Working with Ja Young impacted me personally and professionally. As a counselor, coach, truth teller, and peacemaker, she is someone who brings both gentleness and courage to her work. I especially appreciated her ability to listen with attentiveness and offer thoughtful questions, timely encouragement, and honest challenges rooted in curiosity rather than judgment. She created a space where I felt permission to be still, to grieve, to name longings and disappointments, and to hold the “both/and” of difficult experiences. Her steady presence and wisdom made it possible to explore things more honestly and expansively than I might have on my own.

– Non Profit Executive Leader

I worked with Ja Young for 18 months near the end of my tenure as Executive Director of Voice of Witness. Her embodied wisdom, deep presence, and perceptive guidance set her apart from the very beginning. In our first conversation alone, she helped me access insights about myself and my leadership that I had never fully seen before. Those discoveries became the foundation for a rich and transformative coaching journey.

– Mimi Lok, Former Executive Director of Voice of Witness

Ja Young brought together her deep understanding of our organization and the leadership team with her knowledge of groups and organizations, and her heart to her facilitation and team building engagements. Her agendas, regardless of group size, always has a great blend of connection, creation and "business", and a magical blend of process and purpose to achieve impossible goals. Most recently, Ja Young was able to center a group that had felt splintered for a while - with many feeling dis-enfranchised and others feeling unheard, unacknowledged or attacked. Without naming names or laying blame, she was able to surface the key issues that needed to be addressed, diffuse a few emotional moments, and move the group to a different state to being.

– Priya Sampath, Sr Advisor International Fundraising, Earthjustice

My experience with Ja Young was transformational. We brought her on to help transition minds and hearts after a significant reorganization of our department to help with the change management. I was blown away by her ability to chat with each member of the team once and come away with perceptions that had taken the team months to try to understand. Her approach is clinical in that she is well prepared for each conversation, however her most remarkable talent is connecting the dots and bringing so much warmth, humanity and care to how she engages people while still steering us towards a collective goal. She meets different people, communication styles and perspectives where they're at and leaves you feeling seen, heard and empowered with insightful takeaways. 

– Felice Gomez, Director of Prospect Development, Earthjustice

As an organizational development consultant and leadership coach myself, I don't say this lightly: Ja Young is exceptional. Across several projects together, she's consistently shown a depth of insight into human and organizational behavior that lets her see what's really driving a team or a leader, not just the surface symptoms. She pairs that with a transparency that builds trust fast — people feel safe being honest with her, which is half the battle in this work. I'd recommend her to any leader and organization serious about developing its people.

– Tony Bennae Richard, Founder of The Bennae Group