Biography
Meenakshi Iyer thrives at the intersection of People, Process, and Technology. She is a T-shaped leader and community builder with a 25-year portfolio career spanning IT, Agile/Business Process Transformation, international healthcare, HR, and Training, in India and the USA. “Stop, breathe, think, act” is her motto.
Meenakshi is the Founder and Principal at NorthStar Solutions and Services LLC, a virtual coaching, training, and consulting practice, serving individuals and businesses globally. As a Personal Agility and Self-Leadership Coach, she supports mid-career technology Professionals to shift FROM Transactional TO Transformational Leadership, as they find creative ways to build highly engaged and self-organizing teams in a technology and process-driven world. She partners with leaders and their teams in unpacking the power of "slowing down to speed up” and of making DEIB an integral part of their leadership/team practices. Through her coaching partnerships, Meenakshi helps her clients find their voice, and build authentic narratives about their leadership stance. Her clients regain their confidence, overcome their self-limiting beliefs stemming from language, accent, gender biases, and they proudly reframe self-promotion as a Leadership skill.
Notable annual events hosted by Meenakshi and NorthStar include the Annual Future of Work Virtual Conference, and Building My Runway – a Global Mentorship program for mid-career Women in Agile/Tech. She is the host of two livestream shows: Exploring Intersections, and The NorthStar Café, simulcast on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube, where she speaks with guests around the world on topics relating to Inclusive Leadership and the Future of Work.
Meenakshi is a well-known speaker in the Women in Agile, Lean In Agile, and Coacharya communities. Since 2020, she has delivered 20+ virtual, and in-person talks and webinars, hosted panel discussions, and facilitated workshops virtually, on these global forums. Her style is interactive and engaging. Meenakshi uses her voice to inspire, inform, and create bias for action.
She holds a BS in Physics, and an Executive MBA with a concentration in Healthcare Management. She speaks four languages and has lived and worked in 10+ cities in India and the US. Currently, Meenakshi and her husband live in Virginia, USA, and have family in Australia, India, and Thailand.