We are now a Certified B Corporation through 2027.

Our verified overall B Impact Score is 128.9—where a minimum score of 80 is what qualifies for B Corp Certification, and the median score for businesses who complete the assessment is currently 50.9. When we first certified in 2018, our overall score was 93.8, so we’re incredibly pleased with the continuous improvement of our sustainability practices and our big increase in impact over these six years.

A Certified B Corp’s impact is measured across five categories: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers. Check out the detailed breakdown of our score on our public Certified B Corp company profile.

Through detailed documentation and audited datasets, we were able to demonstrate our company’s performance across three Impact Business Models: Designed to Give, Education, and Support for Underserved/Purpose Driven Enterprises. We are also considered Mission Locked because we changed our legal business entity to a Public Benefit Corporation when we certified in 2018.

“Impact Business Models (IBMs) are the ways that a business is intentionally designed to create a specific positive benefit/outcome for one of its stakeholders—such as workers, community, environment, or customers. They may be based on their product, a particular process or activity, or the structure of the business.

“Determining whether your business qualifies for an Impact Business Model is one of the more challenging and nuanced parts of completing the B Impact Assessment. Most companies completing the B Impact Assessment have 0-2 IBMs. It is difficult to earn credit in an IBM, and extremely rare that a company has 3 or more IBMs that are applicable.”

So you can see why we’re celebrating!

The certification process has become even more rigorous, mature, and robust since our first B Corp Certification in June 2018. We initiated the recertification process at the end of January 2024 and got the final approval on May 16—so it was 3.5 months end-to-end, a similar timeframe to our first time around.

Huge thanks goes to the B Lab team who guided us along the way. I am in awe at the depth with which our Verification Analyst, Natalia Lopes, studied our business and helped to tease out nuances most people don’t understand about how we work. She helped differentiate between specific impacts with corporate coaching clients and individual coaching clients, something I don’t instinctively do because I’m always focused on the individual regardless of the engagement type. Natalia showed us how these business models truly are separate and unique not just in how they’re contracted but in their material impacts.

Getting to know your own business better is the true value of an audit.

A service business like ours—without a lot of concrete outputs that I’m actively producing—can often be mistaken as not having concrete outcomes. I profoundly know this isn’t true because I’ve spent 19 years gathering evidence that my work matters, has ripple effects, and changes the work and lives of the people I support. (Even on my worst days of self-doubt that isn’t something I can deny or convince myself doesn’t exist.) But actually measuring that impact can be really, really challenging.

On the surface of things, the B Corp certification is a way for a business to demonstrate its positive social and environmental impact, to differentiate itself as a company that uses business as a force for good. But beyond that it’s an audit of every facet of the business—operational, financial, charitable, educational, managerial, structural—that allows for the intentional design of the business to be more clearly revealed. For its created outcomes to be meticulously measured in a way that is consistent with other companies, to benchmark it against other businesses across the world—businesses who hold similar goals and a similar vision for how to operate in the world in such a way to make it better, to redefine what profit means in our society.

I don’t see this as anti-capitalist or even post-capitalist, rather a return to the original purpose of capitalism: to generate a profit for increased prosperity, to use competition to better serve customers and the community, to ensure innovation and progress, a healthy economy and a healthy world.

I am deeply, deeply honored that a business like ours is considered important enough to even enter a queue of businesses being evaluated by B Lab. The commitment of every individual in the process we came into contact with is mesmerizing, and it’s humbling that they consider it worth their time to assess the inner workings of our business with the depth and rigor that they do.

And to come out the other side it, almost four months later, after a whole bunch of work on many people’s part, including mine, to discover a score that is more than 50% higher than what it needs to be to qualify for B Corp Certification—a score that is 37.4% higher than it was when we first certified six years ago—is unbelievably rewarding and awe-inspiring in a world that is constantly trying to get us to be inspired by people and businesses who do not deserve our admiration.

To instead to draw inspiration from ourselves, from myself, from my own actions and decisions in how to run my business, how I choose to treat my customers, how I choose to serve my community, how I choose to design my business models, to redistribute the revenue we earn, to steward the resources and the privilege I hold—it is truly the greatest gift that I have given myself and my business.

That B Corp is a brand in the conversation with Sustainability, that it is a brand I actively seek out when I go to the grocery store and pick packages off the shelf and flip them over looking for the B symbol, that it is a brand I rely on when making larger purchase decisions to be guided to companies I truly want to do business with, that I get to be in the conversation with other B Corp companies, and in community with those companies locally and internationally…all that is really just the cherry on top.

Because, like everything in design and in coaching, it’s all about the process. And it’s the process that reveals insight and wisdom, and it’s the process that transforms our course.

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Whitney showed up with the boldness, the softness, and the depth that I thrive on.”

 
Chetana is a fellowship partner at Coho, inspiring the next generation of global design leaders. She was formerly the director of product design at Coursera and Netflix, VP of Design at Scribd, and was an early designer at Yahoo. Chetana is currently exploring intentional community life in Auroville, India, experimenting with work and play at the intersection of design, art, education, and “all life is yoga.”
 

