Coro Lead LA
A Leadership Program for Greater Los Angeles Professionals
Looking to expand your leadership capacity?
Complete an interest form today!
Coro Lead LA is the perfect professional, part-time leadership development program for professionals looking to 1) expand their professional network, 2) gain time-tested leadership skills to enhance their work, and 3) learn more about the Greater Los Angeles region and how you can make an impact, regardless of your professional role and responsibilities.
Through time-tested experiential learning, Coro Lead LA provides diverse cross-sectoral cohorts of regional professionals expanded capacity for impact within their teams, organizations, and communities.
Interested Candidates – Click Here to Connect with Coro Staff to Learn More.
Are You an Employer or Supervisor? – Click Here to Explore the Program Benefits for Organizations of the Coro Lead Programs.
“My experience in Coro’s Lead LA Fellowship exceeded my expectations in every way. I could not have anticipated the power of professional and personal development paired with experiential and cohort-based learning. With the support of the cohort, I learned to mindfully define problems, examine solutions, understand team dynamics, and practice nuanced inquiry. [Coro Lead LA] is deeply transformative. The analytic skills, self-awareness, and relationships I gained reverberate positively in every aspect of my life.”
– Robin Lindsley (Lead LA 5), Bilingual MTSS and SEL Professional Services Manager, RethinkEd
About 86 hours of professional development programming from early September to early May meeting about 9 hours per month. You can also expect about 10 hours spent outside of sessions (spread across the program length) on Issue Day team group work and other assignments.
The Programs are broken into five components:
- Orientation – Kickstart the cohort-building process and begin the Issue Day planning
- Opening Retreat – A three-day, two-night off-site retreat where the cohort engages in intensive skills foundation laying and relationship building
- Logic Study – A pressure-test of the cohort’s leadership skills to highlight your baseline management and professional defaults while exploring the unique dynamics of a part of Los Angeles
- Leadership Forums – Full-day facilitated professional, management, and leadership development skill-building sessions
- Issue Days – Cohort-led explorations of a regional challenge to stretch your professional and leadership development in a real-time setting. The cohort selects both the topics and the teams.
Explore the 2023-2024 Lead LA program calendar for the dates and times of these program components and the program’s attendance policy.
Of past participants, 94% agree that their participation increased their leadership skills and 95% say they are likely to apply the tools and principles gained through their participation.
- Prompts you to engage in deep professional and leadership reflection.
- Empowers you with time-tested professional, leadership, and management skills, tools, and frameworks.
- Invites you into a community eager to collaborate with, learn from, and support each other.
The curriculum includes a wide range of professional skills-building:
- Adaptive Leadership
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging (DEIB) and Anti-Racism
- Effective Communication
- Effective Inquiry and Critical Thinking
- Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Group Effectiveness
- Interpersonal Leadership Styles™
- Managing Diverse Teams
- Mindfulness Practices
- Project Management Tools
- Public Narrative Frameworks
- Self-Awareness and Self-Management Tools
- Stakeholder Analysis and Coalition Building
The Logic Study and Issue Days serve as a vehicle for you to exercise leadership and management skills in a real-time setting, practicing their professional development in an experiential way, while also enhancing your knowledge of the region.
Lead LA creates opportunities for you to bring your professional work into the program.
“Participating in Lead LA has been a refreshing boost of energy to many parts of my life. Our facilitators have taught us tools and frameworks that invigorate the ways I see myself as a teammate and enhance the ways I work with others. It’s been refreshing to step out of the sectors I am used to operating in and have new professional and personal curiosities sparked. The design of the program magically turned a demographically diverse group of Los Angeles devotees into a solid network of friends who I know I will call on for years to come. ”
~ RJ Sakai (Lead LA 5), Director of Social Innovation and Co- Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Sequoyah School
- Personal Leadership Commitments – you will name a specific area of growth you plan to practice over the course of the program.
- Peer Consultancy – the peer consultancy case enables you to bring into the program a real-world professional challenge you are seeking to address and to seek peer coaching from your cohort.
