Leadership | Safe Space Strategies

Alexis J. Smith,
Operations & Impact Strategist

Founder, Safe Space Strategies, LLC

Creator of the S.O.W. Method™

If you’re carrying something with purpose, I’m listening.

If you’re ready to build something sustainable with the kind of strategic partnership that brings clarity, structure, and relief - I’m here to help make it real.

I’m Alexis, a strategist, coach, and trusted partner to leaders who are building with intention. My work sits at the intersection of impact, operations, strategy, and legacy. I help people turn vision into infrastructure, ideas into systems, and their calling into implementation without burning out the mission or the humans behind it.

For more than two decades, I have supported founders, family-run businesses, nonprofit leaders, and community-rooted initiatives with a blend of strategic clarity, operational design, and heart-centered guidance. I lead from faith, from lived experience, and from a deep belief that sustainable impact requires both structure and soul.

What I Know Now (And What I Bring to the Table)

In this season of my work I’ve embraced the truth that I am not simply a behind-the-scenes worker. I am an Operations & Impact Strategist, a systems builder, and a co-journeyer for people carrying purpose.

I help leaders:

Clarify what they’re truly building
Strengthen operations to support long-term impact
Develop systems that match capacity, not fantasy
Move through discernment with honesty and structure
Build teams and programs that can grow and breathe
Lead without losing themselves

I do this through consulting, coaching, strategic advisement, thought partnership, and ecosystem design. People may start their time with me looking for task support but, they stay with (or come back to) me for transformation through clarity, alignment, and sustainable action. Because often we've found ourselves growing something meaningful; even if the vision of the 1st project was narrow.

Your Work: Needs Systems. My Work: Builds Systems.

My signature framework, The S.O.W. Method™ (Strategy, Operations, Wellbeing), supports leaders in aligning their vision with the practical structures needed to sustain it. It’s a method rooted in people, purpose, and pattern recognition.

Clients work with me when they need:

Strategy aligned with identity, purpose, and capacity
Operational design grounded in sustainability
Thought partnership that brings relief and forward motion
A trusted strategist who sees the whole ecosystem
Systems that honor both mission and humanity

We attack chaos with so much care; it never sees us coming; and it doesn't stand a chance. I'll help you build for clarity, longevity, and impact.

Legacy Is My Lens. Safe Space Strategies Is More Than a Consultancy

I founded Safe Space Strategies to help vision-holders move from scattered to strategic, from overwhelmed to organized, from “carrying it all alone” to being supported by a system that makes the mission sustainable.

In 2010, I was quoted in Forbes Woman in response to the question: Does motherhood decrease happiness?

At the time, I was parenting three young daughters while launching/running my business; beginning of a journey I now understand as "legacy-building". Today, those same three daughters reflect the very heart of that legacy and are still my biggest reason "why".

How Clients Describe Working With Me

“A strategist who sees what I mean even when I can’t articulate it yet.”
“Warm, grounding, and deeply intuitive—with real systems behind the insight.”
“A partner who brings clarity, order, and relief.”
“Divinely timed. A steady hand during seasons of expansion.”
“A visionary thinker who never loses sight of the people.”

What I Love Supporting

Intergenerational legacy and family-rooted entrepreneurship
Nonprofits building mission-ready systems
Movements and convenings that center community
Visionaries who are finally ready to build what they’ve been carrying
Founders who want to lead with purpose and not burnout

My Core Belief

Your calling should not drain you.
Your purpose is not meant to be carried alone.
And the work you’re building deserves systems, structure, and a strategy that honors your humanity; not one that demands you sacrifice it.

If you’re carrying something with purpose, I’m listening.
And if you’re ready to build it with intention and care, I’m here to help you make it real.

"For me, faith and learning go hand in hand...

and the best way to learn has been through trial, error, and trust."

(Chef) Rayven Smith,

Food Entrepreneur

Youth Facilitator | Co-Strategist |

Culinary and Agricultural Creative

Hi, I’m Rayven Smith—a young Black woman who loves to cook, bake, and walk out the calling God has placed on my life.

I knew by my sophomore year of high school that I wanted to follow my heart and become a chef. So I made a bold choice: I transferred from a traditional public school to an online high school for the arts to pursue that dream more intentionally.

I’m following God through every part of this journey, and I know He’s asking me to be brave. That includes showing up, trying again, and sharing what I’ve learned—through food, through conversation, and through service.

I’m proud to work with my family as part of Safe Space Strategies, where we believe in building solutions that are rooted in faith, family, and purpose. SSS is more than a business—it’s where intergenerational strategies are born and where I’ve been able to grow into leadership. As a Co-Strategist and Youth Facilitator, I contribute ideas, create space for young voices, and support initiatives that serve families and communities across generations.

My work also supports the evolution of Good Trouble Collaborators, where we uplift creative and community-centered leadership. I help shape programming that centers wellness, food equity, youth voice, and legacy-building. Whether I’m helping plan a strategy session or cooking for an event, I bring my whole self to the table—faith, creativity, and all.

I’m still growing. Still learning. Still saying yes to the process. And I’m grateful to be doing it with my family, for my community, and through God’s guidance.

I look forward to working with you.