What if the revolution in education isn’t just about policy or paperwork—but about seeing someone fully, without pity, and showing up with consistency and compassion?
Welcome back to Beyond the Quo—the podcast where we dismantle outdated narratives of success, leadership, and fulfillment. I’m your host, Stacey Luces—executive coach, reinvention strategist, and founder of the Living Beyond Movement.
For over two decades, I’ve walked with leaders through burnout, breakdowns, and bold reinventions. And one thing I’ve learned? Transformation rarely starts with a checklist—it starts with a whisper. A moment. A mentor. Someone who sees more in you than you’ve been taught to see in yourself.
And today’s guest is the embodiment of that truth.
Meet Christine Sylvain—TEDx speaker, community builder, and award-winning founder of Path to College, a nonprofit on a mission to close the college access gap for high-potential, low-income students.
But Christine doesn’t just talk equity—she builds it. As the mixed-race daughter of an immigrant, she knows what it means to navigate identity, scarcity, and systems that weren’t built for everyone. She took that experience and turned it into something transformative—from the inside out.
In this conversation, we talk about:
• Education that empowers, not just evaluates.
• Burnout recovery and boundary-setting.
• Reparenting ourselves after decades of over-functioning.
• The link between personal wellness and collective change.
• And how mentorship can be the spark that redefines a life—not by fixing, but by seeing.
This episode is deeply human. It’s full of heart, truth, and tangible takeaways. If you're in the work of impact, leadership, or just raising the next generation—this one’s for you.
So grab your journal, your favorite cup of whatever, and let’s get into it.
🌍 Want more conversations like this?
Join the Rising Beyond Power Collective—our free global community for women leaders who are done playing small and ready to redefine success on their own terms:
👉 https://www.skool.com/risingbeyondglobalcommunity/about


💡 Key Takeaways:
• High Achievement Looks Different in Marginalized Communities
Christine redefines achievement—not by GPA, but by grit. Her students often juggle part-time jobs, care for siblings, and translate medical paperwork—all while navigating school. That’s excellence.
• Mentorship and Belonging Change Lives
It’s not a single scholarship that creates success—it’s consistent care. Christine’s long-term, trauma-informed mentorship model cultivates safety, confidence, and generational ripple effects.
• You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Lead Powerfully
Christine let go of the myth that leaders must be polished. Her openness about divorce, burnout, and healing has only deepened her impact—and made her leadership magnetic.
• Stress Isn’t the Enemy—Disconnection Is
Stress can shape us. But chronic stress, isolation, and survival mode? That breaks us. This episode unpacks how rest, community, and values-based living are non-negotiables for sustainability.
🔥 Feeling inspired? Don’t keep it to yourself.
Subscribe, share, and rate Beyond the Quo five stars. Let’s amplify voices, disrupt the status quo, and lead lives that are truly our own.
✨ Connect with Stacey Luces
• Free Global Community: Rising Beyond Power Collective
📩 Connect with Christine Sylvain
• LinkedIn/Instagram: @citizenchristine @pathtocollege
• Website: www.pathtocollege.org

Beyond Permission: Owning Your Power and Your Next Move with Stacey Luces
“If you repeat the same day for 80 years… what kind of life is that? Because that’s what ‘good enough’ turns into.”
In the first episode of Beyond the Quo for 2025 Stacey Luces dives deep into embracing 'main character energy' and stepping out of supporting roles in our own lives. Stacey addresses common feelings of reflection and resolution at the beginning of the year, urging us to live authentically, redefine success, and lead courageously. This episode touches on the pitfalls of remaining passive in life, the importance of making intentional, consequence-driven decisions, and practical steps to regain autonomy over one's schedule, health, and personal boundaries. Ideal for those looking to break free from complacency and truly own their narrative in 2026.
🎧 In this episode:
• 00:56 Playing a Supporting Role in Your Own Life
• 02:14 Embracing Main Character Energy
• 05:08 The Power of Personal Promises
• 06:22 Curating Your Circle and Growth
• 15:26 Moving Beyond the Status Quo
• 26:29 Signs You're in Support Role Energy
• 32:23 Reclaiming Main Character Energy
💡 Key Takeaways:
• Resentment is information, not a character flaw. When you feel resentment, numbness, or “tired but I slept,” it’s a signal that you’re out of alignment and likely self-abandoning somewhere.
• Main character energy is a leadership concept, not a vibe. It’s authorship. It shows up in real decisions about boundaries, health, relationships, standards, and who gets access to you.
• Your life is shaped by your schedule and your standards. Things don’t slow down by accident. You slow them down through decisions. Raise the standard, stop over-explaining, have the overdue conversation, and choose what matters most.
You’ve already done the quo—now it’s time to go beyond.
🔥 Feeling inspired? Don’t keep it to yourself!
• Subscribe, share and follow Beyond the Quo and I’d deeply appreciate your five-star rating so more people can listen and learn!
✨ Connect with Stacey: staceyluces.com IG @ Stacey.Luces LinkedIn @StaceyLuces

