About LJ
I’m a founder, author, coach, and teacher devoted to helping people to wake up — to themselves, to their leadership, and to what’s possible when we live with clarity, agency, and awe.
My path didn’t begin in a boardroom or a classroom. It began in nature, seeing the world in a different way.
As a teenager, I completed my high school biology credit in Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. After a long day deep in the rainforest, learning about ecosystems, the medicinal qualities of the plants, the roles of the insects, and feeling sheer wonder at the potency of the jungle, we were invited to gather outside on the wooden deck of our lodge. All of the lights were turned off and I saw the stars — really SAW the stars — in a way I’d never seen them before.
I was knocked sideways by the sense of awe that overcame me. By how absolutely incredible this planet, this life truly is.
This. This is it. Why aren’t we all totally astonished by how incredible this is? That moment — of presence, wonder, and deep aliveness — never left me.
It’s ultimately what set me on my winding path. It sparked a desire to make documentaries, to tell stories that could turn the lights on for other people. That impulse led me into journalism and communications, and eventually onto a deeper spiritual and leadership path rooted in a core belief: awareness is contagious, and the world changes when we help each other to truly see.
Over the past 20+ years, I’ve worked across media, technology, startups, venture capital, and leadership development, ultimately founding Shine+ Leadership and Sangha — organizations devoted to conscious leadership, transformation, spiritual community, and sustainable human development. I’ve coached founders, executives, and change-makers navigating high-stakes environments, inner transitions, and moments of profound recalibration.
My work sits at the intersection of strategy and spirit. I bring clarity, presence, and a capacity to name what’s really happening — both internally and systemically. People come to me not to be fixed, but to be met, challenged, and supported in stepping into fuller responsibility for their lives and leadership. And we have a lot of fun doing the work.
At heart, I’m still doing the same things I set out to do years ago: helping people stay awake. Turning the lights on, leaning into joy and awe and reverence for how astonishing life really is.
I believe leadership is not about control or perfection, but about presence and possibility. And I return, again and again, to the question that guides my work: How incredible could our world be if more of us could really see?
My ETHOS
I believe that leadership is an inner practice before it is a public role.
Clarity comes from presence, not force.
Responsibility is not a burden, but a form of freedom.
I know that awareness transforms systems — families, organizations, cultures — and that when one person wakes up and stays awake, it creates ripples that turn into waves.
I don’t believe in bypassing, quick fixes, or outsourcing authority. I believe in staying with what’s true long enough for something real to emerge.
Nature has been one of my greatest teachers. It reminds me that growth is cyclical, intelligence is distributed, and nothing meaningful happens without attention.
Who This Work Is For
My work is for people who are already capable, thoughtful, and successful — and who know there’s another level of truth, integrity, and aliveness asking to be lived.
You might be a founder, leader, creative, or guide. You may look “fine” from the outside while quietly sensing that something needs to be reoriented on the inside. You’re not afraid of depth, but you are tired of performance.
You’re willing to slow down.
You’re open to being challenged.
You’re ready to take responsibility for how you lead, relate, and choose.
how i work
My approach is rooted in presence, pattern recognition, and lived experience — not formulas or quick fixes. I hold space for clarity to emerge, for responsibility to be reclaimed, and for the deeper intelligence of each person or group to surface.
This work is grounded in practice: time in nature and seasonal rhythms, contemplative and somatic practices, deep listening, and long-term thinking. I bring insight, truth, and attention to what’s really happening — both internally and systemically.
People come to me not to be fixed, but to remember who they are and act from that place.
walking in beauty
A teacher and collaborator recently reflected on the way I hold groups — noticing how presence, flow, and attention can be embodied without apology, drama, or forcing. She spoke of this as an expression of Hózhó — the Navajo concept of “walking in beauty.”
Hózhó is more than balance or harmony. It’s about being fully in flow, integrated with the energies, elements, and beings around you. It’s a practice of living in a way that fosters connection, care, and beauty, both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit.
“May it be beautiful before me. May it be beautiful behind me.
May it be beautiful above me. May it be beautiful below me.
May I walk in beauty.”
This principle guides how I move through my work, my relationships, and life itself: attending to what matters, nurturing what is alive, and striving to leave every space I touch a little more aligned, resilient, and alive than I found it.
