Five/6teen Consulting

Name: Five/6teen Consulting
Address: Chicago, IL, US
Telephone: +12243779387

Home
United States
Chicago, IL
Five/6teen Consulting

Personalized leadership coaching and consulting for the arts and culture sector

05/30/2026

I want to take a moment to mark something that just came to a close.

Today, I completed my contract as Interim Associate Vice President for the Office for CARE at Lake Forest College. Over the course of this engagement, we opened a new center for students, faculty, and staff, published, and worked to build the kind of infrastructure that keeps equity and belonging work alive on a campus long after any one person moves on.

A colleague put it in a way that stays with me: "I'm so thankful for how you've institutionalized CARE as both a physical and symbolic space on campus. I know it has made a difference for our students."

And a student I had the honor of working closely alongside wrote something I will carry for a long time:

"This experience has strengthened my confidence as both a leader and a collaborator. Through your work with CARE, you've helped build a stronger sense of belonging here, and your impact will be felt long after you're gone."

That student's growth was her own. I just tried to make sure the space was worthy of it.

To President Sosulski, Alice Fermaintt Looney, my co-conspirator in the work, the President's Council, the CARE team, and the entire Lake Forest College community — thank you. Genuinely. It was an honor to be trusted with this work.

If you know an institution or organization navigating a leadership transition or building equity-centered initiatives from the ground up — this is the work Five/6teen Consulting is built for. I'd welcome an introduction. 🩷

05/28/2026

Friends — something I've been building quietly is almost ready, and I wanted you to be among the first to know about it.

KinJour Gathering is a community-centered space rooted in one belief: that shared transformation happens best in intentional spaces. Spaces that are designed with care for specific people. Spaces where you don't have to earn your place or translate your experience before you're allowed to belong.

Over the next several weeks, I'll be introducing a set of free weekly community spaces — gatherings, challenges, creative rooms, and accountability spaces — that are open for registration. Some are designed specifically for Black womxn and some for those of the global majority, because there are conversations and kinds of healing that happen differently — and more fully — without the weight of mixed company. Others are open to anyone who arrives genuinely open and ready to grow alongside others.

These spaces are free because I believe access matters. And they are intentional because I believe you deserve more than a space that was thrown together.

The first offering drops next week.

If this is speaking to something in you — follow the KinJour Gathering page, share this post with someone who is ready, and stay close. There's a space being built with you in mind.

Shared Transformation in Intentional Spaces. 🌿🩷💚

🔗 Link In Bio to learn more about KinJour Gathering and sign up for the mailing list

04/28/2026

This one is for the person who has been giving everything and hasn’t stopped long enough to ask themselves what they need.

Tag someone who needs to hear this today. 🩷

04/24/2026

I’m so excited to share this long-awaited news! We’re PUBLISHED!

My staff and I have spent this academic year engaging, building, and partnering across campus, laying the seeds of what I hope will continue to grow into a sustainable ecosystem of community and connection. And while the Center for CARE is a space for all, there are also moments for affinity, where some of the college’s most marginalized can gather in mutual love and affirmation.

Throughout all of this work, turning dreams into reality, we wanted to share the story of where the work has been and where it is evolving today. This narrative is but a small glimpse into all that has been accomplished over the years, and I want to thank all those who came before me.

To my co-authors, Alice and Mia Jessica, you were so much fun to work with, both on this article and at the Center! I’m so excited to continue watching your journeys!

04/21/2026

I want to say something that a lot of people in mission-driven spaces already know — but that doesn't get said out loud often enough.

You can't build an equitable organization while protecting the people most responsible for the inequity. Pick one.

I've worked with organizations across this country that claim to be deeply committed to equity in their mission and their messaging. And some of those same organizations have someone — or a pattern, or a culture — inside their walls causing real harm to real people. Leadership knows it. And nothing changes.

The calculus is always the same. That person has relationships. Has history. Has the board's confidence. Has been there since the beginning. Pick your equation. And so the organization absorbs the cost of keeping them — a cost almost always paid by the people with the least power to say so.

