My Story

My work is rooted in lived experience. Before founding Yoo-Jin Kang Consulting, I spent 10+ years in nonprofits and direct service roles, where I witnessed and experienced burnout at every level. As a first-generation immigrant, woman of color, and survivor, I saw how even mission-driven organizations replicate the very harms they aim to prevent.

I’ve supported grassroots nonprofits of fewer than 30 staff and coached high-performing leaders and employees at one of the world’s most recognized tech companies.

Across these very different environments, the same truth is clear: burnout and misalignment aren’t personal failings— they’re systemic.

And systems can be redesigned.

Why I Do This Work

I do this work because I have lived it.

Over my career, I’ve cycled through multiple seasons of burnout, overwork, and activism, often pouring out more than I had to give. I know what it’s like to love your community, your work, and your mission so deeply that you lose yourself in the process. I also know what it takes to come back home to yourself.

My approach as a consultant, facilitator, and coach is shaped by that lived experience. I don’t show up to prescribe who you are or tell you what to do. Instead, I come as a guide, walking alongside you, offering tools, reflection, and strategy to help you find alignment on your own terms.

This work isn’t just professional for me… it’s personal. It’s the path I’ve walked, the lessons I’ve earned, and the healing I continue to practice. And it’s why I hold space for others with compassion, clarity, and care.

Today, I bring all of these threads together: consulting, coaching, trauma-informed care, and creative tools like astrology and community-building, to help leaders and organizations build sustainable, healing-centered cultures.

“I learned more from Yoo-Jin’s training than any other DEI-related sessions we’ve had. She truly understood our direct needs and created an eye-opening experience.”

— Training Participant

Impact Highlights

I’ve partnered with individuals, foundations, small businesses, nonprofits, and corporate teams to:

Audit and redesign equity strategies so values move from statements into everyday practices.
Facilitate leadership retreats that transform how executives collaborate, communicate, and care for their teams.
Create trauma-informed workshops and affinity groups that reduce burnout and improve retention.
Coach leaders and staff to increase confidence, negotiate salaries, and step into purpose-driven leadership.

Through these engagements, organizations have shifted policies, restructured team practices, and cultivated cultures where care and accountability coexist. I’ve also helped clients receive their dream promotions, raise their salary beyond their wildest dreams, and lead teams.

Highlights include:

Helped clients negotiate $30K+ salary increases and promotions through equity-centered career coaching.
Supported grassroots nonprofits in building sustainable equity and care practices, improving staff retention and team wellbeing.
Partnered with philanthropic organizations to design multi-year equity strategies that moved values from statements into daily practice.
Facilitated leadership retreats that transformed executive collaboration and decision-making, centering care and accountability.
Coached high-performing leaders in top global tech companies to navigate burnout, reclaim purpose, and align their leadership style with their values.
Founded the Eldest Daughters Collective, now over 100 members strong, creating the only survivor-, BIPOC-, and queer-led community centering eldest daughters of color.
Integrated astrology as a healing and organizational tool, from executive retreats to organizational “birth chart” readings, helping teams reflect, align, and collaborate in new ways.

My Bio

Yoo-Jin Kang (she/hers) is a nationally recognized organizational consultant, trauma-informed career coach, and astrologer with over a decade of experience at the intersection of healing, equity, and systems change. With a Master of Public Health from UC Berkeley and dual Bachelor’s degrees in sociolinguistics and intercultural communication from UMBC, she bridges public health, social justice, and holistic healing to support both individual and organizational transformation.

A first-generation daughter of immigrants, Yoo-Jin’s approach is grounded in lived experience and a deep commitment to uplifting marginalized communities. She began her career in grassroots organizing and gender-based violence prevention and public health, collaborating with BIPOC communities, survivors, and those in recovery to advance equity and access to care. Over the past 12+ years, her leadership has spanned philanthropy, nonprofits, higher education, corporate social responsibility, and public health.

