Alignment Strategies Group

Dr. Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler, a leading expert on conflict and organizational psychology, is founder and CEO of Alignment Strategies Group, and author of Optimal Outcomes: Free Yourself from Conflict at Work, at Home, and in Life (HarperBusiness, 2020), selected as a Financial Times Book of the Month. For two decades, she has advised senior leaders at global corporations in a wide range of industries as well as at large non-profit and governmental institutions.

In the corporate arena, Jennifer helps CEOs and their teams achieve optimal organizational health and growth, specializing in innovative technology, healthcare, financial and professional services companies. She has served clients including: CSC, IBM, Intel, athenahealth, Novartis, Oscar Health Insurance, Oxeon, Roche, Barclays, GE Capital, Moody’s, Cornerstone Research, Lexis Nexis, Navigant, and KPMG.

In the public sector, she enables leaders and their teams to optimize organizational impact at institutions including: Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, The New School, Oxfam America, and the United Nations.

As a keynote speaker, Jennifer inspires audiences of all kinds, spanning Google and TEDx, to Harvard and Columbia University, where for the past decade she has served as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Organization and Leadership, and taught a popular course on conflict freedom. She also coaches global business and government leaders in the Executive Education Program at Columbia Business School.

Earlier in her career, she was Director of Negotiation Programs at Mediation Works Incorporated, and a facilitator at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

In addition to Jennifer’s new book, Optimal Outcomes, she has also written the book Emotions in Long-Term Conflict (2014) and her work has been featured in The Financial Times, Forbes, Inc., MarketWatch, Success Magazine, The Washington Times, The New York Post, Chief Learning Officer Magazine, Fast Company, Fortune, and many others. She currently writes the Achieving Conflict Freedom column at Psychology Today.

A former counterterrorism research fellow with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, she received her B.A. with honors from Tufts University and holds a Ph.D. in Social-Organizational Psychology from Columbia University.

Dr. Wendy K. Smith is a Principal at Alignment Strategies Group where she helps leaders embrace paradoxical tensions (such as change/stability, today/tomorrow, social mission/financial goals) and increase women’s leadership.

Over the past 20 years, Wendy has consulted to organizations including the American Automobile Association, CSC, DHL, General Dynamics, IBM, and Intel as well as international social enterprises. She has also served on faculty at the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program, Harvard University, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Wendy is known for her high-energy style. She has taught senior leadership teams on topics ranging from emotional intelligence to organizational change, innovation, and managing in times of crisis.

In addition, Wendy is also Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Alfred Lerner School of Business at the University of Delaware.

Wendy’s internationally recognized research on managing strategic paradoxes has been published in journals including the Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Academy of Management Journal and Academy of Management Learning and Education. She is currently writing a book on the same topic called Leading Through Paradox: Embracing Tensions to Build Sustainable Organizations.

Wendy earned her B.A. from Yale University and her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Harvard Business School.

She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and three children.

Dana Asher is a certified executive coach, organizational consultant, group facilitator, and keynote speaker with expertise and experience in transformational learning and culture shift at work

At Alignment Strategies Group (as well as the firm she founded, Related Experience), Dana currently serves leaders and teams at organizations including The Ford Foundation, McKinsey & Company, The New School, and The Priceline Group. Past clients include Accenture, Alcoa, Google, KPMG, Nestlé, and Stop and Shop, among others.

Dana consults and coaches in order to contain individual and organizational anxiety that inhibits performance, bring people and work cultures back into relationship with themselves, and build personal and institutional capacity for growth and development. She readies leaders for organizational culture change, and helps them to implement habit design protocol. She coaches to pressing business issues, works with developmental feedback, and measures impact. Dana remains grounded in the Systems-Psychodynamic (Socio-Analytic) method, wherein coach and coaching client look at the person, the role, and the organization together.

As Managing Director of the Winning From Within practice at Mobius, and prior to that, at The Energy Project, where she built and led the Organizational Transformation practice, Dana has helped some of the world’s top business leaders and teams to perform sustainably and lead transformationally. At McKinsey & Company, as Practice Manager of the Capability for Performance practice, Dana delivered measurable impact at scale. A contributor to Fast Company, Dana has been featured in The Boston Globe, More, SELF, and multiple print volumes. 

