Wall of Love

As a busy leader, I'm constantly putting out other people's fires and delaying my own goals. Sasha's workshop taught me a refreshingly practical set of approaches to achieving them. I now feel confident tackling my upcoming quarter!

Well-facilitated workshop where I learned to recognize how apathy and avoidance play into why I sometimes don't follow through on personal projects that I previously thought were important to me. Would recommend to anyone with a list of aspirational projects they can't seem to make progress on.

I finished grad school earlier this year and have been craving an opportunity to review and refresh my long term and short term professional goals. Sasha did a great job of making that both a thoughtful and joyful exercise—with many good tools that will help increase my chances of success. Truly a worthwhile experience!

Sasha is one of those rare coaches who bring both an analytical, systems-oriented perspective and a deep intuition for the human side of work and what really makes people tick. I trust that Sasha will bring fresh tools, insightful observations, and a humane perspective to my trickiest challenges—and I'll leave with a plan that helps me see the way forward.

Sasha's quarterly planning workshop changed the way I think about planning. I used to always think forward, but missed a crucial part, which was reflection! This big insight, among many others has set me up for a much better next quarter, and year after that. I suggest this workshop to any folks that have struggled with either the planning process, or to adhere afterwards.

Sasha's quarterly planning workshop was a great way for me to take time for myself to figure out what was important to focus on this quarter, not only at work but also in my personal life. It was extremely well designed in terms of balancing time commitment with benefit. No moment felt wasted, and I feel like I have more tools and focus going into this quarter and future quarters!

Setting goals has always felt like a chore and not always something that impacted me or my work. The workshop with Sasha was so impactful because it helped me figure out the reasons and motivation behind my goals and gave excellent guiding questions that helped me think through what was truly important. Spending time with others in the workshop who were thinking through similar questions was reassuring and motivated me to move things forward.

I was having a surprisingly hard time getting alignment with my leadership team on a new initiative. I’d tried a bunch of things and was feeling stuck. Working with Sasha, I was able to examine the situation from some new angles, which helped me build some better hypotheses on the hidden sticking point. I left the conversation with a plan, new tools to try out, and renewed optimism. Her thoughtful, strategic perspective was key to unlocking forward progress in a sticky situation.

I am allergic to New Year’s resolutions. Books like Atomic Habits sit on my shelf for YEARS unread. But I need help existing in the world of Slack pings and Outlook calendars. I took a leap of faith on Sasha’s workshop. I’m so glad that I did! As a result, I was able to make a plan for the next quarter that centers on my own values and what actually motivates me. I feel so much relief at the progress I’ve already made from the first three weeks. I warmly recommend working with Sasha.

Before Sasha's workshop, I had analysis paralysis with many of my goals. My vision is always set high, but something was missing when it comes to actionable achievements. Through the group and Sasha's guidance, I was able to assess what needed to be done to take the action needed for me to plan my goals over a period that felt specific and achievable. I highly recommend her program to anyone who wants to optimize their time, personal and professional goals, and implement a strategy to help them reach their desired outcome.

I've recommended this workshop to several people. I'd always planned at a week or a year, anything quarter-sized was strictly OKR. Sasha's approach sets me up for a manageable timeframe–long enough for work, short enough for a meaningful feedback loop and recalibration to achieve annually. I'm also great at losing momentum, or stalling completely, when I'm "off-map". The introduction of themes gives me the resilience I need when life happens. Everything about Sasha's leadership and facilitation reinforces the concepts and tools making this experiential learning too.

I juggle a handful of personal goals and I never knew how to make progress in them. The workshop taught me how to make plans that actually happen by making them doable rather than what on paper seems reasonable. Sasha taught us strategies to 1) get us where we each wanted to go, and 2) analyze like a scientist what is getting in the way. The most powerful tool was how to keep moving forward in each stream of activity of life while keeping your head. I had reservations to join as I wasn't planning to use this for career goals, but the methods apply to any area of life (like hobbies or relationships). I would recommend the workshop to anyone who isn't quite getting where they want to be, and needs a better handle on how they use their time.

