Jack Cohen
My work with startups and founders began in 2014, helping leaders and teams develop more peaceful productivity, a way of working that prioritizes both maximizing productivity and engaging peacefully with ourselves and others. My motivation for this was observing the irony of people wanting more peace and more productivity, yet trying to make changes that ended up decreasing both. Having taught psychology for 5 years and previously worked with dozens of growing businesses in a commercial finance capacity, I could see some of the levers for change that these leaders and teams were missing.
That work has taken form through the Brain-Based Workplace, an organizational behavior consulting and executive coaching practice I founded in 2014 to bring evidence-based practices into the workplace. Together with my phenomenal colleagues, we have worked with dozens of high-growth startups and rapidly evolving companies (e.g. Rippling, Klarity) to help them scale the leadership capacity and organizational structures that serve as the building blocks for sustained growth and success.
The past decade of this work helped us crystallize the differentiating factors in leaders and startups whose teams thrived versus those whose teams faltered, as well as the distinctions between those leaders who kept growing and those who flailed and/or burned out.
In the background—and sometimes embedded directly into the work itself—I have been teaching mindfulness (and yoga) since 2010, seeing just how foundational mindfulness is in my life and the lives of the masterful leaders with whom we’ve worked. AMP is the integration of these various threads, woven into a clear, cohesive offering where leaders can build the foundations for peaceful productivity and radical response-ability all in one place.
My passion for helping people maximize their potential--and using work as a catalyst to this end --was shaped by a management degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s in Education from The Reach Institute.
Mansi Jain
I unlock a deeper connection within startup leaders so they can become better leaders, build healthier communities, and create meaningful, sustainable impact.
With over a decade of experience facilitating and coaching leaders, teams, and organizations of all shapes and sizes that are navigating complexity, I've come to understand what drives some individuals and systems to thrive and others to fail. Much of this comes down to the essence of AMP: our ability to return to our own authorship in a holistic way that engages the mind, body, and heart.
I'm particularly energized by my work with startups. I've seen how the impact of this shift is intensified given the increased volatility, ambiguity, complexity, and uncertainty in these environments. I see the desire to lead differently, keep learning, and positively impact society. I believe this is the learning lab to create the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
My work integrates modern research and ancient wisdom around psychological, spiritual, and systems development. I also draw on my background in consulting with McKinsey & Company, leading a large-scale organizational transformation from the ground up, teaching through Wharton's Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania, working in various start up environments, and my varied global experiences. I am a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation, and have certifications with various tools, modalities, and institutions.
Originally from India, I grew up moving internationally and spent several years in England, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. I now live with my family in Berkeley, California, where I fill my free time with nature, music, adventure, connection, and my own inner work.
At my core, I am guided by a purpose to co-create a world where we continually choose love over fear.
Andrew Molina (“Mo”)
I’m a transformative coach and facilitator working with leaders at both early-stage and unicorn startups. In addition to building People Experience programs for organizations, I facilitate design strategy workshops and conduct user research efforts for organizations that want to deepen their understanding of their customers, including for clients such as Mitsubishi Estate, Udacity, and others.
I am a former curriculum designer at Stanford's d.school where I also coached students in applying design thinking to social problems in developing economies through the class Design for Extreme Affordability. I received undergrad (management science and engineering) and grad (computer science) degrees from Stanford and facilitate Interpersonal Dynamics, a course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Fun Facts: I like to climb rocks, am an actor, and love playing games (board games, card games, made-up games, you name it). I’m also on a quest for the world's greatest donut.
Email: [email protected]
Catherine Pao
I am a certified holistic leadership coach focusing on cultivating inner leadership, and I specialize in coaching people who want greater access to their creativity. I help bring conscious intentionality to executives and teams through management leadership trainings, group coaching, and 1:1 coaching. I’ve coached leaders and teams from Rippling, Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Nerdwallet, Nextdoor, HackerOne, Github, and various other startups.
I believe that coming alive is the most meaningful gift you can give to yourself and the world around you. I am deeply motivated to help others come alive so they can fully feel the magic of being alive.
Formerly, I led various digital marketing and growth product management teams at Blue Apron, Digital Ocean, Fab.com, and Microsoft. I am a certified professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and certified Yoga Instructor (RYT-300).
Fun facts: I am an artist and have a greeting card & illustration line. Finding the perfect song that punctuates an everyday moment is one of my greatest pleasures.
Email: [email protected]
Andrew Gordon-Kirsch
I am a leadership coach, facilitator, and consultant specializing in feedback and behavior change. I spent the last decade helping people navigate the unknowns of transitions, first as a community organizer and later as an organization development consultant. Past clients include large companies like Kaiser Permanente and Facebook, as well as startups, nonprofits, and political advocacy groups. I love designing engaging experiences that take conversation and action to the next level.
I also work as an instructor for Bentley University’s Center for Women and Business programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion and have published in outlets such as Waging Nonviolence. I hold degrees in organizational change management from The New School and Arabic language from UCLA.
Fun fact: When not coaching or delivering workshops on inclusive culture change, you can find me kayaking in a freshwater creek or working on my next backyard DIY project. I also scaled El Capitan.
Email: [email protected]
Jesse Torrence
I am an Executive Coach and Organizational Development Consultant who helps mission-driven leaders and their teams unfold their full potential and achieve impact and equanimity in their professional and personal lives. Using a holistic, systems approach to understanding the whole person and the whole organization, I empower executives and their teams with new habits, structures, and processes that make their personal lives and their organizations more integrated, resilient, balanced, and productive. I draw on cutting-edge research and best practices in psychology, neuroscience, behavioral economics, organizational behavior, design thinking, and contemplative practices like mindfulness to help individuals and groups do three main things: generate deep self-awareness, insight, understanding, and confidence; build compassionate self-management and conscious communication skills; and inspire purposeful, courageous, focused, and efficient action.
Earlier in my career I launched and led a variety of social impact organizations focused on a variety of topics – from HIV prevention to citizen diplomacy to tech entrepreneurship to mindfulness education. I also worked for the Obama Campaign and the World Bank and spent 10 years advising social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, political candidates, and elected officials in the US and abroad. In 2020, I helped launch Elevate – an anti-racism and decolonization initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School.
For most of my adult life, I have been studying a variety of contemplative practices, spiritual traditions, and therapeutic modalities. Informed by these traditions, as well as my own health crisis and near death experience at age 31, I meet my clients – wherever they are and whatever they’re facing – with a holistic approach that serves their whole being.
I was born and raised in Oklahoma and Ohio, and studied, worked, and lived abroad in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. I hold BAs in Economics and International Relations from Stanford, and an MPA in International Development from Harvard. I received my coaching training from the Co-Active Training Institute. I live with my wife and two kids in the Chicago suburbs where I enjoy family time outside, Salsa dancing in the kitchen, dabbling in philosophy, writing mediocre poetry, watching sci-fi, and relearning the piano after 20 years. I am the grateful recipient of a heart transplant.