In this latest installment of the “Ones to Watch” series, Grit Daily partners with Heather Burgett’s Shine Collective to spotlight ten women who raised the bar for leadership in 2025 and are already shaping the landscape for 2026. These are the women others call when the stakes are high, the culture is strained, and a different kind of leadership is needed.
From C-suites and global health platforms to coaching firms, consultancies, and mission-driven organizations, they are redefining how we lead people, steward power, and build workplaces where performance and well-being can coexist. They are executive coaches, strategists, innovators, and culture shapers who turn complexity into clarity and translate big visions into human-centered change.
Together, these ten leaders set a new standard for impact: rooted in substance, expressed through lived experience, and measured by the people and systems they transform. Here are ten women who elevated leadership in 2025 and who are poised to shape the conversations, cultures, and companies that will lead us into 2026 and beyond.
Redefining Leadership by Making Joy a Strategic Advantage
Sheryl Raphael Whitaker, MBA, is a renowned author, speaker, and certified executive coach who helps leaders put joy in charge. She is the author of It Starts with Joy – The Inner Shift that Changes Everything (Amazon #1 Best Seller and Top Release, September 2025).
As Founder & CEO of EdenAnthony LLC, Sheryl guides executives, teams, and organizations from disconnection and overload to clarity, authenticity, and unshakeable joy. Through her JoyShift method, It Starts with Joy framework, and leadership philosophy — Joy is my COO — she equips leaders to build cultures where purpose and joy fuel performance.
Previously, Sheryl led enterprise learning and development for 37,000+ employees at USAA, transforming how leaders learn and grow. She now serves as Director of Curation for TEDxSouthlake, a Growthspace Ambassador, member of PeakSpan Capital’s Expert Community, and Executive Champion for The-Climb.org.
Her passion for protecting joy began at six, after a painful classroom experience revealed the deeper cost of being unseen. That story, central to her book, inspires her mission to help leaders honor the dignity and humanity of those they lead.
Sheryl holds degrees from Penn State University and Dowling College, and lives with her husband, Dwayne, and their pup, Bella.
Digital Health Executive Turning Complex Care Systems Into Human-Centered Experiences
Suzy Jackson is an award-winning digital health leader, executive, and advocate for women’s empowerment. As a respected voice in digital health, she currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer at RVO Health, the nation’s largest health and wellbeing platform, where she drives growth and innovation through Fullspan Health.
Previously, Suzy spent over a decade at Accenture, leading global pharmaceutical and biotech engagements across Europe, Asia, and the Americas and managing more than $100M in business. Her passion lies in transforming complex strategies into simple, human-centered solutions that empower patients and improve healthcare experiences.
Suzy is also the creator of Simply Speak Up, a proprietary storytelling and communication training program. She has trained more than 1,000 professionals to become more confident and effective leaders. Her work is rooted in her early career as a professional musician, where she honed her ability to perform under pressure and connect with audiences — skills she now channels into leadership, coaching, and thought partnership.
Recognized as one of North Carolina’s Top Women Leaders by Women We Admire, Suzy is also an ICF-certified coach, frequent keynote speaker, and active advocate for women and girls. She serves on the Advisory Board of Equality Now, a global organization advancing women’s legal rights, and on the executive committee of Safe Alliance, which supports survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.
Spiritual Life Coach Guiding Women to Bloom Into Their Most Magical Selves
Dr. Makeba Morgan Hill is a spiritual life coach, healer, podcast host, and 3x Amazon bestselling author devoted to helping soul-led women and mission-driven leaders reclaim their peace, purpose, and power. As the founder of Living4.Love, she blends intuitive wisdom with sacred strategy to guide transformational experiences that bring people back to themselves — beyond burnout, titles, or the illusion of success.
A former healthcare and higher-education executive, Dr. Makeba’s work is rooted in her own awakening. After discovering a blocked heart chakra during Reiki training, she followed a divine call to create a body of work that restores alignment, sovereignty, and inner truth. Today, she leads global retreats, a 6-month private coaching program, Reiki Mastery certification, and digital courses grounded in her 4Love Philosophy and Soul Bloom Method.
Her insights have supported teachers, executives, creatives, and spiritual seekers worldwide, helping them deepen self-trust, access inner clarity, and live in embodied peace. She is the host of “SolSocial with Dr. Makeba & Friends” and the creator of “Living4.Love Notes,” a soul-powered podcast offering grounded spiritual guidance for the modern world.