Through Yoo-Jin Kang Consulting, she partners with national philanthropic institutions, leadership teams, DEI practitioners, and mission-driven organizations to build cultures of care, accountability, and justice. Her coaching and facilitation integrate somatic tools, healing justice, and practical strategy to help leaders navigate identity, power, and systemic inequity with clarity and sustainability.

In addition to consulting, Yoo-Jin is the founder of yoojiflows, a creative practice that brings astrology, movement, and healing justice into community spaces. Through workshops, movement classes, and astrology-based pop-ups, she cultivates accessible spaces for reflection, embodiment, and collective care.

She also leads the Eldest Daughters Collective, a national peer support community for eldest and only daughters of immigrant and BIPOC families.

Her contributions to equity and community health have been recognized through numerous honors, including the UC Berkeley Dean’s Health Equity Award, Sisters in Public Health Award, the Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) Fellowship, and American University’s Inclusive Excellence Award.

Yoo-Jin Kang (she/hers) is an organizational consultant, trauma-informed career coach, and astrologer with over a decade of experience at the intersection of healing, equity, and systems change. With a Master of Public Health from UC Berkeley, she partners with national philanthropic institutions, leadership teams, and mission-driven organizations to build cultures of care, accountability, and justice.
A first-generation daughter of immigrants, Yoo-Jin grounds her work in lived experience and a commitment to uplifting marginalized communities. She is also the founder of yoojiflows, a creative healing practice, and the Eldest Daughters Collective, a national peer support community for eldest and only daughters of immigrant and BIPOC families.
Her leadership has been recognized through honors including the UC Berkeley Dean’s Health Equity Award, the LEAP Fellowship, and American University’s Inclusive Excellence Award.

Hear how my name is pronounced

Leadership & Awards

Founder & Visionary Leadership

Founder & Chief Visioning Officer — Eldest Daughters Collective (2023–present)
Founder & Chair — Transformative Justice Learning Group, Futures Without Violence (2021)
Founder & Chair — Asian Pacific Islander Affinity Group, Futures Without Violence (2021)
Founder & Co-Chair — People of Color Staff & Faculty Affinity Group, American University (2019)

Board & Council Roles

Board Member-at-Large — Yoga Service Collective (2020)
Vice-Chair — American University Staff Council (2019)
Wellness Council Member — American University (2018–2021)
Program Co-Lead — Healing and Wellness Jam, YES! World

Awards & Recognition

Dean’s Health Equity Award — UC Berkeley (2022)
Inclusive Excellence Award — American University (2020)
Inclusive Excellence Mini-Grant Recipient — AU President’s Council on Diversity & Inclusion (2019)
Service to the AU Community Award Nominee — American University (2020)
Leader of the Year Award — Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society Circle (2015)
Leadership Award — UMBC Honors College (2015)
Public Interest Communications Fellow — The Karel Fellowship (2014)

Leadership Programs & Fellowships

NASA Astrophysics Database of IDEA Practitioners (2022)
LEAP Impact Leadership Academy (2022)
Women Leaders Emerge (2022)

My Education & Training

Academic Degrees

Master of Public Health — UC Berkeley
Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages & Linguistics — UMBC
Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (Psychosocial & Cultural Perspectives on Violence) — UMBC

Fellowships & Cohorts

Karel Public Interest Communications Fellow (2015)
Stingray Artist Residency (2021)
Global Roundtable Leadership Cohort (2024)

Professional & Leadership Training

Managing to Change the World — The Management Center
Managing Projects — The Management Center
Facilitating Cultural Change 5-Day Institute — Beth Zemsky
Racial Justice Leadership Institute — Race Forward
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate — University of South Florida

Trauma-Informed Coaching Tools

Trauma-Informed Training — Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault
40-Hour IPV Advocacy Training — Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence
Healthy Masculinity Training Institute — Men Can Stop Rape
Holding a Healing Space: Supporting Sexual Trauma Survivors — The Breathe Network
Mental Health First Aid — Mental Health First Aid Inc.
Motivational Interviewing — Motivational Interviewing Network

Healing Modalities & Embodiment