“Grownups can be dream killers.” A stop-you-in-your-tracks truth that opens a deeper conversation about courage, safety, and choosing possibility again.
In the final episode of Beyond the Quo for 2025, Stacey Luces sits down with Yulimar Trumbo, an investor in the future of entrepreneurs and a world-class sales facilitator who has worked across 40+ countries with Fortune 500 companies, NGOs, and government sectors. Together, they close the year with honesty, humor, and depth, exploring what 2025 revealed and what 2026 can become.
They unpack why intentions create alignment while resolutions often create pressure, why authentic connection matters more than proximity, and how protecting your time is really about protecting your life. Through personal stories about family, entrepreneurship, partnership, and change, they discuss leading yourself first, trusting what your body knows, and building “a new same page” in relationships and communities.
🎧 In this episode:
• 02:39 Intentions vs. resolutions
• 05:06 Decisions that shaped the last decade
• 10:47 Protecting your time and saying no
• 26:24 Dreams, courage, and refusing to shrink
• 29:07 Youth, innovation, and social entrepreneurship
• 39:36 Relationships, loneliness, and real connection
💡 Key Takeaways:
• Intentions create alignment. Resolutions create pressure. Intentions invite your spirit to rise toward what’s possible. Resolutions demand compliance. This episode reframes the New Year as alignment, not self-correction.
• “No” is autonomy in motion. Practice it early and often. Self-betrayal starts small. If you override yourself in minor moments, you’ll override yourself when the stakes are higher. Boundaries are built in the everyday.
• Courage must be protected or it will be negotiated away. “Grownups can be dream killers” isn’t an accusation. It’s a warning. When safety becomes the goal, imagination shrinks. Courage is the cost of a future that’s truly yours.
• Transformation begins with a new internal language. Words like sacrifice, balance, guilt, and control quietly drain power. Replacing them with center, integration, responsibility, equanimity, and surrender changes how you lead, love, and choose.
You’ve already done the quo—now it’s time to go beyond.
🔥 Feeling inspired? Don’t keep it to yourself!
• Subscribe, share and follow Beyond the Quo and I’d deeply appreciate your five-star rating so more people can listen and learn!
✨ Connect with Stacey: staceyluces.com IG @ Stacey.Luces LinkedIn @StaceyLuces
✨ Connect with Yuli: LinkedIn @yulimar-trumbo

“More than 10 million people. $170 billion in annual economic activity.
For decades, Caribbean leaders have risen globally, but done so alone. WHISTLE changes that.”
Episode Description
In this special episode of Beyond the Quo, Stacey Luces and Denise Williams sit down together to tell the real story behind WHISTLE, the first private global leadership platform built for leaders of Caribbean heritage and the strategic partners who support them.
Following WHISTLE’s invitation-only preview event in South Florida, where more than 60 senior leaders from across the Caribbean diaspora and the United States gathered to explore a unified mandate for wealth, community, and legacy, the co-founders go beyond headlines to explain what WHISTLE actually is, why it is intentionally private, and why this moment matters now.
They unpack the inspiration behind WHISTLE, including the Rossby Whistle phenomenon, a central metaphor for the diaspora itself: globally distributed, deeply powerful, and too often operating in isolation.
Stacey and Denise share the realities of co-founding at scale, the pressure, the disagreements, the learning curve, and the discipline required to build something real without losing alignment, integrity, or purpose. They also reflect on the overwhelming response to WHISTLE’s preview event and what it revealed about the unmet need for trusted leadership infrastructure within the global Caribbean diaspora.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
• What WHISTLE Is: WHISTLE is a private, membership-based global leadership platform designed to mobilize high-caliber Caribbean-rooted leaders and aligned partners around three priorities: Wealth, Community, and Legacy.
• Why WHISTLE Is Private: WHISTLE is intentionally private to attract vetted leaders, create confidential decision-making rooms, and move faster with trust, alignment, and integrity.
• How WHISTLE Operates: The founders break down the ecosystem behind the mission, including:
• The WHISTLE Council (Monthly): Confidential peer sessions to sharpen thinking, pressure-test decisions, and build collective intelligence
• Capital Tables (Quarterly): Closed-door conversations focused on capital, partnerships, investment readiness, and opportunity flow
• Signature Gatherings: Curated, high-trust in-person experiences that deepen relationships and alignment
• Always-On Community Platform: Year-round access to introductions, insight, and support without noise
• WHISTLE Next Gen + We WHISTLE With Love: Structured legacy pathways, youth leadership development, and philanthropic initiatives designed to compound impact across generations
What’s Coming Next
WHISTLE officially launches globally in January 2026.
The founders also announce the fast-tracking of The WHISTLE Podcast, a new storytelling platform dedicated to elevating Caribbean excellence.
If you are aligned with this mission, we want to hear from you.
Visit: https://www.wewhistleglobal.com
Email: stacey@wewhistleglobal.com | denise@wewhistleglobal.com
Follow: @wewhistleglobal on Instagram and LinkedIn

