Coaching Scholarships for Leaders from Underrepresented Groups

We believe that great leaders come from all walks of life, and we are committed to providing leaders from underrepresented backgrounds access to high-quality leadership development at no cost.

With our program, you'll gain the clarity, confidence, and skills to advance your career and make a lasting impact in your field.

This fall, I'm partnering with a few incredible coaches to offer no-cost scholarships to more leaders!

Who are the coaches?

George Sudarkoff

George Sudarkoff (me)

George supports quirky and twice-exceptional leaders. He specializes in ADHD and helps his clients harness their unique strengths while managing challenges. His coaching approach combines evidence-based practices with a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial journey.

Offering: 2 scholarships

Shawn Carney

Shawn Carney

Shawn is a Co-Active trained coach with 25+ years experience leading technology teams at Etsy, Spotify, UMG, and EMI. Their specialty is navigating life's transitions, so whether you're navigating a career shift, dealing with loss, or facing a major life decision, Shawn will support you in stretching your sightlines, getting out of your comfort zone, and growing in ways that permeate every aspect of your life.

Offering: 2 scholarships

Sara Shondrick

Sara Shondrick

Sara is a certified executive coach, organizational psychologist, and leadership consultant with 15+ years of experience partnering with executives from startups to top multinational organizations. She helps leaders in transition get unstuck and lead with greater courage, clarity, confidence, creativity, effectiveness, and well-being using evidence-based principles. She’s also a published author with peer-reviewed research in top academic journals focused on leadership potential, emergence, and effectiveness.

Offering: 2 scholarships

Alex Martynov

Alex Martynov

Alex is a leadership coach who helps leaders experience their work in a profoundly satisfying and fulfilling way. Among the themes that he can be most helpful with are emotional intelligence, navigating difficult conversations, dealing with uncertainty, building more trust with your colleagues, developing authentic leadership style.

Offering: 2 scholarships

Stefan Ross

Stefan Ross

Stefan coaches engineering and non-technical leadership at tech startups and scaleups.  He applies a Solutions Focused approach, often allowing complex problems to be overcome with minimal resistance.

Stefan has over 20 years' experience in high-growth engineering and leadership.

Offering: 3 scholarships

Alison Austin

Alison Austin

An experienced coach, Alison works alongside mid-senior leaders & high potentials, helping them to optimise their performance, identify blind spots & realise their true potential. Her coaching is grounded in 20+years of practical cross-functional leadership experience & spans working one-on-one with clients, coaching executive teams and designing leadership development curriculum for organisations.

Areas of interest & expertise incl.: Emotionally intelligent leadership; interpersonal skills; humane productivity; resilience & burnout recovery.

Offering: 3 scholarships

Amy Mok

Amy Mok

Amy is a professional coach and technical leader with 20+ years of experience in software engineering across industry, non-profit, startups, and government. She has played roles ranging from engineer to director. Amy will support your growth, help you develop confidence, amplify your strengths, and support you in achieving your career aspirations.

Offering: 1 scholarships

James Conroy-Finn

James Conroy-Finn

James is a deeply empathetic and curious person who values the positive impact he had creating world-class teams and environments as a CTO and founder at a number of technology startups above tales of partnerships with globally recognised brands and internet-scale infrastructure. His background in Physics combined with a passion for psychology, philosophy, and fulfilment make him unusually insightful and often inspiring.

Offering: 2 scholarships

Melissa Appel

Melissa Appel

Melissa Appel coaches product management leaders, helping them build and manage effective teams and improve stakeholder relationships. She previously spent 20 years as a practitioner at companies of various sizes and stages. Coaching with Product Culture.

Offering: 1 scholarship

What our alumni are saying

My work with George has been truly transformative for me as a leader in my organization, and for my own career trajectory in general. I have more confidence in my abilities, and more grounded self-awareness about how I work best and what I need to support my own growth. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to work with George!

Colette Alexander

Senior Director of Engineering | HashiCorp

I had the pleasure of working with Stefan for six coaching sessions in 2024, and the experience was transformative.

Stefan's coaching helped me recognize and address some unhelpful patterns in my thinking and communication.

His ability to listen attentively and provide tailored advice was very helpful. His questions and statements often led to profound insights and actionable steps. He created a supportive environment that encouraged open discussion and self-reflection.

Stefan's coaching has had a lasting impact on both my professional and personal life. I highly recommend his services to anyone looking to enhance their communication skills, build confidence, and achieve their goals.

Lucija Gregov

Lead AI/ML Engineer | Citeline

Working with Shawn was a perspective-shifting, comforting, and empowering experience. Shawn guided me through my post-layoff scramble with patience and determination, helping me to see my strengths. Navigating my identity as a software engineer in a shaky tech landscape was feeling overwhelming, but Shawn helped me to declutter my mind, focus on a larger strategy, and build routines/resources for myself that would actively progress me towards my end goals while giving me space to explore my broader interests.

Andrew Cunningham

Software Engineer | Kooth

Coaching with Sara has been transformative. Sara never made me feel anything but listened to and supported. She asked phenomenal questions. I found that the conversations I had with Sara sparked interest in me, gave me energy, a feeling like when you discover something about yourself, or you have some realization, or you faced something, that is energizing.

George has been instrumental in helping me find my voice as an executive. I’d recommend him to anyone who feels they need a trusted advisor to help them navigate a leadership role.