I resisted coaching and struggled to receive support throughout my career. Despite feeling like a misfit in corporate cultures, I reached out to Whitney during a pivotal career moment.

She showed up with the boldness, the softness, and the depth that I happen to thrive on! Whitney used various techniques to understand ‘the what’ and ‘the why’ helping me feel heard before diving into ‘the how’. We explored rituals and exercises to help me practice and feel into what I needed. When she coached me through a complicated negotiation, I was able to courageously connect with what I value and what I need to let go of! We designed intentional steps toward landing roles aligned with my true purpose.

I have since become more comfortable with being a ‘misfit’ and learned to receive for myself.”

 
Thank you so much, Chetana, for your kind words and reflections on our coaching engagement. My utmost gratitude to you!
 
 

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I knew from this moment it would be perhaps the single best investment I make in my career.”

 
Liam leads 50-person team across product management, UX, analytics, growth, and data/business intelligence at ZALORA Group, a top fashion e-commerce platform headquartered in Singapore. He was formerly a senior consultant at Thoughtworks serving clients across Southeast Asia.
 

What was the moment you realized you needed support?

Two things happened in parallel: a difficult set of professional experiences and cultural mismatches alongside taking on bigger leadership roles. Recent past experiences left me unsure, but the future growth kept me going. I knew I needed support to shift my own mindset, move on from the past, and the guidance to achieve my own ambitions in my new role.

How did you decide Whitney’s coaching could be that support?

It was during my introductory call that I realised Whitney was someone I needed to partner with. Whitney clearly understood where I’m coming from, where I wanted to go, and asked questions that from a 30-minute call left me with immense clarity. I knew from this moment if we kept on working together, it would be perhaps the single best investment I make in my career.

What was the moment you noticed your habits were changing?

The consistency of our working together over time had huge compounding benefits. I distinctly remember early in the coaching beginning to ask myself, “What would Whitney say?” which was always a great reflection point for me. I thought coaching would take a long time before it would become useful to me, however, I was immensely surprised to see the impact from the first session with small tactical exercises or reflections.

How has coaching changed your circumstances or perspective?

In the moment Whitney would pick me up, dust me off, and give me the clarity and perspective to keep pushing on. Whitney helped me to differentiate between failing in my career and a mismatch of a role—which helped me find a new role in which I was much more aligned and have loved every day since. Over 1 year after our coaching finished, I still use the lessons from Whitney on a frequent basis for the benefit of myself, and hopefully for my team, to show up as a better leader.

 
Thank you so much, Liam, for your kind words and reflections on our coaching engagement. My utmost gratitude to you!
 
 

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This was an incredible, positive change for the team. Whitney’s coaching gave me the confidence and support I needed to convince and work with my team towards our own concrete goals and objectives—by asking for what we needed.”

 
Nguyet is a startup founder and head of product design at Disco, empowering people to own and manage their digital identity. She was formerly VP of Design at Consensys, co-founder and design lead at Civil, and a Creative Director at The Atlantic. Nguyet is a fine artist exploring identity, belonging, and consent drawing on her childhood experiences as a refugee.
 

What was the moment you realized you needed support?

When I was promoted from design lead to VP of Design at my startup—managing a design team of three (spanning product design and marketing design) while also being a researcher. I realized I needed support because success was not explicitly defined and there were unclear expectations for growth from leadership. I found myself without boundaries, and being pulled in a lot of directions. I didn’t know what my strengths were, the kind of leader I wanted to be, or how to show up to support my team. At the time, my startup was merging with a bigger company so the ambiguity was overwhelming. There were a lot of strong voices around me but no clear leadership, and no product direction. I couldn’t clearly see the path ahead of me, and I didn’t have the emotional support to empower myself. I had an idea of the problem I wanted to solve, but needed an objective perspective to help flesh out the ideas more.

How did you decide Whitney’s coaching could be that support?

My best friend Sarah recommended Whitney after going through the coaching herself. Whitney’s background as a designer and knowing that she uses the design methodology [in her coaching] made me feel confident about her approach. After our first conversation, I immediately felt at ease and became more curious about my growth paths. It was super clear to me after my consultation call that I needed a voice of reason, an empathetic ear, and someone who has a lot of tools and resources to help me through the rough times.

What was the moment you noticed your habits were changing?

The moment I noticed doubts [coming in], I’d open up my Miro board and start design thinking with some questions that Whitney posed. For example, my CEO at the time did not set any success criteria or define what success means—I felt blocked and the ambiguity made me feel powerless. Whitney proposed a set of questions to think through long-term, short-term, and how to define success for me. Working through these questions clarifies the path forward for me and empowers me to take steps forward despite leadership’s lack of direction. And I begin to do this every time since. These actionable recommendations help me to feel in control, and take a step back, and look for opportunities for the next steps. Over time, this feels empowering and helps me to realize what I can control, and ask for help in areas I don’t.

