Susana Rinderle, MA, PCC
Hi there! I’m the Founder, Owner, and Principal Consultant of Words, Wisdom & Wellness. I help heal what ails us through creativity, heart and insight. I’m a transformational life & leadership coach, a trauma-informed resilience practitioner, and a writer and poet.
A native of Los Angeles and a Spanish speaker, I hold a B.A. in sociology (race and ethnicity emphasis) from UCLA and completed studies at UNAM in Mexico City. I earned an M.A. in intercultural communication from the University of New Mexico, and conducted my thesis research in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Coaching & Resilience
I am a Certified Professional Coach (CPC), a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentialed by the International Coach Federation (ICF), and an ICF Mentor Coach. I have extensive training in Parts Work, based on Internal Family Systems (IFS). I also identify as an intuitive, and work on multiple channels with clients, including deep symbolism.
In my workplace coaching practice, I’ve coached entrepreneurs, individual contributors, middle managers, and executives in multiple geographies and industries, including high tech, nonprofit management, healthcare, financial services, higher education, and manufacturing. My clients say our work has improved their clarity, confidence, direction, influence, and “leading the way [they] always imagined.”
Since early 2020, I’ve been a Certified Facilitator of The Resilience Toolkit, a trauma-informed, body-focused, social justice-oriented stress management modality. My own life has been transformed since I began practicing these tools in January 2019, and I’ve taught them to hundreds of people in multiple walks of life in eight countries. I’ve also taught dozens of coaches how to be more trauma-informed through my workshops and invited presentations.
DEI & Leadership Development
My first career was in diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and leadership development, where I spent nearly 30 years garnering results for employers and clients as an internal subject matter expert, organizational leader, and external consultant. I worked across the U.S. and abroad in multiple sectors including nonprofit, corporate, healthcare, education and government. In the late 90’s I managed an international business graduate program for the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara and served as a consultant to Hewlett-Packard de México in international business development and intercultural effectiveness.
I was the co-founder and first Manager of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for University of New Mexico Hospitals (UNMH), where I oversaw or started all health equity and health literacy initiatives, LGBT advocacy, interpreter services, and cultural competence training. I participated in the Disparities Leadership Program through Massachusetts General Hospital and co-authored an award-winning diversity strategic plan. After I left, UNMH was recognized as one of the Top 10 Hospital Systems by DiversityInc, and a Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality.
For twenty years, I was the President of Susana Rinderle Consulting, LLC, delivering training, coaching and consulting solutions to corporate, nonprofit and education clients in cross-cultural communication, diversity & inclusion, unconscious bias and leadership development. I’m proud to have been featured at TEDxABQ 2012 speaking on “Diversity is Necessary for Human Evolution”.
I’m also a former Principal Consultant for Korn Ferry in the leadership development practice under Advisory. I delivered coaching, training, facilitation and organizational diagnostic solutions to Fortune 500 companies. I was instrumental in developing their unconscious bias training content, led the Inclusive Talent Management Audit workstream for two major accounts, and assisted with developing the Inclusive Leader Assessment. Internally, I co-led the Latino Think Tank and produced thought leadership articles, mentored junior consultants, and started online communities for coaching and wellness.
Writing & Publications
I was a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, TLNT.com, ERE.net, Workforce Magazine and formerly Diversity Executive, and have written for Training Magazine, American Diversity Report, Diversity Best Practices, and choice magazine. I’ve published pieces on racial identity, Mexico and U.S. Latinos in commercial magazines such as Black Diaspora, Latin Style, Interrace, Native Americas, and Sacramento News & Review. My academic research, mostly on Hispanic/Latino identity labels, has appeared in the Journal of Communication Inquiry, International and Intercultural Communication Annual, The Howard Journal of Communications, The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Communication and Latinos and Latinas in US History and Culture: An Encyclopedia. My poetry has appeared in the Malpais Review; Snapdragon Journal; Deep Times: A Journal of the Work That Reconnects; Catching Calliope; We Don’t Break, We Burn: Poems of Resilience; and Fixed & Free Poetry Anthology 2021.
Personal Stuff
My four innate superpowers are insight, empathy, humor and problem solving, and my life purpose is to learn and grow as much as possible and help others do the same. Descended from a long line of oddballs and creatives, I’m both artist and scientist, and a big picture thinker with an eye for detail. I’m equally at home contemplating the forest and digging in the weeds! I relish my identities as chameleon, stereotype buster and injector of whimsy.
I feel most alive during moments of awe, awwwww!, ah-HA! and ha-ha-ha! – and facilitating such moments for others through my work. My core values are integrity, authenticity, beauty, justice, self-expression. I’m committed to helping create a world that works better for more of us, and for more life than just humans.
Outside of work I enjoy hiking in wild places, singing soulful music (in English or Spanish), dancing UJAM or GROOV3, savoring yummy food and conversation with exceptional people, hugging trees, watching raptors, and bellylaughing. I’m a former top tier slam poet (New Mexico), boxer, and medal-winning competitive runner. My current goals are to join an R&B a capella group and try stand-up comedy!