Dana trained at The Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in New York City and completed two years of Tavistock-method participant observation with infants and their families. Prior to her work in leadership development and organizational learning, Dana was awarded a PhD from Northwestern University, where she trained as a literary scholar. She brings to her client work deep attunement to the power of the stories we tell ourselves.

Eden is a dynamic executive coach who draws on her professional development expertise and business acumen to help individuals, teams and organizations achieve their goals. She is skilled at building highly collaborative relationships with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Eden has partnered with senior executives and emerging leaders from a wide variety of fields and companies including A+E Networks, Broadridge, BuzzFeed, Columbia University, Diageo, Food Network, Khan Academy, Loews Hotels and Resorts, The New York Public Library, Reddit, UCLA and The Walt Disney Company. She enjoys mentoring up-and-coming talent as well, which she does as a coach and facilitator at New York University’s Stern School of Business. She is also an instructional consultant for adjunct professors in Stern’s Teaching Effectiveness Program (STEP) and facilitates peer learning groups for leaders from high growth, VC-backed technology companies.

As a coach, Eden is passionate about supporting her clients’ personal and organizational change agendas. Her approach is informed by the belief that trust, candor, and empathy are the cornerstones of every successful coaching relationship. By providing the right combination of challenge and support, she helps clients learn about themselves, understand how others perceive them and experiment with new behaviors that, over time, result in positive and tangible changes.

Earlier in her career, Eden advised executive teams in both public and privately-held companies on strategies to advance their business objectives in complex situations such as M&A transactions, financial crises, litigation and management transitions.

Eden holds M.A. degrees in Executive Coaching from Middlesex University in London and European Studies and Economics from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She received a B.A. from Northwestern University in Political Science and Italian.

Eden is a Founding Fellow of the Institute for Coaching at Harvard University and is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Assessment, the Hogan Assessments and the NBI WholeBrain Creativity Assessment. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children.

Tom Gosselin brings over 30 years of international experience in developing leaders who drive organizational performance. He specializes in executive coaching, leadership development, training, and organization development consulting.

Over the course of his career, Tom has focused on executive coaching and leadership development, including developing a coaching model for leaders in transition. He is an expert in emotional intelligence and has developed interventions and coaching techniques to build EI in executives. He has also led large-scale transformational change initiatives.

Tom has worked extensively with clients in financial services, media, consulting and professional services, executive search, manufacturing, travel services, pharmaceutical and medical products, and consumer products including: Alliance Capital, C.R. Bard, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ford Motor Company, Ingersoll Rand, J.P. Morgan-Chase, Johnson & Johnson, Lincoln Financial, Marsh, Mercer, McKinsey & Company, Philips, Putnam Investments, Scripps Networks, Spencer Stuart, and State Street Corporation.

Earlier in his career, Tom led large-scale organization development projects at MCI Telecommunications, Freddie Mac, and the US Department of Labor as a consultant with the Sterling Institute. In his work on change, Tom has focused on understanding the effects of organizational change—especially downsizing—on individual and organizational performance.  His artlcle, “Downsizing Syndrome: Reaction and Response” (HR Horizons, 1991) was the culmination of years of research and observation of organizations ranging from government to dot coms.  Tom often leverages his previous experience as a psychotherapist in exploring organizational and interpersonal dynamics.

Tom’s intellectual passion lies in developing practical applications of negotiation theory. In addition to his workshops in negotiating, Tom’s book Practical Negotiating: Tools, Tactics, and Techniques has been hailed as “a thoughtful, engaging, and practical guide on a topic of increasing importance to leaders and organizations.”

Tom received a BA from St. John’s in Philosophy and Psychology, and an MSW from Catholic University. He also studied Organizational Behavior at George Washington University and at Boston College. He is an active member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (ACEC). He leads Executive Coaching Certification Programs at New York University and has been a guest lecturer on power and influence at Harvard Business School.

Melanie Hoopes is a presentation and presence coach who has supported leaders, clergy members, entrepreneurs, lawyers and celebrities from all over the world.

