Hi, I’m Dr. Deonne
I’m an award-winning leadership development expert, executive coach, author, and global facilitator.
More than anything, I’m endlessly curious about what makes people tick—and how understanding people can help us lead, work, grow, and connect more effectively.
For more than 20 years, my work has centered on people: how we learn, what motivates us, why we behave the way we do, and what helps us grow and navigate change. That curiosity has taken me into corporate boardrooms and classrooms, villages and communities around the world, coaching sessions, workshops, retreats, and conversations around dinner tables.
The settings may look different, but the question underneath them is remarkably consistent:
What becomes possible when we understand ourselves—and each other—a little better?
That's the question at the heart of my work.
The Thread Through My Work
My understanding of people has been shaped in very different places.
I earned my PhD in Instructional Technology, studying how people learn and how thoughtfully designed experiences can create meaningful change. In higher education, I put that thinking into practice as an educator and instructional designer. At Instructure, I built and led teams before moving into Human Resources, where I designed leadership development for leaders across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
For 14 years, CHOICE Humanitarian expanded my classroom even further. Working alongside communities and leaders around the world taught me to listen before assuming, to stay curious about perspectives different from my own, and to recognize that good leadership ultimately comes down to understanding people within the context of their lives and culture.
Along the way, I’ve also become an entrepreneur, author, coach, speaker, and community builder. And like everyone, I’ve had my own seasons of transition that have challenged what I thought I knew and invited me to grow.
Different roles. Different rooms. Different parts of the world. Each one has shaped how I understand people and how I work today.
How I Work
I’m a listener first. I ask questions, notice patterns, and get curious about what’s underneath the surface. Whether I’m working with one person, a room full of people, or an entire organization, I don’t assume I know the answer before I understand the situation.
Sometimes what looks like a motivation problem is really a clarity problem. What looks like resistance to change may be a need to understand the why. What looks like a performance issue may have more to do with expectations, communication, trust, or whether the right person is doing the right work.
My role is to help uncover what’s really happening—and then determine what might actually move the needle. I bring together research, real-world experience, thoughtful questions, and practical frameworks to help people see patterns and possibilities they may not have seen before.
And then we do something with what we learn. That might mean changing how a leader communicates, having a conversation that’s been avoided, clarifying expectations, developing a team, redesigning an experience, or choosing a different approach altogether. And whenever possible, we measure what matters—using the right data to understand whether what we’re doing is actually making a difference.
The solution depends on the problem. And the work isn’t finished until insight becomes action.
That’s what it means to work with human nature—not against it.
What Brings You Here?
Maybe you’re leading a team and wondering how to get better results through people. Maybe you’re navigating a transition and want clarity on what comes next. You may be searching for meaningful community, looking for a speaker, or simply exploring an idea that sparked your curiosity.
There are many ways we might connect. We may work together one-on-one, gather with a room full of people, meet around a dinner table, or never meet at all—you may find something you need in the pages of one of my books or in something I’ve written.
Wherever you’re starting, curiosity is a pretty good place to begin.