Aaron Snyder

Co-founder & CTO | CorePilot

Choosing Sara as your coach means embarking on a journey of growth, support, and practical wisdom. Her balanced approach ensures that you are not only guided by empathy and care but also equipped with the strength and knowledge to achieve your goals. I highly recommend her to anyone looking to make meaningful progress in their personal or professional life.

Shawn has helped me to maintain low self-orientation in decision making at work. I’ve also learned the ability to step back to see the bigger picture and how everything fits together, instead of only seeing how something affects me or my team directly. And with their engineering and technical experience, Shawn has boosted my ability for strategic delivery. I am proud that I have a happy, productive team, and so much of that is from Shawn's coaching and guidance. I’ve learned skills from them that I will carry on for the rest of my career.

Sara Hopper

Senior Engineering Manager | Etsy

Having Alison as my coach for the last year has been an incredibly valuable experience for me. Her guidance has been transformative, touching many aspects of my leadership journey. Thanks to her coaching, I have cultivated a new sense of presence in my day-to-day decisions as a leader and I've experienced a boost in my performance and energy levels. Her coaching also empowered me to embrace my authentic leadership style, enabling me to lead with confidence, empathy, and originality.

Oriana Morales

Senior leader | Global consultancy

George helped me take my career to the next level despite struggling with ADHD and prioritizing effectively. Through our sessions, George understood the challenges specific to ADHD and provided both tangible and intangible tools to solve my problems. The intangible tools, such as gaining clarity on my core values, have had the biggest breakthroughs and value in my personal and professional growth.

Matt Brems

Principal Data Scientist | DataRobot

Working with Sara is absolutely worth it. I not only feel that I've changed, I feel like I know how to keep that going. It's a challenging experience, but worth the benefits. She is amazing to work with and I always felt safe and heard.

George is good at observing people and assessing what they may need to move forward without telling them directly what to do.

Jaimie Qaiyumi

Co-founder & CXO | Boatzilla, Inc.

Over the course of the past few months, I have had the privilege of collaborating with James, and the impact on my leadership capabilities has been positive and substantial.

James serves as an invaluable sounding board, attentively addressing the challenges that arise in my professional life. His approach involves guiding me through these issues, not through prescriptive directives, but rather by facilitating a process that empowers me to uncover and implement my own solutions.

His expertise and thoughtful guidance have been instrumental in my growth as a leader, and I highly value the insights he brings to our conversations. I appreciate James for his ability to strike a balance between offering support and encouraging self-discovery.

Head of Engineering | A US-based, bootstrapped SaaS startup

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work with you [George]. I have learned a lot from you and gained a new perspective through your gentle but firm coaching and guidance.

Shwetha Thammaiah

Engineering Leader | Uber

James offers a perspective that emphasises what’s important, rather than merely urgent. He is skilled at providing a gentle challenge that punctures my pomposity when I’ve lost my way with grandiose ideas. James is an intriguing person, and it has been fun getting to know him!

Founding CTO | A venture-backed medical device certification startup

Working with Shawn has been so meaningful for me. They have guided me through a number of different challenges as a leader - their unique ability to listen and be a strategic thought partner or to help me turn my stream of consciousness into a cohesive document is invaluable. As a female presenting person, in the typically male dominated tech industry, I always appreciate being able to have an unbiased third party reframe my imposter syndrome and look out for moments when I drive right past recognizing my own success. I look forward to many meaningful years of partnership with Shawn.

Kerrie Ashley

Senior Manager | Databricks

Colette Alexander
Lucija-Gregov
Andrew-Cunningham
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Aaron Snyder
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Sara-Hopper
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Matt Brems
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Jaimie Qaiyumi
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Shwetha Thammaiah
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Kerrie-Ashley

Frequently asked questions

What is the application process like?

Apply: Fill out the application form below by September 22, 2024.

 

Review: After September 22, the coaches will review the applications and select which applicants to proceed with.

 

Qualify: If you're selected, one of the coaches will contact you to schedule an introductory meeting to discuss your goals and the details of their coaching program.

 

Decide: After the introductory call, if both you and your coach decide to move forward, your coaching can begin.

What are the qualification criteria?

Diversity: You belong to a group underrepresented in tech leadership, which includes but is not limited to:

  • women,
  • ethnic minorities,
  • LGBTQ+ individuals,
  • people with disabilities,
  • neurodiverse individuals,
  • non-traditional educational backgrounds,
  • ages outside the norm,
  • and veterans.

Decision-Making Authority: You hold a leadership position and are responsible for shaping your organization's strategy and direction.

 

Growth Mindset: You embrace an open and flexible mindset.

 

Commitment: You can dedicate time to attend the coaching sessions and do the work between sessions.

What's included in the coaching program?

Your coach will provide you with individual support toward your goals. Other details, such as the number and frequency of the sessions, will vary by coach.

Will I need to pay?

No, the no-cost scholarship covers the full cost of the coaching program.

 

If you're not selected for the no-cost scholarship program, some coaches might offer a low-cost option at their discretion.

What if the coaching program doesn't work for me?

We understand that not every program is the right fit for everyone. If you find that the program isn't meeting your needs, we encourage you to discuss your concerns with your coach and our program coordinator, George.

Can I choose a coach?

Our goal is to match participants with coaches based on their backgrounds and goals. We cannot guarantee a specific coach. However, if you let us know your preference, we will consider it.

Is the program open to international applicants?

Yes, we welcome applications from international candidates.

Can I continue working with my coach after the program ends?

While the no-cost scholarship covers only the duration of the program, participants may choose to continue working with their coach privately after the program concludes, subject to the coach's availability and private rates.

Application form