Leadership and well-being coaching for social entrepreneurs

Helping impact-driven founders pursue their missions while protecting their humanity

Hi, I’m Grace 👋

I’ve been where you are. As cofounder of a tech nonprofit, I spent eight years on the passion, adrenaline, and burnout fueled rollercoaster that is building a social impact startup. Now, I help social entrepreneurs navigate their leadership journeys with clarity and confidence.

About me

I can support you in:

Taking care of yourself

  • Managing your mindset while working within systems you don’t control

  • Stabilizing your sense of worth against fickle sources of external validation like press and funders

  • Understanding your personal energy recipe, and structuring your work and life to provide the ingredients you need to thrive

  • Pacing yourself for the long haul, knowing you may not see the full results of your efforts for decades, or in your lifetime

Growing as a leader

  • Setting ambitious yet achievable goals, and planning for how both you and the org will need to evolve to meet them

  • Cultivating your ability to attract, motivate, and manage an increasingly large and specialized team

  • Keeping yourself and others calm, pragmatic, and focused during periods of transition or chaos

  • Building your capacity for clear, empathetic, and effective communication, so you can navigate complex relationships and difficult conversations with confidence

Zooming out for perspective

  • Clarifying your values, and using them as a compass when you feel overwhelmed or unmoored

  • Distinguishing between your needs and the org’s needs, recognizing you’ll both be healthier when cared for as related but separate entities

  • Disentangling your identity from your role, and learning that your work is an expression of you, but not all you are

  • Monitoring how your daily choices fit into your long-term vision for yourself, and adjusting to realign them as needed

My approach

  • "Grace has helped me grow as a leader and a human being. Her combination of coaching training and lived entrepreneurial experience is so key. It allows her to understand deeply what I am facing, ask the right questions with minimal context, and provide valuable real-life input. She is an excellent listener, and has been instrumental in helping me navigate through hard challenges with clarity and perspective. I am grateful for the impact Grace has had on me and would highly recommend her to any entrepreneur seeking to improve themselves."

    João Abreu, Cofounder and Executive Director of Impulso

  • "Grace is truly gifted in her ability to provide guidance and support that is both practical and empathetic. She brings a unique perspective to coaching, having been a successful founder herself, which gives her insights that are incredibly valuable. She's also one of the kindest and most supportive people I've ever met. Her warmth and approachability make her so easy to work with. I appreciated that she took the time to understand my needs and tailored our coaching journey to fit me, rather than having a one-size-fits-all approach. Overall, I can't recommend Grace enough. If you're looking for a coach who can help you reach your goals with kindness and expertise, she's your person."

    Gabe Saruhashi, Cofounder and CTO of Ameelio, Cofounder and CEO of Emerge

  • "When I started working with Grace, I felt lost. My biggest issue was prioritizing what to do and what to let go of at each moment. Grace does not necessarily tell me 'what to do,' but rather is a great partner in figuring out how to think about decision making and planning. She guides me through the unknowns, moments when there is a lot to achieve, and times when I need to take a loss. She is very kind and allows space for me to clear my head and come up with actionable plans. This is particularly important when you feel alone as a founder. One of the most concrete outcomes of our work together has been implementing simple practices to reflect on my life, organization, and daily work. I come back to these when I feel lost or anxious and they definitely help me feel more centered. I leave each session with Grace feeling much better than when I started. One of the initial discussions we had was to reflect on the good decisions I have made, that led to the growth of my organization. I think the most important decision I made was reaching out to her to see if we could work together."

    Aral Sürmeli, Cofounder and Executive Director of HERA Digital Health

  • "I began working with Grace as my mission-oriented startup faced important leadership decisions. I left every session with Grace feeling more grounded and clear on how I should proceed in a matter that was authentic to my leadership style and our organization’s values. With Grace’s invaluable coaching, I felt confident about approaching difficult executive decisions and life transitions with decisiveness and transparency. I wouldn’t be the leader I am today without her support."

    Jessica, Founder and CEO of a social impact startup

  • "Grace's patience, kindness, and care are truly special. Her willingness to dive deep and show curiosity when I had such little clarity gave me the confidence to keep going. I leave each one of our calls feeling better than when they started. I feel fortunate to call her a coach and a friend."

    Touré Owen, Cofounder of Colorwave

  • "Organizational leadership is hard! Working with Grace helped me parse through the many challenges and questions I was facing to define specifically what I needed to address, and then set goals to make progress actionable."

    Emma Fisher, Cofounder and Deputy Director of Climate Cabinet

Want to explore working together?

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