Testimonials

• Coaching
• Training
• Speaking

Coaching

“I chose to add one-on-one coaching sessions to my development curriculum; without question one of the best investments I’ve made in myself thus far.  As a team, my coach Rachel and I set forth aggressive, yet realistic goals that continuously keep me moving in the direction of revealing my full potential.  Rachel most certainly knows when to push, when to lead, and when to inspire:  She’s simply great!"

Raquel-Catherine Duenas
Entertainment Executive

“Rachel is a gifted coach with a keen sensitivity and understanding of her clients’ needs. 

Her wise, gentle, yet directed style has supported my professional and personal growth through the years. 
I’m blessed that I have Rachel alongside me in this journey called life.”

Sharon Sim-Krause
PR Consultant

"Rachel elevates coaching to an art. Yes, she will help you organize your life, identify your goals and align with your values, but beyond that she will help you create a vision for life.  With both pragmatism and an uncanny intuition - Rachel always seems to know just what I feel I need to focus on - she helps her clients create their most authentic path.  Rachel’s coaching serves the whole person. At the end of my sessions with her, I always feel more focused, empowered and inspired."

Alissa Carroll
Founder – Carroll Public Relations

"I recently completed a coaching journey with Rachel and I encourage anyone who is afforded this opportunity to take full advantage of it. As a professional who has spent 20 years plugging away at a career, through coaching I was amazed to find how many functional issues we never take time to fully understand or explore. Rachel helped me to further hone my interactional skills. She did so by providing guidance and information,while allowing me to come to my own conclusions. This provided the best possible result as I maintained "ownership" of my goals and outcomes."

Manager
A California Health Philanthropy

"Working with Rachel as a coach was life altering. In part because I was at a time in my life to accept coaching, and in part due to Rachel's strength,persistence, and her ability to push me past the easy safe havens and keep me focused on what was important. She helped me ask the right questions, search for the answers, and find the strength to make some important decisions. I have a renewed perspective on life and work: LIFE being a priority as opposed to work. I encourage everyone, whatever stage you are in your professional or personal life, to take advantage of this awesome opportunity. You will not only find a great professional coach, but a good friend."

Stacy Gannon
Vice President, Human Resources
Time Warner Cable, Green Bay Division

"As an HR Manager, I am trained to listen, solve the conflicts of others, and create a motivating environment for our employees. Rachel worked with me to identify my career and personal goals, learn how to integrate those goals into my current position, and most importantly, how to satisfy my own values to create a positive work balance environment.

The coaching experience opened my eyes to the areas in my professional and personal life that needed more attention in order for me to be fulfilled. The experience also brought to light ways I could better manage my own team, my boss, and colleagues by changing to focus of change to myself rather than trying to change others."

Kara Scamardo
Human Resources Manager

"I asked Rachel to be my coach because I am unhappy with my current career and really had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my working life.

In the time she has been my coach I have developed a new perspective on my career and she has given me tools to cope while in a career which is not ideal for me.

Most importantly she has helped me to examine and focus on my values.  Now I am confident that my career search will resurrect my “Interrupted Dreams” and not just another job which is easier for me to tolerate.

I have recommended coaching in general and Rachel specifically, to all of my friends.

With her help I know I will “Unleash My Potential.”

Jeff Ballard
Sr. Contracts Analyst
Toshiba

"The daily tasks of living – obligations of work and family – keep a person busy.  But like a mouse on a treadmill, there can be motion but no sense of progress.  I came to Rachel for coaching because I wanted to avoid drowning in my never-ending to-do list.  Rachel is helping me to uncover where I want my life to move towards on a deeper level.

Coaching has given me a better sense of my values and what “makes me tick.”  I’m consistently surprised by Rachel’s ability to find connections that I’ve never thought of.  In these “aha!” moments, I discover where another piece of the puzzle fits, and I feel more complete.

Rachel is guiding me past the arbitrary “shoulds” of my life to find a more authentic pathway.  What’s this mean on a practical level?  I plan and take actions that leave me feeling happier.  Greater fulfillment becomes attainable because I can envision it first.  It’s no longer a hazy, abstract concept.

Rachel is my personal compass pointing me towards “true north.”  She helps me remain focused on my journey, despite the many distractions that can pull me away.  I am greatly indebted to her."