- Exploring Tough Interpretations – an adaptive leadership module that builds on Coro’s effective inquiry, giving and receiving feedback, and effective communication tools to illuminate your resistance to change.
- What? So, What? Now, What? Stand – a concluding activity in which you will synthesize the program’s impact and set commitments to continue your capacity building beyond the conclusion of the program.
Learn More and Apply Today.
Coro values diverse perspectives, identities, experiences, and world views represented in programming and cohorts; as such, Coro Lead LA cohorts reflect the make-up of the region, representing a wide array of backgrounds, experiences, beliefs, and identities.
Of past participants, 99% agree that their participation in the program expanded their professional network and 97% say they are likely to stay connected to those they met through their participation.
You are an ideal Lead LA participant if you:
- live, work, and/or serve communities in the Greater Los Angeles area,
- are committed to deepening your professional leadership capacity,
- are currently in or would like to kickstart the transition into leadership or management roles or positions,
- are looking to expand your professional and personal network,
- view leadership as an action versus a title or role,
- are interested in learning more about the region, its challenges, and how collaboration can lead to impact and change, and
- are able to conduct programming in-person and meet the program attendance requirements.
Learn More and Apply Today.
Multi-Perspective: You should be ready to engage productively with different perspectives and ready to engage in personal reflection. Since the program’s launch in 2018, Coro Lead LA applications have represented a diverse cross-section of the region, particularly by sector (41% nonprofit, 23% private, 20% public, 14% mixed/other) and race (35% White, 20% Latino/a/x, 14% Black, 9% Asian/South Asian, 4% Middle Eastern, and 18% Other/Two or More races).
Intentional Ambiguity: A signature characteristic of Coro programming is generating intentional ambiguity, which works to highlight your defaults, ignite your learning, and support you to lead and manage through uncertainty.
Learn by Doing: Coro views leadership as a practice; you should be ready to learn by doing with sessions as opportunities to lay the foundation; you will gain the most by taking the skills, tools, and frameworks and practicing/adapting them in your professional roles.
“[Coro] has challenged some of my core assumptions, introduced me to sophisticated – yet practical – applied leadership techniques, and perhaps most importantly, has provided an opportunity for me to deeply connect with a diverse group of Los Angeles leaders in a meaningful and lasting way. I’ve found the program to be extremely useful in both my professional and personal life.”
~ Ruben Aronin (Lead LA 1), Principal, Better World Group; Director, California Business Alliance for a Clean Economy
Learn More and Apply Today.
Coro Lead LA provides exceptional value to both individuals and organizations at approximately $65 per facilitated hour of leadership development training.
2023-2024 Lead LA program tuition is $5,500. The tuition covers:
- Over 85 hours of expert facilitated learning, materials, and instruction
- Interpersonal Leadership StylesTM assessment and materials
- Two-night double-occupancy accommodations at the Opening Leadership Retreat (note: you can reserve a single-occupancy room for the Opening Leadership Retreat for an additional room fee of $550)
- All meals during the Opening Leadership Retreat
- Lunch during full-day, in-person sessions
- Closing Ceremony reception
- Issue Day Planning Stipends
- Periodic Coro continuing learning and networking events
- Access to Coro Lead LA GSuite platforms, Trello, and Slack accounts
- Upon successful completion, a Coro Lead LA certificate of completion and access to the Coro community and special alumni-only events, programming, and platforms
You may incur additional incidental expenses due to your participation, such as transportation and parking costs and additional meals outside of those provided by Coro.
Do not let financial concerns prevent you from applying. We have identified various methods to assist with the financial cost of participation. See General Lead LA FAQs under the “How much does Coro Lead LA cost & what sort of financial support is available?” for more expansive information about the following.
Employer Assistance: 57% of 2022-2023 Lead LA participants secured full or partial financial assistance from their employers. We encourage you to speak with your employer about potential support. We have provided a Program Benefits Guide for Organizations FAQs to assist with employer conversations.
