Before the microphone.
Why I Speak
It begins with listening: what people carry, what they hope to accomplish, and the possibilities they deserve to see.
01 · LISTENING FIRST
Making the Impossible Possible
We trust this leader to synchronize production, logistics, and support functions, cultivating dependable processes that uphold our service commitments.
Head of Operations03 · YOUR AUDIENCE
Eleanor Parks
Stories, questions, humor, and room to think—with your people and their next move at the heart of the experience.
Initiate a Productive Dialogue
Dr. Sagashus Levingston
Making the
Impossible Possible.
Story. Strategy. A new way forward.
Request Availability →Before the microphone
In her words.
Why I Ask
Why listening comes first: Dr. Sagashus explores the questions that help her understand your people and the conversation they need.
Making the Impossible Possible
A different way to think about constraints, overlooked resources, and the deliberate moves that open a path forward.
What Happens in the Room
How Dr. Sagashus shapes a conversation around the people, pressures, and questions in your room—and helps ideas become useful next moves.
Dr. Sagashus Levingston
Speaker. Author. Strategist. Founder.
The Listening
Speaker.
Lived experience, powerful storytelling, and practical strategy—bringing your people into a conversation that moves them forward.
The ListeningSpeaker.
For the people you’re bringing together
What do you want to make possible in your room?
You’re bringing people together for a reason. Let’s build a conversation that meets them where they are—and gives them somewhere to go.
Let’s Talk About Your Event →Maybe your team is navigating change. Your community is ready for a different conversation about money. Or your audience needs room to rethink the stories shaping their choices.
Dr. Sagashus starts by listening to the people, pressures, and questions behind your event. She connects lived experience, scholarship, and practical strategy with the work your audience is ready to do.
A conversation with somewhere to go
Room to see differently.
Language for what matters.
A deliberate next move.
As Seen & Heard In
Signature Speaking Topics
Real people. Real constraints. Extraordinary possibilities.
Three conversations that turn a different perspective into a deliberate next move.
The Art of Stratagems™
The science and art of outmaneuvering constraints and engineering possibilities. Learn to see overlooked resources and make deliberate moves when the usual path is blocked.
Leave ready to spot overlooked resources, question the conditions holding you back, and choose a deliberate next move.
Explore audiences & formats
What do you do when the path is blocked? You look again. This conversation brings The Art of Stratagems™ to life: the science and art of outmaneuvering constraints and engineering possibilities.
Ideal audiencesLeadership teams, executives, entrepreneurs, universities, professional associations, organizations navigating change, and innovation-focused gatherings.
Available formatsKeynote · Interactive workshop · Keynote + workshop · Customized organizational engagement
The Most Valuable—and Most Expensive—Thing You Own Is Your Story
How the stories we inherit, repeat, and trust shape our choices, opportunities, and sense of value—and how to put our experiences to work.
Leave ready to recognize the value in your experiences and make choices from a clearer sense of what you bring.
Explore audiences & formats
The stories we believe shape what we pursue, what we tolerate, and what we think we’re worth. Dr. Sagashus asks audiences to look at the price of those stories—and the possibilities inside them.
Ideal audiencesWomen’s leadership conferences, entrepreneurship organizations, financial institutions, universities, professional associations, and personal development events.
Available formatsKeynote · Interactive workshop · Keynote + workshop
Own the Bag™
Financial confidence, economic agency, and the relationship between money, lived experience, and the whole life you’re building.
Leave ready to name what gets in the way and identify practical moves toward greater financial agency.
Explore audiences & formats
Money touches the whole life you’re building. Own the Bag™ opens an honest conversation about confidence, access, identity, and the financial choices that put more possibility within reach.
Ideal audiencesCredit unions, banks, financial institutions, employers, workforce development organizations, educational institutions, and women’s economic empowerment programs.
Available formatsKeynote · Interactive workshop · Keynote + workshop · Customized financial-wellness engagement
Explore additional talks & workshops
The Wider Conversation
More talks.
More ways in.
Selected earlier presentations and customizable conversations. The three experiences above are the current signature talks; ask about adapting this wider body of work for your event.
