Former Client, Social Services

Chitra is fantastic. She coaches with warmth, humor and skill. She's inquisitive about all the details of my life. I've been telling friends she's a bit like a therapist for my future: she is an adept mirror, revealing far more about myself than I expected to see. Chitra provides gentle but persistent pushes to look at things from different angles, to get real about making my dreams reality, and to advocate for myself like I would do for others -- something people in non-profit and human services work really need to hear.

In about two months, Chitra's presence in my life has made a really big difference. I look forward to our sessions each week, where she provides a space to rigorously work on big-picture (and little-picture!) questions about where I want to go and what I want to do. This is the magic as well as the nitty-gritty of manifestation work. Chitra is an astute listener, and provides absolutely spot-on feedback. She frequently leaves my jaw dropping as we converse. If you're ready to do this work with her, she is ready to take you farther than you thought you could go.

I sought coaching after a bumpy year at work. Burnout was getting real, and then a major accident suddenly pressed "pause" on everything, giving me needed perspective on how tired and stressed out I was. From my first session with Chitra, I started to look at things differently: instead of griping about things I couldn't change anymore, or daydreaming about an emergency exit with no plan afterward, I began to look forward. It's empowering  -- and scary -- to sustain a focus on the future, and I wasn't in good practice with it in my life, instead "feeling" my way through my decisions about where I'd work, what schedule I'd keep, etc. Chitra has helped me clarify what I do and don't want out of my work and career via looking at the full spectrum of my days. She inquires about what has worked in my life, what I want more or less of, and teases out every aspect of my wants and wishes, while providing valuable resources at every step of this process. With her guidance I have felt stronger and more self-assured as I look ahead. We have found my wild, awesome vision of a goal in my future career to work toward, and some concrete steps to get me there. It's not easy nor clear-cut, but Chitra is never judgmental, and works at whatever pace I'm at that week and with whatever comes up. Working with Chitra means making an investment in your authentic self, and moving in the direction of living a good life, however you define it.

Maggie M., Public Health Consultant at a Large Consulting Firm

As a coach, Chitra is warm, firm, kind, good-humored, and considerate. She is a practiced active listener, which translates to meaningful discussion, feedback, and resource sharing. I really appreciated her dedicated scholarship in and command of the principles and beliefs that ground her coaching. It lends depth and consistency to her approach, which in turn makes the learning faster. Every session Chitra brings her whole self to the work and it fostered an environment where I felt I could do the same. 

Working with Chitra was an excellent experience. She routinely found the delicate balance between challenging me to find answers within myself, while always offering a framework or guidance to empower me to succeed in that effort. She always reinforced the understanding that I hold all of my ability and all of my possibility in my own hands. I cannot understate how meaningful it was to receive that message in the midst of the other things I was experiencing in my personal life. In many ways, I feel like this was the first time I've been in a space dedicated to professional development/topics where the value systems I believe in - reproductive justice, anti-racism, capitalism as a function of white supremacy, etc. - were interwoven and integral to the discussion. Where so much in the world tries to tell us those understandings are about our "personal lives" and have no place in professional discourse or decision making, Chitra confirmed for me that's not true and that I don't have to settle for separating my values from my professional life and aspirations.

I sought coaching because I am at an inflection point in my professional and personal life. I wanted a dedicated time and space to answer complex questions about how to continue building a career that aligns with my interests, values, and ambitions, without building my entire life around my career. Coaching reinforced my confidence in my judgement and my convictions. It helped me to separate my planning and visioning from broad notions that tell us there is one way to achieve success, and instead to focus on what I believe is possible and make a plan for realizing that possibility. During my time in coaching I made significant decisions about my next steps and shifted from a place of fear or anxiety driven visioning to one full of possibility and self-determination.

Mary T., Assistant Director of Communications at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC

Chitra is positive, patient, understanding, an excellent and thoughtful listener. Working with Chitra was very affirming! I felt a sense of positivity coming into every session, and it was also hard work to come in, be vulnerable, and know that I had to put my all before and after our sessions. 

I sought coaching because I wanted to go into the next level of my career with more confidence and strengthen my goals. Coaching benefitted me because I was able to clearly articulate my goals with clear action steps and have someone hold me accountable to them every week.

I loved working with Chitra because there was a sense of understanding coming from someone who was a woman of color and who has had a lot of experience in the nonprofit space. It added a level of comfort and I felt like I could be very open from the beginning of our time together. I now have a greater sense of knowing my worth and my values, and feel a better balance between work and personal life.

Michelle L., Entry Level Nonprofit Worker Who Hated It

Chitra is a compassionate coach who creates ample space for the client to share and really dig into what's going on, while at the same time agitates with really great questions that helps the client focus on their goals. I felt that our sessions were both comfortable (I felt like I could show up however) and challenging (I always left with big questions to work through).

I really didn't know what coaching was or how it could support me when I started, but my job provided this opportunity and I knew I was approaching big life decisions that I could use some help organizing my thoughts around. So I decided to approach coaching as a way to help me figure out my next steps. For the three months that we had sessions together, it took a lot of pressure off of me to be able to share the responsibility of creating a big life plan. It was helpful to have someone else challenge me to dream bigger and process next steps with. It was my first time planning on this large of a scale (I made a loose plan for the year), so it has shown me how to do it for the years to come as well.