Executive Coaching, Events, and Resources

With a robust background in both medicine and business, I completed my MD/MBA from USC and have served on the admissions committee at the USC School of Medicine. My career spans leadership roles at top consulting firms like McKinsey & Company and Accenture, where I specialized in healthcare strategy and organizational consulting. As a former Director of Operations Strategy at USC and a Strategic Advisor at Bellsant, I have a proven track record of driving transformation and innovation in the healthcare sector by working with executives to achieve success. I am passionate about leveraging my diverse experience to help executives navigate complex challenges and achieve their professional goals. Let's connect to explore how I can support your journey to success!

As an executive leader with over 20 years of experience in marketing, strategy, product/brand management, and innovation in Fortune 50 companies and high-growth startups, I help ambitious professionals break into, grow within, and lead. From leading global cross-functional teams, managing iconic multi-billion dollar brands, and launching startups from the ground up, I’ve shaped billion-dollar narratives, scaled teams, and navigated the complex realities of today’s marketing landscape. As a coach, I focus on moving you forward to your goals—whether you're trying to land your first role, transitioning from another field, or stepping into leadership and executive positions. I’ve mentored people across every level for many of the most respected companies on the planet, and I bring that inside perspective to our work together. I can help you: • Get Past Gatekeepers to Hiring Managers – Teach you the strategies to bypass the gatekeepers and the blackhole of ignored applications. • Conduct Reconnaissance to Position You for Success – Learn how to find the right role for you, get insight, build rapport, and get insiders to ask for you! • Career Coaching & Transitions – Help you to navigate job changes, promotions, or function-switching with confidence and clarity. • Resume & LinkedIn Optimization – Partner with you to craft personal brand stories that resonate with hiring managers and recruiters in today’s saturated landscape. • Interview Preparation – Build your confidence and presence to succeed in high-stakes interviews, from early career to executive roles. • Leadership Coaching – Develop executive presence, emotional intelligence, and influence in environments where titles aren’t enough.

I work with senior leaders and executives as a confidential thought partner during moments that require clarity, precision, and sound judgment. My background spans investment banking, strategy, and leadership advisory, where I’ve operated in high-performance environments shaped by ambiguity, pressure, and complex decision-making. This allows me to engage at a level beyond traditional coaching—bringing both structured thinking and practical insight to conversations around leadership, transitions, and organizational challenges. My approach is direct, strategic, and outcome-oriented. I help leaders cut through noise, sharpen their perspective, and move forward with conviction—whether they are stepping into a broader role, navigating competing priorities, or reassessing long-term direction. Clients value the combination of analytical rigor and grounded coaching, gaining not just reflection, but clear decisions, stronger leadership presence, and the ability to operate more effectively at the level they’re expected to lead

Leadership has a way of amplifying everything. Your calendar fills, expectations rise, and suddenly your own needs become the last item on the list. You can be successful and still feel stretched, reactive, or unsure of yourself in moments that matter. Executive coaching with me is for leaders who want to lead from intention instead of urgency, especially when the stakes are high. We bring your real leadership moments into the room: hard conversations, conflict, decision-making, team dynamics, influence, and change. We look at what happens inside you when things get tense, and we build the capacity to respond with clarity rather than defaulting to old patterns. You’ll strengthen your communication, boundaries, and self-trust, and you’ll leave with practical tools you can use in the middle of a real day, not just on a quiet weekend. The result is leadership that is both effective and deeply rooted in who you are.

I coach managers, senior leaders, and founders who are stepping into bigger roles and feeling the pressure that comes with it. I’m a former in-house leader with experience supporting organizations through growth, change, and increased complexity. That background means I coach with a practical, business-grounded lens, focused on real decisions, real conversations, and real outcomes. I trained at the Hudson Institute of Coaching and use a whole-person, results-driven approach that helps leaders strengthen executive presence, sharpen communication, and lead with greater intention and authority. Clients work with me when they’re: - Transitioning into leadership or managing former peers - Preparing for high-stakes conversations or increased visibility - Navigating career pivots, burnout, or a loss of confidence - Wanting to lead more effectively My style is candid, thoughtful, and forward-moving. Clients leave our sessions with clearer thinking, stronger self-trust, and concrete next steps they can apply immediately. If you’re looking for a coach who understands the realities of leadership and helps you move decisively toward your next level, we’ll work well together.

