Founders

co-founder

Kimberlie Stephens, Ph.D.

Kimberlie is a leading expert on organizations and communication. Driven to make them places that are efficient, effective, and life-giving, she consults for nonprofits, corporations, startups, and executives from the US military, to corporate America, and the non-governmental space.  Her research has won awards at the International Communication Association and the International Journal of Business Communication. As a full-time professor at the University of Southern California, Kimberlie was a founding member of the Annenberg School of Communication’s online Master’s Degree program in Communication Management.  She and her students worked with Fox Sports to develop a Telly Award-winning ad campaign for the Los Angeles Kings and researched the launch of Fox Sports One. A proud mentor, Kimberlie’s students have gone on to work at places like Endeavour, Autodesk, and LinkedIn as well as start their own companies such as Career Contessa. Combining hands-on facilitation with big-picture instruction, Kimberlie works with The Center for Executive Education at the Naval Postgraduate School and consults with teams on issues as diverse as healthcare, cybersecurity, and meteorology.  She lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband and two sons.

co-founder

Marcia Alesan Dawkins, Ph.D.

Marcia is a leading expert in diversity and strategic communication. Mixing time-tested principles with state-of-the-art instruction techniques, she won awards for her teaching on two continents, virtually, and in multilingual environments (Spanish, Chinese, and English). Along the way she earned a fellowship in the Ivy League, spoke at The Mayo Clinic and UNESCO, and gave a piano recital at Carnegie Hall. As a full-time professor at The Minerva Project, Marcia was a founding member of the startup’s online Bachelor’s Degree program. As a full-time professor at the University of Southern California, she used her expertise to design two original courses, author three books, 10 articles, and 80+ op-eds. Her first book, Clearly Invisible, was nominated for the Grawemeyer Award. Her research has been recognized by the Social Science Research Council, the National Communication Association, the Eastern Communication Association, and the NAACP. Now a highly sought-after consultant and media commentator, Marcia has appeared on BBC World, NPR, AOL Originals, ABC News, HuffPo Live, and a number of podcasts. Her CV includes being: corporate educator for Performance Learning Concepts, columnist for Truthdig, communication manager at FutureBrand, co-founder of app development firm Mix Mesh Blend, visiting scholar at Vanderbilt University Law School and at Brown University. Marcia is a passionate mentor, whose students are thriving professionally at places like Google and Harvard, running for office in Los Angeles County, and making the world more beautiful through their work in education, law, industrial design, stand-up comedy, dance, and documentary filmmaking. She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband and son. For more see: www.MarciaDawkins.com and @AskDrDee.