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Meet Sheryl Raphael Whitaker

Speaker at the Top 100 Most Powerful Black Women Summit

Join Sheryl Raphael Whitaker and other powerful Black women leaders, founders, and change-makers at this year’s Top 100 Most Powerful Black Women Summit.

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 About Sheryl Raphael Whitaker

  • Sheryl Raphael Whitaker, MBA, is a Leadership Transformation Expert and best-selling author of It Starts with Joy: The Inner Shift that Changes Everything. As Founder & CEO of EdenAnthony LLC, she helps executives, teams, organizations, and growth-minded individuals move from disconnection and overload to clarity, authenticity, and unshakeable joy through her JoyShift™ method, the It Starts with Joy framework, and her leadership philosophy, Joy is my COO™.
  • She is the host of It Starts with Joy — LIVE, a weekly live show exploring the human side of leadership through candid conversation and real-world insight.
  • Sheryl’s conviction that leadership begins with protecting joy started when she was six, after a teacher wrongly accused her of breaking a purple crayon and dismissed her classmates’ defense.
  • As the only child in class who looked like her, bused into the district with her sister, the moment was more than a false accusation it was a mark of being “less than.”
  • That early experience, explored in It Starts with Joy, became a touchstone for her work helping leaders safeguard the dignity and humanity of those they lead.
  • Her corporate journey includes senior leadership roles at State Farm, AutoOne Insurance, AIG, and USAA, where she led enterprise learning transformation for 37,000+ employees.
  • In 2024, after more than three decades in corporate leadership, she declared herself a corporate escapee and launched EdenAnthony LLC named in honor of her late father as a space where leaders could align performance with joy and integrity.
  • Sheryl has been named the keynote speaker for TEDxSouthlake 2026, is a Growthspace Ambassador, and an Executive Champion for The-Climb.org. She lives with her husband, Dwayne, and their pup, Bella.
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About The Summit

The Top 100 Most Powerful Black Women Summit is a global celebration of Black women’s leadership, impact, and influence across business, culture, and community.

Across the Summit, you’ll hear from powerful speakers, take part in meaningful conversations, and connect with women who are building, leading, and creating change on their own terms.