Tell us about yourself.

Born and raised in Santa Barbara, California I dreamed of living overseas. I have had the opportunity to live in France, Belgium, Germany, UK, Japan, China and India. For me collaborating with international clients and teams is both meaningful and exciting.

What type of coaching do you do and who is your ideal client?

I am an Executive and Leadership Coach, Group Coach, and Creativity Coach leveraging 35 years experience in Global Management  and the Creative Industries.

I work with clients in consulting, finance, technology, diplomacy, entrepreneurship as well as museums, entertainment, the arts, foundations and government, and the entertainment industry.

My ideal clients are entrepreneurs and leaders in all industries.

How did you start in coaching?

I began coaching in 2005 serving creative entrepreneurs to explore their own unique potentials and goals. In 2019 observing that many people were frustrated in their satisfaction and agency within organizations, I began searching for ways to engage others with their own unique strengths that would propel them forward.

As a coach I explore how creative models to inspire leaders through creativity. I believe that interdisciplinary knowledge can unlock many puzzles. I realized the problem is that the left brain does not know the right brain and vice-versa. These two areas often polarized project misconceptions about each other. I began exploring how creative models could inspire others to tap their own creative side. And I chose coaching as a vehicle to support leaders in management.

I am a leadership and creativity coach based in New York and New Delhi who believes that coaching can tap powerful creative potential not only in the boardroom but also within the creative industries.

What is the most exciting project you are working on right now?

It is an exciting time to be a coach! I am recipient of the 2022 Fulbright Professional and Academic Excellence Award for India where I have been creating models for transcultural collaboration. In August 2022 founded a coaching and mentoring program for Tribal communities in India’s Northeast.

I am founder of www.museum.coach and recently initiated coaching at the Yale Museum of British Art and group coaching at University of Melbourne Australia. I am also building group coaching for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Sri Lanka to support diversity, equity and inclusion and how we can work together across multinational teams.

I am a Leadership Coach at Columbia Business School in New York and GoldAward Mentor at University of London. I encourage today’s leaders shape their futures.

Finally I believe building new knowledge is essential to growing the coaching field. As a Columbia University Research Scholar on Coaching I am examining the futures of coaching within education, government, multicultural organizations and the creative industries.

Where did you go to school?

First of all - my background reflects someone who is keen on building experience and knowledge. I received my graduate education in the US, UK, Belgium and Japan.

I completed my Coaching Diploma (2019) at the New York University School for Professional Studies studying under Paulette Rao MCC who was also my Mentor Coach and I continued my training as a ICF Credentialed group coach with GCHQ.

In Brussels I completed my M.Sc. Management (1988) at Boston University’s international management program in collaboration with Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) in Belgium where in my early 20s I learned how to understand management not only iin American companies but also in the diverse setting of Europe with its unique cultural practices.

During my MBA (1989) where I studied under Organization Behavior theorist Abraham Rami Shani a Case-Western trained Professor of Organization Behavior and Development and Associate Dean of Faculty and Research at the Orfalea College of Business, California State University. Rami is the author of “Research in Organization Change and Development, (2014) and “Behavior in Organizations” (McGraw Hills-Irwin, 2009); and is a co-editor of, “Research in Organization Change and Development”. During specialized research during my MBA Rami was a rigorous and excellent task-master - I learned from him how to think in models that can translate what we are learning in to actionable tools. Rami and I went on to co-publish research on technology transfer and parallel learning models for international cooperation which inspired my journey to serve global organizations in their strategy and I went to work in management consulting and advertising serving global clients including 3M, Du Pont, General Electric, General Motors, Dow Chemical and Bayer.

Still thirsting for even more knowledge (and nurturing my inner artist) I returned to train further in 1992 completing an honours degree, BA Hons Fine Art (1996) from Central Saint Martins College of Art, University of the Arts London, then my MA Fine Art (1997) from Goldsmiths College, University of London. While I was at Goldsmiths I was selected for the Japan Ministry of Education and Culture’s Monbusho (MeXT) Scholarship and in Japan completed a two years Masters in Fine Art (2001) from Musashino Art University, Tokyo. I completed my PhD (2012) in the Faculty of Art, Environment and Technology, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK and was the first American to receive their Postdoctorate (2017) at the School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo, Brazil.

Between (2009-present) attended courses in diversity, equity and inclusion, entrepreneurship, leadership and philosophy on Columbia University’s Visiting Scholar and Scientist Program (2009-2022). I have also trained in languages since I was eleven and have formal training in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian. And I am a member of Columbia Univeristy Toastmasters.

What Awards and Fellowships have you received?

Currently in India, I am 2022 recipient of the Fulbright Academic & Professional Excellence Award for India and have been invited as a Highland Institute Fellow serving tribal communities in Nagaland, India.

