Courageous Fire
BLACK WOMEN'S EMISSARY | FREEDOM ARCHITECT
Courageous Fire is an award-winning author, trainer, speaker, and freedom architect who equips Black women to turn trauma into reparations so they can write their own destiny.
I do this work because it’s the work I had to do for myself- and I know what it costs when no one shows you how. As a single Black mom raising two daughters in the Midwest, I was taught to normalize struggle, to survive what should have broken me. We lived inside accustomed poverty and familiarized abuse- pain so constant it almost felt like home.
When I finally broke free, I realized our lives had been shaped by one word: no. No peace. No choice. No future. So I decided to rewrite our story—and that journey became my blueprint for helping other Black women do the same.
Why us? Because we are always told to wait our turn.
Not on my watch, Beautiful. Our time is now.
The future you and your children deserve is calling.
Meet Courageous
As the founder of Courageous Fire, LLC and Courageous Access, she builds both direct and systemic pathways for Black women to claim permission—personally, professionally, and collectively.
Her acclaimed frameworks, including The O.C. Series and Empowerment Through the Arts (with an 80% success rate helping survivors avoid future predatory cycles), continue to redefine what healing and success look like for Black women and the professionals who serve them.
Through Answer Beautiful, Courageous expands this mission globally—elevating permission into a movement of liberation, power, and peace.
She has built a thriving international community of survivors and change agents who feel seen, heard, and inspired in her presence.
When she’s not on stage, Courageous can be found writing, mentoring, or reminding other Black women that their boundaries are sacred and their brilliance is non-negotiable.
_edited_edited.png)
“Since Courageous, I wake up now and set my world on fire
instead of waking up in survival mode.”
— Susan Wolder-Williams
“Courageous helped me to flip that switch and open that door. Now I know, oh this is living!”
— Anonymous Survivor
Courageous' Talks
Sista Strength Hurts:
Transform What You Endured to What You OWN
Nearly 97% of all women experience trauma in our lifetime. This trauma silently fuels the top 3 causes of death for Black women: heart disease, cancer, and stroke. The ultimate cost? An average lifespan of just 78.1 years, a decade shorter than our leading counterparts, a glaring result of unhealed trauma.
Sista Strength Hurts is the antidote. In this keynote, Courageous Fire transforms lived experience into power through a three-step trauma reparations framework that helps audiences convert pain into progress, reclaim energy, and rebuild purpose.
Participants leave equipped to leverage the skills honed by adversity to create income, influence, and intergenerational impact.
The 4 Questions Every Woman Should Ask
Nearly 8 in 10 Black women experience trauma in their lifetime, with many facing childhood abuse, intimate partner violence, and chronic stress linked to social and economic conditions. Yet the signs of abuse are often hidden, misunderstood, or mistaken for “normal.”
I created The 4 Questions Every Woman Should Ask keynote to expose these hidden truths. Through 4 simple yes-or-no questions, attendees learn to self-identify the often-missed signs of domestic violence and gain immediate access to clear, effective resources for safety and support.
Black women—and the communities that stand with us—leave informed, empowered, and equipped to take the next right step toward freedom.
What’s Your Mufasa Speech:
Know Why You’re Equipped Before Challenges Arrive
Studies show 73 - 77% of people surveyed reported they experienced mental or physical health issues directly linked to being stressed. When people are able to proactively problem solve prior to meeting the challenges unexpected stress brings, studies show these impacts are significantly reduced, leading to increased positive health outcomes and even lengthened lifespan.
“What’s Your Mufasa Speech?” guides you to craft your internal anthem — the untapped voice that reminds you who you are before the crisis demands you show up. Through this keynote you’ll build a speech rooted in your track record, your resilience, and your impact — ready to pull up on demand.
Attendees leave with a living tool of self-trust, clarity of identity, and the readiness for their next great moment of leadership.
_PNG.png)
Testimonials
Courageous' BOOKS
This is for the Other Child
The forgotten
sibling in families
of child sexual assault.
This is for the Other Child is an award-winning book that gives voice to the often-overlooked siblings of child sexual assault survivors—those who carried silent pain in the shadows. With raw honesty and professional insight, author Courageous Fire reveals the hidden emotional impact of trauma on family dynamics and sibling identity.
Drawing from her lived experience and more than a decade of work in trauma recovery, she bridges personal truth with practical awareness for healing. This book challenges readers to see, understand, and support the “other” children who were always there but never acknowledged. It’s a powerful resource for survivors, therapists, educators, and anyone committed to empathy, growth, and change.
The O.C.
Journal
The companion journal to
"This is for the Other Child"
The O.C. Journal is the companion to This Is for the Other Child, created to help sibling survivors of child sexual assault process, release, and reclaim their stories. Each entry begins with a guided question that invites honest reflection and ends with “The O.C. Duty to You,” a practice of self-tending that grounds and uplifts. Through its prompts and exercises, the journal helps survivors build resilience, self-awareness, and empowerment at their own pace.
Designed as both a personal healing tool and a professional resource, it offers structured guidance for those supporting others through similar journeys. Whether used alone or alongside the book, The O.C. Journal becomes a safe space to transform silence into strength and reflection into recovery.
About the Author
Courageous Fire, CHW, is the Founder and CEO of Courageous Fire, LLC, and a nationally recognized thought leader in domestic, intimate partner, and family violence. A survivor herself, she has spent over 14 years developing and delivering trauma-informed curriculum that bridges the gap between lived experience and professional practice—helping organizations, clinicians, and communities respond to abuse with both compassion and competence.
Her research-driven work has shaped state certification training for DV/SA advocates, guided clinical and social work education, and informed policy recommendations for funding organizations. Her lectures, approved for credit by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, are known for transforming awareness into action.
Courageous is also an award-winning author and creative whose work invites both survivors and professionals to explore healing as a shared human experience. Her first autobiographical series begins with the award-winning book This is for the Other Child and its companion, The O.C. Journal—a guided space where readers who identify as “the other child” can immediately begin healing through reflection, truth-telling, and reclamation.
Now expanding her work internationally from her base in Panama, Courageous continues to teach that healing—personal or systemic—begins with courage, truth, and the willingness to #changethenarrative.
