Shawn Needham, EVP HR, Georgia Main Food Group

The curated content and calibre of women in the Gutsy Leadership Circle have been invaluable supporting my leadership at the executive level.  

From the first moment Kristen and I connected, I felt safe to explore my leadership and to be vulnerable.  She listens deeply and asks questions that assist you in exploring what you are holding on to and how it is or isn’t serving your best authentic self.

I am grateful our paths crossed and love working with Kristen.

As a female Senior VP, I wanted to create further space to step into my executive leadership superpowers without sacrificing my personal brand of femininity.   

I found my tribe within the Gutsy Leadership Circle to support me in exactly that.   

We don’t scrape the surface, we mine deep beneath it, and we get to the heart of what really holds us back and unlock more of what will authentically drive us forward and upward.  

I highly recommend any existing or aspiring female leader enroll in this powerful program if, like me, you crave a unique and unconventional leadership development experience and community to move some internal mountains. 

I have had the honor of both working alongside Kristen and being coached by her and I truly appreciate the integrity she brings to each interaction. She has a fun and caring style that blends a "tell it like it is" attitude with the ability to create a safe place for a deep discussion.

Her broad experience and skills give her a versatile toolkit for each situation and an understanding of the nuances of life.  She brings a caring heart and seasoned authenticity to each discussion with no personal agenda.

What I've appreciated most is her style to lead with open-ended questions and then focuses on the actions required to reach your desired outcome. Her innate ability to meet you where you are and focus on where you want to go is an experience you won't quickly forget.

I’ve been fortunate enough to circle in Kristen’s orbit for the better part of 15 years, working both directly and indirectly together.  Kristen cares. Always has and she always will.  It’s in her DNA to want to assist others on the topic of leadership. 

Kristen is a qualified coach on this topic because she’s lived through the many obstacles and opportunities that come with the topic of leadership. Whenever I’ve needed a sounding board for those ‘2 am topics’ she’s been a confident and objective reference point. 

She’s also successfully figured out how to take difficult topics and make programmatic development offerings to both small and large organizations on how to make leadership a priority.

Work with Kristen if you really care about pushing your company to build a meaningful, values-based organization.  If you’re looking to put some leadership lipstick on a team that really isn’t open to embracing their employees, avoid her like the plague

As a female COO in a male-dominated industry, I had been searching for mentorship and support. I wanted to build my leadership skills and strengthen my professional interactions. 

The Gutsy Leadership Circle has provided a much-needed safe harbour of amazing, professional women. The group and content are both inspiring and healing, challenging and supportive, educational and affirmative.

I would recommend this adventure to all women who juggle leading a team and trying to live as their true selves.

I attribute a lot of my success to Kristen's coaching. I would highly recommend Kristen as a coach to anyone interested in making lasting transformative change in their life.   

She is very adept at strategic thinking and direct communication and challenged me to think more broadly in our coaching sessions. 

She has an incredible gift of insight to really "see" a person's strengths, passions and compassionately gives voice to patterns that are holding them back while still inspiring them to move forward.  

The Gutsy Leadership Circle came at the right time to support my leadership transition into a more demanding high-profile role.  

It was invaluable and eye opening learning from and with like-minded leaders.  It became clear that much of our challenges were universal to leadership, regardless of industry. 

Kristen is always highly prepared for each session and also malleable to course-correct in the moment, guiding discussion around the needs of the group and always leads us to positive outcomes.  I highly recommend Gutsy Leadership Circle. 

To any woman thinking they are too busy, too stressed, too depleted to participate in a Gutsy Leadership Circle: all the more urgency to get yourself into a Circle as soon as possible and take your life back.

Kristen has completely changed my outlook on myself, my work and leadership, raising the ceiling for the possibilities I see for myself and the courage to take action towards it. 

Prior to working with Kristen through coaching and her Gutsy Leadership Circle, I was in an almost constant state of indecision, self-doubt and fight or flight and was so far down in it that I couldn’t see how to get out.  I also knew that everything could be different, but I didn’t know how or where to start.”