Although Dr. Donna has been a musician for decades, learning to play flute starting in 5th grade, she often recalls the moment in 2013 when she realized just how powerfully unifying music could be. She was in Austin, TX for a Honk! Festival with her band, Extraordinary Rendition Band. The first place they were going to play was at a homeless shelter. When they arrived, dozens of people were lined up outside, some in chairs, some sitting on the sidewalk. There was a lot of yelling and police were breaking up fights and trying to keep the peace.

As the band finally began to play, crossing the street, the attention of the crowd was captivated. Once the band was positioned near the building, the crowd gathered around the band, making many of them feel a bit uncomfortable after what had just been witnessed. But within a matter of minutes, angry faces relaxed and turned to smiles, arms uncrossed and loosened up. Then before long, many members of the crowd began do move and dance to the music and soon began dancing with each other. Yelling had turned to laughter and joy. The police officers were able to relax as they leaned up against the building's pillars and breathed a sigh of relief.

It became evident that music not only could set the mood and be a powerful force for individuals, but it also carried the power to drastically shift a tense situation where people were at odds with each other into a situation where those same people experienced joy together. Unification was the true power of music.

Since Kindergarten, Dr. Donna knew she wanted to teach. Playing school was her favorite thing to do as a child. After several years of teaching, she started to realize that her calling was bigger in education than just one classroom at a time. She then went to work at the state level leading new teacher induction and educator evaluation before earning her building leader certification in a transformative leadership program. Her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction propelled her forward with her deep understanding of instructional leadership. She became a building level leader and then moved into being a district level leader in an urban school district with 34 turnaround schools.

While spending over a decade as an educational leader, it became apparent that even large school districts did little to really meet the professional development needs of instructional leaders. After spending some time contemplating, she decided to put her professional coaching certification to work and founded Inspiring Leaders LLC. Her intention was to not just impact school leaders but also to support leaders in other mission-driven organizations. After a year of little growth in her side business, she participated in a week-long challenge by Executive Networking Events - an organization she was a member of. During this challenge, she reflected deeply and realized that she was not fully embracing her true expertise; it wasn't just in leadership, it was specifically in Instructional Leadership. Because of this epiphany, she made a quick turn in her business, shifted her target audience to Instructional Leaders, and started a Global Membership called the Revolutionary Circle. This membership was designed for educational leaders across the world to connect, share, collaborate, and learn together once every week.