We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelli Oberndorf. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelli below.

Kelli , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Ekatā, a Sanskrit word meaning unity, emphasizes that we are all interconnected and unified parts of a whole. The word Ekatā promotes harmony and compassion toward others. It asks us to see beyond superficial differences and divisions and find the unity that binds us together.

At Ekatā, our mission is to unify people within workplaces and help them build genuine and authentic connections across the organization. When people first see each other as humans, we can create incredible, supportive cultures rooted in kindness and respect.

We believe that people have an amazing capacity to build and sustain meaningful and lasting relationships within their organizations. With the right skills and perspective, companies can create loyalty, inspire innovation, and increase profits by unifying one another in a common goal.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My journey into leadership development came from my experience as a healthcare manager. I had never planned to move in this direction, but as life tends to do, it led me to build a career leading medical clinics over 13 years. During my time in this field, I was struck and personally impacted by how people were treated and treated each other. Bad behavior like back-stabbing, gossiping, and rudeness made it difficult to be happy and content within the profession. Building and supporting leaders was not a priority in most companies I worked for, and the hierarchical structure made it difficult to make a positive impact. Towards the end of my career, I was burnt out, frustrated, and drained, and frankly, I hoped I would get laid off because I didn’t have the guts to leave on my own. In 2019, those dreams became a reality, and I left the profession for good.

As I realigned my goals and path forward, I began reflecting on my time as a leader and what would have made the difference in me staying within the profession instead of leaving. That is when I became inspired to turn my negative experience into a positive by creating leadership courses that truly made a difference in the lives of leaders and their organizations. It’s been such an honor to see how much transformation and empowerment can come from providing leaders with the right skills, tools, and perspective for them to build strong relationships and teams.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My business partner, Sara Myers, and I have a unique journey. In 2001, I met my now-husband, who happens to be Sara’s cousin. Over the years, we built a deep friendship, raised our children together, and became inseparable, sharing almost every part of our lives. We had always talked about going into business together, but the timing was never right. I was occupied with my role as an operations manager in the medical field, while she was busy growing her business development company.

In 2019, I was laid off and decided it was time to leave medical management, starting my journey as a leadership coach and facilitator. In 2020, Sara and I became certified community building facilitators and began building a business to facilitate groups and deepen connections. However, just two weeks after launching, the world went into quarantine, disrupting our plans. We each pursued separate paths for a while, but in 2023, our stars finally aligned. We founded Ekatā, a leadership development and facilitation organization focused on integrating human-centered business practices into organizations.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As I mentioned, my first career was in medical management. Driven by a desire to climb the corporate ladder and achieve success, I took on progressively higher-level positions, completed my master’s degree in Healthcare Administration, and spent 13 years pursuing a dream that never truly fit. Despite my growing discomfort, I lacked the courage to leave. The demanding environment of the medical field took a toll on my mental health and self-confidence. The hierarchical structure often created a traumatic atmosphere for me. Feeling trapped, I secretly hoped for a way out, and in 2019, I was laid off. Surprisingly, I felt relieved and almost ran out of the profession.

After leaving, I began to process the trauma I had experienced. I recognized the resentment I harbored towards the way I and my staff had been treated and the disappointments I had faced. It took about six months to transition from anger to seeing new possibilities.

I started asking myself, “How can I turn what happened to me into a positive?” This question marked the beginning of my journey into leadership. I realized that organizations could focus on building up their leaders to create a strong foundation, benefiting both employees and the company’s bottom line. I began developing and facilitating workshops that emphasize communication, collaboration, and curiosity in leadership practices through experiential education. I have fallen in love with this work and feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to transform my negative experiences into positive outcomes for the leaders I work with.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ekatagroup.com
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/ekatagroup

Image Credits

Kelli Oberndorf
Sara Myers