About Tess

For years, I believed that strong leaders were supposed to fit a certain image of leadership.

Confident. Outspoken. Charismatic. The person with all the answers.

Then I found myself stepping into a role that challenged me to show up differently; not by doing more, but by trusting myself in a completely new way.

At 31 years old, I began working as a leadership coach, facilitator, and consultant with the Federal Executive Institute, one of the premier leadership development programs for executives in the federal government. I was working with seasoned professionals from organizations like NASA, the FDA, the DOD and CDC, and other federal agencies. Many of them had decades more experience than I did, and some had children my age.

Before I even started, I remember thinking that if I didn't fully own the value I brought to the table, I was going to get walked all over. There were moments that tested me, too. I was often mistaken for a participant instead of a facilitator, received skeptical looks when people learned I would be leading the room, and even had one person tell me I didn't have enough gray hairs to do my job.

What I eventually realized was that I didn't need to become the loudest, funniest, or most charming person in the room to prove my credibility. I needed to recognize and trust the gifts I already had.

When I stopped trying to prove myself and started leading from my gifts, people respected me more. I felt more confident in myself, stopped leaving every interaction questioning whether I had done enough or said the right thing, and became much less concerned with proving that I belonged.

That experience continues to shape how I coach today, but I can trace the roots of it even further back… to my granddad.

From the time I was in middle and high school, he would talk about the importance of education and always ask me, “So, Tess, when are you going to get your PhD?” He was the first example I can remember of a feminist in my life.

He believed our world would be a better place if more women were in positions of leadership, and that leadership needed the empathy and perspective many women bring.

My work now is to help women recognize their own gifts, challenge the stories that are holding them back, and build the confidence that comes from deeply knowing who they are and what they bring to the table, because leadership isn't about becoming someone different. It's about fully trusting who you already are.