Clients

Working with Melanie Vargas has had a powerful impact on my leadership. Through our coaching, I developed greater awareness of my strengths and blind spots, learned how to lead with vulnerability, and became more intentional in engaging my team. I also gained deeper insight into how my leadership was perceived by others and where gaps existed. The safe, confidential space, honest feedback, and accountability helped me grow. Melanie was willing to challenge me beyond my comfort zone. I’m leaving this experience a more effective, self-aware, and impactful leader. I’d rate the experience a 10 out of 10.

Melanie’s executive coaching process was an eye-opening experience for me, and I have developed into a much stronger leader and manager as a result of our sessions. Melanie worked with me to identify and improve areas where my management style and behavioral traits could be realigned to make me a better leader of direct reports as well as the broader organization. She never shied away from asking tough questions, and she did an excellent job of helping me identify and fix those “blind spots” that many of us never realize we have. During our process, she used stakeholder interviews with my colleagues and an EQ assessment to pinpoint short-term and long-term opportunities for growth. Her knowledge and coaching on conflict resolution and working with younger generations was invaluable. I highly recommend Melanie to anyone seeking to improve their leadership skills and grow their career.

I want to express my sincere appreciation for Melanie’s thoughtful and transformative guidance over these past months. Her support has helped me grow both professionally and personally in truly meaningful ways.

Melanie helped me understand the power of the pause, encouraging me to step back before giving feedback. This simple but powerful practice has profoundly transformed my interactions with my team.

I particularly value how she helped me turn self-awareness into a leadership strength. Her guidance in recognizing that my confidence, while a tremendous asset, also needs to be balanced with emotional awareness, has been invaluable. She has shown me how to leverage my resilience and tenacity while remaining mindful of others’ needs and perspectives.

I also appreciate how she consistently followed up with relevant resources to support my learning journey. Thank you for all of the guidance and support throughout this journey.

Coaching has given me clarity and confidence at a pivotal point in my career. With Melanie’s support, I created a clear plan for the next phase of my career while also finding new ways to manage the challenges of my current role.

I’ve learned how to approach my career change with confidence, how to ground myself with my astronaut analogy when I get caught up in workplace drama, and how to navigate relationships and stressful situations more effectively by recognizing and managing my saboteurs.

This journey has been transformative for both my leadership and my outlook on what’s possible.

Melanie Vargas is the coach and confidant you want by your side as a CEO. She is much more than a HR professional – she is a savvy business professional. She quickly jumped into and learned new industry and understood our key drivers for success. She guided us through several acquisitions in the first few months of our life cycle. She was strategic from the very start — thinking through what we needed and allowing us to scale very quickly. She worked with the team and built our culture from the ground floor. Whether she is working at the Board-level or the individual incumbent level, she knows how to build credibility quickly. She was an invaluable member of my senior leadership team at Wagly. At Destination Pet, I have engaged Mel to coach several of my executives. She used a stakeholder 360 performance feedback process that was extremely impactful. She is an expert facilitator, and I have engaged her to facilitate our executive retreats. Melanie has been an invaluable voice, thought partner, and support.

I met Melanie when she was a consultant at the company I worked at and while she was there, reported directly to her. I am so thankful for having had that opportunity! Melanie has inspired me in so many ways and has had a major impact on positive changes in my life. Melanie became my coach and mentor at a time when I needed her most. Her extensive HR knowledge helped me grow in confidence and as she helped me understand myself and what I wanted I was able to make changes that led to finding my dream job. Melanie Vargas takes being radical to a whole new level! Her HR knowledge, coaching expertise, and warm wonderful personality just lifts me up and inspires growth so naturally. I will forever be a better person because of her.

Coaching with Melanie has been transformative. Processing the idea of cocooning, validating how it feels and what it looks like, allowed me to accept where I was in that stage of my journey.

I have learned to keep experimenting by putting myself out there, to give myself grace, and to keep learning as I grow in a trusting organization.

Melanie’s empathy and her ability to bring the heat are masterful. She is incredible, and I am deeply grateful for the way she brings her authentic self to every session.

May be the most important / relevant tool I’ve been given for professional development. Excellent participation from the group. Also, the combination of understanding with the whole team, who we are and the impact on our organization/work.