Our team came away surprised by how much they realized about themselves, with reusable tools and templates to plan their goals and get unstuck. The workshop was applicable for both personal and professional goals, with most of the team choosing to explore personal projects, which allowed us all to get to know each other a little better. The team particularly liked the breakout room discussions. They allowed them to learn more about their coworkers, going beyond typical day-to-day conversations—a valuable and unexpected team-building element. Our whole team expressed gratitude for the space to reflect and prioritize, something that wasn’t previously a focus for us. I’d highly recommend bringing Sasha into your team to run a quarterly planning workshop.

I approached Sasha because I felt like I was caught in a cycle of trying lots of different versions of planning, goal-setting, and time management and none of them ever seemed to stick. I was spending lots of time on other people’s priorities and repeatedly setting aside my own. I felt like throughout my working week, I was almost constantly switching gears, and never getting to spend the time I needed to accomplish larger projects. Her coaching helped me by providing me with strategies to create the space I needed to get more (and more important) work done. Just as importantly, her coaching gave me the permission that I had been struggling to give myself: permission to stick to my own priorities and block out the distractions of the modern working environment, permission to devote time to thinking ahead and reviewing where I’ve been. The result was a dramatic shift in how I approach my work and how I structure my weeks. I have been able to build on strategies that I tried but could never quite get to stick before, allowing me to be more firm about working on a single task or project at a time. Before starting, I had doubts about my ability to impose boundaries around my time but I found that it was more of an adjustment in mindset than anything. Once I was able to change how I had come to think about my work from being an endless, undifferentiated to-do list, I was able to more effectively identify the tasks that would never really be “done” and those that would move the bigger, more meaningful projects forward.

I found the workshop helpful on many levels. Naturally there was the material itself, but I cannot understate the value of the group discussions with other attendees. Hearing how they were applying our learnings was a huge help to my understanding of the material and great inspiration as to how to follow through—the hardest part of adopting any new methodology. Also, there’s this inherent appeal of fulfilling goals that have always remained half-finished; that part of the pitch really resonated with me. And the workshop delivers—not just discussing the topic but providing tools and a mindset to approach similar future problems. This isn’t something that you would gain from a self-help book or blog post—part of my takeaway was a different way to look at and understand the problem itself. I would recommend the workshop the most to people who don’t think they need it. Just reflect honestly on how your plans have (or haven’t) come to fruition. Also note that actually changing things requires some investment and effort. Part of what you learn is the psychology of it all: that the act of investing time, effort, and money makes you more likely to follow through. I signed up for the workshop on a whim. Without going to conferences and having spent last year’s education budget on books, it felt like a good change of pace. And now, having taken it, I can confirm that! I learned a pretty important thing about myself: like a lot of people in the industry, I don’t put enough value into developing skills like this, and I’d been missing out.

I highly recommend Sasha to anyone looking for a professional coach! I sought coaching because I was seeking to gain more control over my career and wanted an external, knowledgeable perspective on how to do so. Sasha was able to take my very broad ask and narrow it down into individual goals with actionable steps and a measurable outcome. She also identified things I would have never thought to ask about and helped me work through them in a way that completely changed the way I do my work every day. Sasha’s impact on my career has been transformative, and I’m so glad to be working with her! I first came to Sasha with very little direction – just knowing that I needed a better vision for my long-term career and the accountability to stick with a plan to help me get there. Together, we identified areas for me to work on, including expanding my technical skill set, working on my strategic perspective, and integrating better with my existing teams. We broke those squishy areas down into measurable goals, set quarterly targets, and checked back in regularly to discuss any wins, challenges, or blockers to my progress. Over time, these skills have become more ingrained in my daily work, and I feel more confident in my overall career trajectory. Some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from working with Sasha were actually things I’d never expected to discuss in our sessions. For example, through our conversations she was able to pick up on things I hadn’t considered, including my difficulty in asking for help. Sasha suggested that I start by tracking every time I want to ask for help but don’t, and that unlocked a completely different perspective for me on how much time I was losing to unnecessary work when asking a question could have both strengthened a relationship and saved me hours of duplicative investigation. Six months later, I feel far more confident in voicing my questions and have learned so much more in my job than I could have ever imagined! I would recommend Sasha to anyone, but especially people with careers in data and/or technology. Sasha’s expertise as a data leader has been so helpful to me. She can understand my day-to-day responsibilities, provide suggestions on specific technical tasks, while also bringing the perspective of an upper-level leader, explaining how my work and my actions may be perceived by the leaders in my own organization.

