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Karen Williams
Foreign.
Podcast Announcer
Welcome to the Black Entrepreneur Experience podcast Inside the business buzz and brilliance of Black Entrepreneurs. Here is your host, Dr. Francis Arlene.
Dr. Francis Arlene
Quick note before we get into today's episode. If you're a small home health agency owner, you already know this. Most agencies don't fail because of census. They fail because of continuity and compliance gaps that don't show up until it's too late. I've been working directly with small agencies around continuity, planning, compliance, readiness and operational stability, especially owners who are wearing too many hats and don't have a real plan if key people, systems or processes break. This isn't coaching and it's not a course. It's hands on consulting to help you reduce risk and build something that can actually survive audits, turnover and growth. If that's you and you want to talk, you can find me@drfrancisrichards.com all right, let's get back to the show.
Interviewer
What happens in Vegas goes all over the world on Black Entrepreneur experience, episode number 535. Thank you for joining us as we elevate the Black Entrepreneur experience by interviewing CEOs, thought leaders, innovative thinkers and black entrepreneurs across the globe. I'm your host, Dr. Frances Arlene. Today's guest is a professional certified relationships coach, author, speaker and conference host who's changing the way we think about healthy relationships. She empowers individuals and couples with actionable, strategic and transformative experiences. And she's the author of the newly released book Becoming Her As We Become Us. Get ready for an inspiring and practical conversation. Welcome, Karen Williams.
Karen Williams
Thank you so much for having me. What a pleasure.
Interviewer
I've given our audience such a brief bio. Why don't you fill in the gaps and share with our audience what you'd like to know about you and Karen Williams coaching.
Karen Williams
Oh, wow. Thank you so much. You covered a lot of it, you know. But at the heart of Karen Williams coaching, of course, is to really help couples a healthy relationship that they need in in order to fulfill all the calling that God has on their life. Because I really believe that if your relationship is unhealthy, it becomes a distraction for you and I to really pursue the things that God has called us to. So that's at the heart of what I do. And of course I do that through, as you mentioned, hosting conferences, doing podcasts like this, of course, environments like this. And of course I am also an author and speaker, you know, just to.
Interviewer
Level set and let our audience know exactly who is before them. Today is your 33rd wedding anniversary.
Karen Williams
Absolutely.
Interviewer
You are A champion. When we talk about an example, when we talk about marriage and putting relationships to the test, besides you living it. Tell me the backstory. How did you become a relationship coach? Because you could have been any kind of coach. Financial, for children, for teen, for mothers.
Karen Williams
Right.
Interviewer
Why specifically? Tell us your backstory.
Karen Williams
As you know, experience what I say experience is really the mother of change. It's like, well, don't want to repeat that. So, of course, yes, we've been married 33 years and it's not just dates on a calendar, but my. Both my husband and I have experienced unhealthy relationships. So starting out, we knew right away we knew what we did not want. However, we didn't really know what we wanted or how to even pursue that. And so in the process of learning who we were individually and then coming together and learning how to be married, we took those very same experiences and start teaching others basically how to do the same. And in the process of doing that, I just simply started helping people at church. That's really how it started. I never set out to be an entrepreneur or coach anyone in anything. We were just being mentors, just being regular marriage mentors, and hopefully that especially young people will pick up on what we were doing and of course, start those very same practices as well. That's really how. How it started. What I said, that's the heart of it.
Interviewer
And so it sounds like entrepreneurial ship married you. You didn't necess marry entrepreneurial ship. And so talk about entrepreneurial ship and marriage. Let's talk about that. Entrepreneurial ship, love and marriage. How do you maneuver and navigate through that?
Karen Williams
So, of course, being married 33 years, like I said, again, it's not just years on the calendar or days on the calendar, but my husband had to be a part of the decision making. He had to be at the center of all of it as well. It wasn't just my decision to just jump out there and be an entrepreneur. As you know, it is taxing. You have to be present. It requires a lot of you. And so he had to come on board and understand that it's going to take a little bit. It will require some time away from us, building us. And there's a reason why I didn't start when we were married in year five or year 10 or year 15, because the children, we had kids there, or we still have kids for that matter, but the kids were little. And so that required more of us being present. So once they were gone and I started pivoting and redefining Who. Not necessarily who I am in my identity, but what my next role was, what was my next chapter, what was coming next for me. We sat down and we talked about it, and like I said, the entrepreneurship just really. I kind of slid into that because I realized that's what would be required in order to extend myself a little further and have a much more wider reach. That's the word I'm looking for.
