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ABOUT CAREER THRIVERS
We Build the Leadership Infrastructure That Makes Organizations Unstoppable.
Career Thrivers is an organizational development and leadership branding firm — and a platform company in transition. We design the systems that develop leaders, align organizations, and drive the outcomes that show up in the business. Named a Top 10 Leadership Development Company by Manage HR magazine.
Trusted by Fortune 500 enterprises, federal agencies, and nationally significant cultural institutions.
CLIENT PARTNERS INCLUDE:
THE FIRM
Who We Are
Career Thrivers operates at the intersection of three disciplines most organizations keep completely separate: Leadership Branding, Organizational Development, and Workforce Strategy. Integrating all three is what produces outcomes that show up in the business — stronger pipelines, higher retention, increased representation, and measurable shifts in culture and performance.
We are not a training company. We are not a speaking business. We are not a DEI vendor. We are a leadership infrastructure firm — and a growing platform company. Everything we build is designed to scale beyond the engagement, outlast the consultant, and compound over time.
Our work spans Fortune 500 enterprises and federal agencies, cultural institutions and nonprofits navigating transformation, mid-market organizations building leadership infrastructure for the first time, and individual executives and founders ready to position their expertise for the impact it deserves.
130,000+
Leaders Impacted
103
Leaders Impacted
Top 10
Leadership Development Firm — Manage HR Magazine
THE ORIGIN STORY
Where We Started and Why It Matters
2019: THE ORIGINAL VISION
Career Thrivers was founded in 2019 by Brittany N. Cole
with a conviction and a plan. The conviction: that leadership development as it existed was broken. Organizations were spending billions on programs that produced no measurable behavior change, and leaders at every level were overqualified and underpositioned — doing extraordinary work that the people making promotion, partnership, and investment decisions simply could not see.
2020: THE INVERSION
The plan was not to start a consulting firm
It was to build a media company first — a large audience of ambitious professionals, then leverage that credibility with enterprise buyers. Audience to brand to enterprise. Then 2020 happened. COVID-19 and the national reckoning that followed sent organizations directly to CT's door. The firm went B2B almost immediately and spent the next five years building extraordinary proof: Bridgestone Americas, Caterpillar Financial, NMAAM, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and 99 more organizations.
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2026: BUILDING IN THE RIGHT ORDER
The 2026 to 2030 plan returns to the original vision
now with five years of Fortune 500 proof behind it. CT Learning, the platform that converts our proven enterprise curriculum into certifiable on-demand learning pathways, is the architecture the original vision always required. The work was always the point. The platform is how the work reaches everyone who needs it.
WHAT WE DO
Three Disciplines.
One Integrated System.
Most organizations keep these three capabilities completely separate. CT integrates all three — and that integration is what produces outcomes that last.
LEADERSHIP BRANDING
How leaders are positioned, perceived, and valued — inside the organization and beyond it. When leaders can articulate their impact clearly and build visibility strategically, organizations benefit: stronger employer brands, higher-trust teams, and leaders who stay because they see a future.
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
How leadership infrastructure is designed, built, and embedded — so that growth in leadership capability outlasts any single program, consultant, or budget cycle. Strategic planning, curriculum design, facilitation systems, and embedded coaching that produces lasting change.
WORKFORCE STRATEGY
How talent pipelines, retention, and culture are aligned to business outcomes — especially in the AI era, when the skills and structures organizations relied on are shifting faster than most development programs can keep pace with.
OUR VALUES
What We Believe
We believe in owning your power — taking responsibility for your leadership, your career, and your growth. We equip leaders to lead with confidence and design their own path forward. And we hold ourselves to the same standard in every engagement we take on.
Value 1
OWNERSHIP
We build leaders who build forward. Resilience is not a personality trait — it is a leadership strategy that drives performance through challenge and change. Everything CT does is designed to produce leaders who don't just survive disruption. They architect what comes next.
