The Flavor Room Launches Leading in Color for Black and Brown Leaders
Virtual – The Flavor Room™ will host the inaugural Leading in Color: From Dependency to Design on October 29, 2026, from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. ET via Zoom. The virtual leadership experience will bring together Black and Brown founders, executives, nonprofit leaders, educators, and community builders to examine a pressing question: How can Black and Brown leaders move beyond continually adapting to systems outside their control and become more intentional about strengthening the systems, relationships, resources, and institutions within their own communities?
Leading in Color was created by The Flavor Room co-founders Sutton McCraney, Master of Arts (MA), Master of Business Administration (MBA), and Lace Flowers as a working leadership experience rather than a traditional conference. The half-day event will combine a research brief, leadership panel, guided discussion, and Community Design Lab designed to move participants from conversation toward identifying where they can contribute to stronger community infrastructure.
“Black and Brown communities have become incredibly skilled at adapting,” said McCraney, Leadership Systems Strategist and co-founder of The Flavor Room. “When policies change, funding disappears, leadership priorities shift, or access closes, the expectation is often that communities will simply adjust again. Leading in Color asks a different question: What can be intentionally strengthened and built so that adapting is no longer the only option?”
The experience is informed by The Flavor Room's broader research into leadership, equity, influence, integrity, and the systems that shape access and opportunity. That work includes Is It LEGIT? Redefining Equity, Leadership, and Influence in Online Business and the LEGIT™ Standards Framework, created by McCraney and Flowers.
During the Community Design Lab, participants will examine recurring challenges within their own communities, organizations, and industries, identify areas where outside dependency may be limiting progress, and consider the role they are positioned to play in strengthening existing resources or creating new ones.
“Design requires more than identifying what is broken,” said Flowers, co-founder of The Flavor Room. “It requires people willing to bring their expertise, relationships, resources, and ideas together and turn them into something useful. The goal is not to leave people inspired for an afternoon. It is to get leaders thinking seriously about what they are positioned to do next.”
The inaugural Leading in Color experience is part of The Flavor Room's larger work to strengthen leadership, business, relationships, and opportunity among Black and Brown professionals and entrepreneurs.
Leading in Color™ will take place virtually via Zoom on October 29, 2026, from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. ET. Registration and additional event information are available through the Leading in Color event page.
About The Flavor Room™
The Flavor Room™ is an invite-only leadership and business ecosystem for Black and Brown founders, executives, and professionals who are serious about growth, leadership, and influence. Co-founded by Sutton McCraney and Lace Flowers, The Flavor Room brings together strategic support, trusted relationships, increased visibility, and meaningful introductions while developing research, frameworks, and experiences designed to strengthen how leaders build, lead, and create opportunity.
Bring your flavor. Build your influence.
Media contact
Sutton McCraney
Co-Founder, The Flavor Room™
