Leadership is sooo critical for folks who are disrupting the status quo. And yet - so many are doing this work with colonial leadership models that reinforce the status quo. What if you could embody a more liberating leadership model?
Group coaching for values-aligned leaders
Lead meaningful change without compromising who you are.
Join Skip the Polish - an anti-oppressive leadership program for values-aligned folks.
Status quo leadership models are not the answer.
If you live outside of the margins, it can be hard to lead within spaces that weren’t created for you. You know - spaces built on colonialism, white supremacy, and cis-heteropatriarchy.
It makes you feel like an imposter and doubt yourself.
Deep down you know that leadership isn’t about…
Fear and domination but society tells us that this is how you succeed.
Power and profit but peers around you are constantly celebrated for their business results - no matter the cost.
A one-size-fits-all practice but executive training programs keep reinforcing homogenous, white, Euro-centric approaches.
So you dim yourself and your experiences. And unintentionally adopt status quo leadership styles that are inauthentic and values-misaligned. It feels gross. But you don’t know what the alternative looks like in practice.
I get it. It’s challenging, disempowering and exhausting. How do I know? Because I’ve spent most of my career navigating spaces where I was often the only. It was painful. But through trial and error I’ve learned that leadership doesn’t need to be icky.
It can be liberating if it’s grounded in your identity, impact and integrity.
And I’d love to help you get there.
The Alternative: Skip the Polish
A 12-week anti-oppressive leadership program for values-aligned leaders looking for the knowledge, tools and community to lead with intention.
Skip the Polish is rooted in the Intentional Leadership Framework - a leadership model that focuses on building agency and collective power by:
Defining your identity and who you are as a leader
Articulating your values and what you stand for
Owning your impact and what you’re capable of
Anchoring your leadership in the community you’re accountable to
Ready to lead with more intention and less self-doubt?
Join Skip the Polish - a leadership program for values-aligned folks. Summer cohort runs from June 2 to August 18 2026.
A leadership model that heals, liberates and disrupts so that you can…
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Embody anti-oppressive leadership with confidence.
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Build community with leaders who see you.
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Know who you are and show up for what you stand for.
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Make meaningful impact that’s grounded in your gifts and values.
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Free yourself from colonial narratives that hold you back.
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Navigate stress responses with more calm and clarity.
“Unlike a typical leadership program, Skip the Polish helps us see leadership in its most expansive, liberatory sense. Leadership is not one’s title, income, achievements or any other external marker. Instead, leadership is the how well you know yourself and your community. It’s about moving through the world with an understanding of your values and gifts, and acting with care and accountability in community. Unlike a typical leadership program, Skip the Polish is not about playing by the rules of “the game.” Instead, Adrianne and Skip the Polish challenge us to interrogate the game, and first decide what game we even want to be playing.”
—Beverly J., (2024 Participant)
What you’ll learn
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What: Learn how oppressive systems influence leadership styles.
Why? Systems of oppression impact all aspects of our lives - including how we’re expected to lead in colonial spaces. This module will help you assess if you're embodying leadership traits that are intentional or because it's the status quo.
Topics covered:
How systems of oppression influence dominant leadership norms
How fear upholds dominant leadership styles
How intentional is your leadership style
Date: Tuesday, June 9 @ 2-3PM ET
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What: Learn how lived experiences shape the way we lead.
Why? Building a strong leadership foundation starts with your sense of self AKA how you view yourself. This module will help you understand how your professional and lived experiences have shaped your leadership approach.
Topics covered:
What makes a successful leader
How to build a strong sense of self
How to lead with your identity
Bonus! An Energy Leadership Index assessment AND a 1:1 coaching session to help you understand how you show up and respond to stress.
Date: Tuesday, June 23 @ 2-3PM ET
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What: Learn how values influence who we are as leaders.
Why: Values function as a compass and can influence how we show up as leaders. This module will help you articulate the things that matter the most to you and provide practical ways to lean into your values - especially when 💩 gets hard.
Topics covered:
What shapes our values
Why do values matter in leadership
How to practice values-aligned leadership
BONUS! A Values Alignment Tool to define your top values and assess how consistently you demonstrate them.
Date: Tuesday, July 7 @ 2-3PM ET
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What: Learn how to lead from an abundance mindset.