Because of her background in speechwriting, storytelling and improvisation, Melanie’s toolkit is extensive.  She works with those looking to gain control over fears and anxieties around speaking in public or with seasoned speakers eager to hone their message or break bad habits. By placing authenticity over form, Melanie leads her clients to discover their own speaking style that is as effective as it is comfortable.  Melanie wants each person she works with to be aware and in control of how they show up in a room.

Melanie has run presence and storytelling workshops for Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Verizon, Genentech, UPenn, Rutgers and Towers Watson.  She’s helped individuals devise and present their ideas at The Ford Foundation, The Energy Project, Goldman Sachs, New York Cares and many more. She’s coached executives and legal teams with presentations and keynotes at The New York Times, The Daily News, Girl Scouts of America, Google and PepsiCo.  As a speechwriter, Melanie has worked with executives from New York Public Radio and The Partnership for Drug Free Kids.  A particular passion of Melanie’s is helping her clients distill complicated ideas to present to a general audience.

In addition to presentation coaching, Melanie is writer for film, TV and radio.  She was a staff writer for Bloodline on Netflix and has written and performed for podcasts and programs on Public Radio such as KCRW’s Unficitonal, This American Life, Studio 360 and Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin.

Prior to her coaching career, Melanie was an actress and toured solo shows across the country. She holds a BS in Performance Studies from Northwestern and a Masters from NYU in Education and Performance. She regularly performs at the Magnet Theater, an improv theater in New York City, and is the founder of Hastings Horror Camp where she teaches teens the art of filmmaking.

An executive leadership coach, Jo Ilfeld Ph.D. works with C-suite leaders, executives and high potential managers to create more impact and influence in their organizations. She works with individuals, teams and organizations on 4 core areas of leadership development:

Lead with Clarity of Vision

Jo has successfully coached executives and managers, including CEOs, CFOs, Directors and Senior Managers, especially in the field of technology. Her coaching process includes identifying key strengths, creating a clear vision and strategic plan, engaging others in your vision, and key learning through action-taking, with Jo’s ongoing feedback, troubleshooting and accountability.

Master the Art of Results

Jo works with leaders to shift how they manage time, tasks and people for maximum impact and effectiveness. This may include personal productivity, training staff to make their own decisions, building a culture of motivation and loyalty, or learning how to delegate effectively.

Develop Your Influence

Individual leaders and leadership groups need to get things done. Jo helps fast track the habits, communication skills and interpersonal fluency required to move others to action and get great work done.

Deepen Your Executive Presence

Leadership presence and powerful body language communicate a strong message. Jo’s focus is on helping leaders effectively communicate with others, both verbally and without saying a word.

Clients

Jo’s clients have come from leading Bay Area companies including EBay, Cisco, Intel, Genentech, BioMarin, PayPal, and Kaiser Permanente as well as many small to medium-sized companies and non-profit organizations.

Experience

Jo worked as a management consultant in a boutique marketing wing of PriceWaterhouseCoopers; her Fortune 500 clients included companies like Johnson&Johnson, General Motors, Bayer and Monsanto. She then left corporate to pursue her Ph.D. in Business. After growing her first company from a hobby to a million dollar business, Jo successfully sold it (with 4 offers on the table) in a recession. She is currently the founder and CEO of Success Reboot, LLC.

Education and Training

Ph.D. in Business from U.C. Berkeley

Prestigious PCC accreditation from International Coaching Federation

Certified Integral Coach from New Ventures West

Certified practitioner in The Grove’s Team Performance Model

Certified practitioner in the Grove’s Strategic Visioning Model

Certified in the DISC, NBI and the Enneagram leadership assessments

Adjunct at New Ventures West coaching training school.

Bachelor’s in Applied Mathematics from Yale

On a Personal Note

Jo currently resides in Berkeley, California with her husband, 3 kids and Havanese dog. In her “me” time, Jo loves to hike in the Berkeley hills with her dog and read a mixture of cutting-edge leadership research and fun fiction.

Kevin McCarthy is a California-based Senior Consultant with Alignment Strategies Group. His primary work focuses on the individual and collective challenges faced by leaders and teams in change efforts.

His current work is with small to mid-size organizations in areas such as healthcare, education, and non-profit organizations working in community change. Kevin works with leaders and senior teams as a thought partner/coach on strategic and emergent change efforts.

