About Whitney

People call me when the stakes are high and they aren’t sure what to do next—or when they know exactly where they’re headed and don’t want to go it alone. At the heart of this work is redesigning our relationships with money, power, and love.

As the founder and principal of Vicarious Partners, a public benefit corporation and Certified B Corp, I coach and advise design and product leaders, artist-activists, executive directors, CEOs, and boards who want to leave things better than they found them.

Across organizational and private engagements, I go beneath the presenting issue to get at the human dynamics that make complex problems in leadership, governance, and culture so hard to solve. I balance empathy and candor to help my clients shift their narratives, navigate forces of change, stoke creativity, make clear decisions, and move what matters forward.

My longest-running client relationship is with Pace University, where since 2016 I have coached more than 30 senior administrators, faculty, and staff in the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, and more recently in the Office of the Provost, helping lead operational and cultural overhauls. Our work has contributed to record enrollments and revenues, new programs and centers, galvanized teams, and more than a dozen leadership promotions.

I have led community mediation that reformed governance practices at the Drupal Association, coached emerging leaders in the 170-person design organization at Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP), and conducted cultural assessments that sparked leadership transitions at a crisis intervention platform and a civic tech innovation center.

I serve on the boards of Indigo Arts Alliance, Maine’s only Black-owned and Black-led arts incubator, and the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust. I mentor entrepreneurs at the Roux Institute and am a founding member of Maine’s Jewish Community Relations Council.

Previously, I spent a decade as a UX consultant with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Seamless, Boxee, and WNYC. I am named as a co-inventor on a U.S. patent with American Express.

A two-time graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, I hold a Master’s in Human-Computer Interaction and a Bachelor’s in Professional Writing and HCI. I am a Certified Integral Coach through New Ventures West, a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation, and have extensive training in Nonviolent Communication.

I write on my blog Pleasure & Pain, co-host the podcast Designing Yourself, and speak at conferences and corporations worldwide, including multiple appearances at SXSW and An Event Apart.

A proud third-generation New Yorker, I now live in the coastal town of Falmouth, Maine (Wabanaki Territory) with my husband Fredrick. We spend our evenings and weekends exploring the beaches, trails, farm stands, culture, and community that make Maine the way life should be.

       

Timeline & Credentials

• Joined Board of Directors of Indigo Arts Alliance (2026)
• Founding member of the Jewish Community Relations Council’s Intercultural Corps of Maine (2025)
• Mentor for entrepreneurship programs at Roux Institute of Northeastern University (2025)
• Acts of Reparations Circle of Practice cohort (2025)
• Recertified as Certified B Corporation by B Lab (2024)
• Land Trust Alliance’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Peer Program for Land Trusts in Northern New England cohort (2024)
• Money Management Essentials course completion with the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education (AFCPE) (2023)
• Joined Board of Directors of the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust (2023)
• Certified Zentangle Teacher with Zentangle, Inc. (2021)
• Integral Team Coaching training at New Ventures West (2020)
• Nonviolent Communication International Intensive Training with the Center for Nonviolent Communication (2020)
• The Wisdom of the Enneagram training at The Maine Enneagram Center for Transformation & Well Being (2019)
• Reiki 1 Certification with Kristine Keegan at Arcana Maine (2019)
• Incorporated as Public Benefit Corporation (2018)
• Certified B Corporation by B Lab (2018)
• Facilitative Mediation training at New York Peace Institute (2017)
• Nonviolent Communication training at NVC Boston’s NY Intensive (2015, 2016)
• Professional Certified Coach credentialed by the International Coach Federation (2015)
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindful Self-Compassion training at UCSD Center for Mindfulness (2014-2015)
• Certified Integral Coach through New Ventures West (2013-2014)
• Certified Social & Emotional Intelligence Coach through the ISEI (2013)
• Launched Pleasure & Pain (2008)
• Established Limited Liability Company (2005)
• Master’s in Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University (2004)
• Bachelor’s in Professional Writing and HCI from Carnegie Mellon University (2004)

Styles & Strengths

• Enneagram: 8 with a 7-wing (The Challenger, The Maverick)
• Myers–Briggs: ENFJ (The Protagonist, The Teacher, The Giver)
• DiSC: D/i (Inspirational, Assertive)
• CliftonStrengths:
1. Activator – one who gets things started
2. Maximizer – one who pursues excellence
3. Futuristic – one who inspires with a hopeful vision
4. Strategic – one who sees the best route
5. Relator – one who is comfortable with intimacy
• Fascination Advantage: The Maestro (Power + Prestige — ambitious, focused, confident)
• Conflict Style: Collaborating (you win, I win)
• Love Language: Quality Time (undivided attention)
• Cancer sun, Pisces moon, Scorpio rising