Happy New Year! In this episode we’re joined by Angelique Power, President & CEO @ The Skillman Foundation for a conversation about seeding change and embracing the power of people.Power for a conversation about seeding change and embracing the power of people.
Angelique reflects on her Chicago roots, ancestry, and the importance of owning what makes you unique—learning to hold being both apart and a part as a source of strength and grounding for leadership.
We talk about her place in a lineage of leadership at the Skillman Foundation, where she is the third Black woman, in succession, to lead the organization—following Carol Goss and Tonya Allen. Angelique speaks candidly about what becomes possible when women of color lead, and how she carries forward the impact, vision, and inspiration of those who came before her.
We explore how Skillman stands on vision and with visionaries. Angelique shares a pragmatic look at the foundation’s People Powered Education initiative, underscoring that social change requires both grassroots and grasstops strategies.
She speaks about partnering with Detroiters—who deeply own the identity of their city—in shaping education policy rooted in lived experience.
We also talk about Detroit youth: their desires for change, their hope for the future, and their insistence on building new systems rather than waiting on old ones to deliver.
Angelique describes her role in this moment as creating the conditions for authorship, agency, and lasting change to take root in Detroit.
