Coaching and Mentoring

"Enlightened. Activated. These are just three adjectives to describe the impact I've personally experienced by having Dr. Debi Jenkins as my coach. From challenging my thinking to helping me realize my goals, her extensive knowledge, insight and skill helped me discover ways to ignite and share my flame!" ~Crystal D Hill, Personal and Executive Coach

"With humor, wit, knowledge, and grace Dr. Debi inspires me to dig deeper and discover my authentic self. She challenges me to embrace discomfort and conflict as a path to self—actualization. Her coaching sessions balance natural flow and structure, which inspires me to practice (a lot) and make progress towards my goals." ~Eloise Gout Koehler, Board Member in Private-Nonprofit Sectors Community Liaison

"Working with Dr. Jenkins has been so impactful for me personally and professionally. My thinking about my biracial identity has grown more sophisticated through the short time I’ve been working with her. She has been helping me unlock my relationship with my Blackness in a way I have never had access to or a framework for. This allows me to show up as a version of myself that is more authentic to me and my own lived experience in ways that are hopefully less harmful for my Black colleagues and friends." ~ Xyanthe Neider, Antiracism Educator and Activist

"Dr. Debi's coaching leadership has given me the ability to focus better on my professional goals, have patience when leading difficult conversations with others within my community and to be a better problem solver! On a personal growth level, she allowed a safe space for me to utilize gratitude, enjoy present moments and to look forward to my next life's ventures!" ~Carmen Rodriguez McKibben, Community Activist and Professional in Non-Profit Leadership

"Dr. Debi quickly picked up on details and nuances and put together a clear, concise picture of what I was dealing with and used inquiry to lead me to PRACTICAL insights. She is direct, brilliant, loving, and courageous in her delivery. With Dr. Debi, I have a ferocious and zealous advocate who loves me enough to cheer me towards the best version of myself and circumstances." ~Hala Teeny, Attorney

"Dr. Debi helped propel our team and division’s equity work forward with the use of the Intercultural Development Inventory.  With our team, she was able to help us connect with self-reflections of where we are currently and where we wanted to go, and to help make meaning of that as a group.  It was a telling and powerful experience that exposed significant cracks in our foundation and opportunities for repair and trust building.  She did not shy away from the feelings in the virtual room and instead modeled what it looked like to lean into the discomfort to aid in our growth.  While the experience at the larger division level wasn’t as intimate, her one-on-one coaching sessions inspired me and many of my teammates to dream big about the work we are doing and hope to do in community—on both a personal and professional level. Any opportunity you have to work with Dr. Debi is a chance you should not pass up!" ~Monica Wilson, Director, Student Success Center & Strategic Initiatives Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

"Thank you for your work and guidance supporting the Foundation for Vancouver Public Schools Strategic Planning Group and the start of our DEI journey at the foundation. You provided valuable tools for us, and we will reach out if there are other opportunities in the future! Thank you!" ~ Timothea Sutton, Executive Director Foundation for the Fort Vancouver School District

"Dr. Debi was an excellent coach (one on one with individual members) and consultant (professional development trainings) for our team.  She met us where we were, helped us dive more deeply into our identities and refine our goals.  Her JEDI (justice-equity-diversity-inclusion) training session was moving, interpersonal, and interactive.  Thank you, Dr. Debi for caring for us, informing us, pressing us, and changing us!" ~Carrie Kondor, Director of Education  

"Thank you so very much for your work with our board and our entire church. Your professionalism, knowledge, experience, and warmth are bright lights in the world." ~Mike Roth, Lead Pastor

"FVR Libraries chose to work with Share the Flame, LLC to develop an Anti-Bias Education Framework to support equitable outcomes in our Children and Family programming.  Dr. Debi quickly recognized that, as an organization, we had significant foundational work to do to effectively process and heal from some of our collective experiences around a specific program that received a mix of community support and backlash.  Our work with Dr. Debi allowed us to move forward as an organization by giving us the space and guidance to safely work through our missteps, helping to lead us to systemic healing.  With Dr. Debi's help, we were able to clarify our intent behind offering programs designed to reflect the needs and aspirations of systemically non-dominant communities through work in racial equity, and anti-bias education.  The outcome of Dr. Debi’s efforts with us is a well thought out and crafted framework to guide staff in developing Children and Family programs with a firm foundation in Anti-Bias Education at the core."  ~Justin Keeler, Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries Outreach and Community Partnerships Director