Mariana Ortega, MAAL, ACC, CPC, CTIC
Empowering professionals and organizations through human-centered leadership coaching and development strategies.
Meet Mariana
Mariana is an academically informed, culture-minded leadership coach who possesses deep values of relationship building, creativity, and human-centered leadership. Her coaching style is warm and intentional, leveraging tenets of Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory to inspire introspection, meaning-making, and productive dialogue. She’s a proud first-generation professional with 20+ years experience leading organizational talent development across various industries such as edtech, media, entertainment, consulting, food & beverage, and luxury goods.
Mariana holds an MA in Adult Learning and is certified in over ten methodologies, including the Leadership Potential Assessment (Korn Ferry) and the Predictive Index. Since 2019, she’s applied her skills as a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) to inspire change, high-performance, and team cultures of engagement. She earned the ICF verified achievement of Associate Certified Coach (ACC) in 2024.
That same year, she founded her private practice, Cultural Compass Coaching & Consulting, to work with first-generation professionals and 21st century leaders navigating complex career environments. In November 2024, her work on how human-centered leadership promotes creativity and innovation was featured in the book Brilliant Leadership by Routledge Press.

What People Are Saying
Services
THREE MONTHS
SIX SESSIONS
Bi-weekly 60-minute coaching sessions
Personalized development customized to your needs
Emails of additional resources between sessions
SIX MONTHS
TWELVE SESSIONS
Bi-weekly 60-minute coaching sessions
Personalized development customized to your needs
Emails of additional resources between sessions
1:1 SKILL BUILDING
THREE 60-MINUTE SESSIONS
Personalized development to improve one area of focus:
Foundations of Human-Centered Leadership
Managing Difficult Conversations
Navigating Generational Differences
Campus-to-Corporate Transition for New Grads
Delivering Effective Feedback
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING
FULL SUITE L&D SUPPORT
Instructional design for virtual & in-person learning formats
Facilitation for group workshops & large interactive talks, virtual or in-person
Available for fractional L&D assignments
Schedule a free 15-minute Discovery Chat to learn more about which customized package is best for your needs.
News
Co-Author of Chapter 3, Promoting Creativity & Innovation through Human-Centered Leadership. Released November 2024. Available via Routledge Press.
Leadership Conference at Danone North America: Fireside Chat with SVP Olivia Sanchez on Human-Centered Leadership and the Hidden Curriculum of Unwritten Rules, September 2024
The Five Higher-Order Capabilities of Human-Centered Leadership