profile

Dr. Venessa Marie Perry

Don't Let Your Ice Cream Cone Melt

Published 11 days ago • 1 min read

Hey There Reader,

When was the last time you let yourself play?

Not networking “fun.” Not the vacation you spent half-planning. I mean simple fun. The kind that once lit you up as a child.

For me, it happened the other day with an ice cream cone.
I thought—when did something this small stop feeling magical?

As children, joy was found in the simple things:
🍦 Ice cream on a hot day
🛼 Roller skating until the streetlights came on
🎨 Coloring just to see bright pages fill with life

Somewhere between deadlines, caregiving, and climbing ladders, we stopped giving ourselves permission to do the things that made us giggle and glow.

But here’s the truth: fun is not frivolous.​
Fun is a reclamation. It’s how we reconnect with innocence we lost. It’s how we reclaim the inner child who still deserves delight. And it’s how we ease the heavy load of being “the strong one” all the time.

The truth is: pleasure and play are as essential to your healing as therapy, strategy, or rest.

In BYOND, we don’t just talk about it—we practice it together.

Stay close. Enrollment opens soon.

With Care,

105 Tuckerman St NE, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20011
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Dr. Venessa Marie Perry

Psychologist|Executive Coach|Strategist|Author

Welcome to my Creator Page! As a licensed psychologist, organizational and leadership development consultant, and executive coach with over 25 years of experience, my aim is to help individuals and organizations build high-performing teams, master effective communication, and transform relationships. The main vehicles to facilitate this transformation include 1-on-1 executive coaching, strategy consultations and the BYOND group coaching experience, a sanctuary and community for Black women to inspire, uplift, and empower one another while focusing on well-being and collective transformation.

Read more from Dr. Venessa Marie Perry

Hey Reader, The house is quiet. Too quiet.The bed feels bigger than it should.The kids are gone. The routines that once carried your days have vanished.Even your prayers feel hollow. Midlife has a way of exposing what’s been running on autopilot. Career accolades that once mattered, friendships that no longer nourish, routines that no longer sustain — suddenly, everything that used to fill your life feels empty. And here’s the truth: emptiness isn’t a sign that you’ve failed. It’s a signal; a...

1 day ago • 1 min read

Hey Reader, Black women are the canaries in America’s economic coal mine. When federal jobs are cut, we feel it first. When DEI programs vanish, mentorship pipelines shrink, and stability erodes, we feel it first. Gender economist Katica Roy reminded us in a recent NY Times Article: “It’s the signal of something dangerous in the air.” This isn’t just a news story. It’s a warning—and a wake-up call. 300,000 Black women have been pushed out of the workforce in just months. The ripple effects...

2 days ago • 1 min read

Hey Reader, Before you jump back into the workflow, let me point you to three areas to ponder: Your Career: Is it fulfilling, or just familiar? Your Friends: Do they pour into you or drain you? Your Relationship: Does it make you grow or shrink? These are uncomfortable questions, and most of us have learned to silence them. We stay busy, stay needed, stay distracted. But midlife won’t let us hide forever. At some point, the quiet voice gets louder: This isn’t working anymore. Something has to...

3 days ago • 1 min read