Leading She’s in Power in a new phase of advancing women in clean energy
Lucinda Kerschensteiner joins She’s in Power with more than 20 years of experience in the social sector and 25+ years building community in Northern Colorado. She is known for herding cats, building teams and launching impactful initiatives. Her diverse background includes building a nonprofit hub, creating a U.S. arm of an international nonprofit organization, leading workforce programs, providing career transition services and developing an arts incubator program.When Lucinda heard about the executive director opening at She’s in Power, she was immediately interested. Supporting the education and empowerment of girls and women is in her DNA.
Lucinda graduated from an all-girls school in Columbus, Ohio and an all-women’s college, Bryn Mawr, where she played varsity sports. Throughout her career, she has contributed to the operations of numerous womens’ networking groups, causes and events. She’s in Power is a continuation of those efforts, in alignment with both her work experience and her life’s work.
“She’s in Power helps girls and young women carve out a career path that either wasn’t available to them or never felt accessible,” says Lucinda. “That can change the course of a person’s life — creating better outcomes, both in terms of meaningful work and economic stability.”
Access makes a tremendous difference on the individual level, she says, plus “there’s the larger impact on the industry of creating a more equitable workplace and bringing more women to the table of leadership.”
A career path that bends toward service
Before transitioning to the nonprofit sector, Lucinda was in private practice providing career and business coaching, facilitation and training services. She was one of the first professional coaches in Northern Colorado and worked with hundreds of people (mostly women) to help them create meaningful changes in their lives.
“Coaching is a recurring theme in my career, whether it’s been part of a job description or not. I am a huge advocate of mentoring,” she says.
Looking for a way to serve more people, Lucinda joined the Larimer County Workforce Center as a career coach. Her responsibilities soon expanded to workshop and training development, including establishing a new entrepreneurship program with an economic development focus. She went on to collaborate with the Workforce Investment Board.
It was about that time that Lucinda became involved with the Rotary Club of Fort Collins and its international initiatives to promote physical, economic and environmental well-being. Her volunteer work made her feel more connected to the world and led her to rethink her career. She enrolled in Colorado State University’s Impact MBA (formerly Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise) and began her transition to the nonprofit sector.
As a member of the first Impact MBA cohort, her student team studied the business model of distributing appropriate wheelchairs in Africa. This experience led to Lucinda developing a U.S. nonprofit, Uhambo USA, to support the work of long-standing South African social enterprise Uhambo.
Since then, in addition to running her own organization, Lucinda has consulted with nonprofits up and down the Front Range to help them thrive. She’s served as Executive Director of the Center for Social Change in Miami, Florida, leading a hub that served more than 70 organizations and overseeing day-to-day operations. And she’s been the Senior Director at Educate Tomorrow with locations in Florida and Colorado.
In the nonprofit space, Lucinda has hit her stride and found her purpose. There’s always something new to learn and something of value to contribute.
A seat at the table
Lucinda is excited about immersing herself in the clean energy industry with She’s in Power, “a sector that is so important in this day and age, this moment in history, this very minute, when everything is happening so quickly.” Innovating clean energy solutions for our planet is more vital than ever, she says, and the best way to ensure that is by making sure everyone has a seat at the problem-solving table.
When Lucinda isn’t busy changing the world, you’ll find her out enjoying it. She loves to travel, ride horses and spend time in the mountains. A resident of Old Town Fort Collins, Lucinda relishes the sense of community, living in a walkable neighborhood and playing the Lightning Golf holes with her husband David and their friends.