What does Above & Beyond Productions do?

I partner with corporate teams, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations who are in the midst of transformation. 

You may be leading your people through significant change - planning a restructure, receiving new funding, expanding your market, launching an initiative. I am here to listen, counsel, and connect. Through my practice of exploring ideas with you, sometimes without an expected outcome at first, innovative possibilities always arise. Then I work with you to customize a strategy to intentionally navigate this transition. 

One of my mentors calls me “an organizational whisperer.” 

Let me share recent success stories. 

• A nonprofit CEO invited me to advise on programs left by a recently departed VP in her organization. My consultative process with her executive team revealed solutions for a sustainable leadership structure, as she decided not to hire another VP right away. The CEO noted, "Working with you allowed me to buy time." 

• An established staffing firm was taking on a new client who was facing an immediate demand to fill multiple roles nationwide. Given my experience, I was quickly retained to direct the recruitment team, so the staffing firm did not need to hire a new employee.

• I collaborated with the senior director of a technology company to develop an educational program to leverage professional networks with employees and customers. She was confident I would make the learning process relevant and inspiring, enhancing awareness of the company within their industry.

• The board chair of a large nonprofit organization asked me to engage stakeholders in succession planning for their next CEO. I conducted "discovery interviews" with community leaders and reported key findings to provide direction for the succession planning committee.

• A biotechnology company based in Boston was growing rapidly, while needing to define and articulate their corporate culture. I designed and presented a “culture retreat” for the entire company, based on interviews with each employee on their responsibilities, values, and expectations.

Partnering with my clients, I draw upon the metaphor of a theatre "production." Think of our work together as an iterative process involving scripts, casting, rehearsals, tickets, and reviews. We engage the right people, leverage their best talents, agree on the way forward, and align to a common vision. Then the curtains go up, and the show happens. After the applause, we start the next "production."

This “production” approach is my lived experience.

I moved eight times before turning 17 and landing in San Diego. Women who look like me, who were raised like me, did not always end up in prominent roles. So I often devised my own opportunities, partnering with leaders who believed in me. Over the past 25 years, I have served this community in the business, nonprofit, and academic sectors. As Career Coach for engineers at Qualcomm and students at High Tech High. As Vice President at San Diego Workforce Partnership. As an Art Commissioner with the City of San Diego, a Board Member for United Way of San Diego County, and the Performance Curator for TEDxSanDiego.

Now, the title that matters most to me is yours, as a leader facing new challenges.