Interviewer
You talked about the children as they are growing young, and I want you to speak specifically to relationships. Once the children are grown and gone, I find the honey has already left the moon. No more honeymoon. How do you rekindle that?
Karen Williams
You said the word rekindle, but here's the trick. Never let the kindle go out. Your relationship, your marriage has to be, for one, it is symbolic. It's a major part of the family unit. And your children have to be able to see you building your relationship as you are parenting them. For us, it was every Sunday evening. That was our time. The kids knew that, hey, mom and dad are just going to they watching a movie or they're just going for a walk or they're spending some type of quality time together, because during the week, it's all about them, whether it's basketball or piano or I homeschool. So it was, you know, that required most of the day being with them. They saw us building our relationship even in the process of us parenting them. So by the time they got to adult hood and they were off on their own, it wasn't a rekindling for us. It was just picking up. Now this is the next move that we are making. We realized at that point it was that, yes, now we get to travel. And our kids ask us even now, like, mom, dad, how are you guys traveling so much now? I said, well, you guys were taking all of our travel money, so guess what? We have the opportunity to do that now. Yes, we keep the Kindle going. That way you don't have to rekindle, because sometimes that rekindling process requires so much of us. We look to each other as if we are complete strangers. And so you. We want to do everything we can to avoid that piece I wanted.
Interviewer
This is twofold. Who is your ideal client? And when I think about that, when you say, keep it rekindled, and so someone is listening and saying, it's not even a spark. I don't even know where the match is to even start the fire. As a friend told me, it's called a Mississippi Divorce. And that's when you both are Living in the house, you're in one room and I'm in another room. And we're not even roommates, because roommates at least will go to the movies or have dinner once a year, once a month, once a.
Karen Williams
Something.
Interviewer
Is it hope?
Karen Williams
Absolutely. And here's why I say that. And I say, you know, like the young people say, I say with my whole chest, because here's the thing. The moment you decide, first, do I want something to change? Because if the Mississippi relationship, if the Mississippi divorce is what you want, then okay, that's what you want and that's where you'll stay. But once you start looking around your relationship, your home, and you think, wait a minute, I want more. Better yet, I deserve more, you sit down and you have that conversation. Where do we go from here? We usually start with, let's go back to what brought you together. What was that common ground? What was that vision that you both had when you started? What was it that brought you together? And you both thought that you can walk this out and you can actually change the world together. Because, see, if that's not part of the original conversation, we're going about marriage the wrong way. If we don't have a joint vision, individual vision, individual missions, and then bring it together as a joint force, there's really no purpose. And see, purpose is really what fuel the relationship. It's really what fuel the marriage. It's what fuel you going forward. That's the rocket fuel that will launch you if there's no fuel. The rocket is just. The rocket is just a rocket full of potential, but can't go anywhere. We have a lot of folks that are, we're getting married because we think this is the next step, this is the next phase of life. But we're missing the piece where we talk about what is the vision for my relationship. That's what I cover in my book. That's the first chapter in my rereleased workbook. It's called she said yes, now what? The revised edition. And the first thing we dive into is, what is your mission? In other words, discovering your why. Why are we together? What is God trying to do in the earth by bringing us together? Because I was good by myself. I was okay by myself. No lie. I could do life on my own. But there was something about Rob coming alongside me and we taking on the world and life together. And there was just an explosion of collaboration and ideas and just two smart heads coming together, making life happen. And the different phases, we didn't allow those phases to dictate how we felt about each other because at the heart of it, we still had vision, mission and purpose.
Interviewer
That's awesome.
Karen Williams
Yeah.
Interviewer
What problem exists in the world today, Karen, that you would like to solve?
Karen Williams
Oh, my. I have a few. I have a whole list. But what comes to mind first is I wish I could solve the problem of financing students that want to go to college. I wish every single child, especially in this country, had the opportunity to go to college. A lot of them, of course, you know, finances is. That's the obstacle. That's the big block in the road. And if I could solve that problem, I definitely would, for sure.
