1:1 Leadership Coaching
Leadership at a high level is both an external role and an internal journey, and it can feel like you’re out in the wilderness without a map.
Get the support you need to find your way home.
“Working with Lia was transformative. As I navigated a major leadership transition and prepared for maternity leave, her coaching provided both strategic guidance and deep personal insight. Lia helped me shift from feeling overwhelmed to stepping into my leadership with clarity and confidence.”
— K.M, Nonprofit Founder
Why coaching?
When I stepped into my role as Founding Executive Director, I thought I knew what I was getting into. After all, I’d led with great success for over a decade. I’d built programs, grown and managed teams, and crafted strategic plans.
But after a year or so in my ED seat, I was struggling.
Externally, it appeared I was doing all the right things. I was (mostly) hitting my goals, tenaciously pushing the work forward, and launching the organization into existence. But it was taking a big toll. My nervous system was shot. My team was burnt out and frustrated. My peers and colleagues didn’t know how (or didn’t have time) to help me.
I realized that what had gotten me to the ED role wasn’t going to get me through it.
Around this time, a dear friend sent me an article by the person who would become my coach. In reading it, I felt seen, supported, understood and finally—not alone. I realized that while I wasn’t totally to blame for how I got to where I was, I was responsible for changing course. When COVID hit just as I had my first baby, I finally had the time—and the budget—to hire my coach.
Working with her was nothing short of transformative. It changed the way I saw everything—my leadership, myself, my life, and the world.
What had previously felt blurry slowly but surely came into focus. It didn’t take long for things to totally turn around for me and my team; I had the tools within me already, and my coach helped me hone them and remove the barriers standing in the way.
My own coaching experience is what catalyzed my ambitions to support leaders in this very way. As a coach, I get to do what I do best—listen deeply, reflect back lovingly, connect the dots between patterns, and transform through relationship. Through coaching, I continuously deepen my own practice and process, gaining more alignment, crisper clarity, and deeper awareness with each client who trusts me to support them.
As your leadership coach, I’m here to help you clarify your vision, crystallize and lean into your unique style of leadership, and see that you belong — and are needed in —your seat at the table.
Why coaching right now?
Leaders often come to me when navigating some kind of change to their circumstances, both exciting and/or challenging: A new opportunity. A big promotion. A leadership transition. A change of heart.
When the stakes get higher, our internal “work” floats up to the surface—a profound yet challenging invitation to transform into a new version of ourselves, should we choose to accept it. Maybe you can relate to some (or all!) of these:
You used to feel confident in your work and now, seemingly all of a sudden, you’re second-guessing yourself all the time. You’ve always been high-performing, but now the pressure to perform is getting to you.
Despite your success, you question whether you can hack it. Maybe you wonder if you belong, or if you have what it takes to meet the moment. You’re not sure if your POV is “good” or “right”; there’s too much noise, and you don’t trust yourself.
You’re not sure how to process the (sometimes big) emotions and feelings that come along with your leadership role.
You used to feel lit up by your work, and now it’s feeling less inspiring, less exciting, or less aligned. Now you’re feeling maybe a little burnt out, frustrated, jaded, not yourself.
Maybe your team isn’t happy and you feel alone and unsure how to make it better.
You want to get results but you’re not willing to kill yourself to achieve them. You’re overworking as a way to cope with all of the above, but you’re spinning your wheels
You’re asking yourself—do I belong in this seat? Can I do this role in a way that feels authentic to me and still kick ass?
What are the results?
What does it look like to kick ass from the inside out? Imagine that…
You know that your unique style of leadership is valid and valuable in the world.
You know how to interrupt your own second-guessing and how to stoke courage and confidence as you make decisions.
You say what you think without overly filtering or editing, confidently getting your message across.
You have new awareness of your emotions — and new ways to process them as they arise.
Your team feels safe, supported, and equipped to do their jobs.
You stop spinning your wheels and spend your days more clear on what you’re doing and why.
You have time and space for the things outside of work that deeply matter to you.
When you start spinning, or perfecting, or self-criticizing, you know how to support yourself so you can show up for others.
And —you’re kicking ass, getting the results, and making the impact you want to make.
Is 1:1 Leadership Coaching a fit for you?
My clients…
Are high-performing, deeply feeling leaders who desire personalized support and a truth-telling mirror to learn, unlearn, grow, and take action.
Have been professional go-getters, continuously accessing higher-stakes leadership roles, creating new niches and positions, or even starting new organizations or ventures.
Choose to do the work they do because they care about their work in the world and maybe even feel things deeply—whether it’s the problem they’re trying to impact or the moods and experiences of the people around them.
Are ready to do the personal, internal exploration required to kick ass at complex, mission-driven, people-driven work.
My clients are not…
Leaders who don’t want to look under their own hood, or who feel uncomfortable doing internal, personal work.
Leaders stuck in a victim mindset, or those unwilling or unable to explore their own role in their obstacles.
Leaders in any sort of immediate, acute professional crisis (i.e. facing being let go, experiencing a specific personnel issue).
Leaders looking for career advice or career coaching (though I can recommend some great people for that!)
6-months to transform.
1:1 Leadership Coaching is an immersive, deeply engaging experience that requires full-throated commitment. Typically, coaching engagements are six-months, with biweekly 50-minute sessions and ongoing, unlimited asynchronous support as needed via voice messaging.
Having me as a coach strikes the balance between warm, loving support and honest, provocative feedback. I’ll ask you the questions you haven’t dared to ask yourself, and I’ll be your cheerleader, mirror, thought partner and resource as you find the answers.
I push my clients to their growth edge while holding them firmly with love and compassion. You’ll realign to your values, re-invigorate your leadership, and feel more like you while getting kick-ass results.
It all starts with a free, no pressure discovery call to get to know each other. You’ll gain some insights and an understanding of whether we’re a fit to work together.
“Being able to show up fully as a queer woman in education is a big deal; Lia allowed me to see myself in a powerful way that inspired real confidence and real grounding in my purpose. I believe that I am more fully able to adjust to a change in service of more equitable outcomes for children because of the ways that I've been empowered to be my true self.”
— Heather P., Director, Oakland Unified School District