The other really helpful thing was the StrengthsFinder [assessment] results showed that an area I was really lacking in is communication. We dug in together and uncovered many impactful insights that I hadn’t noticed before. Now, whenever I start to feel uncomfortable about something at work, I start to write them out and work through them. Eventually, I either feel better or start to share my thoughts. I hope to continue to improve by sharing my thinking earlier and more often with my team.

How has coaching changed your circumstances or perspective?

I learned to empower myself and my product team to set our own objectives, roadmap, and success metrics despite the lack of leadership’s direction. When the then-CEO announced to dissolve my product group, we had enough work and ideas to propose our own direction to the company owner—thus saving our jobs. We were given the opportunity to pursue our own objectives while identifying and removing blockers, like the leaders and success definition. This was an incredible, positive change for the team. Whitney’s coaching gave me the confidence and support I needed to convince and work with my team towards our own concrete goals and objectives by asking for what we needed. A year later, my product team left the company and started our own startup to pursue our mission because we are confident enough after having gone through that. This is the most powerful move I’ve done. I’m truly grateful for Whitney’s words and support.

One of the many things I learned about myself while working with Whitney is a clearer sense of self-awareness and checking in with myself more often. I learned that my insecurities around communication—from public speaking to communicating my vision and ideas—stemmed from my armor to protect my refugee background, to protect my 8-year-old refugee self. Through one of our coaching sessions, Whitney uncovered my need to reconnect with my 8-year-old self—to ask permission to talk about myself and start to meditate and heal. This was a powerful perspective change in how I see myself and how I show up. I’m learning to be more aware of how I share my vulnerabilities, and question moments when I doubt myself to speak up or share my story. I started to make art again, beginning a new series of work to process and embrace this new perspective.

 
Thank you so much, Nguyet, for your kind words and reflections on our coaching engagement. My utmost gratitude to you!
 
 

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Having worked with countless clients in every scenario imaginable, Whitney’s approach and technique is like having access to a Swiss army knife of design leadership tools.”

 
Julie is a professional organizer on a mission to help people discover the joy underneath all their stuff. She was formerly the Experience Design Director of Healthy Minds Innovations and spent many years as an interaction designer at IDEO.
 

After leveling up through a new job at a startup that transplanted me to a new city, I realized I needed support in navigating some significant transition. Whitney’s coaching was pivotal in helping me get grounded, feel confident in my new role, and set a course for growth.

More than just leadership coaching, Whitney offers her presence, support, and holistic perspective to address what is at the root of the problem or situation at hand. Having worked with countless clients in every scenario imaginable, Whitney’s approach and technique is like having access to a Swiss army knife of design leadership tools.

Over the course of working with Whitney I felt my confidence increase, my stress decrease, and my communication with colleagues improve. I’ve learned how to focus my attention on what matters, and get intentional about the steps I want to take on my path of growth. Whitney is incredibly wise, caring, and talented. She has profoundly impacted my career trajectory and has become my biggest cheerleader. I am forever grateful for her and the work she is doing in the world.”

 
Thank you so much, Julie, for your kind words and reflections on our coaching engagement. My utmost gratitude to you!
 
 

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“I was at a point in my career when I was lost and disillusioned, so I didn’t really know how to start. I just knew that things had to change. So to start, I took career coaching from Whitney Hess. And I can honestly say that it changed my approach to everything. She taught me that I didn’t have to wait on the whims of business executives who usually play it safe—and follow the more daring. She taught me that I could build my own future. So that’s exactly what I started doing, and is exactly what I’m still doing.”

Thank you, Aleatha! You’re amazing!

If you’re curious about designing user experience for extended reality, be sure to check out Aleatha’s videos, courses, and consulting services.

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No matter what anyone says, we have something truly special in the UX community that just doesn’t exist anywhere else. I had so many deep, genuine conversations last night about real life—no posturing, no ego—all love. Thank you for being you. We’re so fortunate to have each other.

And huge thank you to Kathleen Watkins Hoff who made a photo happen. We missed all of you who couldn’t make it. Come out next time! Happy Holidays to all xoxo

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Yesterday was a dream. I spent the day with my long-time clients at Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems in a day-long event designed to re-engage alumni across the decades and help build a more powerful and interconnected alumni network.

Here are some snaps from a workshop in which we asked, “How might we better convey what makes Seidenberg special and unique to people who don’t yet love us?” and harvested creative ideas for new approaches to reach the people we most want to bring into our community. Around 100 people over the course of the day across 20+ graduating classes played with us, reunited with old friends, met each other for the first time, formed new alliances and committed to greater service of their beloved alma mater.

I am so proud to have been a part of this community since 2016, and beyond beyond honored to support the tireless work of Seidenberg staff and faculty especially Dean Dr. Jonathan Hill, Katie Todd, Jill Olimpieri, Melanie Madera, Sven Latinović, Lindsay Constantino, and Matthew Poli. And deep bow of appreciation to my forever friend (and Seidenberg alum) Matthew Knell who brought so much energy, focus, organization, and creativity to designing the day to have maximum impact. A resounding success!

Congratulations Seidenberg on 40 years and your beautiful new digs at 15 Beekman. I love you all.

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