About
Trajectory
The women in my group offered such important perspectives. I wasn’t just sharing the struggles of my own work, I was learning from smart women with incredible careers.
Building skills, improving relationships, overcoming workplace challenges, executing a career game plan — all take focus, motivation and support over time. In our groups, we track progress, get and give advice, and celebrate wins.
SORAYA CHEMALY
Advisor to Trajectory Women
Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning journalist, essayist and author whose work appears regularly in national and international media. In her writing, she rigorously and irreverently casts a bright, incisive light on what it means to be a woman in a world built by men.
Her narrative skill, careful research and humor-filled analyses described by the New Yorker as "relentless and revelatory." She brings these skills to bear in a critical examination of the social construction of anger and its effects on women's lives in her first book, Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger. Prior to her writing career, Soraya served as the SVP of Marketing for Nielson Claritas.
DR. DARA KASS
Advisor to Trajectory Women
Dr. Kass is an emergency medicine physician and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University. She is prominent in the advancement of women and is invited regularly to speak on topics such as professional development of women, unconscious bias and achieving gender equity in Emergency Medicine and beyond.
Dr. Kass is a co-founder of TIMES UP Medicine along with her collaborator, Dr. Esther Choo. She is frequently interviewed on CNN, PBS and CBS News regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
AMBASSADOR KAREN KORNBLUH
Advisor to Trajectory Women
Karen Kornbluh served as U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. The New York Times profile of her work there is titled "Fighting for Economic Equality".
Today, she leads the Digital New Deal campaign and is chair of the Open Technology Fund, a government-funded nonprofit advancing global Internet freedom.
Kornbluh was also policy director for then-Senator Barack Obama, and the author of his 2008 platform.
Previously, she was Executive Vice President at the global data firm Nielsen and was an economic forecaster at Townsend-Greenspan.
Kornbluh is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
LEIGH KEARNEY PHD
Advisor to Trajectory Women and Executive Coach
Coaching and developing teams has been the cornerstone of Leigh's career. As founder of Osprey Leadership, she provides executive coaching and leadership development programming to clients including Comcast/NBCU, Genentech, Zenfolio, Aptaris, Avaya, Fidelity, PWC, Blue Shield of CA, Tory Burch and others.
Leigh also spent several years as President of Leadership and Team Development for BeamPines, Inc, where she grew their high performance team practice.
Leigh has also acted as a senior consultant. As a Partner at Whitehead Mann Plc, a global leadership consultancy firm, Leigh managed the US assessment business.
Leigh was also Senior Program Consultant for the Center for Creative Leadership for 10 years. She facilitated Leadership at the Peak (senior executive development program) and co-designed CCL’s popular program, Leadership and High Performance Teams.
JANNELLE WATSON
Advisor to Trajectory Women and Program Member
Jannelle Watson leads political and government outreach at Facebook. She serves as a spokesperson for Facebook and represents the company at trainings, workshops, panels, and meetings. Jannelle co-Founded Facebook's Youth Council Program that educates youth on how to leverage Facebook and Instagram tools to build meaningful civic engagement by collaborating with elected officials and leveraging digital storytelling to inspire action within their community.
Previously, Jannelle served as the Regional Director of the women’s caucus for the Young Democrats of America. Prior to that, Jannelle served at the White House on the Community Solutions team and was a STAR Fellow with Running Start: Bringing Young Women into Politics.
PATRICIA GORTON
Executive Coach for Trajectory Women
Patricia is an award winning talent executive and Senior HR VP focused on Private Equity and Tech. In her work at Unit4, she drives business and cultural transformation through best in class HR and organizational development practices.
Patricia has also earned a coveted spot in the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches program, an elite group of the top 100 executive coaches in the world.
LAINE JOELSON COHEN
Executive Coach for Trajectory Women
Laine leverages an authentic curiosity, passion and creativity to facilitate change, engage others, and help people and teams get unstuck. As a Senior HR Leader and Executive Coach, Laine has extensive experience leading teams, driving results and building relationships.