Value 2
RESILIENCE
We lead with clarity. From how we engage clients to how we design strategy, trust is built through honesty, accountability, and consistent communication. We say the hard thing when it needs to be said — and we say it with care.
Value 3
TRANSPARENCY
We listen first. Great strategy starts with understanding the people it is designed to serve. We bring that depth to every engagement — whether we are working with a Fortune 500 CHRO or a first-generation professional navigating a career transition.
Value 4
Launch and Sustain
FOUNDER & CEO
Brittany N. Cole
Founder, CEO, and Chief Architect, Career Thrivers
Brittany N. Cole is one of the most sought-after leadership brand strategists and organizational development consultants in the country. As CEO and Founder of Career Thrivers, she has built a firm whose work has impacted more than 130,000 leaders across 103 organizations worldwide — from Fortune 500 enterprises and federal agencies to nationally significant cultural institutions.
A sales and marketing leader at Pfizer before founding Career Thrivers in 2019, Brittany built the firm at the intersection of three disciplines most organizations keep separate: leadership branding, organizational development, and workforce strategy. Her multi-year enterprise partnerships have driven measurable outcomes for Bridgestone Americas, Caterpillar Financial, Amazon, Sony Music Publishing, UPS, and more.
She is the bestselling author of Thrive Through It, endorsed by the number one executive coach in the world, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith. A LinkedIn Learning instructor with 25,000+ global learners. A TEDx presenter. A LinkedIn Top Voice. A regular opinion contributor to USA Today and The Tennessean. Host of the Let's Thrive Together podcast, now in its fifth season. Harvard Kennedy School executive education graduate and University of Tennessee alumna.
Beyond the boardroom, Brittany serves as a Metro Arts Commissioner appointed by the Mayor of Nashville, sits on the Women's Business Collaborative Advisory Board, and is a member of the Board of Trustees at Watson Grove Baptist Church. She leads from a conviction her father instilled in her growing up: the biggest room in our house is the room for improvement.
Bestselling Author
TEDx Speaker
LinkedIn Top Voice
USA Today Contributor
Women of Influence
25,000+ LinkedIn Learning Students
Harvard Kennedy School
Nashville Business Journal 40 Under 40
OUR TEAM
The People Behind the Work
Most organizations keep these three capabilities completely separate. CT integrates all three — and that integration is what produces outcomes that last.
Career Thrivers is supported by an extended network of coaches, facilitators, consultants, and subject matter experts across industries and disciplines. Every engagement team is assembled based on each client's unique needs, industry context, and strategic objectives.
GRACE CARLTON
Director of Coaching
Grace Carlton is an ICF-credentialed executive coach who works globally with leaders in the areas of leadership development, diversity, equity and inclusion, and career strategy. She provides both individual and team coaching for leaders and their organizations. With extensive experience working with and within Fortune-caliber organizations, Grace has led and supported teams across partner management, client relationships, sales performance, services delivery, and client retention. Her coaching brings the perspective of someone who has operated inside the systems her clients lead — making her guidance both strategically grounded and deeply practical.
SIMONE OVBIAGELE
Director of Operations & Delivery
Simone Ovbiagele is a strategy and operations leader who designs, manages, and delivers high-impact engagements. As Director of Operations & Delivery at Career Thrivers, she works closely with leadership to build the operating infrastructure behind complex initiatives — translating vision into scalable systems, disciplined execution, and consistently high-quality outcomes. She holds a BS in Business Management from Western Governors University, is a Project Management Professional (PMP), and is pursuing her MBA at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
DR. ISAAC Y. ADDAE
Senior Consultant & Facilitator
Dr. Isaac Y. Addae is an award-winning educator, speaker, and social impact strategist with deep expertise in business strategy, entrepreneurship, and leadership development. With over a decade of experience teaching at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management and Tennessee State University, Dr. Addae brings academic rigor and practical insight to every engagement. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Morgan State University and was selected for Harvard Business School's Young American Leaders Program in 2024.
