Educational Leadership and
School Support

Meet Our Founder & Principal

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Shine Your Light CEO, Laurie Gardner, is a four-time Harvard graduate, 35-year award-winning, published educational leader, and trusted advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs, heads of countries, governors, mayors, and top education and business leaders worldwide. Known for her quick wit, warmth, and laser-like insight, Laurie has a unique ability to quickly get to the crux of an issue and communicate practical, effective solutions.

Beginning her education career as a teacher and principal for underserved urban students, over the past four decades, Laurie spearheaded a global school reform movement and coached and trained over 20,000 school leaders, teachers, board members, district, county, and state department staff, higher education faculty, and experiential education program directors across the U.S. and abroad. A four-time start-up founder and leader, Laurie understands firsthand the challenges and joys of running a mission-driven educational organization.

Laurie speaks five languages and is bilingual in Spanish. She passionately believes that every child, from any income or background, deserves access to the skills they need to lead a life they love. To ensure this is so, Laurie has dedicated her career to helping tens of thousands of educators and educational organizations to quickly transform.

Our 100% Customized Services

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Leadership Coaching

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Strategic Consulting

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Board and Staff Training

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Program Design and Quality Review

Free 20-minute needs assessment

Our Specialties

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  • Strategic goal setting and implementation

  • Leadership development—new and experienced school leaders

  • Leadership succession and transition planning

  • Teacher training and coaching—aspiring to mentor teachers

  • Educator mental wellness (managing burnout, stress, work-life balance)

  • School workplace wellness (maintaining mission, school culture, emotional safety)

  • Sticky personnel issues

  • Communication and conflict mediation

  • Other individualized requests

Work wtih us
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Our Unique and Powerful Approach

Many organizations try using the same one-size-fits-all leadership formulas and tools, wondering why they’re still not accomplishing their goals. At Shine Your Light, we 100% customize our consulting, coaching, and training, using Laurie Gardner’s innovative Breakthrough Method approach and tools to cut immediately to the core problems and most effective solutions, saving you hours of energy, money, and time.

  • Our process begins with a needs assessment and customized leadership skills inventory to assess your strategic organizational or coaching goals at the project beginning, midpoint, and end, with additional benchmarking as desired. Using the three layers of the Breakthrough Method as our framework, we integrate and apply industry best practices and tools, Laurie’s original tools, and her 35+ years of on-the-ground-experience as a three-time startup CEO and mentor to over 20,000 cross-sector industry leaders.

    Every step of the way, we guide you to trust your powerful leadership intuition with both the “art” and “science” of leadership.

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Frequently Requested Topics & Trainings

The “Art” of Leadership:

  • Who’s Steering This Ship? Effective Governance and Management

  • Take Out the Toast: Managing Stress and Burnout

  • Walk the Line: Creating Work-Life Balance

  • No Duh! Making Quick, Clear Decisions Based on Your Inner Knowing

  • Say What? Communication, Conflict Resolution, and Team-Building

  • Follow Me: Leadership Styles and Strengths

  • Cultivating Culture: Creating an Environment of Learning, Innovation, and Growth

  • Team Members from Hell: Working with Difficult People

  • Mission: Possible: Strategic Planning and Implementation

  • Sticky Personnel Issues: Hiring, Staff Performance, and Legal Issues

  • How You Doin'? Program Goal Setting and Evaluation

  • Show Me the Money: Marketing and Fundraising

  • Open the Doors: Access, Equity, and Inclusion

  • Minding the Store: Financial Sustainability

  • I Won't See You in Court: Risk Management, Legal and Policy Issues

  • All Systems Go: Effective Program Operations, Information Management, and Key Administrative Strategies

The “Science” of Leadership:

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Meet Our Team

  • A woman smiling outdoors, wearing a red top and a necklace, with short dark hair and hoop earrings, blurred trees and sunlight in background.

    Laurie Gardner

    Principal, Senior Educational Leadership & School Specialist

    Four-time Harvard graduate, 35-year award-winning, published educator, expert educational and organizational leadership consultant, and trusted advisor to country and state leaders, mayors, Fortune 500 CEOs, education pioneers, and other top leaders worldwide. 

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    Katherine Merseth

    Senior Educational Leadership & School Specialist

    Founding director of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s and Harvard College’s Teacher Education and School Leadership Programs, 45-year educator and expert in teacher and math education, charter schools, and the case method of instruction.