Her next book, Bloom in Any Season: 52 Ways to Bloom into Your Magical Self, is coming out on December 12, 2025. Dr. Makeba holds a doctorate from the University of Georgia, lives in Atlanta, and continues her mission to help humanity remember that love is our truest power.
Leadership Strategist Unlocking the Hidden Innovators Within Teams
Dr. Stacy McCracken is a trained engineer, leadership strategist, and innovation expert. As the Founder of The Hidden Innovators Group and CEO, Impact and Lead, she’s helping organizations turn potential into performance. Stacy has trained and guided transformations at Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, General Motors, and Freescale Semiconductor (now NXP), higher education institutions, and mission-driven organizations worldwide.
With over two decades advising executive teams through cycles of rapid growth and market shifts, Stacy brings a rare blend of practical experience and research-based insight. Her signature system — the IMPACT Experience — helps individuals unlock innovative thinking, build trust, and strengthen leadership agility.
Stacy’s groundbreaking research explores the intersection of growth mindset, AI curiosity, and innovative thinking, revealing new insights into human-centered development in today’s rapidly changing world. A lifelong learner, she has trained at Stanford’s d.school and holds certifications in leadership coaching and Insights Discovery.
Recognized globally for her work, Stacy is known for turning complex ideas into actionable strategies. A sought-after speaker, Stacy has shared across national and global stages, including WomenTech Network, Capital Factory’s Women in Tech Week, and Purdue University’s Women’s Leadership Conference. Stacy is redefining what it means to lead in the age of change.
Executive Coach Helping Leaders Build High-Performing, People-First Teams
Jackie Simon is a certified executive coach and leadership strategist who helps emerging leaders and executives elevate their impact and build thriving, high-performing teams. She has coached more than 1,000 leaders across industries — including tech, professional services, healthcare, and automotive — guiding them to shift from a reactive to a strategic mindset and from trying to prove themselves to fully owning their leadership.
Through her one-on-one executive coaching and group and team programs, Jackie equips leaders with the tools to strengthen communication, foster accountability, and create cultures where people and performance thrive. She is especially passionate about teaching leaders coaching skills, the key to empowering others and unlocking their full potential. Through her executive development programs, Jackie empowers rising and current executives to strengthen influence, lead with intention, and create sustainable, people-centered cultures. Her proven framework has become a transformative path for leaders seeking long-term success in complex, evolving environments.
Recognized as a Top Coach in Las Vegas for two consecutive years, Jackie has partnered with leaders at global companies such as Google, GM, Ford, Whirlpool, and SAP. Known for her practical, empathetic approach, she helps organizations develop leaders who drive results with authenticity, confidence, and purpose.
Burnout Coach Guiding High-Achievers From Depletion to Authentic Power
Lori Prutsman is transforming how high-achievers define success. Known as The Burnout Coach, this certified professional Integral and Enneagram coach guides clients from complete depletion to authentic power, helping them reclaim joy, presence, and purpose in their lives and careers.
Before launching her transformative coaching practice, Lori led global recruiting teams at Fortune 500 powerhouses, including Amazon and Booking.com, where she placed top talent, driving critical innovation and long-term success. That experience showed her a crucial truth: hard work equals success…until it doesn’t.
Today, Lori leverages Integral Coaching techniques and the Enneagram to ignite personal and professional transformation in the individuals and teams she serves. Her comprehensive approach engages the whole person (head, heart, and body), creating space for clients to dream bigger, set audacious goals, and discover the clarity needed to live more abundant lives.
Lori’s journey began in her own burnout as an executive held back by pressure and disconnection. Reclaiming her authentic self gave her the courage to pursue her calling. Now, she empowers clients to step into their power, improve work-life balance, reduce stress, boost joy, and cultivate curiosity. The result? Leaders who show up fully present, living from authenticity rather than exhaustion.
Elevating Senior Leaders’ Strategic Thinking and Performance
Dr. Virginia Wells is an award-winning author, respected keynote speaker, and executive leadership coach and consultant for senior executives and teams at prominent organizations, including Johns Hopkins, the Pentagon, and Oracle. A sought-after speaker and consultant, she is especially passionate about helping women advance by strengthening their problem-solving, strategic, and creative capacities.
She is dedicated to guiding emerging and established leaders in strategic thought processes through her signature Thinking House system, helping them step out of day-to-day tasks and into decisive, high-level leadership activities that 10X their strategic thinking, creativity, and performance.