Previously Kevin worked as an Associate with Change-Logic, a global firm that focuses on large organizations working to align ambidextrous strategic change efforts. Kevin has consulted globally to organizations in the technology, health, manufacturing, and education sectors and has been an executive education faculty member facilitating small group learning sessions for Leading Change and Organizational Renewal programs at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Kevin has helped to design and currently leads programs for chapters of the American Leadership Forum (ALF). He has delivered training sessions to diverse groups of leaders on topics of dialogue and diversity, meeting the personal challenges of leading change, systems/community change and models of emergent disruptive change. Currently, he provides instruction and program content for the leadership program in the Sacramento, Great Valley and Silicon Valley programs.

Originally trained as a Doctor of Chiropractic, Kevin worked for Palmer University and held various leadership positions over his 20+ years including Vice President for Education. He provided leadership in a three-campus system for chiropractic and science education degree programs, patient care, and research, and was a national leader in developing clinical guidelines for the profession. His work led him to focus on integrative health and collaborative change efforts including training and work with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Kevin is currently completing his doctoral studies in Human and Organizational Development at the Fielding Graduate University. His studies are focused on the dynamics of leaders with diverse teams in leading disruptive change efforts. Kevin obtained his Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Southern California and he also holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational and Human Development. Kevin studied for two years with MIT Faculty member Bill Isaacs and his firm Dialogos focusing on the essential role of dialogue in constructing meaning and shared commitment to change efforts.

Kevin’s personal interests include the joys of being a grandparent, the dynamics of photography and writing, and the pleasure of motorcycling the back roads of California with his Harley-owning wife Kathy.

Ann Mehl is an Executive Coach and Career Strategist based in New York City. She coaches, speaks and writes about how to successfully navigate the ever-changing world of work.

With nearly 20 years of corporate experience working for Fortune 500 companies including Citigroup, Andersen Consulting and many start- up companies, Ann brings a wealth of knowledge to her coaching clients. She possesses that rarest of combinations – hard won practical experience and a deep passion for helping senior leaders become the best version of themselves.

Ann’s background as an executive recruiter in the ‘90s led her quite naturally to “coaching” people in career transition. Since launching her own consulting company in 2005, Ann has coached men and women from all walks of life. Some are CEOs of start- up companies, some are senior leaders looking to gain a competitive edge, while others are people seeking to reinvent their careers. Ann’s training as a coach includes accreditation from LPI, The Human Performance Institute and Martha Beck, Ph.D. She is a certified HBDI facilitator, and has studied NVC Communication Technique. Some of her recent clients include: Oaktree Capital Management, Etsy, Soundcloud, Sweeten, First Round Capital, The Carlyle Group, Life.io, Lenox Advisors, Skillshare, Brightroll, Shapeways, The Muse, Schroders, Kickstarter, Kimelman & Baird LLC, Flywire and Casper.

She is a graduate of Boston College, with a B.Sc. from the Carroll School of Management. As an athlete, she has run over 50 marathons worldwide, her favorite races being in D.C. and Dublin. She is the mother to a young boy, which has been the most humbling and rewarding journey of her life.

Ana Perea is an executive coach and organization development consultant with a proven track record for the design and implementation of effective people solutions. She is a strategic thinker and partner specializing in the understanding of people, systems, and organizational structures with over ten years’ experience in both the corporate and non-profit sectors.

Ana has worked across a wide range of industries, including financial services, luxury, start-ups, education, legal, marketing, high tech and design. She has worked closely with senior executives and emerging leaders supporting an array of initiatives, including organizational restructuring, leadership development, and complex change management strategy. As an executive coach, Ana has worked extensively with C-level and senior executives at times of critical change and potential, equally facilitating the growth of the individual and supporting the needs of the business. Ana has particular, in-depth experience with family, founder led organizations, and creative, entrepreneurial environments. She specializes in situations where deep, multifaceted challenges meet with the opportunity for lasting transformation and growth. She is especially adept at working with complex individual and group dynamics that impact the long-term potential of the organization.

Prior to starting her consulting and coaching practice, Ana was the creator and director of the organizational effectiveness function at the luxury brand, David Yurman. She advised the Executive Committee – working both individually and with groups – executing people management and employee engagement strategies across every area of the business. These included the creation of a Change Management program, the development of a Learning and Development function and key interventions effecting long term cultural change. Before Yurman, Ana worked as a Learning and Development consultant leading the creation and development of learning strategies for small and mid-sized organizations.

