Clients
Find out what some of our satisfied clients have to say about working with
Melanie and the team at Radical Ignition.
The coaching I received from Melanie Vargas has been instrumental in my transitioning from being an owner of a family business to CEO of a corporation. Initially, I was unsure where the work would go or how it would happen. Melanie is both a skilled listener and a seasoned professional with a tremendous amount of practice and training. The work we have done has been guided without being pushy. The discoveries revelatory, and the amount of change in a short time incredibly productive and rewarding. So much so I have referenced friends and family to her so they can have the same experience I have had.
David Feinberg, CEO | Founder, PURE Juicer Company
Melanie did an excellent job of helping to identify and fix those blind spots that many of us have. She used stakeholder interviews and an EQ assessment to pinpoint short- and long-term opportunities for growth.
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.
PARTICIPANT | EXECUTIVE RETREAT AND PREP
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.
Just as I want my business to be different, when I sat down to write about my experiences with Melanie and Radical Ignition, I wanted to take the path less traveled. Yes, the professionalism, expertise, integrity, compassion, and leadership all matter, but Melanie takes her consulting and coaching to another level. I think every business and executive is looking for the next level in this hyper-competitive world, and Melanie delivers. She has genuinely invested herself in my business and my team, asked the hard questions, provided constructive coaching, challenged our assumptions, elevated the expectations of leadership, modeled compassion, and opened our eyes to our opportunities. If you are looking to be extraordinary and want to take the path less traveled, you need people around you like Melanie to help get you there.
Dan Stashelski | Founder & CEO, ICAN
It was fantastic info and very much needed in our organization! I loved the interaction and collaboration. I loved the role-play exercise.
My work with Melanie was impactful. She is an acute listener and gives back insightful and powerful observations. Working with Melanie, I was able to identify old postures, validate new views and move ahead toward new opportunities.
Eric Rachlis | Career Transition Coaching Client
Melanie Vargas was instrumental in guiding me through this journey and helping me to identify my strengths and purpose. I felt like I was in a complete rut and needed a career overhaul. In discovering what was truly important to me, I was able to approach my career search from a completely new perspective. She walked me through a behavioral assessment which gave me the confidence to really understand my soft skills. We were able to craft a complete career shift into Recruiting. Within a couple of months, I was interviewing for recruiting roles with a newfound confidence. She helped me to develop an elevator pitch which was helpful to me in selling myself in the interview process. As a result, I just accepted an offer as a Recruiter at a great organization. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome!
Melanie Vargas is an exceptional professional and her expertise in executive career coaching is exactly what I needed to become clear on expanding my career into a business executive role and leveraging my natural skills and talents. We met regularly for a period of 5 months and in that time I completed a DISC assessment clarified my natural proficiencies and areas where I can thrive, evaluated internal doubts and uncertainty of a career transition and simulated interview scenarios to better prepare me for new career opportunities. Melanie’s approach is encouraging, caring and focused on assisting her clients to become certain on what path is best for them. I am excited about a new career as a business executive and increasing my professional depth and influence. I highly recommend working with Melanie. She is an excellent coach, mentor and expert in her craft.
Melanie Kiely | Sr. Corporate Counsel
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 am incredibly excited to begin this new chapter and I want to thank you for helping me to think through what I really want in my next move and giving me the confidence to pursue it. Frankly, I felt a little aimless thinking about where I wanted to go next. I was thinking PM roles at a FAANG company – in hindsight I now think I would have been miserable going down that path. Your help really allowed me to focus on what roles I would be most successful in and happiest with. Thank you!
Christopher Best | Career Transition Coaching Client
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.
Extremely valuable! The ability to understand and manage team stress and build resilience. It was valuable for me in implementing organizational changes and utilizing effective change management techniques. The tools and diagrams were outstanding. The group discussions, the format and the facilitator!
PARTICIPANT | LEADING THROUGH CHANGE & TRANSITION
