Meet Dr. Steele

Author & Researcher for the Culture | Brand & Marketing Strategist | Aligning identity, purpose, and practice

I’m a Daughter First

Before the PhD and the Fortune 500 companies, I was a daughter navigating a strained maternal relationship, grieving what could’ve, and should’ve, been between my mother and I. I know what it’s like to carry that kind of pain quietly. To be accomplished and anguished at the same time. To appear to have it all together from the outside while feeling so broken within.


But, I’ve also overcome.

The Road to Steele Compass

For years, I poured myself into brand and marketing strategy work companies including PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, Nestlé, and Hallmark. I learned how to build brands that connected to their audiences, understood how to translate identity into strategy, and helped organizations find their footing in crowded markets. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, I lost mine. I was building someone else’s vision while my own sat quietly on the shelf.

So I walked away. No backup plan. Just faith. My life needed a hard rest, and I couldn’t find my way forward by staying where I was. That quiet sabbatical season changed me. It gave me back to myself. I learned how to be before I tried to do anything else. I found my True North, that place where my identity, my purpose, and the way I live finally line up.

Out of that realignment, Steele Compass was born.

It’s the place where I get to bring every piece of me together: the Black daughter who has overcome her mother wound, the researcher who brings data with cultural depth and biblical integration, and the strategist who knows how to build sustainable brands through authentic connection.

Now, I want to help people and organizations be, by integrating all the unique parts that make them who they are.

A Place to Be, then Become

That line is more than a tagline to me.

It’s the promise I make to every person and every organization that interacts with Steele Compass. You don’t have to have it figured out. You just have to be willing to be honest about where you are, and open to where you’re going.

I’m glad you’re here. Let’s walk toward your True North together.