LINDSAY MORGIA
Research & Evaluation Consultant
government sectors, specializing in making data accessible and actionable for mission-driven organizations. Her work includes serving as lead researcher for the Massachusetts Childhood Trauma Task Force, designing program evaluations for state agencies, and analyzing workforce data for networks of 10,000+ employees. Lindsay holds a Master of Public Policy from UMass Boston and a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Policy from Northeastern University.
LAURA WELDY
Women's Leadership Coach
Laura Weldy is a women's leadership coach and an unapologetic champion for women seeking to build careers and lives they love. She pairs coaching with customized development roadmaps to help clients move from overlooked and overworked to celebrated and confident as authentic leaders at every level.
CHARLES STORY
Executive Coach
Charles Story is an executive coach with 18 years of coaching experience and a career that includes serving as CEO of INROADS, an international career and leadership development organization. He brings practical boardroom-level business experience to every engagement, having served on two public company boards for a combined 35 years. His coaching focuses on self-awareness, executive presence, and helping leaders understand how their words and actions impact people and outcomes.
CHRIS BERRY
Life & Career Coach
Chris Berry is a life and career coach who specializes in supporting leaders through career and life transitions. Having navigated his own transitions through organizational restructuring and career pivots, Chris brings genuine empathy and practical strategy to every coaching engagement. He holds an MBA from Belmont University and is certified as a Personal and Executive Coach from the Coaching and Positive Psychology (CaPP) Institute.
ERIC COX
Coach & Facilitator
Dr. Isaac Y. Addae is an award-winning educator, speaker, and social impact strategist with deep expertise in business strategy, entrepreneurship, and leadership development. With over a decade of experience teaching at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management and Tennessee State University, Dr. Addae brings academic rigor and practical insight to every engagement. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Morgan State University and was selected for Harvard Business School's Young American Leaders Program in 2024.
TIFFANY NAPPER
Business Coach & Consultant
Tiffany Napper is a Nashville-based business coach with deep expertise in brand strategy, PR, and business operations. With five successful ventures under her belt — including a PR and branding agency that represented clients like Live Nation and Marc Cohn — Tiffany brings real-world entrepreneurial experience to every coaching engagement. Her background in the music industry, where she led campaigns for Yamaha with Elton John, Alicia Keys, and Disney, gives her a unique perspective on brand positioning and strategic growth.
NILE HARRIS
Executive Coach & Strategy Consultant
Nile Harris is an executive coach and strategy consultant with over 20 years of leadership experience spanning Fortune 100 companies, startups, and nonprofits in life sciences, MedTech, and K-12 education. Known for closing the strategy-to-execution gap, Nile moves between big-picture strategy and ground-level delivery — helping leaders and organizations turn complexity into growth. She serves as an Advisor in Residence at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
KAREN QUARLES
Senior Consultant & Facilitator
Karen J. Quarles is a leadership coach and facilitator specializing in identity-centered, value-driven leadership development. She is the creator of The Leadership LifeStyle™ framework and has developed training, curriculum, and coaching programs that help leaders move from performance-driven leadership to purpose-driven impact.
JESANDA ELLIS
Senior Finance Consultant
Jesanda Ellis is a senior finance consultant who leads the financial analysis and scenario planning for Career Thrivers' strategic planning engagements. She develops cost-benefit analyses, financial sustainability models, and data-driven recommendations that give boards and executive teams the confidence to make informed decisions about growth, investment, and organizational direction.
Career Thrivers is supported by an extended network of coaches, facilitators, consultants, and subject matter experts across industries and disciplines. The professionals featured here represent a portion of the team that delivers our work. We thoughtfully assemble engagement teams based on each client's unique needs, industry context, and strategic objectives.
Thriving Is Intentionally Designed.
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Contact Info
info@careerthrivers.com
Nashville, Tennessee
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