“If nothing changed next year except your title or income… would you still feel empty?”
In this episode of Beyond the Quo, host Stacey Luces reflects on a whirlwind 2025 and discusses key themes such as redefining success, living authentically, and leading courageously.
Stacey shares her personal journey and the growth of Beyond the Quo, touching on the importance of legacy and intentional leadership. She provides actionable strategies to help listeners evaluate their past year, set meaningful goals, and ensure their success extends beyond personal achievements. Engage in an honest conversation about your legacy and join the community's evolution into 2026.
🎧 In this episode:
• 00:46 Reflecting on the Past Year
• 04:35 Importance of Legacy
• 05:39 Evolution of Beyond the Quo
• 11:12 Practical Strategies for Leadership
• 25:29 Final Thoughts and Future Directions
💡 Key Takeaways:
• The year-end reckoning - normalize the “I’m successful but restless” feeling and reframe it as data, not failure.
• BTQ’s evolution and leadership shift - how the show matured from healing and reinvention into responsibility, legacy, and founder-level questions.
• The practical legacy framework - tangible gut checks: “Who benefited financially, emotionally, developmentally?” and the three closing clarity questions about responsibility, trust, and accountability. You can have the job, the paycheck, the title, the busy calendar… and still feel empty. Purpose gives your life direction instead of letting you spin in place.
You’ve already done the quo—now it’s time to go beyond.
🔥 Feeling inspired? Don’t keep it to yourself!
• Subscribe, share and follow Beyond the Quo and I’d deeply appreciate your five-star rating so more people can listen and learn!
✨ Connect with Stacey: staceyluces.com IG @ Stacey.Luces LinkedIn @StaceyLuces

“You don’t need a new year to reinvent yourself. You just need to stop living on autopilot and start living on purpose.”
In this episode of Beyond the Quo, host Stacey Luces dives into the importance of understanding and living with purpose. She discusses three core themes: redefining success on personal terms, leading courageously by addressing self-leadership and habits, and living authentically despite life's stages and societal expectations.
Stacey explores why December is a month of reflection and preparation for the new year, and how purpose can replace temporary resolutions. She offers actionable strategies to shift from a status quo existence to a more intentional life, tackling tough subjects like relationships, boundaries, and incremental changes. Perfect for anyone feeling stuck or looking to make meaningful progress in their life and leadership journey.
🎧 In this episode:
• 01:29 December Reflections and Resolutions
• 02:31 Understanding and Living with Purpose
• 04:57 Breaking Free from the Status Quo
• 11:53 Finding Your Purpose
• 18:25 Practical Steps to Discover Your Purpose
• 26:34 Assessing Relationships and Priorities
💡 Key Takeaways:
• Purpose Ends the Cycle of Performing Without Fulfillment
You can have the job, the paycheck, the title, the busy calendar… and still feel empty. Purpose gives your life direction instead of letting you spin in place.
• Purpose Isn’t Dramatic Reinvention; It’s Incremental Alignment
You don’t have to burn your life down to live intentionally. Two-millimeter shifts — boundaries, priorities, values — move you toward your authentic self without chaos.
• When You Live on Purpose, Everything Elevates
Your confidence rises. Your relationships shift. Your energy changes. You stop performing, stop explaining, and start attracting aligned people, opportunities, and even more income.
You’ve already done the quo—now it’s time to go beyond.
🔥 Feeling inspired? Don’t keep it to yourself!
• Subscribe, share and follow Beyond the Quo and I’d deeply appreciate your five-star rating so more people can listen and learn!
✨ Connect with Stacey: staceyluces.com IG @ Stacey.Luces LinkedIn @StaceyLuces