I have been awarded grants for my work on intercultural collaboration from the US Bureau of Education & Cultural Affairs including the CDAF Grant (2020); US Department of State sponsored ACMS Fellow, Mongolia (2016); Fulbright US Public Diplomacy Award, Mongolia (2014) and the Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy China Award (2017) where I created US-China collaboration in China including collaborative performances on the Great Wall of China.(image below) I am trained in US Department of State protocols for international cultural project administration (2019).

In 1995, I received the Erasmus Award for my research at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-arts, Paris and in 1997 was awarded the Japanese Ministry of Education and Culture Scholarship (Monbusho). Tokyo, Japan. Researching local cultural practice in Norway I received the Nordic Artists Center Fellowship, Norway (2008). While a Bauhaus Fellow in 2008-2009 conducting research on diversity in communities in Singapore as a I received the Queenstown Council Citation Award (2009); At the University of the Arts London (UAL) was welcomed as a UAL Fellow examining Transnational Collaboration at Research Center on Research Center on Transnational Art, Identity & Nation (2015) and a Wheatley Foundation Fellow (2016) at Birmingham City University, UK and later that year was awarded the Taiwan Ministry of Education Language Scholarship (2016). As a professor I reach transcultural collaboration and received the Renmin University Merit Award, China (2017). I also am a Royal Anthropological Institute Fellow (2015 - present).

How do you feel about volunteerism?

In life volunteerism part of being a member of community. To give is to acknowledge others and the fact that we are all in this together. In New York, I serve as a Board member for the Manhattan Seventh District Foundation Charity for Children’s Health. At the Highland Institute in Nagaland I am building the first coaching initiative to tribal groups in Nagaland in India’s border region with Myanmar. Active with ICF both locally and globally I also serve on the ICF Thought Leadership Institute - Future of Education. I founded ICF Global Chapter Connect and served as an ICF-NYC Membership Ambassador leading university outreach. I serve as an Editorial Board Member of ProjectAnywhere a journal at University of Melbourne. I have served as New York Co-Chair of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) bringing in speakers and chairing events in strategy and competitive intelligence.

In Mongolia I served as Chair, Young Researchers Conference, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (2016) to inspire cross-cultural collaboration and mentorship between the US, Europe and Australia and Mongolia, In London I am a GoldAward Creative Coach, Goldsmiths College, University of London and serve as an Entrepreneurship Coach, Parsons School of Design, New York. In museums I coach women in leadership in Museums, and initiated a pilot coaching program at Yale Center for British Art, Yale University. Workshop Lead, Coaching to Leaders in Museums AAMG Conferences and serve creative entrepreneurs at Peking University Institute for the Cultural Industries, Beijing. At Columbia University I serve the School of the Arts as a Creativity Coach.

What impact do you aspire to have on the world through your work?

I aspire to engage creativity in coaching to make the world a more creative and compassionate place in which to work, live and thrive. I seek to share my “artist thinking” with leaders and professionals - not as a “new new thing” but, as a perceptual tool and set of behaviors that will help clients live more fulfilling lives and contribute to more equitable and inclusive societies. Finally, I am fostering Personal Learning Networks facilitating other creative coaches to contribute to other’s lives.

On whom would you like to have such an impact, and why?

I seek to have an impact on people who serve in organizations. As a coach and public speaker I seek to management + creativity to share the creative approaches artists use for problem solving within local, regional and multinational and intergovernmental organizations. Enhance coaching’s effectiveness in the $3TN creative industries (art, music, filmmaking, museums, government) and Impact other peer coaches through personal learning networks.

How do you measure (or plan to measure) that impact?

Trained in research I will measure impact against pre-stated objectives of teams, divisions and organizations who aspire to enhance productivity, engagement, creative output. Measurement of individual impact through 360s, results impact and interviews from creative, executives and leaders in organizations. Further, I will use open-ended questionnaires and primary interviewing – but I also seek to innovate new tools for measurement that can look at the impact of creativity and coaching within organizations a topic I am researching at Columbia Business School.

What have you learned about yourself through your work?

I have learned that as a creative individual I can inspire others to explore their own creative agency. Most of our creative potential is left untapped. Therefore I am looking particularly to research in neuroscience of imagination (Lee, Parthasarathi and Kable, 2021) and innovating coaching methodologies to inspire clients, groups and teams to create pathways forward to build value.

I have also learned that a lot of people like to write books that claim to understand and bottle creativity - with promises of ways we can “unlock our potential”. I have seen (and read) a lot of books making such promises and I am not certain that a book itself can transform someone.. I think a lot of people want to (and truly believe they can) see onside the workings of the artist’s mind. And maybe some can. But I do not think there are certain basic axioms that can be set forth to explain what an artist does - so that it can be replicated.

