We are in a time of a seismic shift in the way corporate life operates.

Women+ have natural qualities to be the leaders of this cultural change. We’re here for it.

Diversity quote graphic

Let’s speed up the progress

We teach women+ and allies how to impact the much-needed DEI shift through conscious leadership education, training, and community support.

We are whole-brain holists

Business thrives when employees are encouraged to use the whole brain, the logical and the artistic; balance out feminine and masculine behaviors, like knowing when to listen and when to speak; and blend IQ with EQ, intuition, and physical wellness.

We advocate for feminine principles in business: empathy, consideration, adaptability… but we are not anti-masculine—we are holists.

Diagram of Whole Brain Business model
whole brain business model

…leading with love

In the old world of business Love is considered ‘soft’, and ‘softness’ is perceived as weakness.

We disagree.
“Cor”, Latin for heart, is the root of “courage”.

It takes courage and love-infused values like learning, open-heartedness, vulnerability, and encouragement to guide the world of business from empty to empowered.

Courageous Being Center is a sanctuary that was so far missing in the professional world. It’s a place for those like myself, in need of compassionate, meaningful and actionable guidance. They have helped me unlock potential that I didn’t even know existed within myself!

M.P. : financial services professional

Ivana Polonijo

Ivana Polonijo, Ph.D.

Chief Soul-utions Officer & Founder

Ivana has been empowering females since first grade, when she helped a girl with disabilities stand up to bullies. She is no stranger to big and little stress. She’s faced childhood gremlins, civil war, immigration, single parenthood, and a rewarding and demanding academic and corporate career. Before she started using conscious leadership principles, she frequently hung out with old colleagues: anxiety, frustration, and burn-out. Through daily practice, she has refueled her spark and found purpose, strength, and composure. Ivana blends a Ph.D. in anthropology, executive experience from 15+ years in finance and non-profit boards service, with bioenergetics and inner-work coaching and facilitation training to teach women+ how to find their own empowered calm no matter what the moment brings.

Ivana Polonijo
Rebecca Lavalee

Liam Polonijo

Generation Z Consultant

Liam is an avid inner work practitioner. Through committed daily practice of Inner Bonding, transcendental meditation and general healthy lifestyle, he has upleveled his leadership, communication, organization, time-management skills, and navigation of personal and professional transitions. Liam serves as Generation Z Consultant to Courageous Being, providing valuable input across the center’s varied services. He is a psychology major at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Rebecca Lavalee

Maggie Kelly

Creative Soul-utions Specialist

Throughout life’s turbulence, Maggie has demonstrated a remarkable ability to face adversity. Her experiences have shaped her resilient character and provided her with the ability to transmute challenges into opportunities for growth and learning. As an Art and Psychology major at the University of Colorado Boulder, Maggie channels her passion for the arts and human psyche into projects that foster emotional expression and self-discovery. She brings a unique blend of personal experience and academic knowledge to her role, contributing to dynamic initiatives that support diverse client needs.

Agnes

Agnes

Chief Courageous Being

Agnes is our guide in conscious leadership and a registered psychologist. While some aspects of her are imaginative, the therapist part is real: our advice column is answered by a trained mental health professional. And – for inspiration – we embellished her traits. Envision a being with the combined strength and wisdom of many Courageous Beings, like Maya Angelou, Malala, or Maria Agnesi, the first woman appointed as a university mathematics professor. Now imagine her 300 years in the future, when she’s seen it all and transcended the struggle. Agnes knows how to take care of business with confidence and grace, and dons the CB Medallion as a symbol of the self-alignment practices she has mastered. She emboldens us to operate from our true self and a place of inner calm.

Agnes

Let’s be courageous in business.

Learn more about Agnes’s Medallion practices and how you can master them, too.

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage you can’t practice any other virtues consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically but nothing consistently without courage.”

~ Maya Angelou