Elizabeth Cipolla, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Hi, I’m Elizabeth — co-founder of Verdera, trauma-informed coach, facilitator, and speaker. As an Enneagram 8, an ENTP, an ID on DiSC, and a Maverick on Predictive Index, I’m wired to challenge the status quo, think boldly, and help women reclaim the parts of themselves they’ve tucked away to survive. My approach blends boldness with warmth — offering truth with tenderness, structure with compassion, and a grounded presence that helps women rise safely.
I grew up in a tumultuous home as the youngest of seven — and the only one not adopted — and eventually made the difficult decision to walk away from much of my family to break long-standing cycles and reclaim my own story. I am also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, a stroke at 31, and the emotional terrain of navigating my child’s life-threatening illness.
In addition to these chapters, I have firsthand experience with addiction — as a recovering workaholic and eating-disorder survivor. These lived experiences deepened my understanding of resilience, identity, nervous-system healing, and the courage required to rebuild from the inside out.
Professionally, I bring 25+ years in human resources, individual and executive coaching, leadership development, organizational consulting, and team transformation. I’ve coached women at every stage of life and career, worked with leaders and teams across industries, taught at the undergraduate level, spoken at conferences, and trained professional service providers — including attorneys, educators, healthcare workers, and nonprofit leaders — on how to support women through trauma, transition, and reinvention with safety, clarity, and skill.
At Verdera, I help individuals break old patterns, reclaim their voice, and step into their next chapter with strength — while also equipping leaders and service providers to create trauma-aware, emotionally safe spaces where everyone can thrive. I serve both individual women, women-led teams, and the men who are part of those teams through virtual coaching, group development, trauma-informed learning, retreats, and deeply restorative spaces for growth. Whether you’re stepping into your next personal or professional chapter or leading others through theirs, I’m here to help you walk it with clarity, courage, and confidence.
Amanda Kochirka, MPA, tiwp
Hi, I’m Amanda — co-founder of Verdera, consultant, facilitator, and the operational backbone behind the work we do.
As an Enneagram 8, an ISTJ, a CS on DiSC, and a Controller on Predictive Index, I’m wired to see patterns, impose order on complexity, and build systems that actually work. I bring a steady, fact-based, behavioral lens to everything I do — because clarity matters, ambiguity wastes time, and people deserve to be understood for who they actually are, not who they’re expected to be.
My path here was shaped by loss, disruption, and a hard reckoning with identity. In a relatively short span of time, I experienced the unexpected death of my mother-in-law, the loss of my mother after a long and painful battle with cancer, my father’s diagnosis with a terminal brain tumor, and my own diagnosis with a genetic mutation that prompted my decision to have a preventative mastectomy at age 28 and preventative removal of my uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, and cervix at age 36. At the same time, I was confronting something less visible but equally costly: a work addiction that left no room for a personal life, rest, or sustainability.
For years, my identity was built almost entirely around achievement. I prioritized work above everything else, cycling through exhaustion and burnout while reporting to leaders who failed to see — or effectively use — my strengths as a human being. Addressing my anxiety and depression through therapy forced a fundamental shift: learning to build a life and sense of self that wasn’t solely defined by productivity.
Professionally, I bring over 15 years of experience consulting and facilitating team development across both for-profit and nonprofit environments. My work spans manufacturing, construction, entrepreneurship, professional services, healthcare, hospitality and recreation, retail, higher education, community development, and social services. I’m a data nerd at heart — deeply interested in what makes people tick individually, and how those tendencies either strengthen or fracture teams when left unexamined.
At Verdera, I co-lead team development alongside Elizabeth and oversee the operational side of the business — from client intake and scheduling to logistics, materials, and follow-through. I’m known for bringing order to chaos, designing systems that hold under pressure, and ensuring the work is as thoughtful behind the scenes as it is in the room. A client once nicknamed me “A-plan-da” — and it stuck for a reason. I always have contingency plans for the contingency plans.
My style is approachable, friendly, and direct. I don’t deal in vagueness. I work through a behavioral lens, anchored in data and reality, and I focus on helping teams understand how they actually function — not how they wish they did.
If you’re curious about Verdera, our services, or how we help teams address the places where they’re getting stuck or falling short, I’m always open to a conversation.