New Venture: Story Coaching
I’ve launched a personal story coaching business! Ask Sibyl, helps leaders mine the life moments that shaped them, and craft and deliver stories that build trust, connection, and credibility. This is the culmination of many years of work as a Communications Designer, Adjunct Professor at Northwestern and Story and Humor Coach at Stanford. Ask Sibyl is partnering with individuals, teams and organizations through a variety of services. We can also custom design an experience right for your needs. I would love to help you speak your truth, with some humor along they way.
About Me
I’m a creative who finds beauty in measurement (just give me a Venn diagram, and I’m happy to take my seat in the middle). I’m also a social alchemist who finds joy making connections between people, ideas, and the resources necessary to bring new concepts to life. I’ve worked with companies of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 500s, to design experiences, programs and services that connect and inspire people. But mostly, I just like to be surrounded by smart people who share my enthusiasm to convert ideas to action.
As the founder Drink Tank, a community-powered innovation studio, I brought people together to co-create, collaborate and make the world better, one neighborhood at a time. My work created social impact and strategic business opportunities and brand narratives for clients including Grubhub, Goose Island, Braintree, LeoBurnett and Betabrand.
Over the past several years I’ve taught in classrooms from Chicago to San Francisco . I’ve taught Design Thinking & Doing to undergraduates at Northwestern University, and served as a Faculty Advisor to Business Innovation Labs, a joint offering between the Kellogg School of Management and the MMM program at the Segal Design Institute. I introduced and led immersive courses in marketing and design innovation for Northwestern IMC graduate students at the school’s San Francisco campus. I’m currently I’m on the teaching team for the LEAD program offered through Stanford GSB, where I coach executives to design stories with impact and lead with levity and purpose.
I'm a graduate of Brown University and received a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications and Digital Media Management from Medill/Kellogg. In middle school I won the principal’s award for Pleasant Manners. (I know it’s rude to brag, but I just thought you should know.)
I’m a collector of good stories and great people, and I’m always interested to collaborate with bold thinkers, thoughtful leaders and creative innovators. Drop me a line, I look forward to meeting you.
What I think:
I believe that solving problems doesn’t need to be painful, and that sometimes an “ah-ha moment” is really a series of small discoveries, subtle indicators and validations from unlikely sources. And while strategy comes from the top down, game-changing insights often come from the bottom up. Companies need to create and protect a space in the middle: A time and place for multi-disciplinary teams to come together to collaborate, connect through story, and design ways to grow the business together.
What I do:
Innovation Sprints: Customize and facilitate innovation and immersive learning sprints.
Culture Design: Foster environments for collaboration, connection and creativity. Codify values and deepen connection through guided workshops. and experiences.
Leadership Coaching: Work with executives to lead with vision and purpose.
A chronology of relentless optimism:
We're all a culmination of our life experiences, often the ones you won't find on LinkedIn. Here's a highlight of some of mine:
I worked for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Games. As a member of the speed skating production team, I helped manage Long Track logistics, live audience experience, and broadcast. If you watched on TV and heard Pink’s “Get The Party Started” play twice-in-a-row in the background and have , “Awesome, I love that song!” …Well, you’re welcome! That was me!
After my stint at the Olympics I headed to San Diego to work craft services for a Body By Jake infomercial. I loaded up my Jeep with all the most delicious food groups: bagels, skittles and peanut M&Ms. Apparently the fitness models were not impressed. I was not invited back.
I did a half Iron Man! It was 15 years ago… but STILL! (I even managed to outrun the slow-moving support ambulance behind me.)
When I was a volunteer in Nicaragua I dreamed up and pulled off a fair for more than 400 orphaned and abandoned children. I hitched-hiked to Managua (please don’t tell my mom) to get the materials to build a dunk tank, a plastic tarp slip-and-slide, and other fair games, all on a budget of $250 USD.
During my single years in Chicago (there were lots of them), I wrote a satirical dating blog. At its peak I averaged 15,000 unique visits per month and 5 free dinners per week with men whose moms still did their laundry.
I was lucky enough to join a Google expedition to Everest Basecamp. It was beautiful, and it was life-changing. And I still smell like yak dung.