Dr. Jen Clifden
Educator | Relationship Researcher | Retention Specialist
We support both your leadership effectiveness and your well-being...at the same time.
Women who lead are often socialized to sacrifice first and restore later, if at all. But like Mother Trees, sustainable feminine leadership depends on regenerative self-care, boundary-setting, and inner resource replenishment. The forest needs Mother Trees strong, rooted, and well; not depleted.
While many leadership programs focus on strategy, productivity, and authority, they can often overlook the emotional, relational, and identity-centered dimensions of effective leadership —
areas where women frequently carry significant responsibility and exercise profound influence.
At the heart of The Light We Cast | Women Who Lead™ is the powerful metaphor of the Mother Tree;
a symbol of feminine leadership rooted in wisdom, reciprocity, and self-sustaining care.
In the forest, Mother Trees thrive because they intentionally rest, restore, and revitalize themselves. Their strength is not constant by accident. It is cultivated through intentional cycles of renewal. Because they can heal, they can sustain. Because they can sustain, they can nurture.
Rooted in the matriarchal leadership pillars of
Guiding | Co-Creating | Collaborating | Celebrating
The Light We Cast | Women Who Lead™ strategically supports women leaders in renewing their energy, leading with grounded presence, and self-healing through stress so they can foster thriving staff and cultivate organizational cultures rooted in care, connection, and belonging.
The Light We Cast | Women Who Lead™ is a research-based leadership development experience designed to help women leaders cultivate resonant relationships and sustain their leadership energy. We support your inner world and your outer impact.
What Women Leaders Gain &
What This Training Delivers
1 | A Protected Space for Renewal,
Not Just Skill-Building
Many women leaders are already highly competent. What they often lack is protected space for restoration, reflection, and renewal.
Renew your inner leadership resources through practices that regulate the nervous system and restore energy, honoring the unique rhythms and stages of women’s health. This training creates space for physical well-being, mental ease, and a calm, regulated body.
2 | Meaning & Purpose
in Leadership
Many women leaders are motivated by purpose, not just advancement.
Reconnect with your purpose and root system as a leader, clarifying your values and aligning your leadership with the impact you want to create while cultivating thriving, hope-centered communities.
3 | Leadership
Identity Exploration
Many women leaders want help understanding their natural leadership style and strengths.
Deepen self-awareness and uncover your innate leadership gifts, using tools like the Enneagram to understand how you show up under stress, recognize blind spots, and maximize your natural leadership strengths.
4 | Tools to Prevent Burnout,
Compassion Fatigue & Sacrifice Syndrome
Women leaders often carry invisible emotional labor: mentoring staff, mediating conflict, supporting struggling employees, and maintaining morale.
Develop tools to recognize and prevent burnout, compassion fatigue, and sacrifice syndrome, regulate stress before it becomes chronic, and lead with empathy while maintaining healthy boundaries.
5 | Authentic
Leadership Development
Many women leaders want support in leading in ways that feel authentic, rather than
conforming to leadership models that prioritize control or hierarchy.
Cultivate Resonant Leadership skills of developing emotional intelligence, relational awareness, and collaborative leadership skills that allow you to lead through influence rather than force and power struggles.
6 | A Community
of Women Leaders
Leadership can feel isolating. Women leaders often crave connection with peers who understand their experiences.
Engage in a supportive community of women leaders, where you can speak openly about challenges, share wisdom and strategies, and build lasting relationships through circle-based dialogue and collaborative reflection.
7 | Permission to Lead
Without Self-Sacrifice
Many women leaders have internalized messages that leadership requires constant giving and self-sacrifice.
Learn to lead without losing yourself, developing tools to set healthy boundaries, protect your well-being, and sustain your leadership energy while aligning your work with your core values.
8 | Immediately Applicable
Leadership Tools
Female leaders often appreciate training that is immediately applicable in their real work environments.
Develop practical leadership tools to navigate conflict, support struggling staff, regulate team stress, and maintain clarity and compassion during difficult conversations.
9 | Navigating the Second Shift
Women leaders often carry a dual load of care; leading and supporting others in their professional roles while also managing caregiving, emotional labor, and household responsibilities at home.
Develop practices that help you recognize the impact of the second shift, establish sustainable boundaries, and maintain healthy integration between leadership, personal life, and family so you can sustain your energy and well-being over time.
"Taking time for oneself is healing. I appreciated having time set aside to allow me to grow in my understanding of myself, as well as others. Doing this work with other leaders was powerful."
School Principal
Participants receive a downloadable
Women Who Lead™ workbook filled with reflection prompts, trauma-responsive practices, and leadership resources grounded in the pillars of The Light We Cast™: Rest, Restoration, and Revitalization.
Each participant will also receive a copy of Resonant Leadership by Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee. While Resonant Leadership describes the actions of effective leadership that we will explore, we will also focuses on the inner becoming that sustains those actions.
Through the intersection of The Light We Cast™ and the principles of Resonant Leadership, this experience helps participants cultivate the four pillars of matriarchal leadership—
guiding, co-creating, collaborating, and celebrating.
By strengthening nervous system regulation, renewal practices, and relational attunement, leaders develop the presence, vitality, and emotional intelligence that allow their leadership to resonate and create environments where people feel safe, connected, and empowered to thrive.
Women Who Lead™
Feminine leadership is not about constant output. It is about regenerative Presence.
