Collaborate Change Owner and Founder
Sharon is a Certified Professional Coach, Owner of Collaborate Change, and a former coach educator at Leadership that Works, Inc. (2011-2020) and Inclusion Coach Certification Program (2020-2022). Sharon is also a Food Revolution Network Certified Plant-Based Coach, Plant Powered Metro NY Mentor and Organizer, Plantrician Provider, Master Energy Medicine Practitioner (The Four Winds), author, and workshop facilitator. She brings intuition, sensitivity, spirituality, and creativity to her coaching and training that result in deepened awareness, improved communication, collaboration and connection, and more creative idea exchange and problem-solving. She also supports those who are interested in improving their health, by incorporating a whole food plant-based diet, to do so successfully. Sharon specializes in culturally aware/trauma responsive coaching, curriculum and workshop design, and community applications of coaching.
After joining the Leadership That Works faculty in 2011, Sharon led a team that developed a new multicultural coaching curriculum, partnered to develop a Train the Trainer curriculum, and co-authored the book Coaching for Transformation: Pathways to Ignite Personal and Social Change. She also co-led the 9-month Coaching for Transformation certification program (11 cohorts), taught the 9-month Community Coach Certification program, and taught multi-day Coaching for Community Transformation programs in various locations. Those trainings taught core coaching skills through a social justice lens (cultural humility, anti-racism, anti-oppression) to support authentic connection and effective cross-cultural communication. Sharon was actively involved in Leadership that Works’ innovative work to make coaching skills widely available to community members, social justice activists/advocates, and direct service providers to help shift the way they communicated and partnered with people they served or engaged.
Sharon’s work and passion are centered on contributing to individual, organizational, and communal health, wellbeing and empowerment – particularly in underserved communities. She supports nonprofits, educators, and community/faith-based groups to integrate coaching skills into their programs, organizational culture, and service delivery models. Sharon also supports individuals to understand the health implications and benefits of plant-based nutrition and lifestyle changes to prevent and reverse chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer.
In addition, Sharon was an active Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) prison workshop facilitator in New Jersey for 10 years, founder of the Elmwood Sankofa Institute (a community education & justice ministry) in East Orange, NJ, and has served as a board member for nonprofit boards focused on community development & collaborative communication in New Jersey and New York. Sharon also volunteered group and individual coaching for local organizations serving homeless young women and job seekers. Sharon served in various roles for 5 years in ACTO, the Association of Coaches and Coach Training Organizations (Consultant, Board Member, Membership and Communications Committee Co-Chair), and is a current member of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Oranges and Maplewood Branch in New Jersey.
Sharon earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College and a Master of Science degree from Rutgers University. A professional coach since 2007, Sharon has earned the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential given by the International Coach Federation. Sharon draws on over 25 years of corporate experience in the pharmaceutical industry – most recently as a global IT project manager and team leader.