Coro Discounts: Coro provides a variety of discounts to eligible Lead LA participants. More about these discounts can be found in the General Lead LA FAQs. Participants are only able to receive one discount, even if eligible for multiple. Coro will apply the largest discount if eligible for multiple.
Coro Scholarships: If you are interested in being considered for partial, need-based scholarships, complete the scholarship questions on the application.
Payment Plans: Coro makes available payment plan options for Lead LA. Options will be communicated to accepted candidates at the time of decision.
2020 Lead LA Alumni Honoree
Elissa K. Konove
Deputy Division Administrator
Federal Highway Administration (California Division)
2021 Lead LA Alumni Honoree
Corey Matthews
Vice President, Global Philanthropy
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
2022 Lead LA Alumni Honoree
Chris Rhie
Climate & Sustainability Consultant
Rhie Planning LLC
2023 Lead LA Alumni Honoree
Aaron Ordower
Environment Deputy
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey HorvathAn Issue Day is a cohort-led exploration that the Lead Programs use to expand experiential learning. Its purpose is twofold: one, to engage participants’ effective inquiry, critical thinking, and leadership skills to practice team management, self-awareness, and empowered professionalism in real-time with a small group of peers, and two, to use the Greater Los Angeles and Southern California regions to expand participants’ knowledge of a public policy challenge requiring action and impact.
The Issue Day is the ultimate Lead Programs exercise, bringing in all of the tools and frameworks explored during the program to ignite a cohort-led exploration to expand their collective knowledge about the region’s policy landscape. The Issue Day process starts during the Program Orientation and runs through the duration of the Lead Programs. The cohort participants determine which issues will be explored and how to design and curate explorations and experiences for the entire cohort.
To view previous Issue Day explorations, visit the links below.
- ACLU of Southern California
- Actors’ Gang Prison Project, The
- Advocates for Human Potential
- Alliance College-Ready Public Schools
- American Jewish Committee
- Animo Pat Brown Charter High School
- Annenberg Foundation
- Arizona State University
- ArtCenter College of Design
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles
- Best Best & Krieger LLP
- Better World Group
- Bird
- Bridges Intergroup Relations Consulting
- Broad Center, The
- Buchalter
- BuroHappold Engineering
- California Endowment, The
- California Resources Corporation
- California State Assembly, Office of Assemblymember Rudy Salas (AD 32)
- California State University, Bakersfield
- California State University, Northridge
- Cause Communications
- Center for Policing Equity
- Central City Association of Los Angeles
- Chrysalis
- Citizens of the World Charter Schools
- City of Los Angeles, Board of Public Works
- City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs
- City of Los Angeles, Department of Transportation
- City of Los Angeles, Department of Public Works
- City of Los Angeles, Office of Councilmember Bob Blumenfield (CD 3)
- City of Los Angeles, Office of Councilmember Joe Buscaino (CD 15)
- City of Los Angeles, Office of Councilmember Mike Bonin (CD 11)
- City of Los Angeles, Office of Councilmember Paul Koretz (CD 5)
- City of Los Angeles, Office of Councilmember Paul Krekorian (CD 2)
- City of Los Angeles, Office of District 14
- City of Los Angeles, Office of the Mayor
- City of Los Angeles, Personnel Department
- City of Long Beach
- City of San Fernando
- Civic Innovation Lab
- Children’s Institute
- College Track
- Community Coalition
- Community Partners
- County of Los Angeles, Center for Strategic Public-Private Partnerships
- County of Los Angeles, Department of Health Services, Office of Diversion and Reentry
- County of Los Angeles, Department of Public Social Services
- County of Los Angeles, Office of Supervisor Sheila Kuehl (LA 3)
- Creative Artists Agency
- Discovery Cube Los Angeles
- Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.
