what generational pattern breaking actually looks like.


👇🏾
I’m Dr. Jasmine Escalera — a spiritual neuroscientist and cycle breaker.
I support women in disrupting generational patterns that keep them stuck in unhealthy relationships, so they can create the life, love, and community they’re truly seeking.

If this resonates with you then I want to know...

7 Generations Post

You became the success story. But it was never your dream.
This is a hard truth I wish someone had named for me sooner.

When you grow up in survival, instability, or scarcity, you’re often taught one thing:
Be the one who makes it.

So you do.
You follow the rules.
You hit the milestones.
You build a life that looks impressive on paper.
And everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

But somewhere along the way, you stop asking yourself a dangerous question:
Is this actually what I want?

Because when you’re the proof that it “worked,” questioning the formula can feel like betrayal.

What if changing your mind feels like undoing the legacy?
What if choosing yourself feels like disappointing everyone else?
This is the quiet tension so many high-achieving women carry...especially women of color who became the “success story” for their families.

I unpack this fully in my latest YouTube video:
"You Became the Success Story — But It Was Never Your Dream"

It’s a conversation about:
• inherited definitions of success
• the cost of being “the one who made it”
• and how reinvention actually begins...not by burning everything down, but by telling yourself the truth

🎥 Watch the full video here: https://lnkd.in/eWkJDycs

And I’m curious— Have you ever realized you were living a life that made everyone else feel safe…but left you feeling empty?
What are you redefining right now? Let me know in the comments below.

Have you ever felt lonely…even while surrounded by people?
Have you ever done “the work,” built community, shown up, stayed visible...
and still felt a quiet sense of isolation?

For so many of us, the loneliness isn’t about a lack of people.
It’s about a lack of depth.

We crave real connection—in love, in friendship, in community—
yet so often we’re still performing, holding it together, or protecting ourselves instead of being fully seen.

This LinkedIn Live is a raw, honest, fireside-style conversation about what it actually takes to create the connections we long for.

Hosted by yours truly, neuroscientist and relationship pattern expert, with special guest Marjory Brifil, clinician and people development strategist, this conversation will explore:
✅ Why loneliness can persist even when you’re “successful” or surrounded by others
✅ The difference between being connected and feeling held
✅ How hyper-independence, over-functioning, and self-protection block intimacy
✅ What we’re often too afraid to admit about our desire for closeness, support, and belonging
✅ The inner work required to move from surface-level relationships to meaningful connection

Both myself and Marjory will share our own personal stories of healing, moments of self-protection, and what we had to unlearn in order to create deeper, more honest relationships...with others and with ourselves. 

This is not about fixing yourself.
This is a conversation for anyone who has ever thought: “Why does it feel so hard to find the deep connections I crave?”

Come as you are.
No performing. No pretending.
Just truth, reflection, and the possibility of deeper connection.

📅 Tuesday, February 10
 🕖 7:00 PM ET
 📍 Live on LinkedIn


👇🏾
PS - Comment below if you'll be attending and any questions you would love for us to answer in the conversation. 

PPS - Share with your community. I am certain someone in your LinkedIn network will benefit from this convo.

Sheila Mayoral, Wintly Masemola and 10 other attendees

Why Connection Feels So Hard (And What Actually Helps)

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