Embolden
Your JOY

Becoming Naheed

Hi, I’m Nancy, but my given name is Naheed. Growing up in North America meant assimilating to modern Western culture, and leaving Naheed behind in my birth country of Bangladesh. As an adult, I’ve reclaimed the name and come to embrace Naheed as a way of honoring that little girl, my heritage, and the woman I’ve become.

My life journey, like most people’s, hasn’t been a straight line. I’ve struggled through cultural integration, difficult relationships, a career path I never planned, a painful divorce, single parenting, five major surgeries and a later-in-life ADHD diagnosis.

Life was like this: High expectations, focused on straight A’s, maintaining the Bengali culture and as the eldest child, becoming the default second parent to my siblings. Driven by western ‘rugged individualism’ and South Asian cultural expectations, I pursued the definition of success given to me, but felt unseen, unheard, and misunderstood by both sides. 

Inside the home, I was Bengali; outside, I was American. I was always wearing a mask to fit in, and the longer I wore them, the more frustration, hurt, confusion and anger built up within me. Strangely enough, over time, this maelstrom of emotions created feelings of disconnection and emptiness.

For a vessel to be empty, by definition, means it can be filled. My inner emptiness led me to ask: What could fill my longing for authenticity, inner peace and joy? Turns out, that would only come from learning to gracefully inhabit all of who I am. 

The masks I wore helped me feel safe, but dropping them made me feel whole.

Life threw everything it could at me, but I never let it define me. Instead, I kept redefining success and redesigning my life until it led to an extraordinary family, a supportive husband, and a career that took me all the way to the C-suite.

Background & Accolades of an

Impact-Obsessed, People-Powered Change Agent

Decades of experience in being a change agent in the corporate and non-profit sectors turned me into an expert in building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, revenue growth, culture-building, social impact and philanthropy. My superpower is in building mutually beneficial partnerships and finding solutions where only obstacles appear to exist. I have a reputation as a unicorn in creating sustainable revenue strategies for mission-driven organizations.

From serving as a guinea pig in the newspaper industry when hired by the Los Angeles Times, to executive director for a youth-based literacy program for children in government-subsidized housing in Chicago, to helping start-up organizations build their brands, to forging strategic partnerships between not-for-profits and Fortune 500 companies, change and impact have always driven my work in health equity, youth education and women’s rights.

As a C-level executive and startup founder, I spearheaded innovative fundraising strategies, solutions-based strategic planning, effective board management, and compelling communications resulting in outstanding resource development, team building, and organizational transformation. By championing teams, my initiatives have collectively raised hundreds of millions for organizations like Planned Parenthood, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Alzheimer’s Association and the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund. 

My strategies always hinge on the same principle: an unwavering belief in human potential. 

Life’s second act has enabled me to shift my focus from organizations to individuals and launch my transformative leadership coaching practice. When I’m not in joyful service in this work, you’ll find me gallivanting through diverse communities across the globe with my adventure partner Colbert, spending time with my daughters and grandkids, or exploring the vibrant arts and culture scene of Chicago.