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COMMUNITY

The Courage Lab

A Leadership Community for Those Who Serve

The Courage Lab is a monthly membership community —

designed for heart-led leaders and mission-driven changemakers who want to lead with more clarity, courage, and connection.

No politics. No posturing. Just real talk, honest support, and powerful tools to help you grow from the inside out.

This isn’t a networking group or an echo chamber. It’s where you step out of performance mode and into real connection— with a courageous community of peers who push you, see you, and rise with you.

$39

/ month

start with a free 30-day trial

+ Monthly 90-min live sessions
+ Private Voxer group for support
+ Practical tools & practices
+ A courageous community of peers

and much more …

JOIN NOW

“I invest in my socioemotional well-being, as a political leader, to reduce the risk of burnout, isolation, or responding to the appropriate anger and concerns of our constituents in a way that does not reflect who I want to be. We need to take care of ourselves and be in community so we take care of one another and remind each other we are not alone in this uniquely demanding, high-profile role.”

— Kesha Ram Hinsdale, State Senator, Chittenden County, VT

What you’ll get

START YOUR FREE 30-DAY TRIAL

then $39 / month

+
Personal Arête Framework
Receive your own customized Arête map—a personal blueprint designed to help align your values, actions, and leadership style.
+
Monthly Lab Sessions (90 min)
Join a live session led by our facilitators, offering deep coaching, clarity, and space to work through real-time challenges.
+
Community Voxer Thread
Stay connected between calls inside our members-only chat channel. Share wins, ask questions, and lean on the community.
+
Monthly Peer Support Call
A space to be seen, supported, and challenged by fellow members navigating similar journeys, challenges, and growth edges.
+
Practical Tools & Practices
Expert-backed tools and practices, curated for your growth from our coaches and podcast guests —accessible anytime.

What you’ll get

+ Monthly Lab Sessions (90 min)

Join a live session led by our facilitators, offering deep coaching, clarity, and space to work through real-time challenges

+ Personal Arête Framework

Receive your own customized Arête map—a personal blueprint designed to help align your values, actions, and leadership style.

+ Community Voxer Thread

Stay connected between calls inside our members-only chat channel. Share wins, ask questions, and lean on the community.

+ Monthly Peer Support Call

A space to be seen, supported, and challenged by fellow members navigating similar journeys, challenges, and growth edges.

+ Practical Tools & Practices

Expert-backed tools and practices, curated for your growth from our coaches and podcast guests —accessible anytime

START YOUR FREE 30-DAY TRIAL

then $39 / month

“What's possible in the spaces created by the Civic Courage Lab is unraveling, unwinding, and unlearning self-imposed or societal limitations in a supportive space with peers. This allows elected leaders to grow and become the leaders our world needs and deserves.”

— Raaheela Ahmed, School Board, Prince George County, MD

If you are —

feeling isolated in your leadership role

unsure where to turn for honest support

someone who wants to experience more

integrity, clarity, and alignment

craving a space where you don’t have to

pretend you have it all figured out

or if you have been —

burning out behind the scenes

while holding it together in public

questioning how long you can

keep doing things the same way and survive

silently carrying

the emotional weight of your work, with nowhere to put it

… then this is for you

$39

/ month

start with a free 30-day trial

+ Monthly 90-min live sessions
+ Private Voxer group for support
+ Practical tools & practices
+ A courageous community of peers

and much more …

JOIN NOW

Jen Cavenaugh – Lead Coach

Jen Cavenaugh is a leadership coach with an MBA from the University of Chicago and coach certification from the Co-Active Training Institute, bringing extensive experience across Fortune 500 companies, community organizations, and local government. She is the former Mayor of Piedmont, California, after multiple terms on City Council, and is a recognized regional leader in transportation, clean energy, and climate policy, earning the 2022 Cal Cities Leadership in Action Award. Jen is deeply committed to healing our politics by strengthening the inner lives of leaders—so they can lead with integrity, resilience, and humanity rather than fear or burnout. As Lead Coach at the Civic Courage Lab, she brings grounded presence, strategic clarity, and intuitive depth, helping mission-driven leaders navigate uncertainty, align with their values, and translate courage into effective action.

Kawtar El Alaoui – Lead Coach

Kawtar El Alaoui, LL.B, PCC, is a multi-award-winning author, consultant, advisor and seasoned facilitator. She is not only a coach and mediator, but she also teaches both disciplines through rigorous learning methodologies and to the highest standards in these respective professions. 

Kawtar has been a credentialed coach by the International Coaching Federation for more than a decade and coaches leaders globally. She teaches, mentors, and assesses coaches through the rigorous, global, culturally sensitive coaching course Coaching for Transformation. She also teaches mediation with the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution. 

With a background in law and career experience in Canada’s public service, Kawtar is deeply committed to healing politics by helping leaders bridge purpose, strategy, and whole-brain leadership—so they can navigate complexity, difference, and power with clarity and humanity. At the Civic Courage Lab, she brings rare expertise in mediation, negotiation, cultural literacy, and conflict transformation, helping leaders come together across differences to create grounded, well-informed, and durable change. Kawtar coaches and facilitates in both English and French. She enjoys supporting every person she works with in connecting with their innate strengths and heal their deepest wounds so they can lead with authenticity, care and strength. 

Jamie Upton Mesirow – Coach

Jamie Upton Mesirow is a soul-centered, transformational leadership coach with a background in the performing arts, spiritual psychology, and somatic healing, bringing a deeply integrative approach to human development and leadership. A Certified Mastery Coach and Mentor Coach with the Institute of Coaching Mastery, she co-created the Civic Courage Lab in its original form as the Elected Leaders Collective and has coached leaders, cohorts, and groups within the organization for over five years. Jamie is passionate about healing our politics by helping leaders reconnect to their inherent wholeness—so they can lead from clarity, embodiment, and truth rather than reactivity or burnout. At the Civic Courage Lab, she brings expertise in mental, emotional, and somatic processing, guiding leaders out of their heads and into their bodies, strengthening nervous system regulation, emotional intelligence, and the inner resilience required for courageous leadership.