Welcome to my profile! With a robust background in executive coaching and leadership development, I have guided over 100 senior professionals and founders from top firms like Morgan Stanley, EY, and Justworks to achieve their career goals. As the founder of an executive leadership development practice, I specialize in delivering personalized 1:1 coaching and workshops that enhance leadership effectiveness, career growth, and mental agility. Drawing on my academic background at Columbia University and NYU Stern’s School of Business, a 15+ years career in private equity, venture capital, and corporate strategy, along with my deep understanding of leadership development, I blend the laws of business strategy and wisdom to supercharge your path through major goals and decisions. My clients consistently report improved productivity, engagement, and relationships, and wellbeing. They may be launching, acquiring, or scaling a company, stepping into a new leadership role, navigating a major life milestone, looking to build healthy habits, or simply seeking a career that feels aligned with their strengths and values. Just as often, they may be shutting down a company, experiencing burnout, facing a major loss, or looking to rebuild a more purpose-aligned life. Many are already performing at high levels, but they’re ready to break through internal ceilings and define success on their own terms. I'm here to support your journey. Let's connect and tailor a plan to elevate your impact!

I am a Managing Partner & Executive Coach at Cornerstone International Group, a leading global leadership enhancement firm that offers executive recruitment, executive coaching, and career navigation solutions. With more than 30 years of experience in the luxury hospitality, travel & leisure sector, and executive search, I have developed a deep understanding of the industry by partnering closely with senior executives, owners, and organizations throughout Europe, the US, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. I hold coaching certifications with the ICF (ACC & Level 2) and EMCC (EIA), as well as business & career coaching certificates from the Center for Executive Coaching. My coaching approach is both transformational and strengths-based. I support leaders in uncovering their authentic leadership style, enabling them to lead with confidence and integrity. At the same time, I provide practical strategies and tools that equip them to thrive in dynamic, multicultural settings. This holistic approach ensures that leaders are well-prepared to meet the challenges of today's global business landscape. Originally from Berlin, I had the opportunity to live and work in nine different countries, including China & the Middle East. This international exposure has fueled my passion for working with talent, fostered a genuine appreciation for cultural diversity, and reinforced his commitment to developing people and their careers.

High-stakes leadership moments rarely come with perfect clarity. You may be preparing for a senior promotion, stepping into a new executive mandate, moving from expert/operator to enterprise leader, navigating founder complexity, or leading through reorganization, ambiguity, stakeholder tension, or increased visibility. These moments often require more than excellent execution. They call for sharper judgment, stronger presence, clearer communication, better sensemaking, and the ability to lead across complexity without losing access to your own center. As an MCC executive coach, I offer a confidential, rigorous, and deeply human coaching partnership for leaders operating at important inflection points. Our work creates space to examine the mandate before you, clarify what matters most, strengthen how you make decisions, and practice the leadership capacity required for the next level of responsibility. Depending on your situation, we may explore questions such as: • What is this role, mandate, or transition really asking of me? • How do I lead with authority and authenticity in rooms where the stakes are higher? • How do I make sound decisions amid market pressure, internal politics, and risk? • How do I manage visibility, pressure, and stakeholder expectations without overextending? • How do I communicate with greater clarity, confidence, and executive range? I bring 20+ years of experience across Fortune 100 innovation, organizational transformation, people systems, executive coaching, team coaching, board service, and business building. I have coached 750+ clients and teams across 30+ industries who were facing similar dilemmas. This engagement is for leaders entering a more complex chapter and seeking a trusted thought partner to strengthen clarity, presence, self-trust, and their executive range. If you are wondering whether executive coaching is the right support for you now, I invite you to book a confidential introductory call so we can explore whether coaching is the right support for your goals and expected outcomes.

I spent 12 years at McKinsey & Company, leaving as an Associate Partner focused on the energy sector. In that role I advised C-suite and senior leaders through exactly the situations most executives seek coaching for: stepping into bigger roles, leading through ambiguity, managing boards and difficult stakeholders, and making high-stakes calls with incomplete information. I've sat in the room where those decisions get made and I've coached and developed dozens of consultants and client leaders along the way, from first-time managers to partners. I'm now building an independent coaching and advisory practice, training with the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI), the world's largest ICF-accredited coach training program. My coaching blends that rigorous, whole-person methodology with a strategist's pragmatism: we work on who you're becoming as a leader and the concrete moves in front of you. I work in English and Portuguese, with particular depth in energy, professional services, and Iberian/lusophone markets.

I'm Gia Lacqua, a Leadership Behavior Strategist who helps high-performing leaders uncover the invisible strategies driving their decisions, leadership, and success — and redesign the ones that no longer serve them. A former Fortune 100 Vice President with more than 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including 12 in leadership, I combine real-world executive experience with a neuroscience-informed understanding of behavior. That combination is what lets me find the unconscious patterns shaping how clients think, lead, communicate, and decide under pressure — patterns most coaching never reaches. My work is grounded in one belief: every successful person is running a personal strategy, whether they designed it or inherited it. The behaviors that once fueled achievement often become the exact liabilities driving burnout, overfunctioning, and indecision. I help leaders see the strategy underneath the symptom, then rebuild it intentionally — aligned with who they are now, not who they had to be to get here. I'm a Forbes Coaches Council member, award-winning author of PowerShift, and host of the What The Shift podcast — known for translating complex human behavior into practical strategy that produces measurable change in leadership, performance, and life.