But, in reality, although there is an everlasting desire to empirically solve life’s puzzles the arts is not something that can be swiftly “solved” any more that the human personality can be replicated as a sentient, caring and thoughtful personality (I apologies to Siri, Alexa, the directors of Blade Runner, the Terminator, Bicentennial Man, I Robot and the Sci-Fi romcom Her). I think the artistic personality is not only revealed but is constructed organically.

Having said that a book is very useful in inspiring us that there is actually something out there for us to discover - and “out there” is actually inside of each of us - and out there is what connects us in how we share and ideate these concepts with others. I do enjoy public speaking and discussions but believe change is more of a process than a switch. We do not (our few of us do I presume) have a latent “creative switch” that when activated transforms a leader into a creative powerhouse - but I do believe that creativity can be grafted into individuals, teams and organizations - it can be fun and it can be insightful - and it needs to be accompanied by systems that cultivate it in a culture.

Who is a mentor or role model of yours - and what do you hope to embody from them?

The leadership professor Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa (Columbia Business School) taught me that mentors exist around us from different times and perspectives. For me my mentors and role models include: Andy Warhol, who I knew in the mid-1980s, inspired me with his “Factory” concept to approach creativity as a process - where the players are collaborators not competitors. Philippe Rosinski, MCC has inspired my coaching to engage increasingly multicultural, multiethnic and multi-gendered environments. Dr. Bernardo Ferdman (UCLA), and Dr. Cindy Pace (Met Life) - each who are pioneers embodying a new understanding of how diversity and inclusion is put to work.

And my “inspirators” who I know from NYU including author Todd Cherches a pioneer in exploring visual leadership, Dr. Anna Tavis, NYU’s coaching program director and my mentor Paulette Rao, MCC who inspires me to keep exploring and keep innovating in coaching.

With the rapid advancement and changes in the world, how does your work help prepare your clients to face the future?

The world is simultaneously globalizing and localizing. While we are ever more globally connected to the diversity other cultures through travel and technology – We now are learning to be more inclusive and compassionate at work and at home.

I coach in two spheres: professional clients in finance, management consulting, technology, healthcare, entrepreneurship and diplomacy – and clients in the creative industries (artists, designers, educators, filmmakers, writers).

1. Bringing “Artist-Thinking” to organizations. As a coach to professionals in leadership and management in organizations I support them in visual ideations of processes, outcomes – that use the same problem solving approaches of artists in imagining not only solutions – but also the ways forward which may result in valuable discoveries. Because it is not prototype-solution oriented I call this “beyond design thinking.” I am using this approach in my coaching at Columbia Business School, Parsons School of Design and with start-up entrepreneurs at Lang Center for Entrepreneurship.

2. Expanding Coaching’s Benefits to the Creative Industries. For creatives – coaching is not a one-size-fits all approach – but is a nuanced relationship. The Creative Industries (CI) will account for $3 TN by the end of the decade - about 10% of Global GDP. (UNESCO 2018). CI accounts for 30 million jobs worldwide. Creatives respond best to being coached by insiders (creative) As an artist, writer and filmmaker I speak multiple creative languages. Since completing the NYU coaching program in 2019 I have been busy: I joined as a Coach at Columbia Business School, initiated a coaching pilot to Columbia MFAs, established a leadership coaching series at Yale University Museums, and have completed phase 2 of a coaching pilot to PhDs at the Victorian School of the Arts at University of Melbourne. I am also using this approach working with artist-entrepreneurs on the Gold Award Programme at Goldsmiths, University of London – Europe’s foremost creative industries entrepreneurship program.

3. Unleashing the power of Ideation. I am exploring the power of projected imagination particularly inspired by the neuroscience research on imagination (Lee, Parthasarathi and Kable, 2021) fostering the client’s imaginative ideation of objectives and imagined realities five, ten and twenty years into the future.

4. Building models that enable us to explore Meta Perspectives: Finally, I draw from my experience in other verticals that inspire my coaching and perspectives. I am interdisciplinary by choice. I am an advisor to the ICF Thought Leadership Institute where we now explore the future of education. I am exploring intercultural diversity and collaboration as a 2022 Fulbright Senior Scholar for India and also research Eastern Philosophy and Ethics as a Visiting Research Scholar at Columbia University.

How do you keep yourself accountable to your current goals and aspirations

• I regularly check in with peer coaches to consistently build a thoughtful practice.

• I set and maintain clear milestones for myself and others, I am careful with time management, work-life balance and a focus on the deliverable outcome and the measures of success, communication with teams.

• I am always mindful of the mission also being open to changes in approach to meet realities

• I engage the GTD methodologies of David Allen (MG100) in all levels of my work

• And having an extra large agenda helps.

How do you seek to benefit future leaders?

In spaces beyond design thinking I seek to initiate a “mind-shift” in cross-disciplinary approaches between creativity and management science. I also bring a life-time commitment to exploring global culture, arts and management in over 32 countries, an open mind for listening, an appreciation for sharing ideas and a commitment to explore how coaching can make our lives and societies more meaningful.