Cindy Gross [she/her], CEO of Befriending Dragons

Mission

Nurture more equitable anti-bullying tech cultures via coaching partnerships with tech leaders on their own personal culture change journeys to retain a more diverse workforce.

Services

Bullied Techies

We coach tech workers to thrive again after you face bullies, including harassers, or racial, gender, or other bias. It’s not a little thing, it’s a big impact on our lives. You can stop thinking of yourself as a scary, scarred, beaten down dragon. You can reclaim your roar and end your internal screaming. We choose to be free agents in the world, friendly dragons who fly where we want, when we want, how we want. We heal and we thrive.

Tech Leaders

We partner with tech leaders to align your values, motivations, and goals with your communities, reconnect via healthier relationships, and reframe and re-envision your organization cultures from an anti-bullying foundation. We coach you so you can get the most out of your partnerships with your HR and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) teams.

Culture Change Partnerships

We share our knowledge and skills with your Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) groups, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), HR organizations, and internal executive, leadership, and career coaches. Cindy’s 25+ years as a techie make her uniquely qualified to bring culture changes to technology organizations.

Generative Coach

Cindy Gross is a Generative Coach working towards International Coaching Federation (ICF) certification with InviteChange. Cindy leads with empathy and an intersectional social equity perspective. Schedule a 30 minute Zoom call with me to discuss how we can work together.

My Story

I’ve met many scary dragons in my life – breast cancer, divorce, a layoff, changing roles and technologies, workplace harassment as a Microsoft woman in tech, fighting for LGBTQ+ and abortion rights in Idaho, constant striving to meet some impossible to meet bar for success, and the idea that we always have to put work first. Most recently I left the corporate world to strike out on my own, into a rich community filled with people like me who create justice, meaning, allies, and dreams. Each time I step back and look at the situation from different angles to get through it. I befriend each dragon, learn how to make it a part of my past and take only the parts I want forward to the next stage of my life. That’s what befriending dragons is all about – take those scary things and blend the best parts into our lives. Then we can respond in the way we each need, the way that takes us down the path we want.

Hear more of my stories here.

Contact Me

Cindy Gross She/Her/They