Marcelle Lashley-Kaboré

Designed to Conquer resources section offers various e-books and guides covering topics such as personal development, goal setting, time management, and productivity aimed to provide individuals with the necessary tools and support to conquer their goals and create a more fulfilling life.

Meet
Marcelle Lashley-Kaboré

NO GATEKEEPING! INTERVIEW

Before we dive into the specifics, could you introduce yourself and share a bit about your background and the experiences that have shaped your path in entrepreneurship?

I am Marcelle Lashley-Kaboré—daughter of the Caribbean, born in Trinidad, with the strength of my Guyanese ancestry pulsing through my veins. I come from a lineage of political leaders, dignitaries, and trailblazers who never hesitated to speak with conviction, challenge systems, and provoke change. My lineage is one of strategists and visionaries, people who understood that leadership was not about titles but about transforming the world around them. Their fire lives in me.

I have always known that my purpose is to build, disrupt, and reimagine. The work I do is not just about business—it is about creating access, shaping ecosystems, and ensuring that the next generation, especially women and youth, are equipped to lead and thrive.

As the Founder and Executive Director of GWK Global, I have built a social enterprise with a nonprofit arm operating in New York, New Jersey, and five West African countries, dedicated to economic empowerment, global leadership, and youth development. Through The Global Village Initiative, I am empowering ten girls in ten countries over ten years, preparing them to become the next generation of business leaders, civic influencers, and disruptors—just as my ancestors did before me.

But my impact doesn’t stop there. I am also a serial entrepreneur, the first Black franchisee of IM=X Pilates & Fitness, and the owner of multiple businesses that are designed not just to generate wealth but to create access and economic mobility for others. At IMX Pilates & Fitness White Plains, I am redefining wellness for communities of color, ensuring that holistic health—physical, mental, and emotional well-being—is not a luxury but a necessity.

Entrepreneurship, for me, has always been about power—economic power, strategic power, and the power to change lives. I have built businesses that are rooted in community and culture, ensuring that the resources, networks, and opportunities that were once locked away from us are now accessible to those who need them most.

I have had the honor of learning, leading, and shaping strategy on a global stage, including as an alumna of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), currently ranked #2 in the world. This experience expanded my perspective on global markets, economic systems, and strategic growth, allowing me to bring world-class business acumen to every enterprise and initiative I touch.

At my core, I am a builder of movements, a disruptor of inequities, and a guardian of my ancestors’ fire. Their voices echo in me in every business I create, every policy I influence, and every young leader I empower. The work I do is not just for today—it is for the generations that will follow. I stand at the crossroads of heritage and innovation, tradition and transformation, knowing that the best way to honor my lineage is to keep building, keep pushing, and keep creating opportunities where none existed before. And I am just getting started.

Looking back, what was one decision or event that played a major role in shaping your professional journey?

Looking back, there wasn’t a single decision or event that shaped my professional journey—it was a common occurrence, a pattern, a reality that became my proving ground. My story is one that many Black women in leadership will recognize: the constant placement in sink-or-swim situations, departments, or companies, where I was expected to fix what was broken, solve what seemed impossible, and create magic out of chaos.

This wasn’t just a challenge—it was a grooming.

Over time, this reality built a refined muscle in me—one that is innovative, fearless, and unstoppable. It doesn’t mean the system was right, fair, or just, but it forged something in me that still defines my success today. I have mastered the ability to turn tragedy into opportunity, make the impossible possible, and transform the strenuous into the seamless—not because I had guidance, but because I had no other choice.

Often, I was the only one in the room. The only Black woman. The only immigrant. The only fixer. While there were professionals I admired and learned from, I was never given the luxury of a hand to hold or a roadmap to follow. The expectation was always the same: figure it out, fix it, and make everything better. It was exhausting. It was relentless. But it was also the crucible that shaped my ability to create, lead, and build global social enterprises with clarity and conviction.

This journey—the expectation to thrive in uncertainty and succeed without a safety net—became the catalyst for GWK Global. I built this organization to be the guide I never had, to create spaces where the next generation of leaders—particularly women and youth from marginalized backgrounds—don’t have to navigate success alone. My mission is to ensure that no one else has to swim in the deep end without knowing how to float.

What shaped my journey was not privilege or access. It was the relentless demand to rise, build, and lead in spaces that weren’t designed for me. And today, I use that experience to design spaces that will uplift and empower others for generations to come.

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Can you share an experience where you felt 'blocked' or restricted in your field? How did you navigate that?