For more than 22 years, Dr. Wells has created and delivered over 1,200 customized workshops, seminars, and board retreats for corporations and nonprofit organizations. As an organizational development consultant and executive coach, she has supported school administrators, nonprofit leaders, and senior management with leadership, entrepreneurial, and organizational challenges.
President and CEO of OBC&T, Dr. Wells earned her Ph.D. in Organizational Systems, with dissertation research on Latina women rising into senior leadership, giving her rare, firsthand insight into how top women executives overcome obstacles. Her research on high-performing leaders across global organizations has established her as a leading authority on executive advancement and organizational behavior.
Business Advisor Turning Natural Strengths Into Category-of-One Brands
Deb Monfette is a marketing and business advisor, content strategist, and creator of the Courageously Uncopyable System. Through her strengths-to-strategy approach, she helps leaders, coaches, and consultants uncover their natural strengths and translate them into a category-of-one strategy that sets them apart in a crowded market.
A 30-year pioneer in digital transformation, Deb began her career helping global brands such as Coca-Cola, Gillette, and Playtex move into the digital era. She later brought her expertise to high-impact, thought-leadership content for companies like Telit Cinterion, Google Cloud, Atlassian, Bentley, and Okta, shaping complex ideas into clear, human-centered messaging that builds trust and sets them apart.
Her published work has appeared in Women’s Journal, CEO Weekly, and NY Weekly, where she is known for helping entrepreneurs uncover their brilliance and shape it into narratives that position them as leaders in their own category. Deb has also been featured in Entrepreneur, Foundr, and Consulting Magazine.
She is currently expanding her impact with the launch of the BUOYI Movement, where ex-corporate women share what makes them Uncopyable, own their identity, and build businesses where they can grow, belong, and truly matter.
Transforming Healthcare Workplaces Into Cultures Where People and Performance Thrive
Janice Brathwaite is an award-winning healthcare workforce leader, organizational culture strategist, and certified executive and life coach with over 17 years of experience helping mission-driven organizations build people-first workplace cultures.
As the Founder and CEO of Workplace Transformations, she developed the signature Workplace Transformations Method, a proven five-part framework that helps leaders identify and address cultural misalignment to improve retention, engagement, and organizational performance.
Named Employer Partner of the Year by Operation Able, Janice has worked with health centers and Fortune 500 companies, including Xerox, Motorola, and Procter & Gamble. She holds a Master’s degree in Management from Cambridge College and is certified in Lean methodologies and organizational culture assessments.
Her thought leadership has been featured on podcasts like Reach Radio, JD Hyman, Notes on Resilience, Dr. John Dentico, Wellness 360, and Canned. She also publishes The Culture Catalyst, a monthly newsletter on LinkedIn. Based in Salem, Massachusetts, Janice brings both strategic insight and lived experience to her work.
Turning Directive Managers Into Coaching-Based Leaders
Dr. Amanda Fernandez is a Board Certified Coach (BCC), ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC), and organizational consultant who transforms mission-driven leaders from directive managers into coaching-based leaders who align values, strategy, and relationships for sustainable growth. As founder of Waypoint North, she partners with executives, emerging leaders, and teams in education, nonprofits, and purpose-led businesses, helping them shift from managing to truly leading.
With a rare combination of C-suite experience as both Chief Business Officer and educational leader, plus a Doctorate in Educational & Organizational Leadership, Amanda bridges systems thinking with deeply human-centered coaching. She specializes in high-stakes leadership transitions and team transformation, deploying frameworks like GROW and SBI to cultivate psychological safety and accountability. Her approach helps leaders build cultures rooted in trust, using thoughtful questions, stronger feedback loops, and intentional connection to empower their teams.
A sought-after speaker and trainer, Amanda presents at leadership conferences and on podcasts across North America and internationally. As an Elite Member of a global coaches network, she’s creating coaching-based modules for the Master Leadership Academy designed to help leaders at every level lead with clarity, curiosity, and confidence.
Her philosophy cuts through the noise: leadership is deeply personal and profoundly relational. True change begins with self-awareness and grows through purposeful relationships.
Coming Up Next in the Series: Ones to Watch in 2026
Grit Daily and Heather Burgett’s Shine Collective will continue spotlighting women who are not just leading today, but actively creating tomorrow, through upcoming features including Visionary Women Changing the World in 2026, Future-Shaping Women of 2026, and Women Transforming What’s Next in 2026.