  • Close-up of a smiling man wearing a blue blazer, a light blue shirt, a green and blue striped tie, and a gold medal with an 'H' on it.

    Calvin Reddick, Jr.

    Educational Leadership & School Specialist

    Doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, 27-year educator, 15-year school principal mentor, and school improvement and innovation expert. Passionate about supporting school leaders and advancing equity. 

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    Marcus Washington

    Educational Leadership & Instructional Specialist

    Howard University graduate and 9-year instructional leader with expertise in school leadership development, literacy, culturally responsive instruction, student engagement, and realistic classroom practices aligned with school culture and student identity.

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    Bex Mui

    Instructional & DEI Specialist

    18-year educator specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion in classroom instruction and the workplace. A former Head Teacher and Museum Education Director, Bex now educates diverse audiences on LGBTQ+ awareness and issues.

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    Thayer Hopkins

    School Governing Board Specialist

    36-year and now Lifetime Honorary Trustee of the Cathedral School for Boys in San Francsico. Specializing in strategic private school board leadership, facilities development, and school architectural design.

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    Adele Winter

    Educational Technology Specialist

    30-year PreK-12 educational technology specialist for both academic curriculum and student information systems. Adele also directed a post-secondary workforce program and taught adult life skills, alternative education, and prison education.

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    Michelle Golla

    Educational Leadership Specialist

    17-year educator and mentor teacher with exceptional skills in supporting the growth of aspiring and new teachers and students in grades 6-12 in math, English Language Arts, English Language Learners, special education, and gifted and talented instruction.

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    Aron Wolgel

    Educational Leadership & School Specialist

    15-year private school teacher and administrator specializing in grades 3-12 instructional design and new teacher mentoring in English, history, math, science, Spanish, and music. Aron is also a Dean of Student Life and former special education administrator.

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    Tara Wood

    Home Schooling and Parent Specialist

    Specialist in middle and high school home school curriculum development and instruction and parent communication. Tara’s educational leadership expertise also includes student-driven learning, self-regulation skills, and trauma education and coaching.

What our clients say . . .

  • "Laurie’s ability to cause me to look within myself as a leader to seek honest and real solutions is truly a gift that very few people I have known over the last 62 years possess."

    Kenneth R., Director, Dolores Huerta Learning Academy

  • "I’ve never met any consultant who works so incredibly fast. Laurie immediately assessed the external organizational politics, what I need to work on inside myself, and specific action steps to get where I need to be."

    Debra Brown, Faculty, Mills College

  • "Working with Laurie over the past three decades has been an incredible partnership. She's helped us to hone our instructional approach, navigate work-life balance in our passion-driven school, and most recently, to navigate complex HR restructuring and the massive task of leadership succession. Laurie didn't just give us off-the-shelf advice; she truly listened, understood our organizational culture, and helped us build a seamless transition model. Because of her deep expertise, strategic guidance, and thoughtful approach, we were able to protect our core values while setting our incoming leadership up for absolute success. Laurie brings clarity, confidence, and structure to everything she touches, and I couldn't have asked for a better partner for the past 30 years and during this critical chapter."

    Edna Heller, Co-Director, Educational Program and Human Resources, Antioch Charter Academies

  • "If you're a CEO, Director, head of a prestigious school, or other high-profile leader, you've found your mentor!”

    Executive Director, Mills College Children’s School, Oakland

  • "From the time we started our charter school 30 years ago to our current leadership succession, Laurie has been with us as leaders and with our teachers and board every step of the way for whatever instructional, operational, or school wellness question or concern we needed to address. I can't recommend Laurie highly enough—she's a brilliant, masterful leadership trainer, advisor, and consultant who cares about your school as if it were her own."

    Todd Heller, Co-Director, Finance and Operations, Antioch Charter Academies

  • "Laurie was my trusted mentor and guide during my tenure at one of the state's largest school districts—helping me tackle each strategic initiative and school-site concern with deep expertise and unflappable aplomb."

    Liane Zimny, retired Charter School Department Head, Oakland Unified School District

  • "Laurie has been instrumental to our school's success for the past two decades—immediately jumping in to assist with whatever issue we faced, from complex board strategic planning; teacher-leader coaching, evaluations, and turnover; financial oversight; school enrollment and marketing; personnel conflicts; staff mental wellness tools and strategies—always genuinely caring and compassionately supporting me as the leader and the best interests of our school."

    Howard Jacoby Ruben, Head of School, Jewish Community High School