The Collective
Kara de Maine
Principal & Founder
Heartwood Collective
she/her
Kara delights in partnering with clients to get to the root causes of problems in order to co-create practical and sustainable solutions. She brings 25 years of experience to her work in leadership development, team effectiveness, creating inclusive cultures, and facilitating complex multi-stakeholder meetings. A life long learner and developer of people, Kara is excited about mentoring the next generation of leadership development consultants.
Angela Larsen
Senior Consultant
Heartwood Collective
she/her
Angela is a thoughtful, solution-oriented organizational development consultant with over 15 years of experience, adept at translating complex OD and leadership models into meaningful, actionable recommendations. Angela's strengths lie in her insightful data gathering, nuanced analysis of group dynamics, attention to project management details, and transformation of ideas into action. Angela holds a Masters degree in Management and Counseling from the University of Florida. Outside of work, Angela enjoys family brunches and hopes to engage in thoughtful discussions about her teenage daughter's assigned literature (a work in progress).
Carrie Heron
Senior Consultant & Practice Lead
Heartwood Collective
she/her
Since 1999, Carrie has been supporting individuals, teams, and organizations to clarify their goals, identify and address barriers, and take concrete actions to create change. Working both internally and externally at nonprofit, corporate, and philanthropic organizations, she has developed a keen insight into the underlying dynamics that can undermine the best of intentions and efforts. Clients appreciate the blend of compassion, humor, and clarity that she brings to her engagements. In addition to her work as a coach, facilitator, and consultant, Carrie also works with individuals in her mental health therapy practice. You can learn more on LinkedIn.
cindy ogasawara
Principal Consultant
cindy y. ogasawara consulting
she/her
cindy ogasawara is a facilitator and creator of transformative experiences where people encounter diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in authentic and powerful ways. Her obsession is the employee experience - helping organizations and their leaders create representative, fair, and inclusive environments where people can thrive. She is also the co-founder and co-CEO of Resounding Love, a nonprofit multiracial, LGBTQIA-embracing, interfaith gospel choir with an antiracism practice.
Eliza Arai Carrington
Consultant
Heartwood Collective
she/her
Eliza has a passion for fueling and facilitating spaces where connection, learning and belonging take place. She has over ten years’ experience in education and mentorship in both direct service and management roles focusing on identity development, inclusion and social justice.
In her work as an equity and community engagement consultant she supports organizations and public agencies to lean on the transformative power of relationships through facilitated dialogues, co-created work plans paired with accountability, and ongoing evaluation where teams can innovate and iterate to keep moving forward.
Estelle Acquah
Founder & Principal Consultant
Aya Advisors, LLC
she/her
Estelle Acquah is an expert policy and equity leadership professional, with over 15 years of experience in the non-profit, public, and private sectors. As Founder and Principal Consultant of Aya Advisors, LLC, Estelle works with individuals and organizations to build the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to disrupt systemic barriers to equity and inclusion. Estelle is a proud graduate of Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a founding Board Member of Novastar Academy (a school in Kasoa, Ghana).
Flo
Consultant
Heartwood Collective
they/them
Flo is a facilitator, educator, and culture worker who believes leadership, like most things, is a muscle to be practiced and it's available to everyone. Flo holds integrity, agency, and belonging as values to ground their framework when working with organizations and teams. They love finding questions to push further reflection and deepen dialogue. It's a facilitator's jam. Flo brings a Master's degree in Public Administration with a focus on nonprofit management, 15 years in the nonprofit sector across program, fundraising, and operations roles, and (possibly) tasty vegan treats.
Ilana Guttmann
Principal & Founder
Madison Valley Consultants, LLC
she/her
Ilana Guttmann helps organizations build capacity through enterprise-wide learning and leadership development strategies. She brings deep experience designing and facilitating working sessions that help leaders and teams tackle complex organizational, leadership, and interpersonal challenges. Ilana’s roots are in experiential education: creating compelling experiences that help teams make progress on real work in the moment—and translate that experience into sustained change. Her work spans a broad range of organizations and industries, including local, regional, and state government, human services, and philanthropy.
During the summer months, Ilana and her family can be found kayaking in Southeast Alaska.
Julia Laverde
Program Coordinator
Heartwood Collective
they/she
Julia recently graduated from the University of San Francisco with a B.A. in Critical Diversity Studies and minors in Spanish Studies and History. In their role as Program Coordinator, they provide evaluation analysis, research, calendaring, and other administrative support. Julia is passionate about community empowerment, education, and accessibility.
Julie Stoltman
Principal & Founder
Reframe Career & Leadership
she/her
Julie Stoltman is the founder of Reframe Career & Leadership. As a career coach and group facilitator, she supports mid-career professionals in clarifying what meaningful work means for their lives. As an organizational development consultant, she works with organizations, teams and Boards on retreat facilitation, team coaching and leadership development.
Julie has a diverse background in public sector leadership, social entrepreneurship, and organizational development. Grounded in the belief that everyone deserves to thrive in their work and that our world needs more values-driven leaders, she launched Reframe Career & Leadership as a genuine partner in charting pathways forward for authentic leaders.
Ron Poindexter
Principal
Ron Poindexter Coaching & Consulting
he/him
Ron has always wanted to be a part of something bigger than himself — to work alongside others to create a better world than he could create on his own. Executive and career coaching, designing and facilitating leadership development experiences, and helping teams be effective…these are vehicles for his work. Ron lives in Seattle with his husband and their two cats, Blanche and Olaf.
Yecelica Jaime Valdivia
Founder
Shift(ed) Leadership
they/them
Yecelica, also known as yjv, is a leadership development practitioner, healing-centered coach, and facilitator. Their work draws on 15+ years of experience in leadership development, organizational capacity building, and community-rooted practice. They’re curious about the many ways we can lead and how we can bring more presence, alignment, openness, and connection into our leadership practices. Their approach blends play and embodied practice, grounded in leaders' everyday experiences, to explore leadership as an ongoing practice of personal and collective growth.
