2024 NOW Conference Coach

Katherine Abad (she/her)

UC Santa Barbara, Talent Acquisition Supervisor

Katherine has 15 years of experience at UC Santa Barbara and is a UCSB Communication alumna with a background in Human Resources and talent acquisition. As Talent Acquisition Supervisor, she coaches staff, student employees, and applicants on career development, application materials, and interview readiness, often through short, focused coaching conversations.

Her coaching approach is strengths-based and collaborative: she listens for goals and values, asks reflective questions, and works with coachees to identify concrete next steps they can take right away....

Katherine Lee

Rise with Clarity, Higher Ed Coach & Career Strategist

Dr. Katherine In-Young Lee is a Higher Ed Coach & Career Strategist. She is the founder of Rise with Clarity, a coaching and consulting business for women of color faculty in higher education, and host of the Rise with Clarity Podcast. She helps women faculty to advance their careers with clarity and confidence. She also coaches on the topics of navigating elder caregiving (while maintaining one’s career) and exploring career pivots within and beyond academia.

As a former musician and trained ethnographer,...

Katie Kanowsky (she/her)

I specialize in reducing stress and boosting well-being through a blend of cognitive science and creative coaching techniques. With over a decade of experience and a PCC credential, I offer a nurturing and engaging coaching style that encourages personal exploration and practical skill development.

With my foundational coach training at UC Davis in 2014 and nearly 3000 coaching hours, I bring extensive experience to my coaching practice. My educational background in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from the University of the Pacific adds a strategic perspective....

Kelly Scullin

CiTiZEN+SEEKER Coaching and Consulting, Founder and Coach

Kelly Scullin isn’t here to sugarcoat your journey—she’s here to revolutionize it. As a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and SHRM-Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), Kelly brings 20+ years of experience helping leaders, dreamers, and doers turn self-awareness into meaningful action.

Honesty, curiosity, and accountability thrive here — her coaching is fast-paced, challenging, and transformative. Drawing on her background as a former People and Culture executive, Kelly knows how to get to the root of what’s holding you back—whether it’s fear, perfectionism, or...

Kimberly Hale (she/her)

Higher education is unlike any other employment setting. I enjoy supporting academics and professionals who navigate the complexities of this setting through a range of question-based tools and resources. I attended a higher education-focused ICF accredited coach training program, and am well on my way to acquiring my ACC certification. I am fluent in American Sign Language as well as English.

Kris Downing (she/her)

I spent my career in the leadership development field, working for a 501-c-3 educational, non-profit institution as a marketer, strategic planner, and facilitator. In 2020, I left the organization to be a coach, earning my Associate Certified Coach (ACC) certification from the International Coach Federation. In addition to my private practice, I have coaching affiliations with the Center for Creative Leadership, Sounding Board, and Mastery Squared.

My coach philosophy is “challenge and cherish” which simply means that I work hard to create a safe, caring environment for the...

Krista Kusuma (she/her)

Krista Dahl Kusuma is a coach, mentor, consultant, president, and founder at Experience First Consulting, which she founded to nurture the potential of leaders at all levels, creating purposeful transformation. She has helped hundreds of people multiply their talent, work smarter not harder, and lead more intentional and fulfilling lives. Her work is featured in numerous publications, including "Come, Stay, Learn, Play: A Guide to Making the Museum Experience" (by Andrea Gallagher Nalls), and she has presented at a number of national conferences. She is a Co-Active Trained Coach and...

Krista Vaught

Frontier Design / RootedPath, Principal advisor, learning and talent development / Coach

Having served in various roles at large higher education institutions for the past 11 years, Krista is passionate about supporting higher education staff in figuring out what’s next in an intentional way. In coaching, Krista combines a blend of life design, strengths, and mindfulness approaches. She has made several pivots on her own career journey, including roles in journalism, law, executive support, academic programs, compliance, and learning and development, and she enjoys continually exploring ways to enhance meaning and fulfillment. Krista is passionate about creating learning and...

Kristen Hecht

Kristen Hecht LLC, Leadership Coach and Capacity-Builder

Kristen Hecht has 15+ years of experience in leadership development consulting, coaching, and workshop facilitation. She has provided organizational, team-based, and one-on one services to non-profit organizations, private foundations, membership associations, and academic institutions.

Kristen’s coaching approach supports coachees to create a more fulfilling and purposeful life, achieve more balance, move from feeling stuck to embracing possibility, work through emotionally charged issues, receive accountability on action commitments, and...

Kristin Griffith

eBay, Director, Product Marketing

I focus on helping people identify their professional dreams and formulating an action plan to achieve them. I specialize in coaching women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Marketing in the Tech industry.

My Background: I've worked in the Tech industry in Product Marketing for almost 20 years at companies including Meta, Intuit, Adobe, Netflix, eBay, and PayPal. MBA in Marketing, UCLA.

Certifications: Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) - Co-Active Training Institute.