LaTonya Wilkins

Founder of Change Coaches and best-selling author of "Leading Below the Surface," LaTonya Wilkins coaches CEOs, senior executives, and teams around the world. Global leaders typically call Wilkins when they are facing the following challenges: creating psychologically safe teams, improving connections across differences, effectively coaching their team to create accountability and trust, and building sustainable cultures of belonging.

Wilkins has coached leaders at many well-known companies including Google, Target, The New York Times, and several nonprofits. She built her career working in HR, talent management, and learning & development at Fortune 500 companies before teaching and taking on progressive leadership roles at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business.

Wilkins has been recognized as an “excellent” teacher by her undergraduate and graduate business students. She is on the board (having previously served as the President) of the True Star Youth Foundation, which is a digital marketing social entrepreneurship company that recently received a Google Impact Award. Wilkins was also a member of the Advisory Board at Women of Color in the Workplace. Wilkins's book, "Leading Below the Surface was named a top-10 book for executive leaders by seniorexecutive.com and a top psychological safety book of 2023 by Book Riot.

Wilkins has been featured in publications such as Fast Company, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, Well+Good, and Inc Magazine, and was named a LinkedIn Top Voice in 2024. She is also currently an Adjunct MBA Lecturer for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.