Underestimated. Questioned. Doubted. Even now, with a reputation that precedes me and a track record that speaks louder than I ever could, I still find myself standing before gatekeepers who look me up and down and ask, “How do you plan to do all of this?” As if ambition is a burden too heavy for a Black woman to carry alone. As if my business plans, financial portfolios, and history of turning the improbable into the inevitable aren’t enough proof that I have been doing this—and doing it well.

Even recently, while hunting for locations for my Pilates studio, I walked in with numbers, projections, and strategy, yet was still met with that same loaded question: “Do you have a partner, or are you doing this on your own?”

Would they ask that of a man? Would they tilt their heads and furrow their brows at a successful businessman, wondering if his dreams were too big, too heavy, too much for one person to carry? Never.

But with me? The doubt lingers until success is undeniable. Then suddenly, the narrative shifts—not to acknowledgement, but to piling on. The same people who once questioned my capacity now clamor to be part of the vision, to take credit for what they once dismissed.

How do I navigate it? With a smile, a signature, and a single-word response that shuts down every doubt before it can take root: “Successfully.” Because I have never needed permission to be brilliant. I have never needed validation to break barriers. And I refuse to let the world’s limited imagination dictate the boundaries of my potential.

So, when the next person asks, “How do you plan to do all of this?” —I won’t explain. I won’t justify.

I’ll build it. Own it. Expand it. And they’ll watch.

What is one thing about your industry that you wish more people knew or understood?

People romanticize entrepreneurship—they see independence, freedom, leisure as its rewards. The ability to set your own schedule, call the shots, and create wealth on your own terms. And in some ways, they’re right.

But what they don’t see—what I wish more people understood—is the cost of that freedom. Yes, I built a business so I could design my own life, but the irony is that entrepreneurship doesn’t free you— it tethers you. To your employees, who depend on you for their livelihoods. To your clients and stakeholders, who trust you to make the right decisions that keep them profitable, stable, and secure. To the weight of responsibility that never clocks out, never takes a vacation, never leaves your mind, even in moments of supposed “leisure.”

Entrepreneurship is not a path to less work, it is a path to more ownership—of successes, of failures, of decisions that ripple far beyond you. Sure, you can build a team to support you, to give you more bandwidth, but with every layer of delegation comes a new layer of accountability.

Traditional employees can afford the luxury of thinking frivolously, of clocking out at 5 PM and reclaiming their time. Entrepreneurs? We are never truly off the clock. Our minds are always calculating, forecasting, solving, ensuring that the ship we built continues to sail, not just for us, but for everyone on board.

Yes, there is power in entrepreneurship—but true power is not the absence of responsibility. It is the ability to carry it well.

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If you had to start your career over from scratch, what’s the first thing you’d do differently?

I believe everything unfolds as it should—even the uncomfortable moments, even the missteps. Regret isn’t part of my vocabulary. But for the sake of the question, if I had to start from scratch? I’d bet on me. Every time!

I wouldn’t second-guess my decisions, because I know who I am—a proper Libra, perfectly balanced between intuition and intellect. I would trust my instincts without hesitation, move with certainty, and lean into my brilliance without apology.I would believe in my own bio with the boldness of the cockiest, most delusional man I’ve ever met—the kind of confidence that makes people believe, simply because I do.

And because I believe everything is perfect, including the timing of this question, I choose to take my own advice. I’m starting my career from scratch today. Betting on me again. And winning!

What do you hope people take away from your story or experiences?

Experiences are my life’s mission. Those who truly know me understand—I am always the producer. Nothing in my world is just basic, normal, or ordinary. I breathe life into the complex, the peculiar, the extraordinary. Everything must be a moment. Every answer must be a story. Every emotion must be felt.

But beyond the spectacle, beyond the movement, beyond the grand orchestration of it all, I want people to remember one thing: They are in control of their own destinies. No one is bound by their circumstances. No one is fated to remain where they started. We are all capable of envisioning, building, and fully manifesting the lives we dream of—but only if we believe in it enough to do the work.

More than that, I want people to understand that their journey is not just about them. It is about every person they meet, every interaction they have, every experience they create along the way. We do not move through life alone—our purpose is tied to the way we impact others.

And if I could leave one thing behind, if there is one takeaway from my story, my work, my journey—it is this: Love.

To move with it. To create from it. To lead through it. To let it shape everything we do. Because in the end, love is the greatest producer of all.