Interviewer
You talked about your re releasing your books. Talk about the books that you have and how they can purchase the books.
Karen Williams
Oh, for sure. My very first release was March of 2021. And that was a 52 week guided journal for the overthinker. And that was really for me. I created. I created that one for me. And of course, all of my books are available on Amazon. Or you can pop into my website@karen williamscoaching.com Again, Karen williamscoaching.com and you find the link there where you can just hit the link. And all of my books are available there. But that very first one was Take no Thought. And of course that's a 52 week guided journal for the overthinker. And that one is really designed to allow those that are using the journal to slow down, allow their minds to just stop working for a second. I actually have some therapists that are using it with their clients who are going through anxiety or even some that have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. And they're actually using that as a tool to just help them download all the things that are just running wild in their minds. And what it does it cre. There's also a scripture reference there that you can use as the authority to surrender whatever that thought process is now. Each day, each week, you have a subject matter and you, you know, process that. You have space to write out your thoughts and then the scripture reference there to surrender it to. So that's my first one. Then of course, I love my couples are at the heart of what I do. So I created a workbook for my couples that are engaged. And that one was the first edition of she said yes, now what. And it's really a workbook with prompts to help couples have the hard conversations, whether it's around money or boundaries or in laws or children or religion, politics, all of those hard conversations that a lot of couples have a hard time Even initiating, much less navigating through. And so the workbook is designed to do that. And of course, I stepped up the game when we did a re release of it. The. The revised edition is a whole another level. If you think you were scared of the first one, this one is good. And I don't want to terrify people, but I really believe that the conversation need to be had around these hard topics. Health issues and how we think about the world and what our character is like, what our fruit is like, what our expectation when it comes to finances or religion or money or family, children. Do you plan to have any? Do you want any? And if so, how many? How soon am I gonna leave my family behind or, you know, my family of origin behind after I get married? Those conversations are usually not had until we are well into the marriage, and that's kind of too late. And so I want folks to be able to have the tools necessary to have those hard conversations. The one that you mentioned earlier, becoming her as we become us, that is my most recent release that was actually due in January of 2026, and we released it early. I'm like, why not? And it is. This one is really created for, you know, I have it on hand here. But this one is really created for wives and. And what it is for the wife that's evolving, the wife that she really want to still go after her goals, keep, you know, not necessarily lose who she is as she grow as a woman, as she grow as a wife and a mom. Because you and I can probably see how easily it can be where we lose our identity in the midst of playing all these roles. This journal really does help the wife to kind of slow down and, you know, focus and keep her in mind as she again fulfill all those other roles and wear all those thousands of hats that we wear.
Interviewer
So are you planning to write a becoming him as becoming us?
Karen Williams
That is. That's funny because that is being drafted as we speak. Yes, I am working on that for the husbands. And while I know most men don't journal, the prompts will be a little different. You know, of course, most men are more action oriented, so there will be some action, you know, task in there for them to do to just to get them moving in the right direction and reconnecting with themselves as they grow and reconnect with their. Their wives as well.
Interviewer
You might have to do it as an app or a game.
Karen Williams
I thought about that. But we'll see. We'll probably have that as a plus or as an addition. Yeah.
Interviewer
Absolutely.
Karen Williams
For sure.
Interviewer
I want you to have a monologue and I want you to name this person, living or not, and they've inspired you so much. Who is that person and what are you saying to that person, Karen?
Karen Williams
So is my mom. She's been gone 15 years and I still have a hard time referring to her in the past tense. But she came to this country with probably about $200 in her pocket, making the hard decision to leave me behind with family and come here and work the process to be an American citizen and drag me along at the end of that process. But yeah, that she would definitely be my. My example. And while I didn't understand a lot of it as a young person or as a teenager growing up, it makes sense. Once I became an adult, I understood the purpose behind it, the reason behind it, and the hard decision that it must have been to leave your child behind.
Interviewer
So what are you saying to her?
