Guest Post - Kathryn Sophia Belle, PhD: Black Feminist Making
Kathryn Sophia Belle shares from her experiences of making inside and outside of academia
Kathryn Sophia Belle shares from her experiences of feminist making both inside and outside of academia, including La Belle Vie Academy and her signature programs.
By Kathryn Sophia Belle, PhD
Lauren Guilmette and Ada S. Jaarsma invited me to be a contribute a chapter to Feminist Making, Doing, Sensing: Experiments in Philosophy (Duke University Press, 2026) and then to write a guest blog for the website for the book that is now published. And in both cases I was happy to accept.
The editors explained that the book project emerged from the 2024 philoSOPHIA conference. I was not in attendance at the 2024 conference. But I shared with the editors that I was present at the initial gathering organized by Kelly Oliver about two decades ago (2007) that eventually became philoSOPHIA (now a conference and a journal). This was back when Kelly and I were both at Vanderbilt University. It was a French Feminism Circle meeting. I found my abstract that I submitted for that event and realized that it highlights some of the main arguments I make in my book Beauvoir and Belle: A Black Feminist Critique of The Second Sex (Oxford University Press, 2025) concerning the limits of French Feminism, critiques of the race/gender analogy, and it even anticipates my current Audre Lorde book with a mention of Sister Outsider.
When the participants at this 2007 meeting discussed next steps, including changing the name to "philosophia" I suggested putting SOPHIA in all caps in the newly named organization (though that was before I changed my own name to Kathryn Sophia Belle). That was also around the time when Kelly (like Charles Mills) encouraged me to start Collegium of Black Women Philosophers (CBWP) because Vanderbilt was well resourced and gave her more than what she for asked to host the initial gathering. (What a time to be in academia!)
It is worth mentioning that Qrescent Mali Mason, who was the keynote for the 2024 conference (her workshop and keynote are featured in the first two chapters of the edited collection), and who is also a recent president of the International Simone de Beauvoir Society, attended my inaugural CBWP conference that I hosted at Vanderbilt University in 2007. Qrescent was a graduate student at Temple University at the time. She is now a tenured associate professor of philosophy at Haverford College!
The invitation to contribute a chapter felt very aligned for me because the editors noted that they could readily imagine me contributing rich ideas on making intellectual spaces both inside and outside of the traditional academy – thinking about my work with the CBWP and La Belle Vie Academy and/or my work around kinship and being Happily Unmarried. My chapter, "Black Feminist Legacies of Making, Doing, Sensing, Within and Beyond Academia," takes up major figures such as Patricia Hill Collins, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells, Audre Lorde, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. I also discuss my role in important initiatives including La Belle Vie Academy/La Belle Vie Writers, Collegium of Black Women Philosophers, and the Critical Philosophy or Race Journal (for which I was a founding co-editor).
The invitation to contribute a guest blog post felt aligned because the editors encouraged me to share more about La Belle Vie Academy and my signature programs. Of course, these are things about which that I love to speak and write! So let’s get into it!
~
I am a Black woman philosopher who did all the things Black women are told we are supposed to do – all the degrees, successful career, marriage, and children. I had it all. And I felt trapped by all of it! So, I liberated myself. I ended an unhappy 17-year marriage. I am now Happily Unmarried and Delightfully Divorced. I quit a successful 20-year career as an academic and administrator by executing my Exit Strategies. Now I live on my own terms, doing what I love – from reading, writing, speaking, and coaching, to celebrating my sensuality and sexuality with lovers and embracing Erotic Empowerment! Through La Belle Vie Academy, I share my core pillars of transformation in my life to motivate and encourage others on their own liberation journeys.
On the more professional side of La Belle Vie Academy, primarily, I support Black Women and Women of Color Academics and Independent Scholars: 1) Advancing & Achieving WRITING goals, 2) Navigating Being IN Academia, 3) Navigating Getting OUT of Academia. On the more interpersonally side of my La Belle Vie Academy, primarily, I support Black women and Women of Color seeking to be Happily Unmarried, Delightfully Divorced, and Erotically Empowered.
I started executive academic coaching in 2011 and created what is now La Belle Vie Academy in 2014. I learned that I was an excellent coach because my experience and expertise as a philosophy professor was highly transferable and directly informed my coaching methods.
I describe my method as "Embodied Existentialism" because I take seriously mind/body connections, physical and metaphysical inquiry, the power of self-awareness, as well as the insights gained when we contemplate life's bigger and deeper questions. My method also includes what I call "Embodied Emotional Epistemologies" or the profound knowledge that we have access to when we are consciously connected to our bodies and our feelings. Over the years my efforts evolved into signature programs from High Achievers and Exit Strategies to Happily Unmarried and Erotic Empowerment.
Often, I talk about how I took inventory of what I loved about being a professor and what I disliked/hated about being a professor. I realized that I did not have to be a professor building up someone else’s institution to do the things I love to do (reading, writing, researching, speaking, coaching, affirming and uplifting, creating initiatives, cultivating community). So I resigned/retired to do what I love without the constraints and institutional bondage of my former professor job.
I have so much gratitude for trusting my intuition, walking away from what does not feel aligned for me, and choosing what does feel aligned. Creating an amazing space and place for community, connection, consistency, completion, and care has been phenomenal! Connecting to my tribe through La Belle Vie Academy’s coaching, course suites, and writing community - in all of our beauty and brilliance, awareness and thoughtfulness - is such a gift!
~
La Belle Vie Writersincludes: our virtual writing community open and available daily; check-ins/group coaching; PLUS several La Belle Vie Academy Course Suites (Writers, High Achievers, Exit Strategies, and Professor Playbook)!
Feedback from my coaching clients and members of La Belle Vie Writers:
“I really appreciate your attention to emotion and holding space to process academic harm. I appreciate your affirmation of my experiences and affirmation of my feelings…You also were very intentional about asking whether we needed more time to process and talk about this heavy stuff….Again, your insights into the writing process, the technical part of writing, and the politics of the field are extremely helpful!”
“This was the first time in a long time that I felt full of vision, clarity, and energy. I have been struggling with feelings of isolation and alienation within my program. I have been told that these feelings are normal. Even so, this can’t be my reality… I am writing to thank you for some specific things. 1. I have jotted down your mantras and wisdom for the last couple of years. It has helped motivate me in publishing a few articles. 2. I felt absolutely grounded after today’s session and wrote a significant amount afterward…3. Your orientation to life and writing continues to help me to try my best to center joy and wisdom in my own writing.... at least to the best of my ability. It has always helped me to say no to what does not serve me, even as I continue to struggle with that.”
Notes like these are always so affirming and remind me that I am exactly where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to be doing!
~
If you are interested in working with me, I can be reached via email (kathryn@kathrynbelle.com) and my website (www.kathrynbelle.com).