Ep. 19 Voices from the Top Rung #3

We Come to Lead Voices from the Top Rung Guest: Garlia Cornelia Jones, Obie Award-winning theater producer, founder of the Blackboard Reading Series, co-founder of Harlem Nine, and founder of Jones & Company Host: Nataki Garrett Episode summary Nataki Garrett talks with Garlia Cornelia Jones about growing up in a Madrical musical, Shakespeare-steeped Detroit family. They cover how Black Curtain at Indiana University led to the Blackboard Reading Series and Harlem Nine in New York.

Garlia also talks about why slowing down and telling the story matters for organizations under pressure. Garlia has a stutter, which in the episode she calls a speech impediment, and you will hear it in our conversation.

We are not editing around it. It is part of how she speaks, and this conversation moves at her pace.

Key takeaways 1. Build the container. 2.

Slow down and tell the story. 3. Trust is consistency built over time.

Timestamps • 0:05 Intro and guest bio • 3:26 Childhood in Detroit, a musical and theatrical family • 14:36 Founding Black Curtain and the path to the Blackboard Reading Series • 24:05 Community as a leadership asset • 29:55 Arriving in New York’s Black theater community (2007 to 2010) • 37:57 Jones & Company: strategy, infrastructure and vision • 41:13 Slowing down under pressure, and marketing vs. artistic teams • 45:46 Building trust at the pace of trust • 51:21 Pressure on Black women leaders and what’s shifting in the field • 58:48 Community engagement, audiences and funding inequity • 1:02:49 Rapid-fire questions • 1:09:03 Closing and takeaways Connect • Garlia Cornelia Jones (Jones & Company, blog): . Her social handles are all “Garlia Cornelia”. • Nataki Garrett’s Substack, Be a Ladder Leader: bealadderleader.substack.com • Ladder Leadership Services coaching: coaching.

Stuttering resources One in every 100 people stutters. For support organizations, see: Books and reading mentioned • Invitation to the Party by Donna Walker-Kuhne (Theatre Communications Group, 2005): • Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden: • Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown (AK Press): • Dutchman by Amiri Baraka (1964 edition, New York Public Library catalog): catalog. • A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry: • Fences by August Wilson: books. • The Ground on Which I Stand by August Wilson: ◦ Read the full speech free: ◦ TCG 25th anniversary edition: • “21 Practical Tips for New Artistic Directors” by Blake Robison, American Theatre (May 14, 2026): From Garlia • The Day I Found Out I Was Black (poem): producingwithgarlia.substack.com • “On a Sidewalk in Harlem, a Birth Story,” her New York Times City Room essay about giving birth on the sidewalk: archive.

On Dr. Barbara Ann Teer • “Barbara Ann Teer, 71, Dies; Promoted Black Arts,” Bruce Weber, The New York Times , July 25, 2008: Also mentioned • Blackboard Plays (formerly the Blackboard Reading Series), founded by Garlia Cornelia Jones in 2008: • Harlem9 and 48 Hours in Harlem: • Dance Theatre of Harlem: • “Arthur Mitchell: Harlem’s Ballet Trailblazer,” Columbia University Libraries: exhibitions.library.columbia.edu • Sonny Rollins, “St.

Thomas,” from the album Saxophone Colossus This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bealadderleader.substack.com/subscribe