MEET THE TEAM
Lola Elfman, Founding PARTNER & Principal of Facilitation, She/Hers
LOLA ELFMAN IS A CERTIFIED LEADERSHIP COACH AND MASTER TRAINER WITH PASSION FOR CREATIVE LEARNING AND SOCIAL CHANGE
For over 20 years, Lola’s work has focused on developing strong leaders and teams through community building. From leading the “bootcamp” training programs and RootsCamp ‘unconference’ at New Organizing Institute to scaling global organizations like Change.org, she has worked with leaders and organizations at all stages of growth. She has set the standard for engaging and productive team retreats with groups like UltraViolet and Coworker.org, meaningful management practices with groups like ActBlue, and was deemed the “Chief Listening Officer” by her peers at Change.org.
Lola believes that everyone is a leader, not just the people in the C-Suite, and that everyone has the potential to positively impact their organization, their families, and the world. By approaching her clients holistically as leaders, parents, and partners, Lola supports people in becoming their best selves in both work and in daily life.
holly witherington, CEO & Partner, She/Hers
HOLLY WITHERINGTON IS A CERTIFIED HUMAN RESOURCES PROFESSIONAL WITH OVER 18 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WORKING TO GROW, DEVELOP, AND CULTIVATE MEANINGFUL COMMUNITIES OF PEOPLE
She helps create dynamic teams by building inclusive organizational cultures and structures that provide nurturing environments where teams and leaders can thrive and have a profound impact. She's highly intuitive and deeply passionate about bringing people together and unlocking their collective potential to lead and flourish.
Holly has held a variety of roles in business management and non-profit advocacy where she focused on cultivating healthy and impactful teams. In addition to managing DevelopWell, she works with a variety of clients on creating equitable, people focused work cultures and human resources practices.
PHOEBE SANDERS, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, They/Them
Phoebe is a proponent of people-first working relationships and process-person who loves to support teams in transition.
Building on their experience of people, program, and project management across sectors, including nonprofit workforce development programs and democracy reform, Phoebe brings a harm reduction framework to team dynamics and workplace culture. They believe intersectional equity and whole-personhood in the workplace is integral to creating and maintaining sustainable working relationships, and in turn, builds tools for individuals and teams to dismantle systemic inequities both within their teams and in the world. When not at their desk you can find them in the pool, hiking around the Bay and singing with The Queer Choir.
AKAILAH JENKINS MCINTYRE, Principal ConsultANT of People operations and DEI, She/Hers
Akailah is a teacher and researcher at heart who harnesses the power of joy and truth-telling to create equitable, inclusive, and people-centered spaces. She believes that the pathway to organizational change begins with a keen look at self, power dynamics, and radical possibilities.
Akailah brings her experiences as a Chief of Staff, Program Director and Equity & Justice Consultant to engage clients in ways that get to the root of organizational challenges and successes. Her core areas of expertise include organizational assessment and analysis, building equitable organizational structures to sustain the wellbeing of people (and by proxy, organizations), scaling with intentionality, goal setting, retreat and meeting facilitation, and more. She believes that all successful engagements begin by centering the voices, perspectives and needs of those most impacted- and end with tangible and sustainable action and accountability. She loves travel, tattoos, time with family and friends, pups, Pilates, and, of course, Target.
Tiffany Ferguson, Principal of Talent Management and Recruitment, ShE/HERS
Tiffany is a seasoned social impact program and operations strategist with over a decade in startup environments.
Tiffany has worked in a range of program and operations roles across sectors including municipal government, the Federal Reserve, philanthropic grantmakers, direct service nonprofits, and social impact and advocacy organizations. She’s gleaned a lot about startup culture, employee experience design, cross-sector partnerships, and operationalizing innovation. She’s a big picture thinker, principally concerned with redesigning institutions, systems, and places so they operate in service of (not against) human flourishing. Tiffany’s approach to design is starting with the outcome we hope to see and working backwards; then iterating early and often, alongside stakeholders the whole way.
Kate Derewicz, SENIOR MANAGER OF CLIENT SERVICES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT, She/Hers
Kate is a skilled project manager who is passionate about policies and practices that uphold peoples’ dignity and opportunities in the workplace and beyond.
She believes that people and organizations thrive when they center diversity, equity, and inclusion in all facets and stages of their work. Diverse decision-makers and inclusive processes not only foster a better culture, but also create stronger mission-related and business outcomes. She brings her experience at nonprofits and a customer service orientation to her work, leading her to listen first and leverage collaborative understanding to advocate for innovative solutions.
Molly KNowlton, executive Coordinator, She/They
Molly is a versatile administrator with a diverse background of creative direction, production, and logistical leadership and support.
Bringing a wide breadth of experience spanning many industries, Molly loves collaborating to facilitate dynamic and thriving teams. They believe that a cohort is far more than the work that is accomplished, and that centering people in professional spaces is integral in fostering operational and individual sustainability.
Katie Bethell, Consultant, She/Hers
Katie Bethell is a forward-thinking, multidisciplinary executive leader specializing in spearheading new initiatives, catalyzing operational and cultural transformations, maximizing organizational effectiveness, and driving fundraising in CEO and COO roles.
With over 20 years of experience, she possesses a diverse set of skills in internal and external leadership and partnership, strategic visioning and implementation, and high-impact narrative and legislative advocacy initiatives. She has served as a founder, cofounder, and senior leader, and board member at organizations including WorkMoney, Paid Leave for the U.S., Change.org, and MomsRising, and VoteMama. Her expertise includes leading and building a positive culture and high performance in remote teams. She was honored to be named one of Fortune magazine’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders in 2018, and by Fast Company as one of their "Most Creative People in Business.”
Dalissa Vargas, Leadership Coach and Facilitator, she/hers
Dalissa Vargas is a former Non-Profit Executive who has pivoted her passion for equity and dignity in work to a new chapter centered on professional coaching and facilitation to support organizations, new managers, and leaders with tools and practices to thrive in their environments.
For over 25 years Dalissa worked in various capacities to develop fundraising and communications strategies to grow several nonprofits visibility and missions across the independent sector. Along the way she built expertise in strategic planning, fundraising, event planning, communications, storytelling, budgeting, board management and brand management. She’s benefited from working across the spectrum of the non-profit world from grassroots organizations to national organizations leading their respective fields. Her work as a coach began as the result of a journey she embarked on 5 years ago towards being a more compassionate manager. Through coaching and facilitation, she discovered a new purpose for helping others connect head, heart and instinct in authentic ways that allow individuals to show up as their best selves while inspiring trust, compassion, and creativity in others.
SARAH NOYES, RECRUITMENT Consultant, she/hers
Sarah Noyes is a seasoned recruiter, HR professional, and social entrepreneur. For almost a decade, she has leveraged her nonprofit background, sizable national network, and keen working knowledge of best practices to support mission-minded organizations with their talent searches and HR needs.
This includes supporting a wide range of innovative organizations, many of whom serve predominantly minority populations and support quality of life issues such as healthcare, housing, workforce development, gender equality, and education. Noyes is passionate about applying a racial and social justice lens to recruitment, while never sacrificing securing an ideal candidate for any role she fills. She is also committed to building the capacity of HR professionals and her clients, always striving to enable them to better lead culturally competent executive searches.
