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Anita D Russell, MEd

PITTSBURGH’S PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION EXPERT AND EMPOWERMENT ACTIVIST

 

I am the Founder/CEO of The Place to SOAR, a social enterprise dedicated to cultivating change through daily growth, personal transformation, and accountability for the purpose of unveiling human potential. 

 

My voice is unmistakable: strategic, empowering, and unshakably rooted in truth. As a personal transformation expert and empowerment activist I fuse faith, intellect, and firebrand leadership to ignite personal transformation, community engagement, and cooperative economics. I don’t just build rapport and facilitate workshops, I build movements —personal, transformational, organizational, and community focused. Whether it’s life coaching, feminine wisdom, or cooperative economics, I turn  ideas into actionable blueprints wrapped in vibrant design and soul-deep reflection. 

 

My career and life experiences span multiple disciplines, including pharmaceutical R&D, corporate learning and development, leadership development, instructional design, Equity Diversity Inclusion, nonprofit consulting, and cooperative economics.

 

Business Portfolio

• Private Coaching. Growth from within: Recognizing that you have to know yourself from the inside out to achieve daily growth and personal transformation. Together we cultivate change through the 4-step appreciative coaching process: discover, dream, design, and destiny.
• Self-Directed Coaching Lab. The essence of self-directed coaching lies in empowering individuals to be the architects of their own growth and development. By providing professionals with the freedom to choose when and how they learn, this approach fosters a culture of continuous improvement and self-discovery.
• 10-Week Antiracism Incubator. Delivers an experience that (a) prepares participants for critical self-reflection of innermost thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about racism; (b) increases awareness of your words, actions, and behaviors in a racialized society, and (c) provides a personal transformation strategy towards antiracism activation and social change.
• 12-Month Reimagine We Empowerment Lab. Coming in 1Q 2026, this experiential certificate program connects personal empowerment, community engagement, and cooperative economics.

 

Facilitator Porfolio

• Ujamaa Collective (Community Engagement Circle)
• Facilitator, Greenwood Plan Artist Think Tank
• On Call Facilitator, Center for Creative Leadership
• Antiracism Cohort Facilitator, The Forbes Fund

 

Leadership Portfolio

• Member of the Ujamaa Collective, a non-profit organization founded with a social mission to act as a catalyst to advance cultural, artistic and entrepreneurial exchange through cooperative economics.
• Member of OMA Pittsburgh Mind Body Spirit Center, dedicated to holistic education for the well-being of self, family, and community
• VP Media Relations the Dr. Edna B. McKenzie Branch of ASALH (Association for the Study of African American Life and History).
• Creator/Host of InflexionPoint Podcast on The Transformation Network, where personal transformation and accountability impact social change. 

 

Author Portfolio: SOAR Book Boutique

• Voices of the 21st Century International Bestsellers (2023, 2021, 2019)
• Cultivating Change from the Inside Out: The Power of Being Human (2021)
• I Wanna See Laney’s House: A Sibling Story (2019)

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