Fatimah Gilliam, Esq. is the Founder and CEO of The Azara Group. As a skilled strategist, business leader, negotiator, and trusted advisor, she has spent her career advancing her clients’ goals. She leverages her expertise to provide real-world guidance. Her mission is to empower her clients to be strong business leaders, drive results, have successful careers, and be strategic in influencing others.
She is an author, lawyer, consultant, public speaker, and entrepreneur whose career combines expertise in the law, diversity, human capital, leadership, stakeholder engagement, and negotiations – helping organizations gain influence and strategic leverage, build coalitions and consensus, drive business and organizational goals, and advance workforce optimization.
Ms. Gilliam is the author of the groundbreaking book, Race Rules: What Your Black Friend Won’t Tell You, which is an innovative, practical manual of the unwritten “rules” relating to race helping people navigate polarizing issues. Race Rules provides much-needed how-to advice to drive equity and behavioral change. Introducing a straightforward, universal 3-step framework to unlearn racism, drive equity, and challenge misconceptions, it provides tips and tools on cross-racial interactions in people’s personal and professional lives.
Since launching her company, she has counseled institutional and Fortune 500 clients on being strategic in negotiations to expand leverage and bargaining power. She has also worked on strategy consulting projects, and has helped companies improve their diversity initiatives. Ms. Gilliam has helped private clients negotiate six-figure increases in compensation and severance packages, and has counseled business leaders on navigating their ascent up the corporate ladder through being more effective leaders and managers.
She has also spoken to groups of professionals, top executives, athletes, and students about how to position themselves for career success. Ms. Gilliam has counseled leaders in sports in negotiating more lucrative business deals and spoken to and advised athletes about leadership, career mobility, and life after sports.
As an expert negotiator, diversity disruptor, and strategist, she has been interviewed and written articles on negotiating, leadership development, the sports industry, being an influencer, career strategy, and the “art of persuasion.”
Her mission is to empower her clients to be strong leaders, have successful careers, and be strategic in influencing others.