Why: We live in a capitalist system where scarcity dominates. But we don’t need to be bamboozled into this false, harmful mindset when we lead. This module will give you the insight and tools to lead with your strengths and practice abundance leadership.
Topics covered:
How to define abundance vs. scarcity
What are the signs of abundance leadership
How to articulate your gifts and talents
Date: Tuesday, July 21 @ 2-3PM ET
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What: Learn how to facilitate impactful change.
Why: If you want to disrupt the status quo, change leadership needs to be part of your toolkit. This module will help you understand the emotional side of change and give you a trauma informed change management tool to facilitate meaningful change.
Topics covered:
How to navigate “the feels” during times of change
How to define your purpose
How to build community through commonality
How to help people feel seen and heard
How to invite others into your cause
BONUS! The 4Cs CHANGE LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK© to give you the step-by-step process to facilitate meaningful change.
Date: Tuesday, August 4 @ 2-3PM ET
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What: Learn how to embody anti-oppressive leadership long-term.
Why: Practicing anti-oppressive leadership takes intentional work and commitment. This module will piece together everything you’ve learned and help you define the leader you want to be based on your identity, impact and integrity.
Topics covered:
How to define the leader you want to be
How to own your gifts and talents
How to realize your purpose and impact
How to stay grounded in the face of fear
BONUS! A completed Intentional Leadership Playbook with tips, reminders and prompts to help you maintain momentum post-program.
Date: Tuesday, August 18 @ 2-3PM ET
What you’ll receive
6 bi-weekly learning modules that offer alternatives to colonial leadership models.
6 bi-weekly community coaching calls with a BIPOC majority cohort in a trauma-informed space.
An Energy Leadership Index (ELI) assessment and 90-minute debrief that is tailored to your lived experiences.
Valued at $600
A 1:1 coaching session with yours truly to help you embody intentional leadership.
Valued at $300
An Intentional Leadership Playbook with frameworks, prompts, and worksheets to sustain learnings post-program.
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A Values Alignment Tool to define your top values and see how consistently you demonstrate them.
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The 4Cs Change Leadership Framework to give you the step-by-step process to facilitate meaningful change.
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Lifetime access to all video recordings, transcripts and course content.
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Access to Slack community channel for 3 months post-program.
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Program impact on past participants
Before Skip the Polish
“My biggest struggle was believing I was already a leader. My idea of leadership was so muddled with colonial conceptions of authority. I understood leadership to be a one size only kind of role.”
After Skip the Polish
“This program really reminded me that I am a leader everywhere I go. The information and facilitation of the program spoke to a part of me that forgot I am powerful not in spite of but because of my ancestral and inner wisdom. I was reminded of my values. I was reminded in the power behind moving with my values. Throughout the program, I felt empowered and emboldened to move with my values. To this day, I continue to come back to my values when I'm looking for guidance. This program helped me with my idea of self as a leader, and, more importantly, it guided me back to my natural gifts and what makes me powerful- what my medicine is. My medicine is what makes me a great leader.”
—ness rodriguez (2024 Participant)
Who’s this program for?
Values-aligned leaders who…
Are willing to engage in conversations that openly denounce systems of oppression such as white supremacy, colonialism, and cis-heteropatriarchy
Are ready to do introspective work to unpack how systems of oppression may be influencing their leadership approach.
Want to adopt an anti-oppressive leadership style.
Have demonstrated leadership in some capacity even if they don’t have a formal management title.
Have the capacity for growth.
Have the desire to be coached.
Have 2-4 hours bi-weekly to dedicate to this program.
Not your average leadership training program
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Anti-oppressive leadership model
Nobody needs another leadership training program that reinforces colonial, white supremacist models of power.
Here you’ll get an alternative approach - including practical tools - that’s rooted in community and collective liberation so you don’t need to lead with domination and fear to succeed.
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BIPOC-centred community
Status quo leadership programs are often designed and facilitated by folks who don’t look like you.
Here you’ll learn in an intimate BIPOC-majority environment where your identity and lived experiences will be valued and celebrated. To facilitate deep connections and conversations, each cohort will have no more than 15 people.
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Trauma-informed coaching
Many executive leadership programs prescribe “best practices” that don’t work for everybody.
