Rachel Benyola
Rachel Benyola, MBA, MS is an associate senior consultant with Guttman Development Strategies, business advisor, and entrepreneur with nearly a decade of experience in leadership, psychotherapy, and executive coaching. With a comprehensive background in both clinical psychology and innovation leadership, Rachel comprehensively meets leaders and founders as a trusted peer, to help them transform their leadership and meet the complex challenges of their organizations.
She led as CEO and startup founder of Kova, a foldable bike helmet brand, providing her the experience to offer insightful solutions to leaders that prioritize the well-being of the business and the team culture. She recruited and developed a team of engineers and product developers who she worked alongside with to build out an initial supply chain while working tirelessly to meet federal safety regulations.
Rachel is particularly interested in building mental sustainability in leaders and their organizations, helping them to foster innovation while sustaining emotional and physical well-being for the long haul. Rachel believes that enduring creativity and innovation are the result of a healthy mind, not of burnout. Rachel’s approach to coaching is centered around building mental resilience, promoting personal well-being, and fostering healthy company culture. She exposes the tough issues and “work drama” that goes on in the day to day and works with managers and leaders as a trusted advisor to see a new way forward. Rachel prides herself in working with varying types of leadership styles and helping them to “get out of their own way” to meet organizational goals.
Rachel has been recognized for her work as the CEO and founder of Kova, particularly for her efforts to increase bicycle riding safety through the development of the most stylish and foldable bike helmet on the market. Kova influenced the future of the helmet industry and earned her much recognition, including being named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in manufacturing and being named one of the top seven young women in STEM by Forbes. Rachel decided to exit her corporation and pivot to coaching other founders in need of support, particularly as an advisor to tech and pharmaceutical startups as well as to mid to large sized enterprises in healthcare and retail.
In all her work, Rachel emphasizes the importance of intentional self-reflection, guiding leaders to deeply tap into their blind spots and leverage their strengths in new ways to powerfully impact the organization around them. She advises her clients in how to build a personal and professional life of a successful CEO throughout the lifecycle of a business. Rachel works best with leaders and teams that desire to embody a healthy company culture, valuing personal well-being practices as a mirror for business well-being.