I’ve known Sasha for years and would often come to her for advice with management problems when we worked together, so I was overjoyed when Sasha told me she was moving her informal coaching into a business.  Over the years I’ve worked with Sasha she’s given me help and advice over a range of both strategic and tactical areas, ranging from my own personal long term career development to immediate management advice. I’ve always found Sasha’s thoughts to be unique to my problem, offering knowledgeable and tailored advice to my personal problems and management style. Her insights are not just informed but incredibly practical—I've seen real improvements in my career, management and personal happiness! I approached Sasha when I was feeling stretched thin and burned out in my Senior Engineering Manager role. I really cared about the work and was putting in the hours, managing large teams across many time zones, trying to both helping ICs improve, whilst helping the overall engineering team to improve our processes, and just generally doing ‘a lot’. I was getting good performance reviews but I was frustrated, spinning my wheels and gradually (maybe rapidly) burning out. I really liked my role and general career path, but I was having more bad days than good, and if I’m honest, I’d been feeling this way my last couple jobs as well. I knew something had to change. Together, we systematically worked through all facets of my job, starting from the big picture career alignment (uncovering some surprises!) down to how I’m spending each hour. We addressed some hidden beliefs and assumptions that were tripping me up. We then identified the parts of my manager role I could trim down to make more time for activities with the biggest impact (and least frustration!).  I was pretty skeptical at first of some of Sasha’s suggestions/ideas (still an engineer at heart!), I think because they were half counter-intuitive, half pushing against my internal friction to change, but they really were effective.  I would say I now have more good days than bad! Primarily I’m working more reasonable hours but pushing my energy towards the right things, the teams are shipping more while also increasing my satisfaction. I can sense my manager skills and capacity are growing, and I now have more tools that I can use in any future role to be more effective, productive, and just generally more satisfied.  What sets Sasha apart from anyone else I’ve worked with is the genuine support she provides. Sasha goes beyond coaching; she's personally invested in my success and genuinely cares.   If you're looking for a professional coach who is not only knowledgeable but also friendly and genuinely supportive, Sasha is the perfect choice. She's been a catalyst for positive change in my professional life. Totally recommended!

I landed my first C-level startup job, a long-term goal of mine. Two years into this C-level job I realized that I have been reacting to the world and changes around me, and not responding with thought and care. I have a long term plan, but no clear view of the interstitial steps to get there, and have been struggling with the realities of being a working mom with very few peers in my organization. I have known and respected Sasha’s advice and judgment for years, and so when I realized just how adrift I was I decided it was time to reach out and utilize her unique perspective and skill set.  I wanted to discuss with Sasha a very broad question: “what should I do with my life and when?” (no pressure, Sasha). What I found during our session was time and again Sasha would listen to me talk about what I thought were disconnected ideas, and she would find a through line that she was hearing but that I was not–about how I approach structural problems, about how I think about my own intrinsic valuation of my work versus extrinsic approval. About where and how I’m seeking feedback, and seeking a peer group and community. About, quite honestly, what was actually important to me and what felt like it should be important. Something I have struggled with as a working mom is that my job is the only thing in my life that is about me. Not about my family, not about my kid, not about my home or my friendships or my life–but about me, specifically, and the value that is unique to me. The result here is that I am putting a lot of pressure on this one area to do a lot of work for me, which I was aware of going into our session–but Sasha really helped me put this in perspective, around what habits and tools are serving me, and which ones really have no value other than feeling familiar. I came out of our session with a lot to chew on, some book recommendations (one of my favorite things to get!), and a new perspective on how being a working person serves me. I did this session two weeks before my annual review, and it helped me shape how I’m thinking about the work I’ve done and the work I want to do. I know it would have been a very different conversation with my CEO without Sasha’s guidance, and I feel confident and pointed in the right direction for the first time in a long time.  I would recommend coaching with Sasha to anyone who knows they have big goals but are struggling to find the right moves–to respond to the pressures around them thoughtfully, rather than simply putting out fire after fire with no time to take a breath. I would recommend Sasha to anyone who has gotten wrapped up in the minutiae of the day to day but is struggling to find those higher term goals. And I would recommend Sasha to anyone who wants to talk to a leader and a peer who lets you be a person and not a role.

