I am a transformational coach, deft facilitator, clarity conjurer,  accidental strategist,  relationship whisperer,  and mother of two small humans. 

As the daughter of an artist who descended from a long line of artists, I’m deeply inspired by women who are fully expressed. These women, like Tracy Chapman or Frida Kahlo, Elizabeth Gilbert and bell hooks and Brandi Carlile, are often oddballs on the fringe of society who transmute their pain into art meant for both themselves and others. And, as the daughter of a doctor, who descended from a long line of helpers,  I am inspired by healers of all kinds:  those who use the science of our brains to understand our behaviors and our bodies, and those who use modalities that heal the heart and soul, too. I’m also Jewish, and deeply woven into my identity from all sides is the value of Tikkun Olam, which means to “heal the world,” as I understand it.  Some of my family members do this through creating and sharing art; others through delivering Meals on Wheels; others through medicine, and still others through food. It was always clear to me, even without the words being said, that one day, I’d be a helper too, and do my part to heal the world. 

Like my gift and drive for healing, I also inherited my sensitivity. Growing up as a deeply-feeling kid, I absorbed messages that I was “too much”: too much feeling, too much emotion, too much intensity.

When I was really young, I spent most of my time deep in imaginative and creative worlds, a balm for my overactive mind. But somewhere around middle school, I discovered that I could simply numb my emotions with what became my drug of choice: achievement. The validation and praise I got for achieving quickly became an addiction. I channeled my energy into what I could do well (like sports and school), and often quit things that brought me joy but that required more process, and more failure  (like art, or music).  In college, I channeled my beneath-the-surface emotions and my desire to make a difference into a passion for social justice, which led me to teach incarcerated youth in college and then on to Teach for America right after graduation. While my heart was in the right place, the culture of TFA at the time only stoked my addiction to perfectionism. I suffered from panic attacks that first year, so focused as I was on being the best. 

I settled into a pattern of taking on roles where I could build new programs to creatively solve problems, and I was really good at it. For a while, I made it work. But as I took on more responsibility and visibility, the chasm between my work self and my whole self deepened.

All of this was happening alongside some pretty big moments of reckoning that were shaking up my personal life. These experiences, while challenging, expanded my world and deepened by connection to myself  - but somehow that expansion didn’t translate professionally. By the time I became a founding Executive Director, my highest profile and pressure role yet, I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was somehow an imposter - disconnected from my humanity and who I was meant to be as a leader.  

Then, I hit a deep low.

A few years in as an ED, our organization started using a new tool to assess staff engagement. When we got the results, my team’s scores were among the lowest. Though this wasn’t all a direct reflection of me, as a deeply relational and sensitive person, I was shaken to the core. Despite hitting most of my goals and receiving recognition for success, inside I was having an acute identity crisis.

Externally, I was kicking ass. Internally, I was falling apart. It was in that dark time that I sought out an executive coach.

Through my work with my coach, I began to see how I’d been conditioned to believe that emotion and intuition didn’t belong in the workplace, that data and documents came before creativity, that our value is only as much as the outcome we produce, and that to hustle and burn out was a badge of honor. My coach validated my experiences, and reconnected my heart to my leadership. She helped me see what I’d previously believed to be faults as superpowers. She deconstructed my ideas of humanity and leadership and put them in a messy pile on the floor. Together we sewed them back together into something new. 

I learned. I unlearned. I dismantled. I practiced. And, eventually, I changed. I saw clearly the way we’ve all been socialized to lead from a place of dominance, power-hoarding, and with a hyper-focus on individual achievement and results. No matter how important the goals or inspiring the mission, that sort of pressure and isolation leads to burnout and burned bridges, and also kills innovation, hampers risk-taking, and stifles community and relationship building, and causes stress-related health issues. Although we were mostly hitting our goals and navigating the normal start-up team challenges with as much success as possible, my team wasn’t well. Some of them were stressed, disengaged, suffered from anxiety about making mistakes. While I wasn’t the root cause of all of this stress as part of the larger organization, I wasn’t ameliorating it, and in some cases I was perpetuating it. My constant sense of urgency was exhausting; they felt micromanaged, and unseen. And honestly - so did I. 

With my coach’s support (and that of many others too!), I envisioned and practiced new ways of being as a leader.

I stopped needing to know the right answer all the time and started getting more curious. I stopped needing to do everything on my own (and take the credit) and started lifting up the views and ideas of others. I stopped power-hoarding and started co-creating. I stopped caring what everyone else thought and started trusting my intuition; and I started listening to my gut and embracing my inherent sensitivity and emotional acuity, which allowed me to more deeply empathize with my team members and still make smart, sound decisions.

Work became more joyful, and more easeful. What we did didn’t really change much. How we did it changed drastically, and it changed everything. What’s more: we exceeded expectations.

My team’s culture drastically improved, and we continued to reach our goals and even overshot our fundraising goal. When I stepped down a few years later, I’d built a thriving and engaged team of 8 people. Together, we’d established 7 high school partnerships across 3 school districts that served nearly 800 students, raised nearly $4M, developed a board of 7 members, and created a values-aligned and unique team culture that achieved results through leading with heart and humanity.

It was impossible to ignore the connections between my own personal healing journey and my path to becoming a more liberated, authentic, intuitive and impactful leader capable of more impact than I thought possible. 

Eventually, I left my role as an ED to take a sabbatical to rest, travel, spend time with family, and eventually start my consulting practice. Now, through coaching partnerships and facilitated experiences, I help courageous leaders and their teams reclaim their authentic leadership style and realign to their values so they can heal themselves, fortify their relationships, and realize the impact they want to see.  I’m a sensitive healer and teacher at heart - who, through both serendipity and hard work,  stumbled her way onto a path leading to incredible leadership opportunities that were creative projects in disguise.  I’ve designed curriculum, built and scaled national programs from scratch, and faked it ‘til I truly made it on new skill after new skill (hello, fundraising!) Through it all, I found my way home to myself - without sacrificing impact. 

Now, I help clients who are at the same crossroads where I stood, deciding whether to keep taking the path they’re on or journey on one that brings them home to themselves.

My clients are high achieving, highly sensitive, intuitive and creative leaders with big visions who find themselves burned out, or simply suddenly craving something different in their leadership and lives. Despite their brilliance and potential, they question their intuition and spin their wheels.  They often feel lost, stuck, or disconnected. They (and their teams) want to lead from the heart while making a significant impact, and they want to lead their teams to do the same.  I’ve coached and supported leaders and teams to lead through transformation, increase their impact, build something innovative, and courageously tackle cultural issues. Most importantly,  I’ve coached my clients to deepen their intuition, boldly reclaim their values, recenter on their inner knowing, and lead with confidence and clarity. 

My leadership, education, and personal experiences  together give me the tools to use logic and analysis along with heart and soul to help leaders gain the clarity, alignment, and courage to heal themselves and the world.