When leaders honor these cycles, they embody resonant leadership and cast a light that allows communities to heal, connect, and thrive together.
Our Signature Regenerative Leadership Cycle
Women Who Lead™ unfolds as a six-session hybrid leadership experience, with each session aligned to one phase of the Regenerative Leadership Cycle: Root, Renew, Reveal, Resonate, Rise, and Rejoice. Together, these phases guide leaders through a rhythm of grounding, restoration, vision, relational leadership, empowered action, and collective celebration.
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We will begin with an in-person opening gathering to establish connection, trust, and community among participants.
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The remaining five monthly sessions will be held on Zoom, creating an ongoing space for reflection, dialogue, continued learning, and sustained support.
This extended rhythm is intentional.
Women leaders often benefit from sustained connection and community, where insight can deepen over time and practices can be integrated into real leadership contexts. Between sessions, participants apply the practices within their professional lives and return to the circle to share experiences, reflect together, and learn from one another; strengthening both their leadership and their connection to a network of fellow leaders.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 | Embody Healing
Through intentional movement, breath, and sensory awareness, women leaders learn to recognize how stress and resilience show up in their bodies and develop practices that restore balance, renew energy, and support sustainable leadership, rather than pushing through chronic pressure or emotional depletion.
2 | Learn the Science
Participants also examine the science of relationships and how attuned, regulated leadership influences trust, psychological safety, and team well-being. Through a trauma-responsive leadership lens, women leaders learn to recognize early signals of burnout, compassion fatigue, sacrifice syndrome, and secondary stress in themselves and their teams and develop practices that regulate stress, strengthen relational attunement, and sustain compassionate leadership over time.
3 | Practice Relational Empowerment Skills
Women leaders strengthen relationship-centered leadership skills that draw on the powers of the feminine: attunement, empathy, collaboration, and relational awareness. Through practical frameworks and reflection, participants learn to lead through connection rather than control, cultivating trust, emotionally intelligent communication, and collaborative decision-making that foster cultures of care, belonging, and collective resilience.
4 | Thrive in Community
Women leaders gather in a relational learning community rooted in matriarchal connection and mutual support. Like Mother Trees in a forest, participants strengthen one another through shared wisdom, reflection, and dialogue—creating a network of trust and encouragement that sustains their leadership and deepens their impact. Through this network of connection, participants strengthen one another—sharing insight, encouragement, and collective resilience that sustains their leadership and deepens their impact in the communities they serve.
"I just appreciate Jen's approach and that she is encouraging us be our full selves; not trying to tell us who to be."
District Curriculum Director
Session
Date
Fomat
Time
Session 1 | ROOT
Friday, July 24
In-Person
Westwood Hills
Recreation Center,
St. Louis Park
10:00am -3:30pm
Session 2 | RENEW
Tuesday, August 11
Zoom
4:00pm - 5:30pm
Session 3 | REVEAL
Tuesday, September 22
Zoom
4:00pm - 5:30pm
Session 4 | RESONATE
Tuesday, October 20
Zoom
4:00pm - 5:30pm
Session 5 | RISE
Tuesday, November 17
Zoom
4:00pm - 5:30pm
Session 6 | REJOICE
Tuesday, December 15
Zoom
4:00pm - 5:30pm
Invest in Your Leadership & Well-Being
Total Program Cost & Value
Women Who Lead™ Leadership Cohort is a complete leadership development experience designed to support both professional growth and personal renewal—unfolding over time within a connected community of women leaders. Like a network of Mother Trees, participants strengthen one another through shared reflection, support, and collective wisdom, cultivating the connection and relational health that sustain both the leader and the communities they serve.
Program Investment: $700
(Total Program Value: $1,850+)
Your Enrollment Includes
Women Who Lead™ Leadership Cohort (6 Sessions)
One in-person gathering and five live Zoom sessions
Value: $900
Full Access to The Light You Cast™ | ON-DEMAND Training
6 months of complimentary access to guided mental health practices, restorative movement sessions, and stress regulation strategies.
Value: $300
Women Who Lead Leadership Workbook
A downloadable guide with reflection prompts, leadership practices, and resources grounded in The Light We Cast™ framework.
Value: $150
Leadership Text
A copy of Resonant Leadership by Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee.
Value: $35
Continuing Education Clock Hours
Participants receive a 13 Clock Hour Certificate of Completion eligible for CEUs.
Professional development value: $200+
Leadership Community & Peer Network
A sustained circle of women leaders learning and growing together across six months.
Priceless
ADD-ON Coaching & Support
For leaders who would like additional personalized support, individual coaching sessions with Jen are available as an optional add-on.
These sessions provide dedicated space to explore leadership challenges, deepen integration of the practices, and apply the regenerative leadership framework to your unique professional and personal context.
Add-On (Zoom) Coaching Options (*separate payment with Jen directly)
1-2 (60 minute) coaching session(s) ---- $100 per session
3 (60 minute) coaching sessions — $75 per session
6 (60 minute) coaching sessions — $50 per session
If this experience resonates with you, we invite you to reserve your place in this intimate circle of women leaders.
Enrollment is limited to 15 participants to ensure meaningful connection and shared learning.
Please email Jen directly if you experience any issues with the online payment system or if you would like to reserve your spot and pay by check at our first in-person session.