As a busy leader, I'm constantly putting out other people's fires and delaying my own goals. Sasha's workshop taught me a refreshingly practical set of approaches to achieving them. I now feel confident tackling my upcoming quarter!

Well-facilitated workshop where I learned to recognize how apathy and avoidance play into why I sometimes don't follow through on personal projects that I previously thought were important to me. Would recommend to anyone with a list of aspirational projects they can't seem to make progress on.

I finished grad school earlier this year and have been craving an opportunity to review and refresh my long term and short term professional goals. Sasha did a great job of making that both a thoughtful and joyful exercise—with many good tools that will help increase my chances of success. Truly a worthwhile experience!

Sasha is one of those rare coaches who bring both an analytical, systems-oriented perspective and a deep intuition for the human side of work and what really makes people tick. I trust that Sasha will bring fresh tools, insightful observations, and a humane perspective to my trickiest challenges—and I'll leave with a plan that helps me see the way forward.

Sasha's quarterly planning workshop changed the way I think about planning. I used to always think forward, but missed a crucial part, which was reflection! This big insight, among many others has set me up for a much better next quarter, and year after that. I suggest this workshop to any folks that have struggled with either the planning process, or to adhere afterwards.

Sasha's quarterly planning workshop was a great way for me to take time for myself to figure out what was important to focus on this quarter, not only at work but also in my personal life. It was extremely well designed in terms of balancing time commitment with benefit. No moment felt wasted, and I feel like I have more tools and focus going into this quarter and future quarters!

Setting goals has always felt like a chore and not always something that impacted me or my work. The workshop with Sasha was so impactful because it helped me figure out the reasons and motivation behind my goals and gave excellent guiding questions that helped me think through what was truly important. Spending time with others in the workshop who were thinking through similar questions was reassuring and motivated me to move things forward.

I was having a surprisingly hard time getting alignment with my leadership team on a new initiative. I’d tried a bunch of things and was feeling stuck. Working with Sasha, I was able to examine the situation from some new angles, which helped me build some better hypotheses on the hidden sticking point. I left the conversation with a plan, new tools to try out, and renewed optimism. Her thoughtful, strategic perspective was key to unlocking forward progress in a sticky situation.

I am allergic to New Year’s resolutions. Books like Atomic Habits sit on my shelf for YEARS unread. But I need help existing in the world of Slack pings and Outlook calendars. I took a leap of faith on Sasha’s workshop. I’m so glad that I did! As a result, I was able to make a plan for the next quarter that centers on my own values and what actually motivates me. I feel so much relief at the progress I’ve already made from the first three weeks. I warmly recommend working with Sasha.

Before Sasha's workshop, I had analysis paralysis with many of my goals. My vision is always set high, but something was missing when it comes to actionable achievements. Through the group and Sasha's guidance, I was able to assess what needed to be done to take the action needed for me to plan my goals over a period that felt specific and achievable. I highly recommend her program to anyone who wants to optimize their time, personal and professional goals, and implement a strategy to help them reach their desired outcome.

I've recommended this workshop to several people. I'd always planned at a week or a year, anything quarter-sized was strictly OKR. Sasha's approach sets me up for a manageable timeframe–long enough for work, short enough for a meaningful feedback loop and recalibration to achieve annually. I'm also great at losing momentum, or stalling completely, when I'm "off-map". The introduction of themes gives me the resilience I need when life happens. Everything about Sasha's leadership and facilitation reinforces the concepts and tools making this experiential learning too.

I juggle a handful of personal goals and I never knew how to make progress in them. The workshop taught me how to make plans that actually happen by making them doable rather than what on paper seems reasonable. Sasha taught us strategies to 1) get us where we each wanted to go, and 2) analyze like a scientist what is getting in the way. The most powerful tool was how to keep moving forward in each stream of activity of life while keeping your head. I had reservations to join as I wasn't planning to use this for career goals, but the methods apply to any area of life (like hobbies or relationships). I would recommend the workshop to anyone who isn't quite getting where they want to be, and needs a better handle on how they use their time.

