Wiley Portraits and Pages: Lisa Hurley
Space to Exhale isn’t another manual on how to “manage” burnout. It’s not about pushing through the overwhelm. This book is about pulling back.
It’s about choosing softness and sovereignty. It’s about release. It’s about making the deliberate choice every day to say no to the myth of resilience and yes to rest, ease, and alignment. For every Black woman who’s felt like she had to be Superwoman just to exist, Space to Exhale is a soft place to land.
When Women Exhale, by Diamond Michael Scott
In a world that often demands constant hustle and unrelenting strength, Lisa Hurley’s debut book, Space to Exhale: A Handbook for Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life is nothing short of revolutionary.
With wisdom rooted in lived experience and practical strategies, Lisa invites Black women—and all women—to remove their superhero capes and embrace rest, authenticity, and joy. This book isn’t just a guide; it’s a call to action for a global movement toward softness, sisterhood, and self-care.
PRESS
Meet Lisa Hurley, by Canvas Rebel
Stories of Risk & Reward
Risk, for me, often looks like choosing softness and rest in a world that rewards harshness and hustle. But while risk has been an almost-constant companion in my life, I view it as part of my sacred calling. Taking smart risks is a conduit to manifesting your purpose.
One of the biggest risks I ever took was redefining what success means to me. Traditional success often involves metrics that the world can see: C-suite roles, impressive titles, big-name clients—and long hours. The thing is, those success measures also tend to bring with them exhaustion, depletion, emptiness, and burnout. However, I choose to define success differently. To me, rest is the new success.
Lisa Hurley's Book Space To Exhale Offers a Timely Blueprint Encouraging Rest, Healing, and Liberation for Black Women
Three-time Anthem Award-winning activist, writer, and Reiki Master Lisa Hurley announces the release of her début book, Space To Exhale, a powerful and poetic ode to rest as the foundation of radical self-love for Black women. Timed intentionally, the book will launch on June 17, 2025, to align with celebrating Juneteenth, Caribbean-American Heritage Month, and the second anniversary of The Great Exhale, the wellness community founded by Hurley that centers Black women's healing, joy, and rest.
Meet Lisa Hurley, by Canvas Rebel
As an activist, a part of my remit is to shine a light on issues affecting my community. As a Reiki Master, it is my duty to do whatever I can to help to make things better: to heal, uplift, elevate, and nurture. Out of the intersection between my activism and my healing work, The Great Exhale was born.
I founded The Great Exhale in order to serve and support Black women like myself who are in search of a respite from harmful spaces and organizational cultures. The Great Exhale is a private membership community designed to be a soft, safe, healing sanctuary where Black women around the globe can relax, lay their burdens down…and exhale.
The Working While Black Effect: An Excerpt from Space to Exhale by Lisa Hurley
—Sharon’s Anti-Racism Newsletter, Curated by Sharon Hurley Hall
Hello friends,
This is the second excerpt from Space To Exhale by Lisa Hurley. If you missed it, check out the first one, Expected to Excel. This excerpt talks about a common experience for Black women in the workplace. Read on for details of both the Working While Black Effect and how anti-racism advocates and accomplices can take steps to counter it…
Anthem-Award Winning Activist Lisa Hurley’s Début Book Space To Exhale Offers Black Women a Blueprint for Soft Living
Anthem Award-winning activist, Reiki Master, and Caribbean-American writer Lisa Hurley celebrates the official release of her highly anticipated début book, Space To Exhale, available now wherever books are sold. Timed to coincide with Juneteenth, Caribbean-American Heritage Month, and the second anniversary of The Great Exhale, Hurley’s healing-centered community for Black women—Space To Exhale is a balm, a boundary, and a blueprint for Black women who are tired of the grind and ready to reclaim softness, stillness, serenity—and rest.
Expected To Excel: An Excerpt from Space to Exhale by Lisa Hurley
—Sharon’s Anti-Racism Newsletter, Curated by Sharon Hurley Hall
Hello friends,
Some of you may know that my sister Lisa Hurley has a book coming out in May. It's called Space To Exhale, and it's a "practical guide to help Black women - and everyone that needs to - remove their superhero cape, embrace rest, and create lasting life-work balance". The reason why this book and those spaces are so needed is explained in Chapter 8 of her book, titled Working While Black, and I've got permission to publish a couple of excerpts, which deal directly with the racism many Black people experience. Here's the first one.