Nancy Peponis
Marketing Consultant

"Working with Rachel has helped me become more focused in every aspect of my life.  Through Rachel’s guidance, I have been able to determine what’s really important to me by defining my values and keeping those values in mind as the guiding principles in my life. I’ve always been a hard working and highly driven individual with high expectations of myself and others.  I’ve realized that my expectations were often too high and at times very unrealistic. Rachel has helped me work smarter and not necessarily harder by guiding me to focus on what’s really important and meaningful to me. I’ve developed a foundation for personal and professional effectiveness and am now able to achieve greater balance between work, leisure, significant other, family, friends, and the other priorities in my life. I am now more satisfied with my life as a whole. As a result of working with Rachel, I truly feel that I’m living up to my full potential and achieving more both personally and professionally. Rachel is a true confidante. She’s warm, compassionate, listens with empathy, and gives me honest feedback. She has helped me be more accountable to myself and my intentions so that I can find greater success and fulfillment in my life."

Michelle Dusig, Ph.D.
Organizational Development Consultant

"When I started at RAE Development I thought I knew what mattered most to me.  It wasn’t until I wrote my values on paper and prioritized them, that I saw I was not doing what mattered most to me.  With the system that Rachel Karu showed me, I was able to prioritize and do what mattered most to me.  It was a life changing experience.  In the process I was able to come to grips with my Gremlins, as we call them.  I set goals and learned how to accomplish them using intermediate steps.  The process of scheduling them into small manageable steps with deadlines was an incredible experience.  I would recommend Rachel to anyone who wanted to take the next step in a Life changing experience." 

David Lee
Chicago Title Sales Representative

Training

"RAE Development’s seminars are a must for any executive woman who is serious about furthering her development professionally and personally in a synchronistic and efficient manner.   Every workshop has given me an arsenal of foundational tools that provide me with a high degree of self confidence, balance, clarity, and productivity in every area of my life.  

Raquel-Catherine Duenas
Entertainment Executive

"I have known Rachel Karu for many years.  She was initially the Manager of Training and Organization Development at Easton Sports, Inc. and has been continued consulting with Easton Sports.

I have seen Rachel perform several important roles:  Facilitator, Coach, Trainer, Organization Development and Human Resources professional.

Rachel is a creative professional devoted to assisting individuals in achieving their potential personally and professionally.  She has the unique ability to conceptualize the big picture while possessing the organizational and attention to detail skills to implement a plan and deliver results.

In a relatively short period of time Rachel was able to develop and deliver a corporate university, implement organizational competences and partner in the creation of new performance management system.  These programs are still running effectively today.

Rachel’s interpersonal skills assist her with communicating effectively at all levels ranging from executive to production worker.  Her compassion for people comes across loud and clear.

Rachel is able to adapt her style to her audience while always creating an atmosphere that invites participation and if fun.  I highly recommend working with Rachel for any training and development projects."

Jamie Doud
Vice President Human Resources, Easton Sports, Inc.

"Rachel Karu participated in the creation and delivery of Mattel’s corporate university.   As part of this process she effectively facilitated a planning day and numerous pilot sessions with various levels of leaders throughout our organization in order to seek feedback and build ownership for the new program. 

Rachel has been facilitating leadership-training sessions with Mattel for over one year.  She creates a fun, interactive environment.  Her energy is contagious and she is able to get people excited about their professional and personal development.

Rachel is strong at comprehending the big picture while maintaining a keen attention to detail.  She understands how to modify material to meet the organizational culture as well adjust her approach to meet various learner’s styles and needs.

Rachel has a strong client service orientation and is willing to go the extra mile to build a win-win partnership.  She continually provides valuable feedback to assist us with our continuous improvement.  Our leaders are benefiting greatly from working with Rachel."

Ann Johnson, Manager
Leadership Development Center Human Resources, Mattel

Dear Rachel,
I just wanted to let you know how much we have appreciated the management training curriculum and the Manager's Toolkit you have helped us to develop and deliver over the past several years.  You have taken the time to listen to our needs, and have been remarkably flexible in customizing these professional development opportunities for our organization.  Your facilitation of these sessions and the materials which you prepared have met with high marks from managers, particularly those with less practical experience in coaching and counseling employees, orienting new employees, and preparing effective performance appraisals.  Providing our managers with tools they can actually put into immediate use, and creating an environment in which we were able to practice skills such as the Relationship Roadmap and the Coaching Process model, have resulted in performance and productivity improvements and more effective communications among employees at all levels.

