About Kara
Kara Levy is a high-performance leadership and communication coach partnering with executives at Fortune 100 companies, venture capital firms, and high-potential startups.
With her collaboration, her clients have advanced from director and VP level positions to C-suite roles in Big Five tech companies; built, scaled, and sold multiple successful startups; shipped and launched some of our most widely known and loved innovations and; and landed board positions at some of the most impactful organizations.
Kara began her coaching career in 2010 at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was part of the founding team for the MBA communication coaching program. Since that time, she has worked with thousands of global leaders on driving more directly toward what they want; communicating clearly, concisely, and memorably; navigating difficult conversations with agility; and leveraging human-centered influence techniques to get better outcomes.
With JD Schramm, Ed.D, she is the co-author of Communicate with Mastery: How to Speak with Conviction and Write for Impact (Wiley, 2020), a hands-on guide to communication based on their experiences teaching at Stanford Graduate School of Business and beyond.
She holds an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University, a BA from Swarthmore College, a TEFL certification, and is an ACE certified coach.
Kara lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her partner and two daughters, will happily exchange book recommendations with you, and is a passionate devotee of the New York bagel.
Why I do this work:
I believe that communication is the strongest tool we have – to know others, to know ourselves, to make impact, to connect ideas to people, and to create real change.
Communication and leadership aren’t rocket science, and they aren’t one-size-fits-all. The best leadership is based on this premise: The more transparent we can be with ourselves and with each other, the better, deeper, and more lasting outcomes we can reach.
It is my pleasure and my honor to guide smart, values-driven people to make the most of what they can do, and to use my expertise to show them that the world of communication and leadership is as you-sized as you need it to be.
My coaching style:
• You’ll have actionable tools you can use right away after every session
• You’ll have hands-on practice with me in coaching sessions to develop muscle memory around new skills
• You’ll receive comprehensive notes from me after every session with ways to practice, insights from our conversations, and tips for implementation