Karen Williams
What am I saying to her? I appreciate you and that's the awesome thing because I had that conversation with her before she passed and I said, mom, I really appreciate everything that you invested, everything that you sacrificed because it was a sacrifice. She gave up the comfort that she was used to, to pursue the unknown and pursue something that she. There was no evidence that it would ever work out. And here I am 45 years later and my change the life of my children and grandchildren.
Interviewer
Absolutely. Thank you for that advice. You wish you had followed so many of those.
Karen Williams
I think the biggest one I wish I had followed, no, you don't get married. Do not get married at 21. You are too young, you don't know who you are yet. Wait. Definitely should have followed that one. Why? Because I wouldn't have been divorced at 22. At 23, I would have definitely made better decisions going forward.
Interviewer
Thank you for the transparency.
Karen Williams
Of course.
Interviewer
What was that aha moment, Karen, that you knew that your business as a coach was going to be successful? A relationship coach, wow.
Karen Williams
There was a couple of moments, but the biggest one was when I saw my client's life literally transformed when it changed. When she said, I came for relationship coaching and I left knowing more about myself. Because if she's healthy, if you and I are healthy, we'll show up in our relationships much healthier. When she made that statement and walk away with the tools that she needed and was able to apply them, that was, yes, I can do this. The second time was I was actually in a room with some psychologists. I think she was a psychologist. Therapists and other thought leaders in the industry and they were saying the same things that I was teaching. And I was like, oh, my God. I said, lord, we can do this. That was definitely an aha moment for me for sure. And, yeah, I said, yes, we're going to be okay. We're on the right path.
Interviewer
Who is your ideal client?
Karen Williams
My ideal client. That's really in three parts because I work with the. That single person who is really tired of going from one unhealthy relationship to the next simply because they don't know who. She doesn't know who she is. Right. And then the next client would be the engaged couple. That one couple. They may not have done the proposal yet, but marriage is the next thing on the agenda. We will work together to kind of figure out, are you sure that marriage is the next step for you? What does that look like? What do you know about marriage? Why you want to be a part of that lack of a better term club. And of course, the couples that are already married that have lost focus on. Of the goal and the mission and the vision that they originally had for their relationship.
Interviewer
Let's take a snapshot of the last 30 days. What was your biggest win?
Karen Williams
Oh, definitely the release of my book. Definitely the release of becoming her as we become us. That's the biggest win. And in the midst of the. It was a little. The last month was a little ebb and flowing. What is it ebbing and flowing? Because it was the emo. It was up and down, literally, because I lost a sibling. And so that was in the midst of celebrating and having a book sign in. I still in the back of my mind that, yes, that one sibling is no longer here and I'm supposed to be grieving. And then in celebrating and being in the midst of other people and having my. These successful book signings, I'm still filled with joy and expectations and embracing people and appreciating my potential clients and the customers. And it's such a weird, you know, it's such a weird feeling because for grief, you want to crawl up in a ball and just stay there, but then joy won't let you do that. So that would probably be what, a quick snapshot as of the last month. Yeah, for sure.
Interviewer
And our sincere sympathy for the passing of your sibling.
Karen Williams
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Interviewer
Karen, what is your zone of genius?
Karen Williams
Helping listen when you talk about. Listen. I can take a microphone and talk about relationships from sunup to sundown. And when we say it's not just romantic relationships, but I help people connect better with themselves. So that they can connect well with others. And this is in business relationships, family dynamic, whatever the relationship dynamic is. And I love focusing in on how humans connect with each other. What are the things that draw us to each other? And why is it that some people would rather stay in an unhealthy relationship rather than be alone? What's at the heart of that? And so I love digging into. Pulling back the layers and digging into the root cause of why we do things or why we behave the way we behave. So that, yeah, definitely how we navigate relationships, for sure.
Interviewer
Let's step back. And you talked about. I use the word rekindle and you talk about. We don't want to get to that point. If you have a person and they're listening and they're in a relationship and it's challenging, do you need to work with both, or can you work with one? And this is two parts. And then the other part of it is, is that when you said we have to come together and have that conversation about why we actually got married, what if you feel your spouse's out, but you want to be in?