Ana’s unique approach to systems and people is guided by her knowledge of business and psychodynamic, interpersonal issues. Her blend of clinical experience and organizational acumen provides her with a unique vantage point suited to effectively address the multiply-determined challenges that businesses face.

Ana holds a Master’s Degree from Columbia University and is in the late stages of a Doctorate in Psychoanalysis at the New York Graduate School of Psychoanalysis.

John Sanchez has over twenty years of experience in the Human Capital and Organizational Effectiveness areas working within the financial services, biopharma, management consulting, luxury retail, start-up tech, and PR/Communications arenas, among others.

As an executive coach and senior consultant at Alignment Strategies Group, he helps senior and emerging leaders maximize their professional effectiveness. John delivers value by helping his clients identify measurable goals and outcomes within the contexts of the organizations they work in, and then targets the behavior characteristics keeping them from achieving those endpoints. John employs a no-nonsense and no-excuses approach that is customized for each coaching and consulting client, and helps them practice and implement new behaviors that support the desired change.

Earlier in his career, John worked as a consultant and human resources professional in various capacities at Monitor Group (now part of Deloitte Consulting LLP), Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda Oncology), and State Street Bank, among others. John brings deep experience in core HR competencies such as Performance & Talent Management, and Learning & Development. In these roles, he provided guidance and strategic business support in the form of concrete and measurable actions needed to make business decisions.

John provides executive presence and executive onboarding coaching for emerging and senior leaders who have been either newly hired or promoted into highly responsible and visible positions where they are expected to produce results within a short timeframe. He also consults with and coaches leadership teams to increase collaboration for business results.

John received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts. He is fluent in Spanish and is an experienced facilitator. He is currently certified to administer the MBTI for individuals and teams; the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument; the Hogan HPI, HDS, and MVPI Assessments; and is a Prosci Certified Change Practitioner.

Besides working with his coaching and consulting clients, John is also an instructor at the Columbia Business School MBA Recruitment Prep program, and was a Student Advisor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). In addition, he serves the community in a number of pro bono capacities: as an Account Director at the Taproot Foundation, where he leads teams of experienced Human Resources professionals to assist non-profits develop their HR capabilities, and as an executive coach for Bloomingdale School of Music in the Upper West Side.

Deanna is an accomplished Head of Talent and certified executive coach specializing in leadership development, and culture enhancement. She coaches clients across a variety of industries including financial services, pharmaceutical, luxury retail and technology. Drawing upon twenty years of business experience focused on talent and teams, Deanna has built a solid reputation as a pragmatist who zeros in on the most targeted leadership actions to yield impactful individual, team and organizational outcomes.

Deanna has led a successful career in People and Talent at brands including Tiffany & Co., WW (reimagined from Weight Watchers), Deloitte and Pfizer. At WW, she led the talent acquisition, learning & development, talent management and talent development teams comprised of 60 people and created for the organization a set of Impact Behaviors, the WW Inspire development series, career conversations and a myriad of other programs to reinforce the vision of the CEO. While at Tiffany & Co., Deanna also led the creation of a marquis high-potential program called The Tiffany Academy for Excellence and Diversity in Leadership. Prior to Tiffany, Deanna served as an internal consultant at Pfizer and an external consultant at Deloitte specializing in human capital trends and bringing the most impactful solutions to her clients.

Deanna earned her Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a B.A. from The University of Michigan. She taught the master’s level coaching course at Teachers College, was awarded the Dean’s Grant for her dissertation and has published on the benefits of corporate volunteerism and the technology age gap. She founded the New York chapter of Dining for Women, a global giving circle dedicated to transforming lives and eradicating poverty.  Deanna lives in New York with her husband and three children.

Pervis Taylor III is an award-winning celebrity coach, inspirational speaker, facilitator, mentor and author.  Over the past decade, he has consulted to and delivered workshops at a wide range of public and private organizations, such as the New York City Department of Education, Red Hook Initiative, YWCA, DC Trust, Young Men’s Initiative, Lincoln Center, and Teachers College, Columbia University.

