Empowering people to empower people.
Hi! I’m Jessica Fusselman
I always planned to climb to the top of the corporate ladder. I went from undergrad to grad school with a clear vision: get the credentials, earn the title, make an impact. Beyond the money and prestige…
I genuinely believed that if I could earn top leadership positions, I would create space for more women to be represented, and represented in the right way.
For a long time, everything was going to plan. I loved the organizations I worked for and I loved the teams that worked for me.
Supporting people to shine felt so fulfilling and as my own career advanced, I felt truly honored to highlight others along the way.
Taking my roles seriously as all good students do, I started following transformational leaders like Simon Sinek and Brené Brown, studying ethical leadership, and researching the psychology that allows people to feel seen and heard as professionals and people. I discovered decades of proof that empathetic leaders create more productive, positive, profitable business results, and it felt obvious that sustainable growth simply requires leading with inclusion and respect.
The problem? Real-world corporate America hadn’t completely caught up to leadership style science shows to be most effective.
I started to grow tired of working for people who confused authority with leadership and thought yelling at people was the same as developing them. It broke my heart to watch top talent become demoralized and distant (if they decided not to quit) and I could feel myself losing momentum for the mission that once meant a lot to me.
When I mustered up the courage to voice my concerns to HR in an attempt to protect a team that I loved, I was promptly laid off for speaking out. The same treatment a few brave others received before me, and that shock sparked a fire within me.
We all sacrifice the majority of our time, away from our families, partners and personal lives, for our work.
That time should be spent in environments where ideas and input are valued, not punished, and I vowed I would never let another day go by without empowering others to find their own leadership voice.
Climbing an imaginary corporate ladder doesn’t matter if I don’t want to spend time with anyone at the top. I’d rather focus my skills and strengths on creating the workplace culture companies want and individuals deserve.
Post lay off I stepped into a new corporate role I adore, secured an additional Master’s degree in leadership, earned my professional coaching certification, served on advisory boards across industries, and studied leadership through an academic lens I'd never had access to before. If I was going to support others on their professional development journey, I was going to do it with a comprehensive, research-backed approach informed by diverse perspectives and rigorous data.
I'm not an academic teaching theory with no real world application or a guru selling the latest leadership trends. I'm someone who's been exactly where you are - frustrated, undervalued, watching broken systems reward the wrong behaviors. And I've dedicated my future to helping you succeed in those systems while staying true to who you are.
