About Laverne McKinnon

Hi, I'm Laverne.

I'm a career strategist and grief coach.

I work with leaders, entrepreneurs and creatives who’ve hit a moment in their career they didn’t expect — a layoff, a stalled project, a rejected pitch, a leadership shift, a transition that carried more emotional weight than anyone warned them about.

If that’s where you are right now, I get it more than you know.

In 2006, I was let go from a high-profile role at CBS, and it shattered not just my identity, but my confidence, purpose and sense of belonging. I knew how to problem-solve and strategize, but none of that touched the shock, regret, or shame that came with that moment. I spiraled — and I didn’t know how to climb back out.

Years later, I came across the term disenfranchised grief — the kind of grief no one names because it’s not seen as “valid enough” to mourn. And suddenly my whole career — and my clients’ careers — made sense.

We grieve inside our careers and work spaces all the time. We just never talk about it.

That discovery changed everything for me. When I blended grief work with strategy, clients felt lighter, more fulfilled, and freed from old stories. Their decisions came from who they were becoming, not who they were told to be.

That’s when my work shifted — deeper into the emotional truth that shapes real transformation and innovation.