Karen Williams
Okay, so that's where it gets a little tricky. Because can I work with one? Absolutely. Because I can help you show up. Well, I can help you show up in your best self, basically. And I am a firm believer in the fact that the sanctified wife can sanctify her husband and vice versa. Especially a husband. A husband praying over his wife. Oh, that's beyond that. I mean, that's biblical. But that's beyond magical because it's just a thing to do. You can see progress when we say one person want to stay and the other one is already out. Well, obviously, you can't build a relationship with someone that is not wanting a relationship with you. So now you make the decision, are you staying or are you going? Because someone has to make that hard decision. What we're not going to do and what I would not advise anyone to do is just sit there in the relationship with absolutely no decisions being made. A lot of times in those moments, we want to figure out, how do we get here? There was a pivotal moment that, you know, where, you know, as I always use the term, there's a point where we made the wrong turn at Albuquerque. So we need to go back to Albuquerque and figure out what happened. Is this something that we can repair? Is this something that can be fixed? Because the thing is, if the other person's heart belongs to someone else, then you're fighting a losing battle. You really is. I mean, you really are. If that's what we're talking about, then the conversation is a little different. But if we're talking about someone that's just. They're just the meandering and they don't have the tools necessary to really grow and build and develop the relationship, then we can definitely work on some tools and figure out how to get you beyond that point.
Interviewer
Let's do a deeper dive into that question. Now, you were saying that if that person's heart belongs to someone else, you're in the marriage, but their mind is here with you, but their body is somewhere else. That's where you're saying it could be a little bit more challenging if the person has stepped outside of the marriage.
Karen Williams
Absolutely. Absolutely. And stepping out of the marriage does not automatically break it. Yes, there was. The trust is broken, but it can be repaired. The betrayal is there when. But it can be repaired. So in other words, it's not completely hopeless. But if their heart. Because their body might be here with you, but if their heart is somewhere else. Yeah, it's. That's usually where I probably refer them, to my colleagues who are therapists in that area. Because now you're talking about some, you know, there's some, some deeper issues there. Why that is the case for them or why. How did we get to that point? Because it has to be something deeper, deeper going on there.
Interviewer
If you lost everything and you had to rebuild in 30 days, what industry and why?
Karen Williams
I will still do what I'm doing. I cannot imagine doing anything else. God would have to definitely reprogram my entire mind. But, yeah, I couldn't see doing anything else. I would definitely be in this industry, still working at it. Now, if God is talking about a pivot, then of course, that would be a whole different conversation. That wouldn't be the answer to that question. But yeah, definitely do it. Because, you know, because I'm processing the question as you're asking. And I always say I don't want to be attached to anything in this earth where I can't move when God tells me to move. So I keep that in mind even as I'm answering your question.
Interviewer
Let's talk about artificial intelligence and how do you use it, if at all?
Karen Williams
In Karen Williams coaching, I love AI, I really do. And we were having this same conversation yesterday with someone who does not touch AI at all. But I said, eventually, AI is going to touch you. But I use it in my industry. Drafting a book will take me about probably about a month now. With AI, it takes me about Two hours just to get the draft. These are the areas I'm going to be talking about, especially now, where you can speak to it. And they just say, hey, create this, this way for this person in this industry. Why would I not? So that's the main way that we use it here. And of course, if I have a client that comes in, it will help me draft the, you know, what we're going to be talking about. That way it's delivered in a systematic and more applicable way for them. So that's the, that's a couple of ways anyway.
Interviewer
And just in terms of when you were saying that you, you know, someone who won't touch and don't like AI and I think unless they are sitting in a room talking to no one, they are dealing with AI. And a lot of people don't know that they are. Now, if you put anything in Google or you call up anyone, the health industry, they're using AI and absolutely, we don't want anyone to feel like they're being left out. People will not be left behind. You will be left behind. But you are using AI. You may not be informed that you're using AI.
Karen Williams
Exactly. Absolutely.
Interviewer
Let's talk about a potential or a possible event in your life that if you could do a redo, you would redo and why.
Karen Williams
I have thought about, especially my 30s and 40s, I really, that was one of my biggest regret that I did not go to college right after high school. You know, that should have been the path, but I joined the military instead. And it was, you know, looking back, I thought I could have still joined the military, but I could have gone to college prior to that was, you know, I used to hold space for that regret in those, back in those years, in those decades. But I mean, at 58, no, there's. I am right where I'm supposed to be. I'm right where I'm supposed to be in the timing that I'm supposed to be there. So I have settled that quite a, you know, some time ago.