Here you’ll engage in a trauma-informed space that acknowledges the harm that oppression does to our bodies and nervous systems. You’ll have full agency to choose what you want to do with the learnings and tools you gain from this experience. You’ll leave with an Energy Leadership Index assessment to help you understand your stress response.
Meet your facilitator
Adrianne Yiu (she/her)
Inclusive Leadership Coach & Consultant
Heya! I'm Adrianne Yiu (she/her), an Inclusive Leadership Coach & Change Management Consultant. I’m also a second generation Chinese-Canadian immigrant/settler in Toronto (Treaty 13) with roots in Hong Kong. I spent over a decade making systemic change in different sectors. I ran award-winning inclusive leadership programming, led global digital transformations that put people first, and developed high-performing, empathetic, and resilient teams in tech. Then 2020 happened and I realized the true cost of leading within systems that aren’t created for you.
Entrepreneurship was never part of my plan but healing taught me to listen to my intuition. So I built what I wish I had in my career - a space to honour my integrity and identity as a woman of colour. I now help racialized folks lead with more intention and less self-doubt.
Together we're embodying leadership that heals, liberates, and disrupts.
Ready to lead with more intention and less self-doubt?
Recognizing how oppression contributes to pay inequities, sliding scale rates are available to increase program access. Depending on your socioeconomic background and financial situation, please choose the option that best meets your needs.
Sign up here to pay full price and support the participation of somebody with financial barriers. Payment can be divided into 3 installments at checkout.
Sign up here if to pay full price for the course. Please note that there are 9 spots available at this rate. Payment can be divided into 3 installments at checkout.
Sign up here to pay the reduced rate of the course. Please note that are 6 partially support spots available. Payment can be divided into 3 installments at checkout.
2 fully funded spots are available to Black, Indigenous and racialized women and non-binary folks who are unable to access any of the above rates due to financial barriers. Scholarship applications for the summer cohort has closed.
Audre Lorde, Black feminist, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet
“When I dare to be powerful—to use my strength in the service of my vision—then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid”
✺ Frequently asked questions ✺
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Skip the Polish is designed for values-aligned folks in a leadership capacity (regardless of title) who are interested in leading more intentionally.
Participants who will get the most out of this program are folks who are ready and willing to do deep introspective work to unpack how systems of oppression may be influencing their leadership style.
This program is rooted in collective liberation and openly denounces systems of oppression such as white supremacy, colonialism, and cis-heteropatriarchy. Participants will need to have the willingness and capacity to engage in these conversations.
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Nope! While the program will have a BIPOC-majority cohort, non-BIPOC folks are encouraged to apply.
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The total time commitment is about 2-4 hours bi-weekly over 12 weeks. This includes participating in community coaching call and completing pre-recorded leadership modules. The program is designed to be self-paced so if you’re unable to attend a session live, recordings and transcripts will be made available.
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Not really. New leadership modules will be released on a bi-weekly basis. Each module comes with exercises, worksheets and/or self-reflection prompts to help you apply the content. There will also be live community coaching call following each module. How you want to use these tools and resources is totally up to you - you will not be asked to submit anything!
The program is designed to be flexible so you can complete it at your own pace.
The 2 things you’ll be asked to “complete” by a certain timeline is the Energy Leadership Index (ELI) assessment, a 90-min ELI debrief session, and your 1:1 leadership coaching session.
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I can’t say! The program is designed to give you the anti-oppressive leadership tools to help you show up more intentionally.
Maybe this will lead to new opportunities for you but I can’t guarantee that!
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Not to worry! All live sessions will be recorded and uploaded the same week.
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The program is designed to be self-paced and you’ll have lifetime access to all course content transcripts, and recordings.
You'll have access to the Slack community for 3 months post-program.
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Unfortunately, there are no refunds for the program.
However, if you do need to withdraw your participation prior to the start of the program, you will receive a full credit that you can use for future programs. The credit will be valid for 1 year.
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The program does not offer a certificate of completion at this time.
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Yes. Recognizing how oppression contributes to pay inequities, there are sliding scale rates depending on your socioeconomic background.
If you identify as a Black, Indigenous or racialized woman or non-binary individual and cost continues to be a barrier to participation, you can apply for a BIPOC Scholarship here. As spots are limited, scholarships will be offered based on priority.