The staff always knows. They are watching what leadership does far more closely than they are listening to what leadership says. And every time an organization chooses protection over accountability, it makes a deposit into an account of distrust that becomes very expensive to reconcile later.

Equity requires decisions. Hard ones. Ones that will cost you something.

If your organization is wrestling with this — I work with leaders and organizations ready to do this part of the work honestly. Not performatively. Actual hard work.

Drop a comment or send me a message directly. I'd welcome the conversation.

04/13/2026

I’ve been thinking about what it actually costs to be the one who holds everything together.

Not the salary. The weight of it.

The specific kind of tired that comes from being the person everyone looks to when things get uncertain. Managing up to the board, down to the team, sideways to the funders — all at once, all the time — while trying to remember why you took this job in the first place.

I’ve worked alongside leaders across this country for 25 years. And what I know is this:

The ones most at risk of burning out aren’t the ones who care too little.

They’re the ones who care so much that their own sustainability became the last thing on the list.

They’ll fight for their team. Advocate for their staff. But won’t — without someone giving them explicit permission — do the same for themselves.

So consider this that permission.

Seeking support isn’t an admission that you can’t handle it. It’s evidence that you understand the work well enough to know you shouldn’t have to handle it or make decisions alone.

I have space for two executive coaching clients beginning in July. If this landed somewhere real for you — my door is open. Link in bio to start the conversation.

🩷

04/08/2026

I’m opening a small number of client engagements beginning in June through Five/6teen Consulting.

Much of my work happens behind the scenes with organizations and senior leaders who are navigating complex moments—leadership transitions, culture challenges, and the kind of change that requires both strategy and care.

I often step in as a fractional or interim leader, or as a strategic partner helping organizations realign how they work and how they lead.

I also work closely with senior leaders who need space to think, make decisions, and move forward with clarity—especially when the weight of leadership feels particularly heavy.

This is focused, high-touch work, and I take on a limited number of engagements at a time.

If you—or your organization—are entering a season of transition, I’m happy to start a conversation.

www.fivesixteenconsulting.org (Link in bio)

04/02/2026

Something has shifted at Five/6teen — and I want to share it with this community.

After months of the kind of honest reflection I do with clients, I've stepped into the next chapter of this work with real clarity. I know who I'm built to serve: nonprofits, higher education institutions, and public sector organizations that are navigating something genuinely hard — and the leaders inside them who are holding more than most people around them know.

As this new chapter opens, I have a small number of spots available:
🟢 1–2 consulting or fractional leadership engagements beginning late June
🟢 2 executive coaching clients beginning in July

If that's you, or someone you know — I'd love to connect.

Drop a comment, send me a message, or visit the link in my bio to schedule a conversation. And if this resonates with someone in your network, sharing it means more than you know. 🙏🏾

12/25/2025

As the year winds down, may you find moments of rest, grounding, and ease.

Wishing you a peaceful holiday season. 💗💚

10/17/2025

📣 New Newsletter Drop: But Really… How Are You?

In a time when the world feels heavy and headlines hit close to home, I’ve been thinking about what it means to lead with care. Not just the check-in at the top of a meeting—but the real, soul-deep kind. The kind that says, I see you. I feel it too. And you're not alone.

This edition of the Empowered Voices newsletter is for anyone navigating leadership, life, or just getting through the day in a season full of uncertainty. It's a love note to your tired self, a permission slip to pause, and a reminder that leadership doesn’t always mean fixing—it means feeling.

📝 Read “But Really… How Are You?”
💌 Come breathe with me, reflect, and return to what grounds you.

Because in times like these, care is the strategy.

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/really-how-you-kimberly-davis-ed-d--asboc

Address

Chicago, IL

Telephone

+12243779387

Website

http://www.fivesixteenconsulting.org/, https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7255420841474

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Five/6teen Consulting posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Five/6teen Consulting:

Want your business to be the top-listed Business in Chicago?