We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chikara Kennedy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Chikara, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
What’s in a name? For Power Coaching and Consulting, it’s a story of resilience, transformation, and meaningful connection. My name, Chikara, means ‘power and strength’ in Japanese – a serendipitous alignment that made naming my company Power Coaching and Consulting feel destined.
After building a successful 20-year career as a Senior HR Leader in prestigious organizations including the United States Air Force, Ernst & Young, and Toshiba, I faced three simultaneous life transitions – a layoff from Meta, a divorce, and relocating at age 40. In what felt like an instant, my carefully constructed world shifted beneath my feet.
During those uncertain months, I discovered that true power isn’t about controlling circumstances – it’s about how we choose to respond to life’s challenges. Through working with coaches, attending a transformative Goddess Retreat in Bali, and leaning into my supportive community, I found my way from feeling powerless to recognizing my own inner strength.
Power Coaching and Consulting embodies this journey of transformation. Just as my name Chikara represents strength, the company name reflects the path that so many of us face – from feeling overwhelmed by life’s transitions to stepping into our own power and becoming the authors of our own stories. Today, we guide others through their own life transitions, helping them discover their inner strength and resilience, just as I did.
Because sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is embrace change and transform it into purpose. 🦋✨”
Chikara, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As the eldest daughter of two Air Force active duty parents, Chikara had the privilege of being born and raised in several states and countries in the United States and Europe. Her exposure to a variety of cultures and people at such an early age ignited her passion for understanding how relationships, communities, social groups and institutions impacted herself and the people around her. After being awarded a prestigious Air Force ROTC scholarship, she to pursue her collegiate studies in the nation’s capital. Her time in Washington D.C. allowed her to complete her ROTC curriculum at Howard University while earning her undergraduate degree at Georgetown University.
Being commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force, weeks after her college graduation positioned her to take on leadership roles immediately. While working as a lieutenant at Seymour Air Force Base in North Carolina she successfully mobilized and led administrative functions in support of large military squadrons. As a team leader and trusted advisor to military leaders, she worked tirelessly to transform the lives of the airmen she managed, streamline and innovate administrative programs and advise experienced military leaders as they worked to manage dynamic and strategic organizations. Supporting a squadron of Air Force fighter pilots as her first role right of out college, set the foundation for a career of incredible and transformational twists and turns.
Her desire to pursue a career in the corporate world led her to spend the next 18+ years leading at some of the most well known companies in the nation, and ultimately the world. Her experiences have spanned a number of industries as she led teams and supported executives at a number of of well-known national and global companies including Westinghouse Electric Company, Toshiba, Ernst and Young, and Meta (formerly known as Facebook) Her career led her from relocating to North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Tokyo, Chicago, Kansas City and Washington DC. During this time she was responsible for leading teams of senior HR professionals, building and executing critical HR strategies and processes while working alongside sr executives as a trusted advisor and leadership coach.Her impressive career merged seamlessly with her personal life when she got married in 2016 and moved into her dream condo in downtown Chicago.
After an unexpected but amicable divorce in 2022, Chikara was stunned off when she was laid off from Meta in 2023 after nearly 5 years of a what she considered to her dream job.While it felt like her world was crumbling, Chikara was forced to re-examine her passions, her path and what she wanted next from her career, her relationships and her life.
Her pursuit of the next step in her path continues and she’s leveraged transformational coaching and the pursuit of personal and spiritual development as she continues to transform all areas of her life. Personally, she’s worked with transformational coaches and therapists to help her identify and release past traumas and focus on creating the relationships and lifestyle that truly aligns with her passionals. Professionally, she’s transitioned from coaching senior executives in a corporate setting to facilitating transformations as people transition in all aspects of their life all around the world. She offers 1:1 and group coaching and will begin hosting retreats around the world focused on empowering people for their personal transformations.
My Professional Truth
Chikara Power Coaching
Power Coaching and Consulting
After being impacted by one of the many lay-offs at Meta in 2023, Chikara used the afforded to her to focus on her own spiritual and personal development. She leveraged her powerful network of transformational therapists and coaches to help her support in her development. She participated in powerful retreats locally and internationally, pursued a certification in life, leadership and executive coaching and founded Power Coaching and Consulting.
At Power Coaching and Consulting, she is passionate about empowering clients through our own professional and personal transitions and transformations. She offers personalized and group coaching and is posed to begin facilitating transformational retreats in 2026.
Transforming Lives
Drawing from her experience as an entrepreneur, transformation coach, veteran, and HR leader, Chikara understands the challenges of personal and professional growth. She started her business to create a space where clients can explore their goals, overcome obstacles, and achieve meaningful transformation.
Chikara is dedicated to helping clients recognize their passions and empowering them to pursue the lifestyles of their dreams. She believes in the power of transformation and works tirelessly to support clients in unlocking their true potential. Whether navigating career transitions, developing leadership skills, or achieving ambitious goals, Chikara empowers clients to realize their aspirations.
At Chikara Power Coaching, our retreats are designed to provide a transformative and empowering wellness experience for women.
Our retreat model is rooted in the philosophy of Chikara (力) – the Japanese concept of strength and power. Each retreat is crafted to help women unlock their inner resilience, foster a growth mindset, and embrace holistic wellness practices that align with their personal and professional aspirations. Whether you’re navigating a life transition, seeking clarity in your career, or aiming to enhance your leadership potential, our retreats offer the tools and guidance to support your journey.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
The best source of new clients is based on a relationship that I built right after being hired in Meta in 2018. Although we lived in different parts of the country, I quickly bonded with my many of my teammates, leaders and clients during my five year tenure. After a particularly powerful spiritual retreat in Bali, I received a vision to reach out to former co-workers who I genuinely enjoyed working with who’d successfully transitioned from the corporate world into the world of entrepreneurship. I spent the first few weeks after getting my new business license intentionally networking, congratulating and getting words of support and encouragement from many former colleagues from Meta and other companies I’d worked for over the last 20 years. During one of those conversations, my former colleague offered me an amazing opportunity. His company, The Human Reach, was experiencing explosive growth and he thought that my company might be a great fit for a coaching partnership. This conversation quickly led to me landing my first and anchor client – I have the pleasure of providing career coaching services to his company and the results have been amazing.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
During my first year operating my company, I had the vision of extending my reach and supporting people beyond coaching. I wanted to see them, meet them and facilitate the experience of them attending retreats focusing on supporting their transformations. I had ideas of facilitating them worldwide, but though I had the strategy, I had limited knowledge of the business side of running retreats and had only experienced their magic from the client side. While coaching remotely from home in Washington DC, I had a chance meeting with a woman who encouraged me to trade in city living and make a home at the beach. Without visiting the location, I decided to pack my bags and make the move to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. This move helped me to face my fears and I was delighted to learn that would lead to my own personal and professional development via new relationships, living a more calm life lifestyle and the resources to begin planning this new area of business. I’m proud of taking the risk and it all paid off – I’ll be hosting my own first retreat in January in the jungles of Tulum.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chikarapowercoaching.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chikara_powercoaching/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564070844867
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chikara-power-coachingandconsulting