Laine is currently Head of Leadership, Executive and Professional Development at Citibank. She is also one of Marshall Goldsmith's 100 coaches, specializing in internal leadership development.
AMELIA NEWBURY
Program Design and Executive Coach for Trajectory Women
An accomplished trainer and workshop facilitator, Amelia focuses on team performance, collaboration, culture-building. She developed her expertise by coaching leaders and managers in healthcare technology, professional services, and finance.
Amelia was previously Chief Operating Officer of the Authentic Leadership Institute (now the Core Leadership Institute), a training and development firm affiliated with Harvard University and based on the work of author and former Medtronic CEO Bill George.
Prior to coaching, Amelia played key roles in launching and growing five companies from start-up to success, in general management and product management roles.
SANDE SMITH
Executive Coach for Trajectory Women
Sande Smith is an experienced executive coach who brings her passion for supporting women to maximize their gifts and strengths. Smith's executive coaching builds on a distinguished career in communications. She is passionate about women’s leadership, having served as the communications director at the Women’s Foundation of California and the Global Fund for Women. Previous positions include senior account executive for the global firm Ruder Finn Public Relations. Currently, Smith is the director of communications at The California Wellness Foundation. She is past president of the San Francisco chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies from Brown University.
BINTA COULIBALY
Designer & Marketing Manager
Binta is a User Experience Designer working at the intersection of technology and social impact. She lends her global, community-centered perspective to projects that address gender inequality, sustainability, accessibility, and homelessness.
In the past year, Binta has graduated from Columbia University, been a founding technical member of 2 startups, and become a Made In The Future Design Fellow. She is now completing an Interaction Design program based in Munich, Germany.
ALICIA MERCEDES
Media Contributor
LILI PAXTON
Program Assistant
Lili is a recent college graduate (Mount Holyoke class of 2021!) and is passionate about advancing women’s success in the workplace and in growing their wealth. Lili recently started ARichWomansWorld.com to educate young people about personal finance. Young people are not taught about personal finance in school, and Lili wants to change that by offering accessible and simple educational resources on how to take control of their money and their futures. Lili is also interested in the renewable energy sector. She previously worked with Marya at Rep19, assisting with program logistics and social media.
SORAYA CHEMALY
Advisor to Trajectory Women
Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning journalist, essayist and author whose work appears regularly in national and international media. In her writing, she rigorously and irreverently casts a bright, incisive light on what it means to be a woman in a world built by men.
Her narrative skill, careful research and humor-filled analyses described by the New Yorker as "relentless and revelatory." She brings these skills to bear in a critical examination of the social construction of anger and its effects on women's lives in her first book, Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger. Prior to her writing career, Soraya served as the SVP of Marketing for Nielson Claritas.
DR. DARA KASS
Advisor to Trajectory Women
Dr. Kass is an emergency medicine physician and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University. She is prominent in the advancement of women and is invited regularly to speak on topics such as professional development of women, unconscious bias and achieving gender equity in Emergency Medicine and beyond.
Dr. Kass is a co-founder of TIMES UP Medicine along with her collaborator, Dr. Esther Choo. She is frequently interviewed on CNN, PBS and CBS News regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
AMBASSADOR KAREN KORNBLUH
Advisor to Trajectory Women
Karen Kornbluh served as U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. The New York Times profile of her work there is titled "Fighting for Economic Equality".
Today, she leads the Digital New Deal campaign and is chair of the Open Technology Fund, a government-funded nonprofit advancing global Internet freedom.
Kornbluh was also policy director for then-Senator Barack Obama, and the author of his 2008 platform.
Previously, she was Executive Vice President at the global data firm Nielsen and was an economic forecaster at Townsend-Greenspan.
