From Climate-Tech Founder to Leadership Coach: Why I Made the Shift
I’m Alexsandra, or Ale for short (/ˈɑː.leɪ/). I spent years engineering solutions for climate change and co-founded the world’s first carbon-removal marketplace. Then I realized: the same systems overheating the planet were burning out the people trying to save it.
The Same Systems Overheating the Planet Were Burning Out the People Trying to Save It
In 2017, I co-founded Nori— the world’s first carbon-removal marketplace. We pioneered an entirely new industry, combining blockchain technology and carbon markets to enable global-scale climate solutions.
Building Nori was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. We raised venture capital. We navigated constant uncertainty. We collaborated with innovators, investors, and policymakers to scale solutions for one of humanity’s greatest threats.
And I burned out in the process.
Not because I lacked intelligence or dedication. Not because I wasn’t working hard enough. I burned out because I was trapped in the same hustle culture that’s quietly undermining the innovation we desperately need.
The relentless grind. The pressure to do more, faster. The glorification of constant motion and endless growth. The suffocating urgency that left little room for creativity, reflection, or meaningful innovation.
I wasn’t alone. Every founder and leader around me seemed caught in the same loop: chaotic, reactive, constantly feeling behind. We were trying to fix an inherently broken system by pushing ourselves harder — sacrificing our well-being for productivity, expecting more, delivering less.
And then I saw the connection:
If we want to build a future that’s truly regenerative — where our work heals both people and planet — we have to start with how we lead. We can’t create sustainable solutions from unsustainable leadership. Hustle culture isn’t just depleting us. It’s robbing us of the very creativity and innovation we need to solve complex problems.
That realization changed everything.
A New Model of Leadership
After nearly seven years building Nori, I made a shift. I moved from engineering climate solutions to helping leaders build the capacity to innovate without burning out.
Not because I stopped caring about climate or innovation. But because I came to understand that true innovation requires us to lead differently. To model a new way of doing business — one where healthy boundaries, realistic expectations, and well-being are prioritized alongside ambition and impact.
Here’s what I learned through my own transition:
When I tried to set boundaries and realistic expectations for myself, some people didn’t like it. I felt stuck in a “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” situation. Playing the hero and taking on more than I could handle left me feeling unsafe to stop. But when I tried to set limits, I felt shamed — as though I wasn’t doing “everything I could” to ensure success.
Shame kept me locked in cycles of overwork. It killed creativity, bravery, and breakthroughs. It prevented me from making the bold decisions I needed to lead effectively.
Eventually — through the guidance of my coach and mentors — I realized I had to become clear on my own values and live true to them. My values, not someone else’s expectations, had to guide me.
And here’s what I know now:
If we want to be a new generation of leaders — leading the world into an age of regeneration and sustainable impact — we must be willing to take that first step. To model a different way. To create spaces where employees feel safe to do the same.
This is how we break the cycle of hustle culture. This is how we create environments where creativity flourishes, well-being is protected, and innovation truly takes root.
I started Calming Chaos Coaching because I want to help others where I struggled.
I help high-achievers and leaders of innovation break through burnout so they can lead with clarity, regain confidence, and keep building what matters — without depleting themselves in the process.
Because solving the world’s biggest challenges begins with how we lead ourselves. And because the leaders building our future deserve support that actually works.
Strategic Clarity + Emotional Intelligence
Most coaching focuses on either strategy or inner work. I’ve learned firsthand that neither works alone.
My approach integrates both. We address the practical structure you need to move forward and the invisible constraints keeping that structure from working.
This isn’t abstract leadership theory. It’s grounded in lived experience — building startups, navigating uncertainty, leading through chaos, and learning what it actually takes to sustain high performance without chronic depletion.
Strategic Clarity
Clear goals aligned with your values and zone of genius, systems and structures that actually support what you’re building, aligned tasks that serve what matters most
Emotional Intelligence
The capacity to reconnect with your internal signals, regulate your nervous system under pressure, disentangle self-worth from performance, and lead from groundedness instead of survival mode
My Story
From Engineer to Entrepreneur to Coach
I started my career as an environmental and mechanical engineer, driven by a deep urgency to address climate change. Growing up in Miami, I witnessed the real impacts of sea-level rise and environmental degradation firsthand.
Education:
- M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Irvine
- B.S. in Environmental Engineering, Columbia University
Career:
- Co-Founder, Nori (2017-2024) — pioneered the world’s first carbon-removal marketplace
- Renewable Energy & Smart Grid Technology — Southern California Edison (2014-2017)
- Climate-tech entrepreneur and innovator Since 2013
Throughout my career, I explored carbon removal, thermodynamics, sustainable energy, and blockchain technology. I learned how to build from nothing, scale under pressure, and navigate the complexity of creating something the world hadn’t seen before.
And I learned what it costs when the invisible constraints go unaddressed.
Now I bring that hard-earned wisdom to leaders facing similar challenges — helping them build the clarity, capacity, and confidence to lead sustainably and effectively.
What Drives This Work
Clarity — seeing what’s actually happening beneath noise and pressure
Balance — integrating structure and flow, strategic intelligence and emotional intelligence
Integrity — refusing self-betrayal in the name of performance
Responsibility — personal and collective accountability for how we lead and what we build
Depth & Nuance — naming what is real, not what is comfortable
Humanity — honoring the inner life of leaders and innovators
Why “Calming Chaos”
The name reflects the duality I’ve lived and now help others navigate.
Calming the chaos: bringing clarity, structure, and groundedness to the overwhelm that comes with building and leading in complex, high-stakes environments.
Finding calm within chaos: developing the capacity to stay present, regulated, and clear even when circumstances are uncertain or difficult.
It’s about balance. Yin and yang. Structure and flow. Ambition and sustainability.
This is the work. And I’m honored to do it alongside leaders who are committed to building what matters.
Let’s Connect
If you’re a leader or founder dealing with burnout, lacking clarity on what to do next, or feeling held back by invisible constraints — let’s talk.
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Additionally, I have a Substack available here.