An Inner View with Leadership Coach and Houston Chapter Director, Brandi McDaniel
BIO
Innovative, creative, and inspiring, Brandi McDaniel is the woman high achieving leaders seek out when they are looking for inspiration for their next project. Known for her heart for connectivity, an ear for listening, and for her sage wisdom and inspiring words, Brandi has helped a number of organizations and individuals get clear on what practical steps to take next as they seek to expand their voice, build their organization or brand, and leverage their skills and talents for the furthering of God’s Kingdom. She believes that an environment of expected excellence with balanced nurturing and support is the key to helping others unlock their own potential and access their God given talents. Brandi leads from a place of service and is excited to serve Influence Women as the new Houston Chapter Director, whose purpose is to empower and equip women to create radical cultural change through the use of arts, media, and leadership from a biblical worldview.
INNER VIEW
Kathleen Cooke: In our artistic careers, we often go off and do what we want to do and disregard what God wants us to do. What has he taught you about this?
Brandi McDaniel: I can best answer this one from an example in my life. There was a time when I had asked our teenage son to go outside and mow our grass. He started mowing the grass for a little while, but then decided to wash and detail my car. He came into the house, and he was so excited to tell me how he had washed and detailed my car for me as a surprise. I thanked him for doing that and then asked him if he had mowed the grass like I had asked him to do. He sheepishly said, “No, but I’ll get to that tomorrow.” While washing and detailing my car was a good and kind thing to do, it was not the thing I had asked him to do. It was still disobedience. God brought that memory back to me recently to remind me that sometimes I have allowed myself to get busy doing lots of ‘good’ things but neglecting the thing that God is calling me to do right now. Honestly, it kind of wrecked me to think that I could be doing a lot of good things for God, but still ultimately ignoring the call of my Lord by not doing what He asked me to do specifically. Like my son, I was guilty of being asked to mow the grass, but I was washing the car instead! God opened my eyes to this truth, and I immediately began to pray in submission to God’s greater will on my life with the promise that I will do the thing that He is asking of me now, because the thing He is asking of me is of the utmost importance to Him.
Kathleen: Our world is full of fear and uncertainty, and a creative career in the arts may be the most challenging to undertake today. How do you break that fear factor?
Brandi: I wrote a bible study on this called: “Move: Answering God’s Call in a Time of Uncertainty,” which then inspired a play based on the same concept, which will go to the stage in 2026. My family had a series of many (home) moves in just a few years and it made me think about the very human experience of the Israelites who were called to move from their known home in Egypt and onto an uncertain road into an uncertain future and what that must have felt like to trust God in the face of the absolute unknown. What I discovered through writing and teaching the study was that God layered in a consistent invitation to His people to trust Him above all else, even when all else seemed uncertain. Repeatedly, God provided for the Israelites amid their physical hardships of leaving their known home and crossing the desert into the unknown. From direction, to food, to making a literal path through the water, God continued to show up for His people. This truth invited me to look at my own life, and I saw that the same has been true for me over the years. There is a lot of evidence that God has shown up again and again in my life amid hardships and trials with all sorts of unexpected provision. He has even made a way when there has been no way! When I focus on this truth and meditate on His Word, I can trust that just like He has shown up over and over again in my life and in the Israelite’s lives, He will do it again.
Kathleen: What have you learned about keeping boundaries in a creative life?
Brandi: After God reminded me not to wash the car when I have been called to mow the grass, I protect my time now more than ever. I know He is not asking me to give my time to things He hasn’t called me to in this season of life, but to apply the spirit of discernment that He has given me to know which things He is asking me to invest my time in now. With that alignment, I now pay close attention to the specific calls of the Lord and invest my time accordingly. One of the things that encourages me is Jesus’s own walk with the Lord. I look to Jesus’s example in scripture where He never stepped out ahead of His Father, but remained submitted to His Father’s will in His life on matters of timing. One of my favorite examples of this is in the Gospel of John, when Jesus delays his trip to Bethany after hearing of Lazarus’s illness. On the surface, it seems shocking that Jesus would not rush to Lazarus’s side to help him, but it is because Jesus has trusted God’s timing that we see the miracle of Lazarus’s resurrection. In the story, Jesus appeared to have arrived too late, but we discover that because Jesus never ran ahead of God, He was right on time. When I was much younger, I can admit that I often ran ahead of God and said yes to too many things out of fear that I might lose the opportunity if I didn’t. I operated from a place of fear instead of a place of trusting God’s timing. I found myself overcommitted and overwhelmed very quickly, and because of it, many of my days were more stressful than they were peaceful. I was running ahead of God versus trusting His timing. It was a hard lesson, but an important one. Today, with Christ as my constant example, I better understand the importance of setting time boundaries based on God’s timing, not my own. I no longer allow myself to overcommit or try to run ahead of what God has planned for me so that I don’t miss the miracle.
Kathleen: In today’s economy, it’s easy to choose projects for a financial gain and not consider them from an influential perspective.
Brandi: When it comes to choosing projects that are ‘influential only’, first ask yourself: Is God calling me to this project in this season of life? If yes, am I willing to invest the time, energy, (physical, emotional, intellectual energy) that is required to do this project well? Am I willing to serve in this space joyfully, understanding that it may require even more of me before the project is done? Do I trust that the Lord will provide for me and for this project in any way that I lack? If the answer is yes to all of those things and you decide to commit to the project, then be assured there is no greater gain, no richer treasure than the salvation of a soul. While we cannot personally save a soul, we can surely lead people to the One who can. May your every effort to lead others to Christ be blessed and fruitful.
Connect with Brandi and the Houston Chapter:
Instagram: @influencewomenhouston