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Iris Kavanagh

Leading with Heart

About

Welcome. I’m so glad you’re here.

I believe the quality of our lives is shaped by the quality of our relationships, and the first and most important relationship we have is with ourselves.

How we relate to and lead ourselves shapes how we relate to and lead everything else.

I’m a cultural futurist, executive coach, strategist, systems thinker, community builder, and highly intuitive human. I have a strategist’s mind and an intuitive’s way of seeing. Together, they allow me to recognize patterns, connect seemingly unrelated ideas, and help people navigate complexity, possibility, and change with greater clarity and courage.

For more than 20 years, my work has centered on one question: What creates the conditions for humans to flourish?

As an executive, I helped grow one of the world’s original coworking companies from one location to nine. I built and led a team of 36 people, developed community frameworks that shaped the experience of thousands of members, and collaborated with peers around the world to build a global industry now valued at $22 billion.

I can talk about community building, economic development, and scaling teams and companies all day. Yet some of my most important learning wasn’t about any of those things. It was about people.

Throughout my career, as a leader, strategist, community builder, facilitator, and coach, I kept noticing the same thing: founders and leaders would hire me for new strategies, work incredibly hard, and genuinely want something different, yet still find themselves returning to familiar patterns and creating familiar results.

I became fascinated by the very human gap between knowing what to do and actually becoming able to do it.

Strategy could help my clients understand what needed to change, but I could see that knowledge alone could only take them so far. I wanted to support them more deeply, and to understand what keeps us returning to familiar patterns and what actually allows us to change them.

That curiosity led me to study transformational coaching rooted in behavioral change. It gave me a deeper set of tools for helping people recognize the patterns beneath their choices, expand their capacity, and lead themselves differently through growth, complexity, and change.

Today, my work brings those worlds together.

My coaching is psychology-informed and transformational, grounded in more than two decades of leading, building, and helping people create meaningful change, alongside my ongoing study of human behavior. I work with the whole person, because what we create externally and who we are internally aren’t separate.

Sometimes the thing standing between you and what you want isn’t another strategy. You may already know what needs to change. The deeper work is developing the capacity to actually do it.

I don’t believe people need fixing.

I think of this work more like tending a garden. You can’t force a plant to grow. You can only create the conditions that allow what is already alive within it to flourish.

My role is to ask thoughtful questions, notice the pattern beneath the pattern, reflect what you can’t yet see, challenge you when you’ve settled for less than what you know is possible, and to remind you of your own wisdom when you’ve forgotten how to hear it.

Whether you’re leading a team, building a business, navigating a transition, or stepping into an entirely new season of your life, the work comes back to this:

Developing the inner capacity to create, hold, and sustain what you truly want.

So what are you cultivating?

If you’re building something meaningful, navigating a transition, or sensing that it’s time for a different way of living or leading, I’d love to hear your story.

Packages

Breakthrough Session

It's time to dig deep and plant the seeds for what you really want.
View details

Testimonials

Iris has invaluable experience growing one of the first successful coworking brands in the Bay Area, and literally invented the wheel when it comes to coworking business management and leadership. This makes her incredibly strong for any startup culture or growing organization. She has a unique ability to get to the heart of the matter when it comes to team dynamics and to help identify and resolve any challenges. Iris is a life force when it comes to building organizations, teams and brands. She brings her big heart and intellect to the table, and gives 200%. I lean on Iris as a coach for any leadership challenge and she always offers insightful ideas and solutions. She would be an asset to any dynamic, future focused organization. And If you are opening or growing a coworking business of any size, or need staff development, you must hire Iris!

- Amy King, Founder of Good Coworking

Prior to working with Iris I was shooting in the dark looking for solutions to the problems that I inherited after a prolonged vacancy in the position that I took over. Her insight and experience have provided me with the tools to work through the best and most difficult aspects of being a Senior Community Manager. She has helped me to navigate this by working through the larger structural issues, in tandem with the seemingly “small” issues that arise. As our management team has grown, we all spend time with Iris each week to identify problems and solutions for both our team-wide, and personal struggles. Since working with her, our management team has become better equipped to provide meaningful support to one another, and to lead our staff toward our greater common goals. We’ve been able to improve our hiring and staff-development processes, translating into a better sales process and stronger community engagement at all of our campuses. Iris’ natural instincts for coworking, people relations and teamwork, have helped me develop into a more confident Community Manager, a better employee, and a more supportive teammate.

- Liz Knowlin, Former Sr Community Manager for BLANKSPACES

Working with Iris was a beautiful experience. Her soul is in her work. I felt deeply seen and deeply cared for. I immediately felt safe to explore wherever she led the session. She was able to help me connect with parts of myself that I had never accessed before, despite having done extensive inner work. The compassion, clarity, and connection that resulted are still influencing my life well after our single session. I whole-heartedly recommend experiencing the magic of Iris. She is a gift.

- Ashley Ragland

Frequently Asked Questions

What is coaching and how is it different from therapy and consulting?
Coaching focuses on where you want to go and how to get there. We work with your current goals and vision to create the changes you want in your life. Coaching is forward-focused and action-oriented.

Therapy typically addresses healing from the past - processing trauma, treating mental health conditions, or working through deep emotional wounds.

Consulting provides expert advice and solutions in a specific area. A consultant tells you what to do based on their expertise.

Coaching is different because you're the expert on your own life. I help you access your own wisdom and take action on what matters most to you.

How do I know if coaching will help me?
Coaching works best for people who are already functioning well and want to level up. You're a good fit if you:
Have specific goals you want to achieve
Are willing to look honestly at your patterns
Want to take action, not just talk about problems
Are open to trying new approaches
Can commit time and energy to the process

If you're dealing with depression, anxiety, trauma, or other mental health concerns, therapy might be a better starting point.

What if I don't know what I want to work on?
That's completely normal and something we can figure out together. Many people start coaching because they know they want something to change but aren't sure exactly what or how.

The Clarity Session + the Dig Deep Session are specifically designed to help you get clear on your priorities and focus areas.

What will we actually work on in our sessions?
That depends entirely on what you want to create and what's been getting in your way. We might work on:
Building confidence to take bigger risks
Creating better boundaries without guilt
Developing decision-making skills that feel aligned
Working through patterns of procrastination or self-sabotage
Managing stress and overwhelm more effectively
Clarifying your vision and next steps

The work is customized to your specific situation and goals.

How much work is required outside of sessions?
This isn't like schoolwork, it's about implementing what we discover together. You might practice new habits, try different approaches, or use tools we create in sessions.

The amount varies by person and what you're working on. Some people prefer small daily practices, others prefer larger weekly actions. We'll find what works for your life and learning style.

What if I need support between sessions?
I offer spot coaching between sessions via Voxer, Monday-Friday. You can send voice messages when you need guidance, have questions, or want to share wins. It's especially helpful when you're implementing something new or working through resistance.
Do you work with specific types of people or industries?
I work with growth-oriented people across all industries and life situations - founders, teachers, parents, professionals, creatives, anyone ready to level up. The Mastery Method principles apply regardless of your specific role or background.
What is the Mastery Method?
The Mastery Method is a comprehensive coaching approach that works across five levels of consciousness: Somatic (body), Emotional, Mental, Behavioral, and Unconscious. Instead of just talking through your challenges, we work with your whole system to create lasting change.
Every session moves through three stages: Awareness (seeing patterns clearly), Acceptance (meeting what's here without judgment), and Aligned Action (taking steps towards your goals that feel authentic and sustainable).

This might mean addressing nervous system responses, limiting beliefs, emotional patterns, daily habits, or unconscious programming - whatever is most relevant to reaching your goals.

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