Our team came away surprised by how much they realized about themselves, with reusable tools and templates to plan their goals and get unstuck. The workshop was applicable for both personal and professional goals, with most of the team choosing to explore personal projects, which allowed us all to get to know each other a little better. The team particularly liked the breakout room discussions. They allowed them to learn more about their coworkers, going beyond typical day-to-day conversations—a valuable and unexpected team-building element. Our whole team expressed gratitude for the space to reflect and prioritize, something that wasn’t previously a focus for us. I’d highly recommend bringing Sasha into your team to run a quarterly planning workshop.

I approached Sasha because I felt like I was caught in a cycle of trying lots of different versions of planning, goal-setting, and time management and none of them ever seemed to stick. I was spending lots of time on other people’s priorities and repeatedly setting aside my own. I felt like throughout my working week, I was almost constantly switching gears, and never getting to spend the time I needed to accomplish larger projects. Her coaching helped me by providing me with strategies to create the space I needed to get more (and more important) work done. Just as importantly, her coaching gave me the permission that I had been struggling to give myself: permission to stick to my own priorities and block out the distractions of the modern working environment, permission to devote time to thinking ahead and reviewing where I’ve been. The result was a dramatic shift in how I approach my work and how I structure my weeks. I have been able to build on strategies that I tried but could never quite get to stick before, allowing me to be more firm about working on a single task or project at a time. Before starting, I had doubts about my ability to impose boundaries around my time but I found that it was more of an adjustment in mindset than anything. Once I was able to change how I had come to think about my work from being an endless, undifferentiated to-do list, I was able to more effectively identify the tasks that would never really be “done” and those that would move the bigger, more meaningful projects forward.

I found the workshop helpful on many levels. Naturally there was the material itself, but I cannot understate the value of the group discussions with other attendees. Hearing how they were applying our learnings was a huge help to my understanding of the material and great inspiration as to how to follow through—the hardest part of adopting any new methodology. Also, there’s this inherent appeal of fulfilling goals that have always remained half-finished; that part of the pitch really resonated with me. And the workshop delivers—not just discussing the topic but providing tools and a mindset to approach similar future problems. This isn’t something that you would gain from a self-help book or blog post—part of my takeaway was a different way to look at and understand the problem itself. I would recommend the workshop the most to people who don’t think they need it. Just reflect honestly on how your plans have (or haven’t) come to fruition. Also note that actually changing things requires some investment and effort. Part of what you learn is the psychology of it all: that the act of investing time, effort, and money makes you more likely to follow through. I signed up for the workshop on a whim. Without going to conferences and having spent last year’s education budget on books, it felt like a good change of pace. And now, having taken it, I can confirm that! I learned a pretty important thing about myself: like a lot of people in the industry, I don’t put enough value into developing skills like this, and I’d been missing out.

I highly recommend Sasha to anyone looking for a professional coach! I sought coaching because I was seeking to gain more control over my career and wanted an external, knowledgeable perspective on how to do so. Sasha was able to take my very broad ask and narrow it down into individual goals with actionable steps and a measurable outcome. She also identified things I would have never thought to ask about and helped me work through them in a way that completely changed the way I do my work every day. Sasha’s impact on my career has been transformative, and I’m so glad to be working with her! I first came to Sasha with very little direction – just knowing that I needed a better vision for my long-term career and the accountability to stick with a plan to help me get there. Together, we identified areas for me to work on, including expanding my technical skill set, working on my strategic perspective, and integrating better with my existing teams. We broke those squishy areas down into measurable goals, set quarterly targets, and checked back in regularly to discuss any wins, challenges, or blockers to my progress. Over time, these skills have become more ingrained in my daily work, and I feel more confident in my overall career trajectory. Some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from working with Sasha were actually things I’d never expected to discuss in our sessions. For example, through our conversations she was able to pick up on things I hadn’t considered, including my difficulty in asking for help. Sasha suggested that I start by tracking every time I want to ask for help but don’t, and that unlocked a completely different perspective for me on how much time I was losing to unnecessary work when asking a question could have both strengthened a relationship and saved me hours of duplicative investigation. Six months later, I feel far more confident in voicing my questions and have learned so much more in my job than I could have ever imagined! I would recommend Sasha to anyone, but especially people with careers in data and/or technology. Sasha’s expertise as a data leader has been so helpful to me. She can understand my day-to-day responsibilities, provide suggestions on specific technical tasks, while also bringing the perspective of an upper-level leader, explaining how my work and my actions may be perceived by the leaders in my own organization.

