One inquiry. Different forms.

My research, books, essays, and conversations explore a common question:

What does our definition of strength ask us to carry?

The work moves between leadership, identity, family, resilience, culture, and human connection—but the inquiry remains the same.

Permission to Break: A Memoir of Strength, Silence, and Softness by Rashida Saunders.nders.
What We Owe Our Sons: Parenting, Protection, and the Price of Survival by Rashida Saunders.

Permission to Break

A Memoir of Strength, Silence, and Softness

What happens when being the strong one becomes both an identity and a burden?

Permission to Break explores survival, vulnerability, healing, and the realization that softness is not the opposite of strength.

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What We Owe Our Sons

Parenting, Protection, and the Price of Survival

What are we teaching boys about what strength is supposed to look like?

An exploration of what we model, protect, and pass forward—and what boys need from us if we want them to become healthy men.

COMING APRIL 2027

ESSAYS

Strength, Systems & Self

Writing at the intersection of leadership, identity, resilience, culture, and the systems that shape us.

READ THE LATEST →

RESEARCH

Scholarship examining human-centered leadership, trust, psychological safety, employee voice, accountability, and organizational culture.

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CONVERSATIONS

Compassion Over Silence™

Leadership. Humanity. Honest Conversations.

A podcast exploring leadership and the human experiences underneath it.

LISTEN →

Close-up of a smiling woman with dark hair styled in braids, wearing a pink top and black jacket against a purple background. The text reads: 'Compassion Over Silence' and 'Rashida Saunders'.