Interviewer
And thank you for serving and protecting.
Karen Williams
Absolutely.
Interviewer
What is the biggest achievement so far in life or business for you?
Karen Williams
I say in life, definitely my marriage. I mean, my husband and I are like, dude, we're doing this. We are doing this because we're not just, again, and I say it over and over, we're not just 33 years on the calendar. We still like each other. We still really in love with each other. We enjoy each other's company again. It's not a love. Not just a love. Thing, but we like each other. We're supportive of each other's dreams and visions, and we really balance each other out in such an amazing way, because I'm the one that will. An amazing idea will pop in my head, and I just want to, boom, jump on it and do it right now. And he's the one to say, girl, we can't do that. We have to do this and this. And he's the one that pulls me back from the edge. And so for that, I love him for it. In business, I'd say discernment. I say discernment. That's. I have developed. My discernment has been so stretched and developed since I've become a business owner. Learning how to turn off certain noise and hone in on what God is saying and doing in this season, that, yes, definitely my biggest accomplishment, because all, you know, the books, the clients, all of those things, can they come and go. But these skills that I'm honing in on, being able to zero in on God's voice at the moment where I should, that will go with me for the rest of my life. And I can definitely implement that in different areas of my life as well. That's not tangible. You can't hold on to that. I won't lose that, in other words.
Interviewer
Absolutely.
Karen Williams
Yeah.
Interviewer
And what is the biggest challenge of being an entrepreneur?
Karen Williams
The biggest challenge is reminding myself that I don't control the outcome of my clients. There was a point where I thought, if I do this and this and this, then they will do the work and they will come out with the results that they're looking for. But I do not control the outcome. All I do is create the atmosphere and the space for them to thrive. And the thriving part is up to them. Yeah.
Interviewer
And you've had the opportunity to work with many clients and you've shared a success story. Talk about a story, only give the information that you legally can give. Tell us the success story of a client that you've worked with that really stands out.
Karen Williams
Yeah, I have. Oh, yeah. Like, yeah, there's a couple of those. And I. Well, I should say a few of those, because at first, what we, you know, especially as coaches, what we often feel aren't success stories turn out to be, because that is the joy and somewhat the challenge of coaching. You don't always see the results right away because it is work. It is systematic. It requires you and I to invest time, money, energy, and you have to do this habitually. It's commitment. It requires, you know, you can't Snap your fingers and say, oh, I want to be in la. I'm in LA tomorrow. I'm in LA right now, the next five minutes. No, it's the same concept. We determine the goal and we have to work to get towards that goal. And what we miss out on is we don't teach people about the messy middle. We don't discuss the messy middle. We say, hey, this is where we are, this is where we want to go. And the messy middle, of course, is where we lose momentum. That's where we lose hope. That's where we become challenged and we become hopeless. And we, in those moments, as a coach, that's where I come alongside you and I encourage you and I that support to make sure that you can get through that messy middle on the way to your goal or your success. Often, you know, we don't see the success right away, but on the other side of it. So when I look at, we had a couple that was, this couple had been married about 25 years and having the conversation around what was the reason you came together in the first place? And they got wide eyed as if we had no idea we needed to discuss this. We liked each other, what more is there? And being married for that long, they realized, wait, we needed to rewind and do some work together. But the success for me was their self awareness and their desire to want to change, the desire to want to do differently, do marriage differently, do life differently, and work on it going forward.
Interviewer
That's beautiful.
Karen Williams
Yeah.
Interviewer
Erin, if you conducted this interview, what is the one question you would have asked yourself? I want you to ask the question and answer it.