Nothing’s Wasted
Our experiences—even the difficult parts—can hold knowledge, relationships, and resources for building a different life. Explore how to recognize what you already have and put it to work toward what you want.
Inconceivable
A conversation for entrepreneurs and dreamers whose ideas exceed what their current circumstances appear to allow. Reconsider the assumptions that make a dream seem impossible.
Covet
Health, wealth, desire, and the right to live a whole life. Make room for the woman doing the building, alongside the work and the people she supports.
Naked
An honest conversation about visibility, vulnerability, and the stories we carry around sex, money, and power. Scope and audience suitability are discussed during event planning.
Raising and Leading with Clarity Inside Chaos
A conversation about navigating the demands of raising and leading when conditions are complicated. Ask about an adaptation for your professional learning audience.
The Things We Cannot See
Explore the invisible circumstances, assumptions, and human experiences that shape how we understand people, respond to their needs, and make decisions.
The Listening Speaker
Room to see differently.
Language for what matters.
A deliberate next move.
I Speak To
The questions behind the work
Conversations for the life
you’re actually living.
Read what Dr. Sagashus is writing. Listen to the conversations she’s opening. Find an idea you’d like to bring into your room.
On the page.
Explore the blog →
From the blog · Dr. Sagashus
Ain’t Enough Ocean for All This
Is that vacation adventure—or escape? A conversation about building a life you can exhale in.
Read the essay → (opens in a new tab)
From the blog · Dr. Sagashus
The Grind Is a Hell of a Drug: Separating Your Worth From Your Output
What happens when your worth becomes tangled up with your output?
Read the essay → (opens in a new tab)
From the blog · Dr. Sagashus
Why Strong Women Forget How to Receive
Receiving support, naming your needs, and making room for more.
Read the essay → (opens in a new tab)Books, Bullets & Babies
In conversation.
Explore the podcast →Honest questions. Different perspectives. Room for the whole woman.
Books, Bullets & Babies · Podcast
Episode 6: Creating Spaces of Belonging with Jessica Oladapo
Equity, dignity, care, and creating spaces where people belong.
Listen to the episode → (opens in a new tab)
Books, Bullets & Babies · Podcast
Episode 5: Bridging the Trust Gap Between Women of Color and Financial Institutions
Relationships, representation, and the trust gap between banks and women of color.
Listen to the episode → (opens in a new tab)
Books, Bullets & Babies · Podcast
Episode 4: Health, Fitness, and the Wealth Journey
Health, fitness, and the wealth journey—with honest stories and laughter.
Listen to the episode → (opens in a new tab)Bring the conversation to your room
Something here sparks an idea?
These essays, podcast conversations, and speaking topics offer a window into the work Dr. Sagashus has explored—and the conversations she can bring to your audience through a keynote, workshop, or training.
If a post or episode speaks to what your people are navigating, share its title or link in the inquiry form. Have a different topic or question in mind? Dr. Sagashus would be happy to explore it with you and discuss what fits your audience.
Tell Us What You Have in Mind →Ideas in Conversation
Hear her in conversation.
Story, strategy, laughter, and the questions that open something up. Get to know Dr. Sagashus through these conversations.
Sagashus T. Levingston PhD: The True Cost of Breaking Generational Cycles
Conversation themes: What it takes to build a different life and break generational cycles.
July 8, 2025
Listen to the interview ↗Dr. Sagashus Levingston
Conversation themes: Reclaiming voice, making room for softness, Black womanhood, self-love, and the power of our stories.
April 14, 2025 · Dr. Sagashus Levingston
Listen to the interview ↗Mothering Doesn’t Equal Martyrdom
Conversation themes: Motherhood, economic shame, homeownership, and a life that includes the woman herself.
September 17, 2025
Listen to the interview ↗The Response from the Room
Speaking impact.
Response from the room.
Raising and Leading with Clarity Inside Chaos
2026 Social Workers Confronting Racial Injustice Conference
Source: recovered evaluations supplied by Dr. Sagashus for this 2026 conference presentation. Ratings reflect evaluation respondents.
