After more than 30 years in education and civic leadership, the founder of New Elevation Consulting has created a 30-day guided journal for women who want to lead with greater presence, clarity, and confidence.
Key Takeaways
- Dr. Tunjarnika L. Coleman is the founder of New Elevation Consulting and the creator of the Elevate™ Series.
- The first release in the series, Elevate: The Executive Presence Journal, is a 30-day guided journal for women in leadership.
- The journal is built around Coleman’s three-part framework: Reflect. Realign. Lead.™
- Her career spans more than 30 years, from a Broward County middle school classroom to vice president of academic affairs.
- Coleman plans future Elevate releases for men and other executives.
Dr. Tunjarnika L. Coleman has held leadership roles for more than three decades, from a middle school classroom in Broward County to the senior ranks of academic administration. Her newest project is built on a much smaller scale. It is a guided journal, meant to be worked through one day at a time over 30 days.
Coleman is the founder of New Elevation Consulting, which provides executive coaching, leadership development, strategic planning, and organizational transformation for executives, boards, and organizations in education, healthcare, nonprofit, and corporate settings. With Elevate: The Executive Presence Journal, the first release in her Elevate™ Series, she has taken the questions she works through with executives and put them in a format that any woman can use, including women who have never had access to an executive coach.
Why Coleman Created a Journal Instead of Another Program
Coleman’s reasoning begins with a pattern she saw again and again. Women would leave a leadership program energized, then return to work and slip back into old habits. A conference or a weekend workshop can supply motivation, but motivation rarely holds up once the usual pressures of the job return.
A journal asks for something different. It requires a small amount of attention every day, and it places the reflection in the reader’s own hands rather than a facilitator’s. Over 30 days, the repetition is the point.
“Women carry so much,” Coleman says. “I hope this journal gives you a quiet moment to pause, reflect, hear your own voice, and discover parts of yourself you never knew were there, so you can begin creating what comes next.”
In Coleman’s view, presence is not something a leader receives along with a promotion. It is built gradually, in difficult moments and in daily decisions that most colleagues never see.
The journal guides readers through the areas Coleman considers central to that work: developing presence and mindset, finding and using her voice, handling hard conversations, leading as herself, and building a legacy that outlasts any one job.
A Three-Part Framework Behind the Daily Pages
Each section of the journal draws on the framework Coleman uses with her executive clients, and with herself: Reflect. Realign. Lead.™
Reflection comes first. In her approach, effective leadership starts with an honest look at what a leader thinks, what she values, and what drives her.
Realignment follows, because that awareness only matters once it shows up in a leader’s decisions and behavior.
The final step, leading, is about moving forward with intention rather than reacting quickly or performing a title. For Coleman, it also means creating the conditions for others to rise alongside the leader.
Three Decades of Leadership Behind the Prompts
The journal’s prompts grew out of a long career in education and public life. After starting as a middle school teacher in Broward County, Coleman went on to serve as a professor, department chair, dean, provost, and vice president of academic affairs.
She is a former president of the Association of Florida Colleges, which represents 28 institutions, a member of the Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship, and a member of Leadership Florida’s Cornerstone Class 41. She has served on the boards of chambers of commerce and municipal organizations, and she was named Woman of the Year by one of the largest chambers of commerce in Florida.
Those titles, she found, did not fully prepare her for the daily realities of leadership. She could manage people and deliver results. Commanding a room, delivering hard truths with both courage and grace, and holding on to her integrity under pressure were skills she had to learn through experience. Many of the journal’s prompts come from those lessons.
Known to many as “Dr. Nika,” Coleman has spent much of her career amplifying voices that go unheard and opening doors for others.
“Leadership is ultimately about serving others,” Coleman says. “It is about creating opportunities for women and others to lead boldly, championing those whose potential has yet to be fully recognized, and helping leaders become the very best version of themselves.”
Moving From Operator to Strategist
One transition comes up often in Coleman’s work. She has a name for it, the Executive Shift, and it describes a leader’s move from operator to strategist.
Many women are promoted because they excel at execution. They are the people handed a difficult assignment who deliver it on deadline. That ability earns them a seat at the table, but it does not carry them indefinitely.
An operator focuses on what has to happen today. A strategist considers where the organization is heading, what it will need 18 months from now, and what it should be doing now to prepare.
In Coleman’s experience, the strategic thinking itself is rarely the obstacle. The harder adjustment is personal. Leaders who have been valued for their output throughout their careers have to accept that their value now rests on something else. That something else, their secret sauce, is their ability to translate executive experiences into strategic direction, empower future leaders, and build sustainable success that lasts beyond their tenure.
What Comes Next for the Elevate Series
The first edition of Elevate is written for women in leadership. Coleman plans future releases in the series for men and other executives, each shaped around the specific pressures those readers face at work and at home.
Across the series and her consulting work, her aim stays the same.
“I want my work to leave people, organizations, and communities better than I found them,” Coleman says.
Dr. Tunjarnika L. Coleman is President and CEO of New Elevation Consulting, creator of the Elevate™ Series, and author of Elevate: The Executive Presence Journal: A 30-Day Experience for Women Who Lead. The journal is available on Amazon. Learn more at newelevationconsulting.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.
