THIS IS NOT A BIO

Meet Kimberly McLaughlin-Smith
Because becoming is the real story

Kimberly McLaughlin-Smith has dedicated her career to a calling both simple and profound: helping people and organizations discover the courage to become who they were truly meant to be. Her work is rooted in the belief that transformation takes hold when we focus on strengths, cultivate connection, and nurture what is best in people and communities.

Since 1995, Kimberly has led with intention across schools, nonprofit organizations, campuses, and corporate teams. Beginning as a respected cultural resource leader in New Hanover County Schools, deepening her impact within the nonprofit sector, and advancing into higher education and talent development, she has consistently created learning experiences that resonate, challenge, and transform.

Signature initiatives such as Born and Raised, Psychological Safety at Work, Skin in the Game, and the groundbreaking "Super-Vision" leadership recognition model, have become renowned tools for fostering dialogue, self-discovery, and collaboration by helping people explore differing perspectives shaped by the unique journeys we all bring into the workplace across higher education, corporate, and nonprofit settings.

Kimberly's leadership and impact have been recognized with honors including the UNCW Employee Excellence Award and recognition as part of a Women’s History Month feature highlighting Wilmington women who made an impact, as well as being honored as Woman of the Year by the New Hanover County Human Relations Commission.

These experiences inspired Kimberly to launch Courage2Become, her consultancy devoted to helping organizations, employees and C-suite leaders alike, navigate both challenge and opportunity. Courage2Become is designed to meet people where they are—whether they are individual contributors and frontline staff, emerging and new leaders, or senior and executive leaders, including the C-suite—because how we show up as humans matters at every level of an organization.

Kimberly has worked with a wide range of clients—higher education institutions such as California Polytechnic State University; nonprofit organizations including the Lower Cape Fear YWCA; public-sector partners such as the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Detective Division and New Hanover County employee development initiatives through the Office of Human Resources; as well as corporate teams and community organizations—guiding them through change, crisis, and growth. All of Kimberly’s work infuses elements of Appreciative Inquiry, a strengths-based, possibilities-focused approach that uncovers the potential within people, teams, and systems alike.

Kimberly is an OSHR State  Employee Mediator and a Certified Career Coach with the Association for Talent Development, and her work emphasizes intentionality, authenticity, and empathy. She believes that lasting impact comes not from strategy alone but from building trust, fostering dialogue, and sparking the courage needed to embrace change and possibility.

At her core, Kimberly’s key goal is to ignite transformation and cultivate legacies of growth, understanding, and connection—one person, one team, and one organization at a time. Through her consultancy, her learning development expertise, and her leadership, Kimberly continues to inspire people to embrace their strengths, see new possibilities, and step boldly into their fullest potential.

If you’re ready to become — start by choosing courage.