Transform yourself from burned out to badass,
by harnessing the power of your brain.
Ready to Stop Struggling?
I know what it's like to be an ambitious professional with high-performance goals. The struggle to prioritize yourself is real.
Prior to coaching individuals in personal habit change, I was an organizational change management consultant for 20 years. With a PhD in Social & Cultural Studies and Statistical Modeling from UC Berkeley, my work focused on leadership, diversity, and measuring the impact of change initiatives.
My clients included Google, Snap, Cisco, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and SkyDeck. Most recently I was a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley Engineering, for the EDGE in Tech Initiative, where I was a liaison to UN Women/EQUALS research and training projects.
Throughout the evolution of my career, a connecting thread has been supporting clients to optimize their ability to learn, grow, and achieve their highest potential. To do this, I lean heavily on one of my super powers, which is translating cutting edge research into actionable steps.
My habit change coaching draws on evidence-based findings from expert neuroscientists, behavioral psychologists, and evolutionary biologists, such as BJ Fogg and Andrew Huberman at Stanford, and Daniel Lieberman at Harvard. I've also studied Behavior Change Facilitation under the guidance of Dr. Judson Brewer MD, PhD, a leading neuroscientist and habit change researcher at Brown University.
Ready to expand your leadership, personally and professionally? I've walked the path, and I understand the challenges that hold us back. I'm here to help.
Still want to know more about me? Check out the story of my personal transformation below.
Hi, I'm Kara
Waking Up
During most of my career, I was a desk jockey. I ate and slept poorly, and I was mostly sedentary. I always had reasonable justifications: I was busy. I had kids. I was tired. But the truth is, we make choices about what to prioritize. And these choices catch up with us, for better or for worse.
After seeing a picture of myself presenting at a Haas Business School conference on women’s leadership, I felt like a fraud. The talk went well. But, privately, I knew that my outward appearance mirrored a state of internal neglect and outdated coping mechanisms for managing stress. How could I hope to inspire other women professionally if I wasn't modeling personal leadership? And, I wondered: What was I actually role modeling for my teen daughter?
Showing Up
The first step of my transformation was simple but profound: I decided that my body mattered. I decided that my body (not just my brain!) was worthy of self-care. And that taking care of myself physically was the best thing I could do for my career and my kids.
Deciding that I had a right to show up for myself was not easy. It meant calling bullshit on mom-guilt. It meant recognizing when I was hiding behind the business of work instead of exercising. It meant owning up to being stuck in a pattern of self-sabotage with food that was masquerading as self-care. (Sure, I "deserved" all those cookies for how hard I was working….)
Kicking Ass
For years, I was too overwhelmed by the gap between who I was and who I wanted to be to even take the first steps to change. The Go Big or Go Home mindset that is a hallmark of the Silicon Valley start-up culture I was steeped in was holding me back.
Meaningful change happened once I allowed myself to make incremental investments in my health and fitness that compounded over time. When I started out, I simply wanted enough energy and mobility to play with my kids. I did not set out to lose a third of my body weight. I had zero ambition to compete in triathlons or 100 mile bike events. Nor was I trying to achieve cardio fitness levels that put me in the top 1% for my age and gender. But I've done all of that and more.
I Believe...
Learning to tame the internal demons that keep you stuck and hold you back from realizing your dreams is a radical act of agency and self-preservation in the face of the relentless external demands on your time and energy.
I Believe...
As you age, you have the power to choose to rechart your life's path and achieve your highest potential by building the habit of showing up for yourself (just like you do for your family, career, & community), no matter what's in your past, including trauma, illness, or injury.
I Believe...
Deciding that YOU matter and are worthy of self-care is about self-determination. This doesn't make you selfish or indulgent. Nor does caring for your body make you complicit in the sexist and racist beauty ideals.
Set Big Goals. Take Small Steps. Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Dreams.
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