Kornbluh is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
LEIGH KEARNEY PHD
Advisor to Trajectory Women and Executive Coach
Coaching and developing teams has been the cornerstone of Leigh's career. As founder of Osprey Leadership, she provides executive coaching and leadership development programming to clients including Comcast/NBCU, Genentech, Zenfolio, Aptaris, Avaya, Fidelity, PWC, Blue Shield of CA, Tory Burch and others.
Leigh also spent several years as President of Leadership and Team Development for BeamPines, Inc, where she grew their high performance team practice.
Leigh has also acted as a senior consultant. As a Partner at Whitehead Mann Plc, a global leadership consultancy firm, Leigh managed the US assessment business.
Leigh was also Senior Program Consultant for the Center for Creative Leadership for 10 years. She facilitated Leadership at the Peak (senior executive development program) and co-designed CCL’s popular program, Leadership and High Performance Teams.
JANNELLE WATSON
Advisor to Trajectory Women and Program Member
Jannelle Watson leads political and government outreach at Facebook. She serves as a spokesperson for Facebook and represents the company at trainings, workshops, panels, and meetings. Jannelle co-Founded Facebook's Youth Council Program that educates youth on how to leverage Facebook and Instagram tools to build meaningful civic engagement by collaborating with elected officials and leveraging digital storytelling to inspire action within their community.
Previously, Jannelle served as the Regional Director of the women’s caucus for the Young Democrats of America. Prior to that, Jannelle served at the White House on the Community Solutions team and was a STAR Fellow with Running Start: Bringing Young Women into Politics.
PATRICIA GORTON
Executive Coach for Trajectory Women
Patricia is an award winning talent executive and Senior HR VP focused on Private Equity and Tech. In her work at Unit4, she drives business and cultural transformation through best in class HR and organizational development practices.
Patricia has also earned a coveted spot in the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches program, an elite group of the top 100 executive coaches in the world.
LAINE JOELSON COHEN
Executive Coach for Trajectory Women
Laine leverages an authentic curiosity, passion and creativity to facilitate change, engage others, and help people and teams get unstuck. As a Senior HR Leader and Executive Coach, Laine has extensive experience leading teams, driving results and building relationships.
Laine is currently Head of Leadership, Executive and Professional Development at Citibank. She is also one of Marshall Goldsmith's 100 coaches, specializing in internal leadership development.
AMELIA NEWBURY
Program Design and Executive Coach for Trajectory Women
An accomplished trainer and workshop facilitator, Amelia focuses on team performance, collaboration, culture-building. She developed her expertise by coaching leaders and managers in healthcare technology, professional services, and finance.
Amelia was previously Chief Operating Officer of the Authentic Leadership Institute (now the Core Leadership Institute), a training and development firm affiliated with Harvard University and based on the work of author and former Medtronic CEO Bill George.
Prior to coaching, Amelia played key roles in launching and growing five companies from start-up to success, in general management and product management roles.
SANDE SMITH
Executive Coach for Trajectory Women
Sande Smith is an experienced executive coach who brings her passion for supporting women to maximize their gifts and strengths. Smith's executive coaching builds on a distinguished career in communications. She is passionate about women’s leadership, having served as the communications director at the Women’s Foundation of California and the Global Fund for Women. Previous positions include senior account executive for the global firm Ruder Finn Public Relations. Currently, Smith is the director of communications at The California Wellness Foundation. She is past president of the San Francisco chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies from Brown University.
BINTA COULIBALY
Designer & Marketing Manager
Binta is a User Experience Designer working at the intersection of technology and social impact. She lends her global, community-centered perspective to projects that address gender inequality, sustainability, accessibility, and homelessness.
In the past year, Binta has graduated from Columbia University, been a founding technical member of 2 startups, and become a Made In The Future Design Fellow. She is now completing an Interaction Design program based in Munich, Germany.
ALICIA MERCEDES
Media Contributor
LILI PAXTON
Program Assistant
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