On Tuesday, Sept. 23, Dr. Preston will be a featured speaker at Bruins Being Bold, a TEDx-style event held as part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health (FSPH) Orientation in Los Angeles, California. As a UCLA FSPH alumni, Dr. Preston’s topic will be “Leading from Within: Individual Wellness as the Foundation for Collective Transformation.”
In her insightful and informative book “Hustle, Flow, or Let It Go?: A Guide to Shame-Free Wellness That Honors Your Reality and Gives You Life,” Dr. Portia Jackson Preston offers comprehensive and invaluable insights to help individuals and organizations thrive by developing sustainable wellness practices for personal and professional advancement and promote sustainable performance growth The nationally renowned health expert addresses pressing concerns about stress management and mental well-being based on insights from her research and personal and professional experiences, including living with AuDHD and chronic illness, and working for organizations such as Procter & Gamble, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Deloitte Consulting, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
In her book, Hustle, Flow, or Let It Go, she provides strategies for creating and developing cultures of support and understanding for individuals and a diverse array of organizations. ” The book is geared toward, anyone who is crumbling under the weight of expectations from society, thier roles and responsibilities, family or culture … anyone who is feeling stuck and isn’t sure how to move ahead and needs help navigating everything that’s happening right now,” explains Preston, adding: “That could be anyone from parents, professionals, caregivers, students, I think it’s all of us. We are all navigating chaos and trying to find ourselves and losing sight,
Recently, the founder and CEO of Empowered to Exhale and a 2x TEDx speaker delivered the keynote address at the 2025 Annual Conference for the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL Women) Conference held in Atlanta in early September, where she engaged Black women leaders in discussions about personal well-being as a critical element of effective advocacy and strategic leadership development.
Preston encouraged Black female legislators to stabilize their own foundations to sustain their impact in the political sphere and emphasized the importance of acknowledging the mental and physical toll of being a Black Superwoman in the public eye. She also worked with participants and legislators to Create a SANE Cycle Blueprint for sustainable wellness that honors their identities, lived experiences, and current reality.
“I think that we’re just starting to vocalize what [mental health and well-being] looks like for Black women, because it’s different. Traditionally, when we think of someone being depressed, we think of someone not engaging, socially withdrawing and not doing much. And while that can be the case, We don’t always have the luxury of stepping back. Whether we’re internally driven or our circumstances require it, we tend to continue to show up, and we may even become more busy. We’re over-functioning as a coping mechanism,” Preston said in an interview after the NOBEL Conference.
The affable associate professor of public health at California State University, Fullerton, focuses her efforts on applying inclusive approaches to wellness and creates innovative programming to support students, faculty, and staff. Portia holds a BA in cultural and social anthropology from Stanford University, a master’s of public health from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate of public health from UCLA.
As a leading wellness consultant, Preston has worked with individuals and organizations in almost every sector, including government, higher education, healthcare, nonprofit, entrepreneurship, and academia. “I want to take us away from the traditional wellness narrative, where you have to do all these things and strive towards an idea or an ideal, in order to be enough. So we start with the foundation that you are enough and that you have immeasurable worth that no one can take away … and that worth makes you worthy of care. That makes you worthy of caring for yourself.”
Preston holds a BA in cultural and social anthropology from Stanford University, a master’s of public health from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate of public health from UCLA. She teaches courses on stress management and promoting health in diverse populations and her work has been featured on FOX 11 Los Angeles, Orange County Register, Authority Magazine, Mind Over Matter Podcast, and more.
Preston’s “Hustle, Flow, or Let It Go?: A Guide to Shame-Free Wellness That Honors Your Reality and Gives You Life” is already an Amazon Bestseller and top Stress Management Self-Help Book that has received high praise from well-known authors and industry leaders. “My aim is to help individuals navigate the hustle culture and its endless to-do lists with intention, protect their flow with sustainable wellness practices, and know when to let go, set boundaries, or walk away,” Preston said.
“The idea in this book is to help you first reconnect with yourself and then with others and then to the world around you. … I have to fight a lot of the same battles everyone else does to be able to hold space for myself with my flaws, instead of trying to push them away. But when I do that, what I realize is that we all have our flaws, right? And when I’m able to love myself and see that as a part of me, it helps others do the same.”
On Tuesday, Sept. 23, Dr. Preston will be a featured speaker at Bruins Being Bold, a TEDx-style event held as part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health (FSPH) Orientation in Los Angeles, California. As a UCLA FSPH alumni, Dr. Preston’s topic will be “Leading from Within: Individual Wellness as the Foundation for Collective Transformation.”
During this engaging conversation, Dr. Preston will discuss leadership tips for Public Health professionals drawing upon insights from her research on stress and burnout, along with personal experiences navigating chronic illness and AuDHD.