“Excellent speaker and content was engaging, interesting and authentic.”
“This was my favorite presentation. The speaker was genuine, straight forward, and did well engaging with the audience.”
Make It Your Event
Your event.
Her presence.
Keynote Speaking
45–60-minute presentations that challenge conventional thinking, introduce powerful ideas, and inspire meaningful action.
Interactive Workshops
90-minute, half-day, or customized learning experiences that help participants apply ideas through reflection, discussion, exercises, and practical tools.
Keynote + Workshop
A signature keynote followed by deeper facilitated learning and application. Every signature keynote has a corresponding workshop offering.
Event MC & Hosting
Bring Dr. Sagashus to your event as its MC or host. She helps the audience feel welcome and connected, introduces speakers, guides transitions, and keeps the program moving with warmth, presence, and purpose. She is also available for facilitated conversations, panel moderation, and professional learning.
Explore Infamous Mothers organizational work →Media
The story keeps moving.
So does the work.
Original publication pages, selected coverage, and interviews that open the conversation.
Recent Work · 2025
New writing. A deeper conversation.
The House That Power Built
September 11, 2025 · Sagashus Levingston
Story, homeownership, and the power to build a different life. Issue cover supplied by BRAVA; the essay is her own work.
Sagashus Levingston gets more personal than she’s ever been
May 28, 2025 · Andrea Behling
A conversation about A Pot to P*ss In and the Without Apology tour.
Also featured: 7 upcoming releases from Madison-area authors →Courtesy photo by Chris Charles · Madison Magazine article image
Business as a tool for cultural change
July 2025 print issue · Leadership Insight · Page 40
Her published column explores business, leadership, and cultural change. Publication confirmed by the editor.
Issue cover shown; Dr. Sagashus authored the column inside.
Sharing a New Narrative
August 2017 · Print mention
Infamous Mothers and its author · Page 62, item 9. Cover shown: Idris Elba.
BRAVA’s Women to Watch
January 2017 · Cover appearance
Dr. Sagashus Levingston on the cover · BRAVA Magazine/Azena Photography.
Disrupting the Dialog
January 2017 · About Dr. Sagashus
Original feature page · Kate Bast. BRAVA Magazine/Azena Photography.
Infamously Inspiring
January 2017 · Print coverage
Original feature scan recovered from the former speaker site. January 2017 issue confirmed by the publisher’s email.
Entrepreneurship & possibility
October 12, 2017 · Coverage mention
Christine Michel Carter’s reporting on women entrepreneurs includes Dr. Sagashus.
Reducing Bias
July 24, 2022 · Interview
University of the Air · Dr. Sagashus is credited as a guest alongside William Cox.
Explore the full media collection
Disrupting the Dialog
January 2, 2017 · Kate Bast; photography by Hillary Schave
The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth
March 28, 2019 · Adrianna McKenzie
The House That Power Built
September 11, 2025 · Sagashus Levingston
Growing infamy
March 8, 2018 · Pat Dillon
Sagashus Levingston’s Remarkable Story Will Highlight A Fund for Women’s Annual Dinner
September 29, 2017 · David Dahmer
Infamous Mothers: In Their Own Words
April 4, 2017 · Excerpt by Sagashus Levingston
UW student looks to reshape concept of motherhood, help marginalized mothers
February 21, 2017 · Madeline Westberg
Madison author wants ‘Infamous Mothers’ heard
October 29, 2017 · Reference recovered from the email archive and corroborated by the Wisconsin Alumni Association. Original article link and byline remain in review.
Further reporting & authored work
Christine Michel Carter’s reporting on women entrepreneurs includes Dr. Sagashus.
Working the Dream and the Entrepreneurial Struggle →
July 31, 2017 · Sagashus Levingston and Amy Gannon.
OCCFR helps UW-Madison students with dependent children →
November 22, 2016 · Candice Wagener.
Infamous Mothers Commemorates Mothers’ Strength →
May 11, 2018 · John Allen.
Watch & listen
Dr. Sagashus at TEDx →
Selected speaking appearance.