Thank you very much for working with us.
Rick Shumacher
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
 

I am pleased to offer these comments regarding the training provided by Rachel Karu. Through her efforts, the organization's management team has been provided workshops on a variety of topics skills including communication, coaching, managing performance problems and facilitating performance evaluation discussions. Rachel has successfully demonstrated her expertise as a facilitator and experience as a knowledgeable professional with every workshop delivered. The positive feedback provided by the participants is an indication that their workshops have been impactful and beneficial. It has been a pleasure to work with Rachel. Thank you.

Janice E. Herzberg
Director of Human Resources
Braille Institute of America

"Rachel, having had a few days to reflect, I just want to highlight what made the training workshop that you conducted so worthwhile. We really appreciated your open communication and enthusiasm for the material.  It certainly energized the group and the fact that there were no 'wrong answers' kept participation at a high level. Everyone felt comfortable openly communicating. Additionally, you displayed a mastery of the Key Principles throughout the training session and did an exceptional job of enhancing individual self-esteem.  You knew and understood your audience and listened to individual professional challenges and successfully guided the person to a positive solution.We look forward to having the opportunity to work with you again.

Val Burger
Retail Services
Director, Mattel

"My staff of 11 recently attended the Communications Styles Workshop presented by RAE Development.  We each took the Strength Deployment Inventory and together as a team we worked together to learn about the strengths, motivations, and values of our team.  Rachel was an easy facilitator that kept us all on an even keel, quietly leading and steering us toward understanding and productivity. Since that day, I've seen the team work with greater understanding of how each of us responds and communicates to one another according to our own personal strengths. Thank you Karu Consulting!"

Rebecca Martin
Director, Grants Administration
The California Endowment

"In the midst of a difficult situation at work, RAE Development was called in for consultation with my new boss and me. He had never worked with anyone like me and had difficulty in understanding my work style. RAE Development was able to discern even the subtle things that contributed to the situation and assist us in navigating through them. The guidance, suggestions, and mediating were very helpful and I would request their assistance again if given the opportunity. I found RAE Development to be very professional, personable, and knowledgeable. They know how to do what they do, and they do it well."

Associate Business Analyst
The California Endowment

Speaking

"I wanted to communicate my strong recommendation for Rachel Karu as a new AND Effective Vistage Speaker. Rachel presented to my Key Executive Group last December and and did an excellent presentation.

Rachel presents on “Coaching Skills” for the line manager who wants to develop his staff in an effective and motivational way. She is HIGH energy, strong out-going personality, engaging, AND she knows her subject well. When my members raised questions or asked about their real-life situations, Rachel was able to respond in a meaningful and insightful way.

I believe that her presentation would be excellent for both CEO And Key groups. My members were able to readily identify several specific actions that each of them could implement the next day in terms of coaching and training their staffs.

You will be fully pleased when Rachel presents to your groups."

Hayden Claisse, Chair
Vistage International, Inc.

"Rachel is amazing!  In one short session, she transformed a group of high powered entertainment executives.  Through a few fun and introspective exercises and discussion groups, we began to see the individual paths we needed to take.  There was a shift that occurred in all of us, as we realized that it was possible to live differently.  I would recommend Rachel to anyone who is looking for a more balanced and rewarding life."

Lauren Sands
Producer

I invited Rachel to make a presentation to our office as part of our Lunchtime Seminar Series durig the holiday season beacuase our employees had requested information on Finding Balance in their Lives.

Rachel’s presentation, particularly The Balance Wheel, helped the participants recognize those areas of their lives that were not in balance with their values.  One participant said: “I have certain career aspirations and personal goals that are not being fulfilled and participating in this seminar helped me focus on what I need to do to make them happen.”

Rachel made it a point to include all members of the group in the discussion and facilitated the exploration of those areas that could be enhanced.

Rachel’s presentation style was lively and entertaining and encouraged all to participate—even those who started out by being shy and retiring.  She created a safe environment in which to do some inner work."

Lorene Sarne
Senior Analyst, GAO/Acquisition Sourcing Management

"Our Sales Team saw tremendous value in Rachel Karu's "Trusted Advisor" session.  The presentation was creative and interactive.  Rachel effectively communicated several new ideas and tactics that can be utilized on a daily basis to improve personal and business relationships." 

Michael Sabourian, President
CorpInfo Services