Karen Williams
Oh, wow, that's a good one. What's next for Karen Williams Coaching? What's coming up for 20, 26 and so many things. Yeah, January, we're. Well, January, February. Around that time period, we'll be launching our podcast. And I am so looking forward to that. It's called the State of Our Union. And, and I cannot wait to jump into those conversations because I want to change the narrative around marriage. There are far too many negative connotations around marriage and those that are choosing to not surround themselves with healthy couples and then declare from their platforms that marriage doesn't work and all the people they know are living in unhealthy relationships. So I want to bring on couples who have been through it, couples who are, they've been married for a little while, I'll say at least five to 10 years that are doing the work and feel like it's absolutely worth it. And when we talk about marriage, we hear all of the negative statements and all the things. But I beg to differ because people are still getting married. Weddings are a multi billion dollar industry. So somewhere the math is not mathing. And so I want to still give hope to folks that say, you know what, I really do want to get married. That was part of my life plan. That is really what I wanted to do, part of what I wanted to do with my life. But after hearing all of these negative conversations, I'm rethinking. And so now we want to create that space so that people can now hear the positives. And so when you hear from couples that are saying, hey, marriage does work, it's still an amazing, that amazing thing that God put together. We still want to do this. No, we still want to create space for it. And so that's at the heart of my podcast. Yes.
Interviewer
Well, you'll have to definitely keep us posted. So we post on, go back and repost so people can follow that information. Once you release, let us know.
Karen Williams
Sure, Absolutely. I will definitely keep you posted.
Interviewer
Okay, we've come to the part of our interview, it's called Fun Facts Lightning Round. I'm going to ask you a series of questions and I think give me very quick answers. If there's something you desire not to answer, feel free to say pass. Are you ready for the Fun Facts Lightning round?
Karen Williams
Absolutely.
Interviewer
The last movie you saw, ah, War.
Karen Williams
Room with Priscilla Shriver.
Interviewer
You relax. Doing what?
Karen Williams
Absolutely nothing.
Interviewer
Your favorite singer or rapper, favorite singer.
Karen Williams
Is probably Toby Mack and Cece Winans.
Interviewer
Your favorite dance song, anything by Sean.
Karen Williams
Paul because he's Jamaican.
Interviewer
What food you eat every week, no.
Karen Williams
Matter what vegetables, any type of, any.
Interviewer
Type of green workout or hit the couch.
Karen Williams
Oh, definitely work out.
Interviewer
Karen Williams, thank you so much for joining us on Black Entrepreneur Experience podcast. Before we let you go, share with our audience the best way for them to connect and do business with you and leave all your social media handles and feel free to share or where they can purchase the book.
Karen Williams
Absolutely. Yes. It's a pleasure sitting here with you today. Oh my gosh, what a great conversation. But yes, you can find me@karen williamscoaching.com that's my website and I am on most social media at Karen Will Coach and so you can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and it's at Karen Will Coach and yes, you can definitely purchase my book again at Amazon and you can find the link on my website erinwilliamscoaching.com thank you.
Interviewer
That's a wrap.
Podcast Announcer
Thank you for listening and subscribing to Black Entrepreneur Experience. We would love for you to leave a review and rating on itunes and share with your friends. For show notes and more episodes go to www.beepodcast.com. join us next Wednesday. And remember, green is the new Black, so keep your bank accounts and your business in the black.
Podcast: Black Entrepreneur Experience
Episode: 535 – From Patterns to Purpose: Relationship Coach Karen Williams on Building Healthier Love
Host: Dr. Frances Richards
Guest: Karen Williams, Certified Relationship Coach, Author, Speaker
Air Date: February 4, 2026
This episode features Karen Williams, a seasoned relationship coach and author, who shares transformative strategies for building and sustaining healthy love. The conversation explores the intersection of entrepreneurship, marriage, personal growth, and the role of purpose in relationships. Karen offers candid insights from her 33-year marriage, her journey into coaching, and practical advice for couples at all stages.
From Church Mentor to Coach:
Marriage as a Partnership in Entrepreneurship:
Sustaining Connection over Time:
Navigating the “Mississippi Divorce”:
Ideal Clients:
Working with One Partner vs. The Couple:
Handling Betrayal:
Success Story Highlight:
Zone of Genius:
Biggest Challenges:
AI in Business:
Most Meaningful Achievements:
Biggest Regret:
Inspiration:
Advice She Wishes She’d Taken:
Aha Moments:
Time-Stamps for Key Segments:
Summary Prepared For:
Listeners, aspiring entrepreneurs, and couples seeking inspiration and practical strategies for healthier relationships and balanced business-life integration.