Spring Forward: Relationships are the Real Currency
Spring doesn’t just invite you to clean your closet. It asks a bigger question: who are you growing with? Every season of real forward movement in life is fueled not just by ambition or strategy — but by the right people showing up at the right time. Relationships are the real currency. And like any currency, how you invest them determines your return.
At the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit, that truth had a name: Cynt Marshall. The first Black female CEO in NBA history, a 36-year AT&T veteran who, as CDO, promoted me into my dream job in D&I, and author of You’ve Been Chosen, Cynt moves through every room as someone who invested in people long before she needed anything in return. Reconnecting with her at the Summit — and meeting her niece, her namesake — was a full-circle, generational moment. That is what springing forward looks like over a lifetime: relationships that don’t just open doors for you. They open doors for the ones coming after you.
Then there is Jotaka Eaddy, founder of #WinWithBlackWomen and CEO of Full Circle Strategies — described by Forbes as the “Olivia Pope of Silicon Valley.” Her story is a masterclass in what community investment looks like planted early. As a high school student, she couldn’t afford a law conference. Black women in her church sold chicken dinners and held bake sales to send her — putting her on a plane many of them had never been on. That seed grew into a path that changed history. At the Summit, I saved my question for her Luminary Awards session. Yes, I was one of the 44,000 on her #WinWithBlackWomen Zoom call. Her answer about what rest looks like for us right now is still blooming in me.
Both women are proof that springing forward is not a solo act. It’s cultivated. So this season, here are three ways to invest in the relationships that move you.
Prune What’s No Longer Growing
Spring is a pruning season. Not every relationship needs to be released — but all of them deserve an honest look. Who is growing with intention? Who is simply taking up space? Choose proximity with people who pour in as much as they receive.
Plant in Community
Inside the Dream Lifestyle™️ Collective — a movement for Black women 50+ built around the Dream → Design → Drive™️ framework — we treat relationships as infrastructure, not decoration. Ask yourself: who in your circle is building something? Who tells you the truth with love? Who sees your next chapter and calls it forward? Those are your people. Invest there.
Show Up Before You Need the Room
The most powerful seeds are planted before the harvest. Show up for people’s wins. Amplify their work. Check in without an agenda. That consistency is what makes you someone worth opening a door for when the moment comes. Springing forward is not about rushing into new rooms — it’s about becoming someone the right rooms are already waiting for.
Sisterhood is infrastructure. Community is strategy. The relationships you tend this spring are the rooms you’ll walk into this fall. Start with one: who have you been meaning to pour into? Reach out this week. Not because you need something — but because that’s how real currency grows.
Deneen L. Garrett is a Cultural Alchemist and Media Architect who shift shapes culture through storytelling — writing, speaking (international), podcasting and community building. She is the Founder of the Dream Lifestyle™️ Collective — a movement where Black women 50+ Dream, Design and Drive™️ their next chapter with joy and intention. Explore the movement at deneenlgarrett.com. Deneen is also the creator and host of “Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation,” a 100 Best Women’s Empowerment podcast, now streaming live every Thursday at 1p ET as WOC Live on YouTube.