The goal of Pervis’ teaching is transformation, using a mindful, intuitive approach. He equips clients with lifelong tools to develop their leadership capacity, improve communication, and manage conflict.

Pervis has also delivered keynote speeches at graduations, non-profits and national conferences and contributed to publications including Black Enterprise, Vibe, and Beliefnet.

Black Enterprise Magazine named Pervis a “BE Modern Man” for his contribution to excellence in the field of life coaching, and he was recently featured on the Centric show BEING where he served as award-winning actress Lisa Nicole Carson’s coach.  In addition, Pervis and his work have been featured on Fox, Daily Mail UK, Essence Magazine, The Root, The Network Journal and The Today Show.

He has written two internationally selling inspirational books, Pervis Principles Volumes 1 & 2 and is co-author of the award-winning relationship book, Single Man, Married Man.  He also encourages the masses daily with his #BEGREAT morning inspirational messages via social media.

Pervis spent his early career working for iconic brands such as Def Jam Recordings and the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences, also known as the Grammys. Pervis has also appeared in commercials, feature films and print ads, represented by the prestigious Wilhelmina Models agency.

Pervis received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Miami and earned his M.A. in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in Spirituality and Mind Body Practice from Columbia University.  He resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Annie-Lou St-Amant is a management consultant and executive coach whose work focuses on leadership development both at the organizational level through her consulting work, and at individual level through coaching and facilitation.

Over four years as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, Annie-Lou served clients in aerospace and defense, banking, basic materials, healthcare, and institutional investment across North America, Europe and the Middle East.

At the organizational level, Annie-Lou’s work has included helping large public corporations and government institutions re-think their end-to-end leadership development journeys – from crafting a custom leadership development model, to identifying top-talent and designing leadership training programs. She most recently led the team shaping McKinsey’s 10-year people strategy.

At the individual level, Annie-Lou focuses her work on empowering women and on developing cross-cultural skills. Through executive coaching and the delivery of numerous women-specific programs on Centered Leadership, she helps leaders become the best version of themselves, manage their energy and leverage their unique strengths. Having lived in Canada, New Zealand, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and now in the United States, Annie-Lou leverages her rich cultural experiences in her work with clients. She helps leaders navigate the complexities of operating in multicultural and global organizational environments.

Annie-Lou combines her unique vision and strategic insight with her ability to organize and execute, which enables her clients to greatly surpass their goals. Her high energy, passion for people and intuition come together when she sees untapped potential and enables clients to unlock it.

Annie-Lou received her B. Comm. with Distinction from McGill University, where she completed a Major in International Business and a Minor in Psychology. She is currently pursuing an M.A. in Social-Organizational Psychology from Columbia University.

Kailen Krame is a published author and educational speaker who is passionate about fusing psychology, spirituality, and conflict resolution.

At the age of sixteen, Kailen was inspired to research and write a book on mindfulness and stress-management to help her peers navigate the trials and tribulations of adolescence and learn practical life tools. The product of this endeavor was the publication of Put It In Perspective: A Teen’s Guide to Sanity (AuthorHouse, 2014), for which Kailen held workshops and speaking engagements at various high-schools and universities as a college student herself.

Kailen’s early interest in mindfulness and stress-management manifested in many years of researching the psychological and physical benefits of meditation and other mind-body practices. Working as the lead research assistant to the President of Ramapo College in New Jersey, Kailen co-authored an academic journal article on Mindfulness in Higher Education. Kailen also served as a research assistant in a renowned Positive Psychology laboratory at The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) in Israel investigating the benefits of mindfulness practice on former combat soldiers with PTSD. Kailen lived in Israel for two years, where she also worked as a marketing and communications intern for a boutique consulting firm specializing in organizational wellness.

From her experience in the Middle East, Kailen developed a passionate interest in conflict resolution. She uses her background in Psychology and Spirituality to mediate conflict using a compassionate, comprehensive, and whole-being approach. Kailen graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Florida in under three years, and is expected to receive her M.A. in Clinical Psychology with a Concentration in Spirituality and Mind Body Practices from Teachers College, Columbia University in February 2019. She is also pursuing a certificate in Cooperation and Conflict Resolution from the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia, and currently resides in New York City.