- Downtown Women’s Center
- ECMC Foundation, The
- Edgility Consulting
- Empowerment Congress
- Fiducia CP
- FlixBus
- Ford Mobility
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP
- Gartner
- Gather Consulting
- Gensler
- Guidehouse
- Hatch Collection
- HIAS
- Hispanas Organized for Political Equality
- Ichor Strategies, Los Angeles
- Jesse Gabriel for Assembly
- J.L. Edmonds Project
- John Wayne Cancer Institute & Pacific Neuroscience Institute, Providence Health System
- Kantara
- KIPP LA Schools
- LA Election Project
- LA Forward
- LA Metro
- LA’s Best
- LA Coalition for Excellent Public Schools
- Lombard Circle, The
- Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation
- Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
- Los Angeles Homelesses Services Authority
- Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
- Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health, The
- Lyft
- Manifest Works
- Marathon Communications
- Mariposa Development
- Mirman School
- Morgan Stanley
- Moulton Niguel Water District
- Move LA
- Multicultural Learning Center
- My Friend’s Place
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- National University
- Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County
- One Table
- Partnership for Los Angeles Schools
- Pepperdine School of Public Policy
- Phoenix LA, The
- PlantPrefab
- Prism
- Remember Us
- RethinkEd
- River LA
- Sequoyah School
- SidePorch
- Snap, Inc.
- SoCalGas
- Southern California Edison
- Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink)
- State of California, Department of Finance
- Stratiscope
- Students 4 Students
- Student Movement of Justice and Opportunity
- Swipe Out Hunger
- Taft College
- Taproot Foundation
- The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
- TreePeople
- Tzunu Strategies
- United Airlines
- University of California, Los Angeles Alumni Association
- University of California, Los Angeles, Hispanic American Periodicals Index
- University of California, Los Angeles, Luskin Center for History and Policy
- University of Southern California, Rossier School of Education
- University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts
- University of Southern California, Shoah Foundation
- U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
- U.S. Department of Justice
- Verizon
- Walt Disney Company, The
- West LA Community Coalition
- Whittle and Associates
- World Health Organization
Thank you to our Supporters
Thank you to the Coro Lead Programs Advisory Committee
Angela Babcock*
Vice President, Stratiscope
Otha Cole*
Project Director, Play Equity Fund, LA84 Foundation
Lindsay Conner
Partner & Chair of the Media & Entertainment Group, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Steven Crosby
Principal, Crosby Consulting
Andrea Foggy-Paxton**
Founder & CEO, Foggy-Paxton Consulting, LLC
Nicole Jones
Senior Special Assistant & Director of External Affairs, Office of the California State Controller
*Coro Lead Programs alumni
John Kobara
Social Entrepreneur & Facilitator of Change; former EVP & Chief Operating Officer at the California Community Foundation
Robin Kramer
Managing Director, Smidt Foundation
Shawn Landres
Commissioner, County of Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission and Chair, City of Santa Monica Planning Commission
Corey Matthews*
Vice President of Global Philanthropy, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Carole Neal*
Director of Marketing, Vitamin T
Caprice Young
National Superintendent, Lifelong Learning
**Coro Southern California Board of Directors member
Application
The 2023-24 Lead LA Regular Decision application deadline has passed. Fill out an interest form below to receive updates about future Lead LA cohorts.
Interest Form
Click here to complete an Interest Form to learn more about Coro Lead LA.Nominate
Know someone who would be a great candidate for Coro Lead LA? Nominate them here!FAQ
Review our General FAQs to learn more about Coro Lead LA.Meet the Current Cohort
Learn more about our 6th Lead LA cohort!Meet Past Cohorts
Class of 2023 - Lead LA
Class of 2022 – Lead LA
Class of 2022 – Lead SoCal
Class of 2021 - Lead LAProgram Benefits FAQs
Coro Lead LA greatly benefits individuals and organization. Learn more how with our Program Benefits for Organizations FAQs.2023-2024 Program Calendars
View the 2023-24 program calendar to see specific dates/times for programming and more details on the attendance policy.Questions? Contact:
Carson Bruno
Vice President of Growth
carson@corola.org
(213) 267-6201