I’ve known Sasha for years and would often come to her for advice with management problems when we worked together, so I was overjoyed when Sasha told me she was moving her informal coaching into a business.  Over the years I’ve worked with Sasha she’s given me help and advice over a range of both strategic and tactical areas, ranging from my own personal long term career development to immediate management advice. I’ve always found Sasha’s thoughts to be unique to my problem, offering knowledgeable and tailored advice to my personal problems and management style. Her insights are not just informed but incredibly practical—I've seen real improvements in my career, management and personal happiness! I approached Sasha when I was feeling stretched thin and burned out in my Senior Engineering Manager role. I really cared about the work and was putting in the hours, managing large teams across many time zones, trying to both helping ICs improve, whilst helping the overall engineering team to improve our processes, and just generally doing ‘a lot’. I was getting good performance reviews but I was frustrated, spinning my wheels and gradually (maybe rapidly) burning out. I really liked my role and general career path, but I was having more bad days than good, and if I’m honest, I’d been feeling this way my last couple jobs as well. I knew something had to change. Together, we systematically worked through all facets of my job, starting from the big picture career alignment (uncovering some surprises!) down to how I’m spending each hour. We addressed some hidden beliefs and assumptions that were tripping me up. We then identified the parts of my manager role I could trim down to make more time for activities with the biggest impact (and least frustration!).  I was pretty skeptical at first of some of Sasha’s suggestions/ideas (still an engineer at heart!), I think because they were half counter-intuitive, half pushing against my internal friction to change, but they really were effective.  I would say I now have more good days than bad! Primarily I’m working more reasonable hours but pushing my energy towards the right things, the teams are shipping more while also increasing my satisfaction. I can sense my manager skills and capacity are growing, and I now have more tools that I can use in any future role to be more effective, productive, and just generally more satisfied.  What sets Sasha apart from anyone else I’ve worked with is the genuine support she provides. Sasha goes beyond coaching; she's personally invested in my success and genuinely cares.   If you're looking for a professional coach who is not only knowledgeable but also friendly and genuinely supportive, Sasha is the perfect choice. She's been a catalyst for positive change in my professional life. Totally recommended!

I landed my first C-level startup job, a long-term goal of mine. Two years into this C-level job I realized that I have been reacting to the world and changes around me, and not responding with thought and care. I have a long term plan, but no clear view of the interstitial steps to get there, and have been struggling with the realities of being a working mom with very few peers in my organization. I have known and respected Sasha’s advice and judgment for years, and so when I realized just how adrift I was I decided it was time to reach out and utilize her unique perspective and skill set.  I wanted to discuss with Sasha a very broad question: “what should I do with my life and when?” (no pressure, Sasha). What I found during our session was time and again Sasha would listen to me talk about what I thought were disconnected ideas, and she would find a through line that she was hearing but that I was not–about how I approach structural problems, about how I think about my own intrinsic valuation of my work versus extrinsic approval. About where and how I’m seeking feedback, and seeking a peer group and community. About, quite honestly, what was actually important to me and what felt like it should be important. Something I have struggled with as a working mom is that my job is the only thing in my life that is about me. Not about my family, not about my kid, not about my home or my friendships or my life–but about me, specifically, and the value that is unique to me. The result here is that I am putting a lot of pressure on this one area to do a lot of work for me, which I was aware of going into our session–but Sasha really helped me put this in perspective, around what habits and tools are serving me, and which ones really have no value other than feeling familiar. I came out of our session with a lot to chew on, some book recommendations (one of my favorite things to get!), and a new perspective on how being a working person serves me. I did this session two weeks before my annual review, and it helped me shape how I’m thinking about the work I’ve done and the work I want to do. I know it would have been a very different conversation with my CEO without Sasha’s guidance, and I feel confident and pointed in the right direction for the first time in a long time.  I would recommend coaching with Sasha to anyone who knows they have big goals but are struggling to find the right moves–to respond to the pressures around them thoughtfully, rather than simply putting out fire after fire with no time to take a breath. I would recommend Sasha to anyone who has gotten wrapped up in the minutiae of the day to day but is struggling to find those higher term goals. And I would recommend Sasha to anyone who wants to talk to a leader and a peer who lets you be a person and not a role.