In our bi-monthly newsletter, we often share what’s inspiring us, stories of former clients, work that moves us, and moments that remind us why we do what we do. It’s one of my favorite sections, because it’s where the impact of leadership development becomes visible in the world.
Last month, I attended the premiere screening of Rebel Reef. Rebel Reef is a documentary about a coral reef off the coast of Tela, Honduras. It’s a story of hope, healing, and resistance, and a powerful reminder that systems, both ecological and human, can be restored when people choose to act with care and courage.
The Executive Producer of Rebel Reef is Tiffany T.V. Duong. Tiffany is a writer, advocate, storyteller, and educator dedicated to planet-focused, solution-minded media that inspires behavioral change.
Tiffany is also a former client of mine.
As I congratulated her after the screening, I found myself deeply moved, not just by the film, but by the clarity and steadiness with which she is shaping her work in the world. When I told her how proud I was, she paused and said something I wasn’t expecting.
She told me that none of this would have been possible without our work together—that I was the first person who helped her see that she had agency, and that she could choose her own path.
The Early Stages of a Leadership Journey
I first met Tiffany in 2014, when she was a fourth-year renewable energy attorney. She hired me to help her think strategically about her career. At the time, her goals were clear and pragmatic. In her words, our work together helped her:
- Switch law firms and negotiate a higher salary
- Leave Big Law
- Transition into environmental advocacy
- Envision her own nonprofit
What I didn’t fully understand then but can see clearly now was that I was supporting something much larger.
I was supporting her leadership journey.
Like many high-performing professionals, Tiffany began in Stage 1: Recognition and Awareness. She could sense that something about her work wasn’t aligned, but she didn’t yet have language for why. Through reflection and curiosity, she began to see the system she was operating within and to recognize that her discomfort wasn’t a personal failure, but a signal.
That awareness opened the door to Stage 2: Reflection and Insight. Tiffany began to see her own patterns, her strengths, and her agency more clearly. She could name what energized her, what constrained her, and what values were quietly guiding her decisions even when the system around her didn’t reinforce them.
Choosing Alignment Over Inheritance
As part of our work, I helped Tiffany understand the business of law, what it would take to navigate that system successfully, and build a sustainable legal career.
But here’s the thing: Tiffany didn’t want to navigate that system.
Her values were rooted in environmental justice, storytelling, and collective responsibility. Law, while a powerful tool, wasn’t the vehicle she wanted to use to change the world.
That realization marked her entry into Stage 3 of the Leadership Journey: Practice and Alignment.
Instead of contorting herself to fit inherited expectations, Tiffany began aligning her actions with her values and using those values as the standard for her decisions. She experimented, took risks, and practiced leading in new ways, even when the path wasn’t obvious.
If you look at her career journey from environmental advocacy to nonprofit leadership to executive producing Rebel Reef, you can see the throughline. She committed to practice long before she had certainty. She built experience, relationships, and credibility in service of the change she wanted to see.
This is where leadership begins to look like responsible power.
Not power as control but power as alignment.
Not best practices but values in action.
What Comes Next
What moved me most at the premiere wasn’t just Tiffany’s success; it was her embodiment. The trust she has in herself, her collaborators, and the work they’re doing together.
That’s the next stage of the Leadership Journey: Integration and Embodiment, when leadership stops feeling like effort and starts feeling like integrity.
We’ll explore that stage more deeply in our next article.
For now, I’ll leave you with this:
Leadership doesn’t always announce itself. Sometimes it begins quietly with awareness, with courage, and with the decision to align your life with what you value most. And when that happens, the ripple effects can be extraordinary.