Reducing Bias · Wisconsin Public Radio →
University of the Air · July 24, 2022. Dr. Sagashus is credited as a guest alongside William Cox; Emily Auerbach hosts.
The True Cost of Breaking Generational Cycles →
Making Progress with Myra Reneé · July 8, 2025 · Season 1, Episode 3 · Interview.
Books, Bullets & Babies →
Her own podcast: conversations about motherhood, money, and the lives women are building.
Story. Strategy. Possibility.
Nothing’s Wasted.
Meet Dr. Sagashus
Levingston.
The Listening Speaker.
An author, strategist, scholar, and mother of six. She connects lived experience with practical strategy to make the impossible possible.
Hear her in conversation →More about Dr. Sagashus
Meet The Listening Speaker
She listens.
Then she opens the room.
Dr. Sagashus knows what it means to build a life that once seemed out of reach. An author, strategist, scholar, and founder of Infamous Mothers®, she brings that lived experience to the room with the question at the center of her work: how do we make the impossible possible?
She starts by listening—to the people, the pressures, and the questions that brought them together. Then she connects honest storytelling with strategy people can use in their own lives.
Nothing’s Wasted is more than a talk title. It’s her belief that even the difficult parts of our lives can become resources for what we build next.
Born and raised in Chicago’s Bronzeville community, she earned a master’s in Afro-American Studies and a PhD in English Literature at UW–Madison while raising six children. Her scholarship connects Black feminism, motherhood, rhetoric, and literature with lived experience.
Read her full story →Author & Scholar
Books &
published work.
A Pot to P*ss In
Explore in the Infamous Mothers shop →
Infamous Mothers
Explore in the Infamous Mothers shop →
Covet
Explore in the Infamous Mothers shop →
Books, Bullets & Babies
Companion conversation card game
Explore the game in the shop →Explore scholarship & authored work
Selected Scholarship
Research that asks who gets to be seen.
Doctoral research · UW–Madison, 2019
Infamous Mothering or ‘Bad’ Mothers Who Do ‘Good’ Things: Theories and Images of Maternal Activism. Her research connects literature, motherhood, and maternal activism. Read the university alumni account →
Academic chapter · Demeter Press, January 2020
“Ambivalent Intersections,” Chapter 1 in The Maternal Tug: Ambivalence, Identity, and Agency, edited by Sarah LaChance Adams, Tanya Cassidy, and Susan Hogan. View the publisher’s record →
Selected authored writing
The House That Power Built · BRAVA, 2025
Infamous Mothers: In Their Own Words · BRAVA book excerpt, 2017
Let’s Make Something Possible
Let’s build something
extraordinary together.
Bring Dr. Sagashus to your next keynote, workshop, facilitated conversation, or event as your MC and host.
Fees, planning & speaker kit
Dr. Sagashus is available for paid keynotes, workshops, event MC and hosting, facilitated conversations, moderation, and professional learning. Fees are quoted through customized proposals based on engagement type and duration, audience and event scope, preparation, travel, and additional materials or deliverables.
Not sure which topic or format fits? Share what you know, and we’ll explore the possibilities with you. An inquiry starts a conversation; it does not confirm availability or a booking.
Speaker kit: biography, topics, headshots, selected media, approved testimonials, and technical requirements. Request the kit with your inquiry while the downloadable edition is being finalized.
Inspired by a blog post, podcast episode, or speaking topic? Add its title or link under “Preferred topic” in the form below. Have an idea of your own? Dr. Sagashus would be happy to discuss it with you. Tell us what your people are navigating—we can start there.
Tell us about your event below. Only your name and email are required; share the details you know, even if your plans are still taking shape. We’ll review your inquiry and follow up about availability, fit, and a customized proposal. This is an inquiry, not a confirmed booking.
Questions about speaking, workshops, or your event? Email speaker@infamousmothers.com.
Start Your Event Inquiry →Complete the form with contextual information regarding your challenges, timelines, and desired outcomes, and our team will respond promptly with an evidence-based recommendation framework.
Stay Informed, Stay Ahead