“We talk a lot about leadership in the boardroom, but what about leadership in a relief center… with your kids packing supplies while you’re drowning in survivor’s guilt?”
In this heartfelt episode of Beyond the Quo, host Stacey Luces dives into the themes of redefining success, living authentically, and leading courageously in midlife.
Joined by her dear friend Elena, they discuss the impactful leadership during the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. Elena shares her experiences, from navigating community disasters to balancing parenting and career aspirations. This episode highlights the importance of empathy, resilience, and community support, offering powerful insights for both personal growth and effective leadership. Don't miss this moving conversation filled with inspiration and practical wisdom.
🎧 In this episode:
• 01:53 Relief Efforts and Challenges in Jamaica
• 04:04 Personal Stories and Community Resilience
• 13:46 Gratitude and Hope Amidst Chaos
• 17:51 Supporting Relief Efforts and Community Involvement
• 28:03 Navigating Career and Personal Loss
• 30:13 Motherhood and Leadership
• 33:30 Cultural Values and Kindness
💡 Key Takeaways:
• Leadership in crisis is deeply human, not polished. Elena’s story of Hurricane Melissa shows that real leadership looks like answering a desperate call, organizing “chaotic” volunteer efforts, and doing what you can with imperfect information and limited resources.
• Gratitude and kindness are powerful stabilizers in disaster. From a woman who “lost everything” but still stands in gratitude, to a 13-year-old who just wants light and food, to simply seeing the security guard or busboy, the episode highlights how acknowledgment and small acts of care create emotional stability when everything else feels uncertain.
• Your life, legacy, and “second season” are a choice. Through the eulogy/rocking-chair exercise and Elena’s “kaleidoscope mind,” you’re invited to question one-dimensional living, embrace reinvention, and take messy action toward the life you actually want, knowing your choices shape not only you, but your children, community, and the next generation.
You’ve already done the quo—now it’s time to go beyond.
🔥 Feeling inspired? Don’t keep it to yourself!
• Subscribe, share and follow Beyond the Quo and I’d deeply appreciate your five-star rating so more people can listen and learn!
✨ Connect with Stacey: staceyluces.com IG @ Stacey.Luces LinkedIn @StaceyLuces
✨ Connect with Elena: LI @elena-diedrick-lynch-ja or Www.elleja.com

“If you’ve ever walked into a room with your stomach in your throat right before a high-stakes meeting… this episode is for you.”
"Success isn’t what it used to be— some power moves to level up"
Welcome to 'Beyond the Quo' with Stacey Luces, your go-to podcast for navigating midlife reinvention, redefining success, living authentically and leading courageously. In this episode Stacey delves into the real essence of leadership during high-stakes situations.
She emphasizes the importance of authentic presence and internal preparation over perfecting pitches and presentations. Stacey shares her personal experiences and provides a practical framework for leaders to prepare for transformative meetings. The episode covers core topics such as setting clear intentions, embodying true identity, and detaching from outcomes. Tune in for valuable insights that can elevate your leadership game and empower you to navigate life's significant moments with clarity and passion.
🎧 In this episode:
• 00:36 The High-Stakes Room: Facing Leadership Challenges
• 02:01 Preparing for High-Stakes Moments
• 04:02 Personal Experience: A Real-Life Example
• 05:51 Four Key Questions for Leaders
• 18:40 The Beyond Framework: Elevating Your Leadership
💡 Key Takeaways:
• It’s never really about the pitch. The outcome of a high-stakes conversation is shaped long before you speak – through your energy, intention, nervous system, and leadership identity, not just your slides or talking points.
• Clarity, purpose, and identity change the room. Knowing the real purpose of the meeting, the one thing you want them to remember, and how you want to be remembered allows you to show up grounded, not grasping for approval.
• You reclaim your power when the “win” isn’t just their yes. Defining wins you control – showing up prepared, honoring your mission, testing your message, building connection – keeps your power with you, instead of handing it over to someone else’s decision.
You’ve already done the quo—now it’s time to go beyond.
🔥 Feeling inspired? Don’t keep it to yourself!
• Subscribe, share and follow Beyond the Quo and I’d deeply appreciate your five-star rating so more people can listen and learn!
✨ Connect with Stacey Luces: staceyluces.com IG @ Stacey.Luces LinkedIn @StaceyLuces